Housing in Southern Africa June 2016

H O U S I N G in Southern Africa

ED’S NOTES

Opportunities for youth contractors

THE TEAM

In the past few months we have seen the National Home Builders Registration Council draw accolades for its Youth Brigade training programme that creates opportunities for budding youth entrepreneurs, developers and contractors.

EDITOR Carol Dalglish housing@crown.co.za ADVERTISING Brenda Grossmann brendag@crown.co.za DESIGN Karen Smith PUBLISHER Karen Grant DEPUTY PUBLISHER Wilhelm du Plessis Colin Mazibuko CIRCULATION

I t is a symbiotic collaboration be- tween the Department of Human Settlements, NHBRC, provincial and local government, to pioneer transformation in the housing sector. It is really inspiring visiting sites around the country and interviewing a number of Youth Brigade partici- pants. The Govan Mbeki Best Youth Contractor, Thokozane Littler, owns and runs Madimong Trading & Ser- vices and this modest youngman is a trulyworthywinner of the prestigious award. As a housing contractor, he is happiest handing over well built houses to government beneficiaries and takes great pride in his workman- ship and pleasure in the appreciative words of new home owners. His business model weaves social and economic responsibility into the very fabric of Madimong Trading & Services. He offers young people like himself the opportunity to have a good introduction to working in the built environment and has branched out in training and construction. NHBRC’s youth champion, Zweli Magano, has a wealth of building industry knowledge and oversees the Youth Brigade training programme. The Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, aims to ensure that 10 000 youth receive training by 2019 and all stakeholders are keen to assist the Minister to deliver on 4,5 million housing opportunities. Putting the youth to work, giving them a stake in the built environment and providing them with a stipend during training bodes well for the sector. Kudos to the Department for this creative, workable initiative. Going green using recycled materials is another area of the hu- man settlements built environment that has peaked interest in the North West Province. The Village of Hope, a R285 million residential project on 285 ha overlooking Hartebeespoort Dam, has been constructed using recycled polystyrene materials. The patented product uses 720 kg of

recycled polystyrene to build a 68m²house.Thevillagewillaccommo- date 1 000 orphans on completion. A 32 m² house costs R28 000 to build. This is a workable, cost effective housing solution that government aims to replicate on other projects. The City of Cape Town has retrofit- ted 3 600 government fully subsidised houses with ceilings and will com- plete a further 4 500 by the end of August. Considering the chilly Cape weather, the insulation and weath- erproofing will be most welcome by beneficiaries. Every year, hundreds of thousands of South Africans take a leap of faith and start their own businesses and we offer some start-up guidelines on where to get help. Darlene Menzies from SMEasy shares some of her expertise. On that happy note, we hope that you enjoy the read!

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Carol Dalglish • Editor

AVERAGE CIRCULATION (FIRST QUARTER 2016) 3 727

Govan Mbeki Awards 2014 - Best Media - Housing in Southern Africa

June 2016