Housing in Southern Africa May 2016

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May 2016
ED’S NOTES
AVERAGE CIRCULATION
(FOURTH QUARTER 2015)
3 743
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H OUSI NG
in Southern Africa
EDITOR
ADVERTISING
DESIGN
Colin Mazibuko
CIRCULATION
Karen Smith
PUBLISHER
Karen Grant
DEPUTY PUBLISHER
Wilhelm du Plessis
DIRECTOR
Jenny Warwick
Govan Mbeki Awards 2014 - Best Media - Housing in Southern Africa
Carol Dalglish • Editor
The Minister of Human Settle-
ments, Lindiwe Sisulu, is on
target to deliver a number of
Catalytic Projects during her tenure.
And in an election year, even amunic-
ipal one, this is an achievement the
government is deservedly proud of.
The handover of housing tobenefi-
ciaries at the fully integrated human
settlement inMalibongwe andCosmo
City, northwest of Johannesburg,
has been a huge success. The joint
venture between the Gauteng De-
partment of Human Settlements, the
City of Johannesburg and developer,
Basil Read, has rolled out a variety of
housing opportunities – affordable,
rental and fully subsidised. The de-
velopment is still one of the best of
its kind in the country. Initially hailed
as a blueprint for human settlements,
other stakeholders have still to beat
some of its design concepts.
Every integrated human settle-
ment development clearly adapts
and makes changes in order to over-
come previous shortfalls and chal-
lenges, and introduces new ways of
doing things.
Travelling overseas recently,
I was asked about the crime, corrup-
tion and what it is really like to live
in South Africa. People are usually
gobsmacked when they hear how
many houses have been delivered to
the poor and low income earners for
free; and howmuch government has
achieved in providing housing for 20
million people, the social subsidies,
free housing and affordable rentals.
Sadly, we say farewell to Jeff
Lawrence fromNedbank who is retir-
ing and leaving the housing sector.
We wish him well in his new private
venture with his wife Sue. Jeff has
been instrumental in a number of
green initiatives at Nedbank. One
example is sourcing funding from
international development finance
agencies to introduce solar, by pro-
viding grant funding for new afford-
able housing home owners. The
likeable banker will really be missed
in the sector.
We welcome Des Hughes back to
the affordablehousing sector. Hughes
retired from Basil Read where he
played an integral part in establishing
and developing the province’s first
blueprint for an integrated human
settlement at Cosmo City. He returns
to the residential sector as Acting
Chief Executive of RBA to manage
the beleaguered housing developer’s
turnaround and get them back on a
firm footing.
We also bid farewell to Mongezi
Mnyani, NHBRC’s seasoned housing
CEO, as hemoves on to newpastures.
In the interim, Chairperson of the
NHBRC, Abbey Chikane, has assumed
the position of Executive Director un-
til a suitable candidate can be found
to take over the day-to-day running of
the huge regulatory authority.
There is somuch happening in this
vital sector – exciting, dynamic and
always interesting.
Share your opinions, your own
stories or weigh in with your com-
ments. We welcome your feedback.
It is clear that government’s newmessage emphasises the 4,3 million
houses that have been delivered since South Africa’s first democratic
government was elected.
Housing, security and comfort