[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

1 August 2007

For ten families living in one of the most waterlogged informal settlements in Cape Town the cold front anticipated later this week could be the last they must endure in a flooded-out shack.

The ten families have been chosen by the New Rest community as the beneficiaries of houses being built by women for women to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the Women's March to the Union Buildings in 1956.

The new homeowners will include elderly and disabled women, and those looking after orphans and/or vulnerable children.

New Rest, between Gugulethu and the N2 Highway, is the site for Women's Build 2007. Women's Build is an annual initiative of the national Department of Housing to promote partnerships and boost women in the construction sector.

This year's Women's Build is jointly hosted by the department and Thubelisha, the state housing developer; with their key partners, South African Women in Construction (Sawic), the National Home Builders Registration Council and the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing. Event sponsors include Standard Bank, M5 Construction and BP Gypsum.

Two hundred women volunteers, and a few men, will help build 10 houses in the nine days leading up to Women's Day on 9 August. The 10 houses are part of the next phase of 25 houses that will contribute to an eventual total of 1 155 houses planned to convert the 17 year old settlement from a slum into a suburb.

Build volunteers, including women from the New Rest community, will work under the supervision of professional contractors and team leaders, with Sawic members playing a leading role in their guidance and training.

The New Rest community is poor but cohesive. It is providing its own answers to the challenging reality that formal housing takes more space than informal housing, meaning not everyone can be accommodated in a house where their shack used to be. At New Rest residents who have lived there longest are being accommodated first, with the remainder agreeing to move to Delft.

The prototype New Rest homes conform to the improved housing subsidy standard: They are 40 square meter structures that contain two bedrooms, open plan kitchen/living room, bathroom, water and electricity, and given free to people qualifying for subsidies. They replace the old 27 metre square, single bedroom Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) standard.

New Rest is one of the building sites for the N2 Gateway Pilot Project, the pioneering national housing initiative to test government's policy of building integrated and sustainable communities - not just houses.

The essence of the new policy is that one size does not fit all. Some people presently forced to live in backyards or shacks can afford to buy, and others would prefer to rent. Many qualify for the national housing subsidy, which means they qualify to receive a free house.

The N2 Gateway Pilot Project is the biggest housing project yet undertaken by government. It will see the development of approximately 30 000 dignified dwellings at sites along a 30 kilometre stretch of the N2, from District Six to Joe Slovo, Netreg, New Rest and Boystown to Delft.

The South African Government has built 2,4 million RDP homes since 1994, housing more than nine million people. Only the Chinese and Indian governments have built more houses in this period.

The national theme for Women's Month is: 'Emancipation, empowerment, equality and eradication of poverty now!'

For more information:
Monwabisi Maclean
Cell: 082 882 2962

Prince Xhanti Sigcawu
Cell: 082 883 9739

Issued by: Department of Housing
1 August 2007
Source: Department of Housing (http://www.housing.gov.za)