Housing in Southern Africa June 2015

News

Scottsdene social housing units

T he City of Cape Town has rolled our 104newsocial housingunits with the Western Cape govern- ment and the City’s social housing partner, Madulammoho. These units form part of 500 so- cial housing units at the Scottsdene Rental Estate Project, a joint initiative with the national and Western Cape government. TheCityhas providedR53million in institutional subsidy funding towards this project and contributed land at a discountedratetomaketheprojectfea- sible and to provide rental accommo- dation to residents from lower income groups. Thisproject isbudgetedatover R157 million including State funding, with R110 million spent so far. Through this project, the City is able to provide affordable rental ac- commodation to lowincome residents who earn less than R3 500 per month as well as households who earn less than R7 500 per month. In total, 500 fully subsidised social housing units will be rolled out by December 2015. Almost 232 units have been allocated to beneficiaries from Scottsdene and the surrounding areas. This includes 104 families who NPC call for nominations President Jacob Zuma held a final meeting to receive a report and bid farewell to the outgoing members of the first National Planning Commission (NPC). T he members of the commis- sion were appointed in 2010 for a period of five years which

received their keys over the past few weeks. “Having access to affordable housing is one of the ways in which the City aims to create opportunities. Affordable housing is key to empow- ering our previously disadvantaged residents and to the transformation of our city in general,’ said the City’sMay- oral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Benedicta van Minnen. The Scottsdene Rental Estate is within close proximity to transport expired at the end of May 2015. The President thanked the commission- ers for a sterling job done over the past five years, the highlight of which was the successful finalisation of the country’sNational Development Plan. He paid particular tribute to the Com- mission’s first chairperson, former Minister in the Presidency, Trevor Manuel and its former deputy chair- person and now Deputy President of the Republic, Cyril Ramaphosa, for successfully leading the NPC and ensuring its phenomenal success. Zuma also thanked theMinister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe, the Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, who has the responsibility of ensuring that the National Development Plan is implemented in government. The Minister is also tasked with promot- ing the NDP’s implementation across all sectors. The outgoing Commission pre- sented its close-out report to the President outlining the work it has done over the past five years and what still needs to be done by the in- comingmembers of the Commission.

nodes, schools, recreational facilities, churches andeconomicopportunities. Security features include 24-hour manned security, clear-view fenc- ing and access control via biometric fingerprint technology. Provision has also been made for a well-designed and fully maintained garden. TheCity looks forward todelivering the remainder of the social housing units to the rest of the beneficiaries later this year. ■ As one of its final contributions, the Commission is finalising a discussion document on planning. This docu- ment draws on the Commission’s experience over the past five years, as well as international experiences to put forward a set of recommenda- tions on how government planning should be done. Whereas the NDP focussed on defining the strategic direction for the country and setting goals and priorities, this document deals with the nuts and bolts of plan- ning. The discussion document will bemade publicly available during the month of May 2015. The implementation of the NDP is supported by the Medium Term Stra- tegic Framework (MTSF) which has been adopted by government and is currently under implementation. The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is overseeing the plan and reports to Cabinet. Minister Radebe has called for nominations for the newNPC, whose members are appointed by the Presi- dent. An announcement will bemade in due course once all the processes have been completed. ■

June 2015