4 December 2007
The Mpumalanga Department of Local Government and Housing has put plans in
place to deal with informal settlements in the province. The intervention
follows observations of challenges that contribute to the mushrooming of
informal settlements in the province. The initiative is in line with
government's commitment of ensuring that by the year 2014 all informal
settlements are eradicated. To achieve this objective the government has come
up with a programme to facilitate structured upgrading of informal settlements
and create sustainable human settlements in the Mpumalanga province. The
department has noted the following tendencies contributing to the mushrooming
of informal settlements:
* migration, people moving towards economic active areas and are closer to
other social amenities
* areas reaching a threshold where no further development can take place while
youth are getting old â scarcity of land
* relocating of people who used to stay in mines and farms
* squatters capitalise on the unused and undeveloped land for settlement
* most land especially in towns are privately owned as per allocations of the
then government
* lack of education and unemployment
* insufficient budget for infrastructure development and other municipal
engineering services.
To address the tendencies, the department has put the following plans in
place:
* to co-ordinate the drafting of housing chapters in all the
municipalities
* to ensure tenure security and also encourages that all land should have a
title deed
* to facilitate the compliance to the Expanded Public Works Programme
(EPWP)
* to fast track the spatial development, planning and tenure upgrading
* set strategies that will encourage private stakeholders to invest in our
programme
* conducting social surveys and formation of project steering committees with
the local authorities
* services sites for proper development and relocation
The department has already started to conduct social surveys within various
communities.
Contact person:
Simphiwe Kunene
Cell: 082 413 3931
Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Mpumalanga Provincial
Government
4 December 2007
