Johannesburg human settlements MMC Mlungisi Mabaso does not agree with the preamble to the constitution, which states that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”.
The IFP leader argued that the phrase should be scrapped and rewritten to explicitly declare that the country belongs to its citizens.
That section which says SA belongs to all who live in it must be scrapped. It has to be amended. It must be explicit. It must say SA belongs to its citizens
— Mlungisi Mabaso, Johannesburg MMC for human settlements
“That section which says South Africa belongs to all who live in it must be scrapped. It has to be amended. It must be explicit. It must say South Africa belongs to its citizens,” he said.
Mabaso was speaking during an interview on the Sowetan’s podcast In The Know and argued that the phrase is often “misrepresented” and “misinterpreted” by individuals who he believes do not want to see the country progress.
“I don’t like that [phrase] in the constitution, and I feel our leaders in the National Assembly must assist us to amend the constitution.”
Mabaso said the reason the phrase should be changed is because undocumented foreigners strain the country’s limited resources.
“That section is misrepresented and used by people who do not want to see this country progressing. We can’t progress when we have not dealt with undocumented foreigners in the country. They are consuming our resources, which are limited,” he said.
In August, a video circulated on X in which Mabaso said he would not allow taxpayers’ money to be spent on undocumented foreigners living in informal settlements. In the clip, filmed in his office, he said he could not allow South Africans to be disadvantaged “at the expense” of undocumented migrants.
During the Sowetan podcast interview, Mabaso said the City of Johannesburg is formalising 254 informal settlements, along with several hijacked buildings in the metro.
“There are programmes we have initiated through the informal settlements upgrading partnership grant we receive from the national government.”
He said the grant is mainly to assist in upgrading informal settlements and formalising them into established townships.
“Out of the 254 informal settlements in the city, we now have council resolutions to formalise and upgrade 181 of them. But due to limited resources, the current business plan focuses on 67 settlements.”
Mabaso said the city has introduced serviced stands for residents who have the financial means to build their own homes, particularly because Johannesburg has not received RDP housing allocations from the provincial government for several years.
Addressing questions of whether the city is offering serviced stands instead of RDP houses because it “no longer has funds”, Mabaso said municipalities have never been responsible for building houses.
“The city has never had money to build houses. We are not the ones to build the top structure; it is the province. The grant we receive is for infrastructure. For five or six consecutive financial years, we have not received any allocation from the provincial government because of unresolved redemption claims.”
Mabaso said the serviced stands policy, which he submitted to council in 2021, is intended to allow residents with “financial muscle” to build their own homes while easing pressure on the state.
“We said even to the human settlement development grant department: there are people who have the financial muscle to build houses for themselves. They only need a serviced stand. But because we do not have sufficient money to build houses and residents are willing to assist the government, we are making it possible for them.”
Mabaso stressed that applicants must be able to prove their financial ability to build a proper house.
“We don’t want to provide you with a serviced stand, and then the next thing you erect a shack,” he said.
Another headache, Mabaso said, was the city’s continuing struggle to provide alternative accommodation for people ejected from condemned or hijacked buildings, as there is no dedicated funding for this mandate, despite Constitutional Court rulings requiring municipalities to provide temporary housing.
Mabaso said private-sector partnerships remain crucial for the city’s plans.
“There is a lot we can do, but the reality is we just do not have sufficient resources, and that is why we are inviting the private sector to work with us,” he said.
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