3.3. HOUSING POLICY AS A STRATEGY FOR HOUSING PROVISION IN SOUTH
3.3.2. Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), 1994
Post 1994, the democratically elected government embarked on the RDP, which focused on building a democratic, non-racial future for all South Africans. Thus, the South African government made a commitment to provide housing to all South Africans – so that they can
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have a place, they can call home. The aim was to help South Africans to start life anew with dignity and hope for a better future (Kihato, 2014). Thus, the RDP was a policy framework for
“integrated and coherent socio-economic progress, which sought to mobilise all the people of South Africa and their country’s resources toward a complete eradication of the poverty, created by the apartheid legacy”. According to RSA (1996) as cited in Nkuna (2013), the goal was to build a “democratic, non-racial and non-sexist future”. It presented a vision for the important transformation of South Africa by:
i) “developing strong and stable democratic institutions;
ii) ensuring representivity and participation;
iii) ensuring that South Africa becomes a fully-fledged, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society; and
iv) creating a sustainable and environmentally-friendly growth and development path” (DoH, 1994).
The 1994 White Paper on Housing stipulates that government should prioritise the needs of the poor, encourage community participation and private sector involvement, and commit to delivering million houses in a period of five years (Goebel, 2007). The scholar further indicates that the ANC, through the RDP document of 1994, aimed to ensure that the government’s quest to provide housing to the poor, as stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996), is realised. This programme entails building houses in serviced townships in urban peripheries – this in itself presented many ecological, societal and political concerns (Goebel, 2007).
Thus, the RDP influenced the housing policy post-1994-to this effect, the ANC described the programme as an integrated comprehensible socio-economic housing policy framework (Ndinda et al., 2011). The RDP made clear provisions for legislation in housing, which includes construction standards, tenants and squatters’ rights, community re-investments by financial institutions, removals, consumer protection, land restoration, community participation in developments and anti-discriminatory protection (Bond & Khosa, 1999). Housing delivery targets were set at a million houses in the first five years, with the predicted rate of 350 000 units per annum (DoH, 1994). While the housing policy has been largely influenced by the strong social development agenda of the RDP, it was also informed by the national macro- economic policy, the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) since 1996 (Ndinda et al., 2011).
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Viljeon (2014) further attest that the RDP made it clear that it was aimed at redressing the lack of access to urban infrastructure, as well as access to land and housing, created by the apartheid government. Land reform was one of the key areas of concern that needed to be addressed urgently. Post-1994 government’s policy frameworks in South Africa stipulate that government redress the imbalances in housing provision in urban and rural areas, which were created by the apartheid government (Viljoen, 2014). The RDP policy acknowledged that the majority of South Africans are still suffering because of these imbalances. According to the RDP framework, there should be no class distinction among the people, which was introduced by the previous government, with its ills (Sebola & Nkuna, 2014). Ndinda et al. (2011) allude to the fact that the RDP as a framework, which was identified for development, was replaced by another neo-liberal macro-economic policy, GEAR before the identified programmes could take off.
William and Taylor (as cited in Sebola & Nkuna, 2014), acknowledges that government was committed to implementing the RDP, which was aimed at driving change by maximally spending on social needs. However, the RDP has failed to address the imbalances of the past, although large sums of money were spent on social needs. It became difficult for government to water down the RDP because of external pressures from local and international capital. Great emphasis has been put on rapid service delivery but those in political circles (Wenzel, 2007).
Wenzel further warns that if the ruling party disregards the mandate it was given by the electorate this can compromise the party’s integrity. Conflicts ensued among stakeholders during the implementation phase of the RDP, caused by the diverse centres of power in the country (Wenzel, 2007). One needs to acknowledge that leaders are not as powerful as they would like to project themselves, and that recommendations by members of the executive are sometimes ignored, if they are not aligned with the mandate of the party. Government institutions are designed to regulate governmental powers and monitor its activities. Events, whether happening on a domestic or external level, shape the choices of governments.
Sometimes cabinets have little control over what is happening to them (Weller and Stevens, 2015).
In its 20-year review, DHS has attested to the fact that mostly developers and private construction companies controlled housing delivery during the implementation of the RDP.
These were the role players responsible for the planning and building of houses on behalf of national and provincial governments (DHS, 2014). The RDP framework prescribed the housing specification, which was largely oriented to include public-private funds and to promote social
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and not individual housing consumption (Bond & Khosa, 1999). According to Bradlow et al., (2011), housing subsidy programme in South Africa shaped a difference between shacks that needed to be destroyed and formal houses that needed to be provided. These new houses constructed through this subsidy programme, referred to by the abbreviation RDP that was all that the government was prepared to provide at the time. Government considered a fully serviced top structure RDP house as a housing and this resulted in many problems to human settlements and the integration of cities (Bradlow et al., 2011).