Prioritisation of Serviced Sites | Western Cape Government

News

News

Prioritisation of Serviced Sites

18 May 2010

One thing that is very clear after yesterday's President's Co-ordinating Council (PCC) meeting is that there is definitely broad consensus about the need to prioritise serviced sites. This is the only way we can eliminate the backlog with respect to access to basic services.

President Zuma was spot on about people living in informal settlements like Sweetwaters, with no decent housing, sanitation, electricity, access roads or health facilities, and very limited access to clean water. He asked how he is supposed to explain to those people about financial constraints and the backlog. I have asked the very same question a number of times in the last year.

We have to be smarter about how we spend our money. And that means providing many more people with access to the basics - secure tenure on a serviced site with access to water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal in a human settlement that is integrated with the surrounding communities with roads and access to public transport and social and economic opportunities.

A point that Premier Zille made - one that was echoed by others at the PCC - was that we must clearly define the role of the state. In the Western Cape Provincial Government's view, that role is to do for people what they cannot be expected to do for themselves. And the first priority in that regard is the provision of infrastructure and access to basic services.

Providing free houses to everyone is simply not sustainable, and we need to interrogate our criteria carefully to ensure that we prioritise the most vulnerable and deserving.

At the same time, we need to expand the number of options available to people in the low-cost housing market. Currently, for people earning less than three thousand five hundred rand (R3 500), there is an all-or-nothing approach. We need a policy instrument that allows us to loan people money to upgrade their homes from informal to semi-formal and formal houses - and even to assist people to buy quality materials for their informal houses that are adequately ventilated and waterproof.

The current approach, which is determined by the national department of human settlements, is centred almost entirely around the state providing houses to a passive citizenry. If the prioritisation of serviced sites is going to lead to a reduction in the housing backlog, and not just the services backlog, all spheres of government need to change our approach to supporting people who do things for themselves.

Issued by:
Bonginkosi Madikizela
Western Cape Minister of Human Settlement

Media Enquiries: 

Zalisile Mbali
Spokesperson for Minister of Human Settlement
Cell: 084 558 9989
Tel: 021 483 4798