Minister for Human Settlement
Minister Sexwale, Directors-General and other senior government officials
National planning commissioners
Ladies and gentlemen
We make the road by walking
“We make the road by walking” is a line from a poem by a Spanish poet, Antonio Machado. This line was also used as the title for a book on education and social change by Paulo Freire and Myles Horton.
It paints a powerful image that embodies how change takes place. Meaningful change is a slow and step by step process. Those embarking on the journey of change do not have to have all the answers upfront. They need only have a conviction that a better world is possible and take each step with the understanding that it is leading them towards such a world.
Those making a path do not have to have a vision of a six lane highway some day. They only need to be convinced of the need to go forward, and as they do many follow in their footsteps, thus making a path which some day becomes a road, and later a highway.
In many ways this line “we make the road by walking” captures our experience. We have travelled a path not trodden before for there was no blueprint for how a country with a history such as ours goes about remaking itself. Indeed, we have made the road by walking.
It is instructive to note that walkers are very flexible. When an obstacle is placed on their way or fence is erected, they walk around it and continue walking. They neither sit down and moan nor go back for they know they have not yet reached the end of their journey.
Yes, there have been obstacles, but we have soldiered on. At times the challenges have sought to dampen our spirits and cause us to despair but the knowledge of the distance already covered has inspired us to continue. The knowledge that each step we take brings us closer to our goal has spurred us on.
I would probably be the first to admit that as a government collective – across the three spheres (and I happen to be of the view that spatial planning works better with “tiers” than “spheres”) we have, as walkers, tended to side-step the obstacle. We have been aware of the ravages of apartheid spatial planning forever – this was my bread-and-butter as a fulltime civic activist from 1981. Apartheid space, as defined by the Group Areas Act, the Bantustans and forced removals was the fuel to mass-based struggles. Finding solutions was the catalyst to the formation of planning non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from the late 1980’s. We even tested the commitment of World Bank staffers to collaborate with us in an information exchange by studies on land use, space and the functioning of cities in 1992. We cannot pretend to have been ignorant of the obstacle. We do, however, need to explain – at least to ourselves – why we circumvented the obstacle.
How far have we come?
It is hardly necessary for me to recount what we have achieved collectively as people of this country. We have built houses to provide shelter for millions of our fellow citizens; connected millions of households to the electricity grid; and ensured that million more have access to safe drinking water. And, sanitation has improved for many. The cynics would argue that we allowed developers to maximise their returns by building in the wrong places – but the building happened!
Today is another important milestone. We want a fork in the road and to force a choice about space. In what has been a long journey since 1994, we knew then as we do now that undertaking a massive reconstruction project such as ours requires proper planning.
But the planning rules we found were intended to achieve the very outcomes we now want to reverse. The Constitution has not been kind to the planning function either – Schedules 4 A & B, and 5 A & B – are the nightmare of spatial planners.
In 1995 we enacted the Development Facilitation Act (DFA) as an interim mechanism to facilitate the development of low-cost housing. This was a ground-breaking piece of legislation which introduced principle-based planning into our system.
The DFA was a major departure from the dated control based planning regime embodied in the Provincial Planning Ordinances of the by-gone era.
In 1997 the Government of National Unity adopted the Urban Development Strategy, the Rural Development Framework. In 1998, the White Paper on Local Government which set in place some of the foundations of our post-apartheid planning system became policy.
Investigations into ways of improving spatial planning resulted in the 2001 White Paper on Spatial Planning and Land Use and the National Spatial Development Perspective.
A number of policy and legislative initiatives remain incomplete. The Land Use Management Bill remains incomplete as is the National Urban Development Framework, the draft of which was submitted to Cabinet by the Department of Cooperative Governance last year.
Cabinet could not finalise the National Urban Development Framework due to the reconfiguration of government and creation of new departments and institutions that was underway at the time.
The very creation of new departments, and agencies such as the National Planning Commission; the reassignment of mandates of some; and renaming of others is yet again evidence of the very fact that we have continued walking and working.
What is the mandate of the National Planning Commission (NPC)?
The journeying metaphor is also invoked in the mandate of the NPC. The NPC is given a mandate by the President to develop a vision (or describe a desired destination) for the country and a plan of how to get there.
We are also to “lead investigations into critical long term trends” policy and practices in the present that have the potential to the make it difficult to reach our long-term vision. One such area is spatial planning.
Spatial planning is central to the realisation of many objectives we would like to achieve as a nation. If we are to craft a meaningful vision we need to make sure that we have a shared spatial planning perspective and system that supports the direction in which we wish to go.
Humanity is facing one of the most daunting challenges it has ever had to face – climate change. To avert the man-made catastrophe, we have to change our consumption patterns, the way we live, our means of transport, how we prepare our meals, the energy-intensity of our economy, and the amount of water we use.
All of this will require of us to plan differently. We need to rethink the compactness and density of our cities. For the sake of grandchildren, we need to preserve our finite resources; we have to set ourselves some spatial norms to guide us.
These changes are not going to happen by themselves – they need to be planned for in advance. The National Planning Commission is gathering the necessary evidence successfully to undertake this mandate.
Some stylized facts about the South African space economy
If planning is to be meaningful, it needs to be rooted in reality. So let us remind ourselves about the challenges we face.
We are a country of vast inequalities in incomes, quality of services, levels of education and skills and employment opportunities.
The life-chances of many people are determined by factors over which they have no control, such as where they are born.
Being born in a former Bantustan, to a labour tenant on a farm, in one of the informal settlements dotted around our cities, or in one of the “new towns” created by the low-cost houses can determine what becomes of a person many years later.
It is in these areas that people with lowest income levels are found; where access to basic services remains a challenge; where the quality of education and health services is weakest; where employment opportunities are severely limited.
Every day, every week and every month, South Africans are on the move. They move between places of residence and areas of work.
Driving through rural villages it is not uncommon to see scores of children in their uniforms along the road walking long distances to school. Those who are lucky to have working parents, are only likely to see them once a week or month because they work far away from home.
Similarly, in the towns and cities, large numbers of young people leave their homes very early to catch buses, trains and taxis to school in the former white suburbs because townships schools are dysfunctional.
On weekends, end of the month or public holidays, South Africans in their large numbers board buses and taxis going back to their rural homesteads and return at the end of the weekend or holiday. Ours has to be one of the most inefficient spatial distributions of people relative to opportunities and services.
We have a spatial distribution that is better suited for middle income families who have private vehicles, yet we have a large number of people who depend on public transport. This imposes a heavy burden on the poor as well as on the government; while the long commuting hours impacts on individual productivity.
There is this often told anecdote that government spends approximately R15 000 per month per person in transport subsidies for people in the former KwaNdebele area to bring them to Pretoria to earn R2000 per month as domestic workers. This cannot be the most efficient use of limited public resources.
Addressing spatial inefficiencies is not only a redress imperative, it is important for the economy as well. To be productive, firms need all production inputs of the highest quality and consumer markets within reasonable distances to reduce costs.
Why has this situation persisted?
A combination of factors has conspired to make it difficult to for us to address the challenges we are so acutely aware of.
They include some of the ambiguity in the Constitution regarding the assignment of responsibility for planning. For example, regional planning and development are listed in schedule 4 as functional areas of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence; as is urban and rural development. Provincial planning is set out as a functional area of exclusive provincial competence.
These concepts are not defined anywhere in our laws, and this has led to multiple interpretations that have resulted in paralysis. It has taken the Constitutional Court to rule on what constitutes municipal planning.
This and the failure to conclude the Land Use Management Bill has frustrated development. The existence of parallel legislation which duplicates planning approval processes, causing unnecessary delay has contributed to the frustration.
Coordination of investment has been the major casualty of this lack of clarity of roles and responsibility.
Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the absence of a spatial vision for the country has led to pulling in different directions among departments tasked with spatial planning. We draw different policy conclusions from the same set of data because there is no agreed vision that guides us in the interpretation of the data.
Though we have made notable progress in delivering basic services, we have not made comparable progress in lifting the spatial barriers to opportunities for many poor people. They remain spatially isolated. For them, apartheid continues to determine their life-chances.
Human life has equal worth
If we are to give meaning to this universal truth that “human life has equal worth” we have got to act differently. This requires of us to subject our actions to one test. Do they contribute towards improving the life for all our people? Do they support employment creating economic growth and development so that our youth can find employment and in the end agree that indeed human life has equal worth?
The test of our actions should not be what the policies we make do for careers of individuals or how much power they give to which departments. It should be about affirming the equal worth of each human life.
Can we put aside everything else and agree on a direction that is good for this country? Are we capable of agreeing on a vision for this country that gives everyone a fair chance to improve their lives?
To return to the journeying metaphor, do we have the flexibility of a walker to change or go around when there is an obstacle ahead of us? Or will we keep fight among ourselves and blame each other for an obstacle none of us are responsible for? Needless to say, if we choose the latter, we will go nowhere.
Conclusion
Today’s seminar is convened by the National Planning Commission. In addition, we have met as Ministers responsible for Human Settlements; Rural Development and Land Reform, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and National Planning Commission and have agreed that we need to provide leadership.
I subsequently met with Minister Sonjica, who also agrees with us. Given the cross-cutting nature of spatial planning, we will in the fullness of time draw in other departments, especially those involved in infrastructure and economic development.
Allow me to pause here and thank my colleagues, Minister Sexwale, Minister Nkwinti, Minister Shiceka and Minister Sonjica for sharing the view of the commission that urgent attention needs to focus on spatial planning. Although this is only a start of the process on the part of the commission, it is important to emphasise that it is a collaborative effort from our respective ministries.
The National Planning Commission is not about interfering in the functional areas of departments. We intend playing a convening role where we get all role-players both private and public to come together, discuss issues and reach some agreement on the correct way to proceed. It is important that we are able to clear the decks on the operations – a number of colleagues have line-function responsibilities for elements of the planning function. They must retain these. We hope to offer a housing within which the various components will interact and synchronise efforts. It is important to emphasise that the NPC does not see itself getting in the way of what departments and spheres have the statutory remit to do. There are tasks – from agreeing on legislation, to the development of norms and the cleaning up of the mess that currently purports to be planning.
We believe it is important to put in place a set of spatial norms that will guide the work of the various departments, agencies and spheres as well as serve as a coordinating framework.
Today’s seminar is an attempt to move us towards a shared understanding of the challenges we face and what it will take to overcome them; it is a start of process of putting together a comprehensive national planning framework that sets out roles and responsibilities of each sphere of government;
By end of today we hope to reach some agreement on the basic elements of a way forward, including a high-level vision for spatial planning, a set of spatial norms and principles, key instruments to drive spatial planning and who will lead on the various aspects of developing this work going forward.
Thank you.
Source: The Presidency
