South Africa needs to urgently rethink its approach to human settlement in its cities as the challenges have evolved beyond its current strategies.
As an example, thousands of people are still waiting for fully subsidised state houses in Johannesburg. Among the barriers to the delivery of this service are infrastructure constraints, delays in township establishment processes, and limited availability of affordable and well-located land, said the City of Johannesburg.
Joburg attracts at least 10,000 people per month seeking opportunities. With this influx, the number of houses handed over to beneficiaries is no match for the demand. The province is the smallest in land mass and has limited space to build free-standing houses for the needy.
Housing is central to the issues that have brought decay, chaos and criminality in the inner city. Most of the disasters the country has faced over the past four years have been related to housing
The issue has reached crisis level. Joburg is battling a challenge of hijacked and problem buildings. Meanwhile, the process to reclaim, refurbish and repurpose the buildings is a slow and painful one. Politicians mostly blame this on the legal impediments that come with evicting illegal occupants.
To solve the housing problem, there also needs to be a workable revision of the legislation that inhibits law enforcement and the implementation of sustainable solutions to the housing problem. A stronger public-private cooperation that will provide viable models of housing has also become urgent.
Housing anchors life in the city and otherwise. The likes of the Durban CBD and Tshwane also have a number of buildings that could serve as low-cost housing and revive health standards, safety and the general wellbeing of dwellers.
Every so often, a building in the CBD of Joburg is gutted by fire, mostly as a result of illegal occupation, tampering of electricity, crime and lack of basic service delivery. Last year’s Usindiso tragedy brought a sharp focus to the challenge that Joburg is facing in addressing the decay of the inner city and bringing back safety and economic development.
The Jeppestown fire over the weekend, which killed four people, reminds us as a nation that very little has changed since the last tragedy. Since the Usindiso building fire, the city has indicated that it is putting together a comprehensive plan which will be tabled before the council to address all the challenges of the inner city.
Housing is central to the issues that have brought decay, chaos and criminality in the inner city. Most of the disasters the country has faced over the past four years have been related to housing, from the floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape to the fires in the Johannesburg inner city. How we approach housing needs to drastically and urgently change.
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