The HDA shines at un-habitat iii                                                         

HDA shines at UN-Habitat III

The HDA participated in the 2016 UN-Habitat III Thematic Conference on Informal Settlements organised and co-hosted by South Africa and the United Nations. From 7 to 8 April, more than 500 delegates from all over the world exchanged ideas on the theme From slums to inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable human settlements in preparation of the UN-Habitat III conference to take place in Equador later this year.

During the conference, the HDA was recognised as the best case study on informal settlements upgrading in the world. The Agency believes this served as a clarion call that we cannot rest on our laurels – we still have much to do to provide the people of South Africa with sustainable, vibrant and integrated human settlements and to restore their dignity.

The core panellists included Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Human Settlements Deputy Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Dr Joan Clos. Our CEO, Pascal Moloi, led a plenary session on From informal settlements and slums to sustainable neighbourhoods – policy and strategy frameworks for a paradigm shift. The HDA also held a state-of-the-art exhibition, which enjoyed patronage from numerous international and local delegates.

The Thematic Conference on Informal Settlements was in preparation for Habitat III, a major United Nations Conference on housing and urbanisation taking place in Ecuador in October 2016. Habitat I took place in 1976, and Habitat II in 1996. Habitat III is expected to generate a “New Urban Agenda” for the 21st century. Visit http://www.h3thematicmeeting.co.za/ for more information and the gallery of the events.

Land donated for human settlements development

The community of Knysna was overjoyed when the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, supported by our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pascal Moloi, signed the transfer of 72 ha of land to the HDA for the development of integrated human settlements, with Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, and backed by SANRAL’s CEO, Nazir Alli. The land, previously reserved for the extension of a national road passing near Knysna, is partially occupied by beneficiaries who work in the area. At the handover ceremony, Minister Sisulu declared the development a National Priority Project.

“We declare this development a catalytic project. We will ring-fence funds for the first 500 units, complemented by social amenities,” said Sisulu. “We want to see clinics, schools and business centres –we no longer build houses where people have to travel long distances for services.”

“It was unacceptable that severe inequalities persisted in communities after 21 years of freedom,” Minister Sisulu said.

Mr Moloi also addressed the community and emphasised that making the development a catalytic project gave the HDA an opportunity to build more houses than was initially anticipated. “If we work together, we will be able to build a more integrated South Africa, which we all fought for,” said Mr Moloi.

As part of the land acquisition process, the HDA has carried out a feasibility study to assess the possible development of the land for integrated human settlements.

HDA hosts land invasion workshop

HDA hosted sector workshop on unauthorised land occupation and its impact on the upgrading of informal settlements on 17 May 2016.

Unauthorised land occupation is a prevalent and growing phenomenon in South Africa and has drawn great public discourse. Our courts have passed judgments on the matter and this has necessitated that the government prepares itself better when it handles such cases. Municipalities across the country are confronted by cases of unauthorised land occupation, as a result of increasing housing backlogs and lack of access to basic infrastructure services. Constitutional Court Grootboom judgement definition of a land invasion

“Land invasion is the act of taking occupation of land or buildings with the express intent of coercing a state structure into providing housing on a preferential basis to those who participate.”
– Constitutional Court Grootboom judgement, 2000

The HDA, in partnership with Afesis-corplan, has therefore embarked on a process to explore the complexities and challenges around unauthorised land occupation in support of the informal settlements upgrading programme.

The workshop targeted key role-players from the three spheres of government and civil society organisations currently involved and/or working with informal settlements at all development levels. The session was facilitated by governance advisor Monty Narsoo, who boasts a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the human settlements sector, and its primary aim was to share best practice and knowledge on how to best handle the contentious issue of unauthorised land occupation.

Opening the workshop, Narsoo stated that “it is not only important for the sector to share best practices around key challenging issues, such as unauthorised land occupation, but to equally share and learn from bad practices”.

Central to how the government or any other property or land owner handles land invasions are the prescripts according to the law and court judgments on past cases. The judgments clearly set out defined roles, responsibilities and what is acceptable and not acceptable on the part of the State. The state has a duty to:

1. No pre-emptive eviction – The state cannot counter-spoliate on behalf of a private owner.
2. Duty to engage – When dealing with its own property, or when dealing with occupations of private property, the state has a duty to engage.
3. Duty to plan – The local municipalities are under duty to proactively plan in order to deal with new land occupations in a non-coercive manner. 

Four municipalities were chosen as case studies as part of the research methodology for this project: Buffalo City Metro, eThekwini Metro, Rustenburg and the City of Cape Town. All case study municipalities indicated that they take their legislative cue in dealing with unauthorised land occupation from the Constitution and Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act, 1998).

Rustenburg noted that the founding provisions of the Constitution are based on human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. Land occupiers are first warned of the unlawfulness of their actions and thereafter incomplete shacks or structures are demolished. In instances where shacks or structures are complete, a court order is obtained to deal with occupations on municipal or private land.

All municipalities said they made ward committees and ward councillors aware of the unlawfulness of land occupations and adopted policies to deal with current and future land occupations, but did not make the link between using new land development as a proactive tool to prevent unauthorised land occupation happening in future.

Giving the legal perspective to this controversial matter, Stuart Wilson, executive director at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, stressed the view that “municipalities are under a duty to pro-actively plan, budget and build capacity to deal with new land occupations in a non-coercive manner”.

The municipal participants welcomed the initiative, but stressed that they still faced numerous challenges in responding timeously to land invasions. These ranged from inefficiencies around allocations of subsidised housing opportunities, and the powers and functions of municipalities in human settlements delivery and expropriation.

Limpopo disaster-relief housing picks up steam

In 2014, the Limpopo districts of Waterberg and Mopani were badly affected by severe storms and gales that destroyed and damaged houses in a number of villages, rendering households destitute.

The Limpopo Department of Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) on 30 June 2015 appointed the HDA as an implementing agent of the rehabilitation and reconstruction grant programme.

This includes a target of 373 housing units to be constructed and completed this financial year.

The budgeted amount is R34 million and two contractors have been appointed for this purpose.

The aim of the disaster housing programme is to provide proper shelter to families severely affected by natural disasters and who are unable to rebuild their houses.

The Agency initially experienced glitches with regards to project preparations. The challenging terrain of some of the villages has also slowed down the process. The HDA is, however, working closely with contractors and beneficiaries to address challenges creatively. Construction started in February 2016 and a total of 103 housing units located in various villages within Greater Tzaneen and Greater Giyani have been completed. Other housing units in Lephalale, Mokgalakwena, Greater Letaba, Ba-Phalaborwa and Maruleng are at various stages of completion.

Marikana miners receive homes

The year began on a high note for residents of Marikana when Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu visited the community to hand over houses on 6 January 2016. She was accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo and acting North West MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements Wendy Nelson.

Among the first-time recipients of brand-new furnished homes were residents Dorah Diremela (75) and Piet Tlou (67), who were delighted with their new houses. The project forms part of the government’s programme to revitalise 22 mining towns in distress.

North West province had approached the Agency to assist with the development of the greater Marikana precinct. The HDA acquired the land in terms of its successful land assembly programme for integrated mixed-income development, and the Marikana housing project is set to yield a total of 2 600 units homes over time. The HDA aims to provide decent accommodation for mine workers, and a better quality of life for communities in the area.

So far, integrated human settlement programmes which includes housing units, rental stock and breaking new ground (BNG) houses have been completed. The project will also cater for Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme and bonded houses. It spans more than 300 ha of land, including 50 ha donated by Lonmin to the Rustenburg Municipality at the end of 2013, facilitated by the HDA, which also acquired the rest of the land from private land owners which will contribute mainly to the housing backlog in Marikana and upgrading of informal Settlements and Mining Towns Programmes.

“We are adamant that the development will bring relief to the people of Marikana. The Agency is doing its best to meet both the needs and demands in the area,” said Project Manager, Tumisi Kgomo.

INFORMATION

HDA develops work-allocation database system

The dysfunctional procurement system used in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality was among the HDA’s areas of concern when appointed to support the metro’s human settlements delivery programme in 2015. This problem led to robust protests in the area and, in some instances contracts were stopped, tyres were burnt and Metro offices were closed by angry contractors protesting and demanding transparency in the allocation of work.

The HDA was tasked to implement an efficient and transparent system of work allocation which would support Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) development. A tender was advertised in October 2015 calling for contractors to register on a database for pre-approval, and from which they would be chosen for work allocation. This effort proved to be easier said than done.

On closure of the tender, 1 515 bids had been submitted (four times more than anticipated – up from the 309 contractors previously registered on the Metro roster system). These bids had to be accurately registered, evaluated and adjudicated, in as short a time as possible to facilitate new work allocation, which had been on hold for six months.

The evaluation team commenced work on 23 November and completed their task on 10 December 2015, having worked every day from 9am to 9pm, including weekends. Thereafter, information had to be collated and transferred to a database system. This procedure identified 1 170 responsive bids, 345 non-responsive bids and 66 late submissions. The database was then approved by the HDA’s bid adjudication committee and the steering committee of the support programme and then presented to the contractors on 12 February 2016.

On work allocation many contractors who had been non-responsive or had not achieve the required threshold scores (or who had submitted late bids) queried the process. This resulted in the HDA offices being closed on 3 and 4 March due to objections.

These queries have now been assessed and a revised list of contractors has been published and work has been allocated to 66 contractors thus far. Contractors have been introduced to the ward councillors and community members and work has commenced and is progressing. Another mammoth task has been well achieved by the HDA.

Map of the quarter – GVA map shows correlation

Gross value added (GVA) measures the contribution to an economy of an individual producer, industry, sector or region, according to the Financial Times. The attached map shows the GVA of municipalities in South Africa in a 3D format. As expected, metropolitan municipalities have a higher GVA than local municipalities.

In 2013, the City of Johannesburg had the highest GVA in South Africa, followed by City of Cape Town, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and Buffalo City. 

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KZN master spatial plan completed

The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) master spatial plan (MSP) for human settlements development process was finalised in March 2016.

The process, led by the HDA, involved a thorough various consultations with sector officials and practitioners to create a coherent and inclusive MSP approach, tailored for the province.

The plan is set to become the underpinning design for all human settlements in the region.

In finalising the process, two open sessions were held with sector role players. The first open-house session, held on 23 February 2016 and the second one was held on 18 March 2016. Both sessions enjoyed the support and participation of more than 100 delegates from eThekwini Municipality, the Department of Transport, KZN Wildlife, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Eskom, Mike Khan Consultancy, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tongaat Hulett Developments, Umgeni Water, Mabune Consulting, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements, and other local planners and entities.

The highlights of the MSP have noted the institutional and structural deficiencies in the current form in which human settlement projects are planned and implemented in the Province. The MSP has identified Key Focus Areas for prioritised investment based on housing needs and demands; also the population and infrastructure capacity of those areas. These areas were identified using the Sensitivity Analysis criteria through geospatial information analysis.

The MSP further proposes a model for land identification and prioritisation. It has provided a horizon for land needs in each of the identified Focus Areas to the year 2030.

The final MSP was submitted to the KZN Department of Human Settlements for adoption. It will further be submitted to the KZN Cabinet for alignment with provincial growth strategy and it will soon be published on the HDA website (www.thehda.co.za).

“This is the first provincial MSP to be completed. The HDA, and particularly the KZN regional office, is honoured and excited to lead this initiative, as it helps to profile our organisation while expanding our footprint,” said KwaZulu-Natal office Programme Manager, Thulani Bhengu. “we are planning a number of advocacy interventions including two workshops in order to sustain the relevance of the MSP to all stakeholders“

NDHS budget vote highlights

The provision of 4.3 million houses and subsidies to more than 20 million of South Africans since 1994 was one of the big highlights of this financial year’s budget vote speech, which took place on 3 March 2016. “The number of houses and subsidies that we have provided to our people could house the entire populations of Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland combined,” said the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu.

Regarding catalytic projects (named thus, because they will trigger massive investments by the private sector and have huge economic spin-offs), Minister Sisulu reported that a detailed analysis and shortlisting of projects submitted by the private sector and various spheres of government have been completed and will be rolled out in the coming three years.

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