Delivery in the eThekwini Municipality entails the realization of housing opportunities with associated infrastructure. The objectives are: the delivery of land and tenure, bulk and reticulated infrastructure, and project implementation and consolidation activities. The Service Unit has been a key player in direct delivery in the past and it is expected to focus increasingly on delivery facilitation activities. Facilitation involves the creation of an environment which is conducive to the delivery of housing opportunities and comprises the bulk of the work of the Service Unit. Facilitation involves project process facilitation, facilitation of development finance, the development of housing institutions, community empowerment programmes and facilitation of access to end-user finance (eThekwini Municipality Housing Unit 2000: 3).
The co-ordination of activities is critical due to the fact that housing is a key sector in the development and management of integrated and sustainable human settlements. This involves the Service Unit in sectorial co-ordination and strategic planning. Strategic planning is required to ensure fiscal sustainability of the housing programme.
2.7.1. Goals of the Service Unit
These are: to implement the vision within the context of a sustainable and
integrated development planning framework, to delivery of at least 16 000 to 24 000 housing opportunities annually, to establish housing as a leading sector in the
economic and social development of the eThekwini Municipality, to ensure that the provision of housing opportunities and the development of balanced neighbourhoods will become part of a broader strategy, to restructure and transform the present sprawling and inequitable urban form into a more compact, integrated and
accessible environment; to provide households of different interests and means with a range of tenure options and a variety of delivery systems (eThekwini Municipality
52 Housing Unit 2000: 3). This will enable access to housing opportunities in an
affordable and sustainable manner.
The KwaZulu - Natal Department of Human Settlements and the eThekwini Municipality are responsible for: rural housing development, the regulation of home building standards, social housing initiatives, the provision of subsidies, and the development of rental stock, facilitating access to housing for helpless groups, military veterans and the middle-income group, the revitalisation of hostels and to support and strengthen municipal capacity. The primary focus is to provide adequate shelter for the poor.
The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is the Metropolitan Municipality created in 2000 and includes the city of Durban and the surrounding towns. EThekwini is one of the 11 districts in the KwaZulu – Natal province of South Africa. The majority of people speak Zulu (Stats SA 2001: 10).
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Table 2.5. The demographics of eThekwini are as follows according to Census of 2001:
Language Population Percentage % Zulu 1 948 061 63.04 English 925 671 29.96 Xhosa 106 110 3.43 Afrikaans 44 438 1.44 Other 28 866 0.93 Sotho 21 587 0.70 Ndebele 6 041 0.20 Northern Sotho 3 266 0.11 Swati 2 433 0.08 Tswana 1 807 0.06 Tsonga 1 356 0.04 Venda 484 0.02 Stats SA 2001: 3
Based on the population of the eThekwini Municipality, there has been a substantial increase in the housing delivery within the rural areas in recent years, particularly in those areas that were previously excluded by apartheid planning.
According to the Human Settlements Department KwaZulu – Natal (Budget 2010/2011: 10) contributing factors include the following: KwaZulu – Natal is a predominantly rural province and, as such, there is a greater need for Rural Housing Development. Statistics indicate that there is a 50% backlog regarding the demand for rural housing. Due to the high level of intra-provincial migration, there is a need to
54 prioritize the rapid development of rural housing; the provision of social and economic amenities and pull-factors in the rural areas should help to curb the increase in slums in the inner-city.
A total of 26 328 housing units have been completed, benefitting approximately 118 476 individuals accommodated by rural housing stock, and thereby affording housing to the destitute in rural areas. A contributing factor to this accelerated rural development is the rapid identification and release of rural land through the continued partnership and commitment of the relevant stakeholders, inclusive of the traditional councils. In line with the national and provincial priority of rural development, the department will continue to accelerate housing delivery in rural areas throughout the province (KZN Budget 2010/2011: 12).
The prime form of inadequate housing in the city is to be found in the informal settlements that have developed on Apartheid “buffer strips”, marginal land within established areas or land that formerly lay beyond the city boundaries under the jurisdiction of “independent” states. Informal settlements represent about 75% of the metropolitan gross housing backlog of 305 000 units as at 2002 (Charlton and Marks: 2003: 13). The case of
Durban, South Africa
According to Charlton and Marks (2003: 13) most of the population living in informal areas are Africans and nearly half the African population of the entire municipal area lives in informal dwellings. The majority of informal settlements are characterised by structures which have been constructed, to varying degrees of permanence, with a variety of found materials including corrugated iron, plastic, timber and metal sheeting. In some cases more traditional wattle and daub construction were used. The floor is typically earth which has been covered by linoleum or carpeting. Sanitation is provided by an informal pit toilet and water is supplied through communal taps and, occasionally, natural sources such as rivers.
More recently informal settlements have developed within the city‟s boundaries on private or state land - either with, or without, the approval of the landowners. Private landowners encouraged the informal settlement of their land in return for rent. In
55 some cases, landowners are facing considerable difficulty in establishing the value of their land once it had been informally settled (Department of Housing KZN 2002: 39).
Informal settlements are formally recognised as an insufficient form of housing. A programme, aimed at ensuring that they are not part of the housing typology in 15 years time, has been developed by the Metro Housing Unit of the eThekwini Municipality ( Integrated Housing Development Plan 2003: 6). The informal settlement programme of the eThekwini Municipality consists of upgrading existing settlements, by providing of services and tenure, and the development of new “Greenfield” land, which will provide relocating opportunities for those having to move from settlements which are considered technically unviable for upgrading. The Provincial Housing Department, which administers funding for housing development, has established a “Slums Clearance Programme”, by making subsidy money available for informal settlement development (Integrated Housing Development Plan 2003: 5). The aim of this programme is to “accelerate the clearance of informal settlements. This will be done by providing formal houses to the residents and to rehabilitate informal settlements. In appropriate situations, an in-situ upgrade will be done to projects, by doing an in-situ to upgrade the slums to acceptable levels, and to resettle excess families to Greenfields projects” (Integrated Housing Development Plan 2003: 5).
According to the Department of Human Settlements in KwaZulu – Natal (2010/20011: 9), the total number of projects approved by the province is approximately 822 and these have yielded an estimated 569 998 housing opportunities over a period of approximately 15 years. The figure includes serviced sites to improve the conditions of households, especially with regard to water and sanitation provisions. The department maintains that, for the 2009/10 financial year, a total of 23 587 houses have been completed and 3 806 sites serviced. An estimated 25 002 houses are to be built and 8 001 sites are to be serviced in the 2010/11 financial year. Subsidies approved for the 2009/2010 period number 21 382. The projected figure for 2010/2011 is 23 435, and consist of the following: 11 874 project-linked subsidies and 84 institutional subsidies. During 2009/10 the department implemented in-situ upgrades and slums clearance in various
56 municipalities, thereby making progress towards meeting the objective of eradicating all slums by 2014. A total of 6 250 houses were completed and 3 506 sites were serviced. It is anticipated that 6 502 houses will be completed and 7 091 sites will be serviced in 2010/11 (Human Settlements KZN 2009: 9). The eThekwini Municipality also has houses of poor workmanship which has cost millions of rands because some of these have to be rebuilt. Poor workmanship is caused by the use of sub - standard material by contractors and poor infrastructural planning.