Revisiting the Self-Help Housing debate: Perception of Self-Help Housing by the beneficiaries of South African low-cost housing

4.0: Chapter IV: Case Study in Tembisa

4.1. Introduction of the case Study

In the earlier chapters, I argued that the severe housing shortage in South Africa and concepts of liberalism, neo-liberalism, poverty, inequality and housing as a need should in principle stimulate the widespread use of SHH adopted in South Africa as PHP. The literature on SHH demonstrates that SHH does not present only strengths; it also presents weaknesses. The findings of this research through the case study show that the failure of PHP in some areas of South Africa and the limited use of SHH is not directly linked to weaknesses of SHH. Instead, authorities in charge of Housing incorporated SHH in National Housing policy as they believed that it could bring effective housing solution. Among reasons which do not foster the widespread use of SHH, the analysis derived from the case study points out that the attitude of paternalism from the government and the dependency attitude that poor households have, do not favour a widespread use of SHH in South Africa in general and in Tembisa in particular.

Before presenting the main findings of this research, I will firstly present the geographical situation of Tembisa; secondly I describe Housing conditions in Tembisa. Finally, I will present findings obtained through deep and open ended interviews with households and officials, which will be followed by conclusion, recommendations for the government and perspectives for future research.

4.2. Geographical situation of Tembisa

Tembisa^38(*) is one of the largest townships in South Africa, more specifically around Johannesburg. It was established in 1957 when Africans were resettled from Alexandra and areas in Edenvale, Kempton Park, Midrand and Germiston. Presently, most people living there are from Pretoria, Eastern Cape, Transkei, etc. It is situated to the north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa; 17 kilometers from the Johannesburg International Airport and 38 kilometers from Pretoria. Currently, its population is about a half a million people.

Like other South African townships, Tembisa has to respond to challenges such as unemployment, lack of education, housing backlog, crime and transport inadequacy as most poor people who live there work in Johannesburg and have to spend almost 20% of their income in transport and almost one hour by taxi before reaching the centre of Johannesburg.

4.3. Housing conditions in Tembisa

Like in other developing countries, housing conditions are not stable and constitute a sombre issue in South Africa. Thus, there are still housing backlogs. One of the housing problems in South Africa is the issue of informal settlements that authorities in charge of Housing seek to eradicate by 2014 (Sisulu, 2005a). Inadequate housing conditions that a significant number of poor households face should in theory fuel a widespread use of SHH. The housing statistics provided by the current Minister of Housing describe housing conditions as following:

«A total of approximately 2,4 million households lives in informal housing structures. From census data we know that of these households about 400,000 are living in some form of structure in the backyard of a property owned by someone else. About another 1 million live in a shack or informal structure on their `own' stand - rented. About 740,000 of these 1, 4 million households are renting their dwelling - suggesting that of the 1 million or so living on their `own' stand in informal settlements, about one third are renting the land and/or the dwelling. Of the 2, 4 million informally housed households; about 800,000 are on the approved housing subsidy list and still waiting for their homes. This suggests that there is about 1, 6 million households who are in some way not formally part of the programmes to access subsidies to obtain formal housing» (Sisulu, 2005b)  

The housing situation described by the current Minister of Housing presents a dark situation to which it should be added that; there are still issues of quality, sustainable human settlement, affordability to poor households and low supply for affordable rental accommodation as for those who live in formal settlements

In Tembisa, housing conditions are no different from other South African townships which experience a severe housing shortage and poor housing conditions. Poor households who do not have access to marketable formal land often invade land for the purpose of building shacks. As a result, there is a multiplicity of shacks in eleven wards which comprise Tembisa. The delivery of houses through the RDP programme seems to be the only effective housing mode of delivery (see fig 1 in appendix). Other forms which are mentioned in National Housing policy and policy documents such as PHP and the form of SHH defined in this work as «market driven», seem to be almost nonexistent. Although there are some dwellings obtained through bank credits (see fig 2 in appendix), housing stock in Tembisa is essentially constituted of RDP houses given the high rate of poor and unemployed people who represent the majority of its population.

* ³⁸ Tembisa come from a Nguni name which means `Promise' or `Hope'.