housing

Human Settlements Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has reiterated that government is building RDP houses for South African citizens and not just for foreign nationals.

Sisulu says housing in South Africa has caused many problems over the years and this been worsened by foreign nationals coming into South Africa and buying RDP houses that are meant for South African citizens at a fraction of the price.

Ian Neilson has called on residents, businesses and the government to work together to ensure that more progress is made in delivering housing opportunities.
 
In his article titled ‘Cape to start big housing push Neilson’, Neilson is of the view that with the effects of urbanisation, housing remains perhaps the single biggest challenge for many governments.
 

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) says Johannesburg is the worst in terms of the urban sprawl and the disjuncture between policy intentions and how RDP houses are constructed.

Statistician general, Pali Lehohla, says this this is caused mainly by people who relocate from their provinces to Johannesburg.

Lehohla says the 2009 economic recession meant that fewer building plans were passed across the country, with Tshwane being the quickest to recover from the slowdown.

The political Abahlali baseMjondolo is considering backing a political party for the first time since 2006, but their clout comes at a price.

For the first time since 2006, the shack dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, is not staging a ‘no land, no house, no vote’ campaign as it has done for several editions of UnFreedom Day – an unofficial South African holiday – that it commemorates each year on 28 April 2014.

Malawi President of Malawi, Joyce Banda says that her country has no boundary of urban and rural as far as poverty is concerned, one of the reasons why she has directed the Mudzi Transformation Trust to renovate and construct new houses for the needy in both areas.

Banda believes that, "…I am well informed that there are also people living in poverty in urban areas according to what I have seen at Chikanda," further wishing that her administration could make sure that people are sleeping in houses that do not leak when it rains.

Abahlali baseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’ movement, declares politicians unwelcome in Durban’s informal settlements until such time that the housing needs of the poor are addressed.
 
The movement’s general secretary, Bandile Mdlalose, states that the shack dwellers are tired of the lies they hear from politicians and have to send a message that they are not wanted in their areas.
 
He was responding to protests by Kennedy Road residents, following eThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo’s visit where he handed out meat parcels to the poor.