Informal settlements have potential to empower people and contribute to economic transformation by prioritizing the needs of the community through service delivery. This is to say that government should work on creating legislative clarity in order to create an enabling environment for people to develop themselves in urban areas. The social clubs and cooperatives should be encouraged and funded for the poor communities in order to reduce the dependency on government grants.
63 6.2.1 Upgrading Programs
Upgrading programs should recognize social networks and community cohesion within settlements and should find ways to support and enhance these. Moreover the research supports an in situ upgrading approach that focuses on improving the safety, health and well-being of residents where they are located, through the provision of an inclusive package of services and infrastructure. Care has to be taken to ensure that upgrading interventions do not disrupt the social support networks and informal measures of social control which perform an important function in the informal settlements. Another point raised in the literature and confirmed by this research is that a one-size fits-all approach to informal settlement upgrading is not advisable. This is because the context is markedly different across informal areas and certain upgrading approaches.
6.2.2 Community Participation
Community participation and active involvement in the upgrading projects is crucial, as government encourages support of programs in a sustainable manner. It is very difficult to maintain relationship throughout and after completion of the project, especially when the outcomes do not live up to residents’ expectations. A full package of basic services including electricity, water, sufficient and well-maintained sanitation facilities as well as improvements in the physical layout of sites, pathways and public spaces go a long way towards enhancing the general health and well- being of informal settlement dwellers. They also improve perceptions of safety and reduce opportunities for violence and crime. Physical improvements in the built environment are of absolute importance. However, without accompanying social and economic programs, they will not bring about the settlement transformation.
The research suggests that certain factors can be addressed through an upgrading intervention, whereas structural dimensions need longer-term, targeted, multi-agency programs to address the root factors which cause and sustain violence and crime. Upgrading and the provision of shelter should be a component of a much wider strategy to eradicate poverty and inequality by addressing structural conditions like unemployment and a lack of appropriate skill development programs which contribute to substance abuse as well as interpersonal and community-based violence. It should also be considered that urban upgrading, when accompanied by strategies for economic and social development, become much more complex programs, which need a long-term vision for their implementation and to observe the results and impacts.
64 The government should provide the necessary infrastructure including the provision of habitable housing (Slum upgrading), inclusion of the slum areas in the city’s physical and social fabric, provision of new housing and community facilities. This should include social projects in order to improve the livelihoods of the slum dwellers. If the local municipality does as the policy mandated there would be an increase in sustainable livelihoods and people would be able to utilize available resources to sustain their livelihoods.
6.2.3 Literacy
Another recommendation is for the government to increase literacy levels to create the basis for self –sustenance. If people have access to knowledge on how to register small businesses they will be able to open sustainable businesses. The government should also promote community based safety-nets to assist the poor in weathering cyclical economic downturns. One of the key components of power and wealth creation is access to information and knowledge and the ability to use that information or knowledge for economic or social gain.
6.2.4 Credit Facilities
The government should encourage credit organizations to loan slum dwellers capital to establish their businesses, and credit to economically active individuals in viable businesses to work in this area. This could be done through the provision of sustainable financial and non-financial services.
The credit should be specified as being for slum dwellers organization so that not too much information would be required by the banks when loans are needed. At the moment the information and documents that are required when applying for credit are, most of the time, beyond the reach of those currently unqualified who want to obtain loans.
6.2.5 Relocation
The study recommends that the relocation of informal settlement residents to a new location should be avoided, as in most cases, new relocation sites are on the peripheries of the city and are often poorly located as compared to the original location in terms of increased transport costs from the little wages they earn. Moreover the studies suggest that most of the time relocation does not only displace informal settlement residents but also interrupts their livelihoods.
Looking at the case of Jika Joe informal settlement, it is evident that the relocation of households to France was not a success. France is a township in Pietermaritzburg where people from Jika Joe were moved to. Others did not want to be removed from the settlement and they remained in Jika
65 Joe. Relocation of the slum dwellers had an impact on the residents in a number of ways. The location of the project had an impact on the residents in terms of an increase in household expenditure. The Department of Human Settlement in partnership with municipalities have to ensure that before people are relocated, land is suitable and well located for housing and their needs. It was evident that government officials’ perception on the relocation of the first household settled at Jika Joe to France RDP houses project differed to the informal settlement residents’
perceptions that were relocated there. Therefore it is recommended that if Msunduzi Municipality and the Department of Human Settlement upgrade the informal settlement they need to offer residents houses located closer to economic and social opportunities. This can be achieved with the government doing thorough assessments of community needs prior to the implementation of any upgrading program. By doing this the government will not only create a sustainable settlement but also ensure that beneficiaries of relocation projects do not go back to where they resided before and create more informal settlements which could cause a burden for the government.
Other recommendations raised by community leaders of Jika Joe informal settlement are that the current housing policy be improved to be more responsive to income poverty reduction. The main issues raised are around land availability, intensification of consumer education, assistance with start-up capital. Furthermore the government should provide the necessary infrastructure including the provision of habitable housing (Slum upgrading), inclusion of the slum areas in the city’s physical and social fabric provision of new housing and community facilities. This should include social projects in order to improve the livelihoods of the slum dwellers.