Chairperson of Portfolio Committee: Honourable BN Dambuza
MPs, MPLs and Councillors,
Deputy Commissioner of SAHRC: Dr P Govender,
Deputy Director-General: Ms Shanaaz Majiet,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is indeed a pleasure to engage with you today – on a fundamental basic need and constitutional right that is the basis of our new democracy – and in particular for women in South Africa.
Acknowledging the contributions made by women to our democracy – former President Mandela said that:
“The women were courageous, persistent, enthusiastic, indefatigable and their protest set a standard for anti-government protest that was never equaled."
Twenty years since our first democratic elections few can deny that South Africa is a much better place to live in than it was before 1994. There is no doubt that while we have challenges - we have a good story to tell. Our new democracy – improverished by apartheid – has made significant strides.
To highlight some of the major achievements we have made include:
- Of the 3.6 million completed housing units since 1994, 56% of all subsidies allocated have been to woman-headed households, engendering housing in South Africa like in no other country in the world.
- More than 10 739 communities in 968 towns and cities across the country have benefitted from the Government Housing Programme, benefitting over 12, 5 million people.
- We are beginning to reverse the horrendous actions of Apartheid by restitution projects for communities that were forcibly removed from the inner city, like District Six, Cator Manor and Lady Selbourne.
Our Housing Program constitutes about 24% of the total formal housing stock in the country – reflecting governments commitment to poor people. This achievement was recognised by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) with an award in 2003.
Much of our achievements can be traced back to the community struggles against apartheid, which cannot be separated from the struggle for decent housing. The brave collective actions of people from the women’s organisations and civic organisations such as CAHAC (Cape Areas Housing Action Committee) – set the foundations for our new constitution and our democracy. These struggles are imprinted deep in our consciousness and will never be forgotten.
Today I want to acknowledge the stalwarts here, the many others that were unable to make it here for health reasons, and those that have passed away – asking for nothing except for their freedom.
Post-apartheid housing policy, A New Housing Policy and Strategy for South Africa, has its roots in the Freedom Charter and Section 26 of the Constitution. The policy was designed to target poverty, foster redistribution, and embodies gender equality. Focusing on addressing – asset poverty – subsidies for housing opportunities targeted the poor. After the first ten years, the housing strategy was enhanced to address spatial fragmentation.
“Breaking New Ground” (BNG) developed in 2004, focused on creating integrated human settlements. These included a range of housing options – and a renewed and more substantive commitment to gender awareness. In 2006 – the department together with the CSIR published a document – “Mainstreaming Gender in Housing and Human Settlement Sector” – which set guidelines for integrating gender into all aspects of housing policy, including implementation of housing projects. These include a range of measures for consumer education targeting women, couples co-signing subsidy applications, protection for women during separation, and other such requirements. In addition, the department in 2010 identified 6 focal areas – as part of a framework to empower women and youth.
Through a raft of other legislation including, gender representation in government structures, employment equity, B-BBEE, targeted skills development initiatives, and other women empowerment programmes government has demonstrated its commitment towards greater gender equity. These changes are significant, and begin to challenge the patriarchal power relations. In human settlements, post-apartheid policy shifts represent a major transformation in tenure security specifically for women and poor people.
Our twenty year review indicates that we have done well, in allocating subsidies to women and women headed households. Home ownership for women is important – as they provide not only a house – but security for their families. Other forms of tenure – is perceived to provide less security. In this context the provision of 56% of subsidies to women – represents a substantive achievement.
Further, the other programmes in the delivery of housing, has sought to increase the participation of women owned construction companies, and well as to provide skills and employment for women. The establishment of organisations such as South African Women in Construction (SAWIC) and other such organisations will assist in sharpening our own programmes and increasing the participation of women in the construction processes.
The department and its entities such as National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency (NURCHA) have provided tailored programmes to support women including the:
- Women build programme in the Eastern Cape
- NURCHA’s Contractor Development Programmes for women
- Skills development programmes
- Financial support for women-owned companies.
Given the successes of the last twenty years, we all agree that achieving gender equity is a difficult task and much more must be done. Further the role of human settlements in promoting gender equity – is widely acknowledged. Goebel and Dodson in their research argue that – “Gender-aware housing policy has the potential to contribute to reducing overall economic inequality and gender inequality…”Addressing gender – requires a holistic approach – that addresses all facets of human settlements.
This must include – how we design of homes, how we design of neighbourhoods, the safety and security of women and children, participation of women in construction as well as monitoring the quality, and the ongoing maintenance. Going forward - what should we focus on – to increase our contribution towards improving gender equity?
Subsidies for Women
Research projects in 60 developing countries, indicates that female-headed households are much poorer than male-headed households. Similar studies in South Africa have also confirmed this – thus continued targeting women headed households will make a greater impact on addressing the poorest of the poor.
Providing women with assets that they can leverage securely for their economic needs - will assist in improving their livelihoods and security. Therefore in essence – more effort must be placed on ensuring that the transfers are completed and households receive their title deeds.
Participation in the Housing Value Chain
Addressing income poverty through investment and active participation in the process of housing and human settlement development is a key policy proposal of the RDP. This investment in human settlements, through labour intensive construction programmes – will increase both employment and skills development.
With government’s renewed commitment to support cooperatives – an opportunity exists to increase the role of small women owned contractors and cooperatives in the construction process. The key question is how do we increase the role and participation of women in such entities – that deliver the required scale and quality?
Removing Spatial Marginalisation and Spatial Poverty
Increasing urbanization has resulted in the creation of new settlements on the periphery of cities and towns. President Zuma in the State of the Nation Address has implored us to integrate new developments – socially and economically. In integrating our developments – we will:
- reduce the time and costs spent travelling to work;
- increase the ability to access good quality services;
- reduce the burden of child care for many women, including the safety of unsupervised children; and
- integrate communities.
What are the specific policies and incentives that we need to consider – to promote better integration of our cities and towns?
How do the designs of houses and settlements begin to address the practical and strategic needs of women?
Sustainability of Human Settlements Policies
Everyone here is aware of the considerable housing and employment needs that we need to address. As long as the extreme poverty remain, the continued cycle of gender inequalities, insecurity, violence against women and children, and unemployment will continue thrive – impacting women disproportionately. Sustainable solutions to address the human settlement needs – will require innovations in partnerships, housing finance and human settlement delivery. How do we accelerate such social, institutional and financial innovations?
While recognising the limitations of sector based gender strategy, I believe that a gender-sensitive human settlements policy can drive social transformation. Everyone here today has made a contribution towards sustaining our democracy and deepening gender equity. As we move into the fifth term of our democracy, we bear the responsibility of “taking South Africa forward” – by working together with a greater degree of commitment and passion – in pursuit of a more equitable society.
Thank you.
