Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale will hold his first round table meeting with business and civil society tomorrow, Thursday 26 November to discuss ways of building more meaningful public-private partnerships.
More than 150 representatives from parliament, government, civil society and business are due to attend the “social contract plenary session” being held over two days at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni.
The meeting will provide non-governmental groups and those organising homeless communities with an opportunity to interact with government around the upgrading of informal settlements, and broader plans to improve the quality of housing delivery.
At the same time, financial and construction sectors will have their first opportunity to discuss ways of building sustainable human settlements, in line with the department’s new mandate. Among other things, they will be discussing in more detail the Minister’s call on business to partner with government in areas such as finance, planning, development and construction.
Alongside this, participants will be looking at ways of rooting out bad business practices, and malpractices, across the human settlements value chain.
Three work groups will look at some of the critical problems facing those involved in the development of sustainable human settlements:
* A work-group on social cohesion will look at ways of building greater community involvement in housing solutions and other aspects of human settlements development
* A work-group on finance will look at how financial institutions, government and developers can work together to provide better quality affordable housing, as well as reviewing government’s achievements to date through its housing subsidies
* A work-group on planning will examine ways of ensuring more integrated communities, and look at new approaches to planning and development in line with the broad approach to human settlements.
The plenary will conclude with a redefinition of the “social contract” between government, business and civil society, and a revised framework of engagement. The original social contract was signed in September 2005 under the auspices of the Department of Housing.
For media enquiries contact:
Chris Vick
Cell: 083 566 7644
RSVP:
Isaac Skhosana
Cell: 083 488 2621
E-mail: Isaac.Skhosana@dhs.gov.za
Ishmael Selemale
Cell: 082 749 7067
E-mail: Ishmael.Selemale@dhs.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Human Settlements
25 November 2009
Source: Department of Human Settlements (http://www.housing.gov.za/)
