Allocations and Relocations
This article was written in 2006.
While much of it is still pertinent, please click here
for the latest commentary.
Relocations to date
During the early years of the Renewal Project, approximately 10500
shack dwellers living in unsafe and/or badly situated locations were
moved and rehoused. The main areas from which these people were moved
included:
- Jukskei River
- London Road
- School sites
- Pan Africa
- Mandela Yard
- Watt Street
The earlier policy of moving people out of the Alex area has created
it own set of problems, and hasn't solved the existing problems of
Alex's remaining informal settlements in unsuitable locations. The ARP
is still faced with some tough decisions.
Who should benefit?
The key social question relates to who will be the beneficiaries of
new housing opportunities.
It is at this point that difficult decisions need to be made and a
social consensus crafted. Failure to do this can easily and
predictably result in conflict. Issues related to new and old
residents need to be respected and factored into the allocations
policy. A housing allocation process has been discussed and broadly
agreed to. Sadly such a process will inevitably have both winners and losers.
Guiding principle
How one manages this dynamic is a challenge that the project
confronts on a daily basis. The guiding principle is “how do we
allocate housing so that the overall benefit is greater than simply to
the beneficiary.”
Two major problems
In keeping with the guiding principal two major problems have been
identified in Alexandra that require urgent attention.
- Iphuteng school cluster
The first is the relocation of the 1 200 households that have
occupied the Iphuteng school cluster land. Some 4 800 pupils are
denied the safety and security and facilities required for a
decent education by the high-density shack settlement that has
encroached on virtually every square inch of school land. A court
eviction order is in place. As houses become available this school
site will be emptied and redeveloped as a proper school resource.
- Setjwetla shack settlement
Secondly, the Setjwetla shack settlement of approximately 7 000
houses, located
along the Jukskei River, needs to be resettled because it lies on
both an unstable and dangerous (gas) infill dump and below the 100
year flood line.
These two projects will absorb a great deal of the institutional
capacity of the ARP over the next 18 months.
Rehousing factory dwellers
While it is imperative that the more recently occupied factories and warehouses
around the periphery of Alexandra are
returned to economic activities as part of the local economic
development strategies of the ARP, neither the ADF (representing
community organisations) nor the local
councillors believe that it is the responsibility of the ARP to
re-house such people ahead of longer-term Alex residents.
Prioritising housing allocations
The ARP is very sensitive to the importance of housing
allocations being done justly. The traditional method of a waiting
list has proved ineffective in the context of a programme that needs
to resolve specific problems that are community priorities in
Alexandra. Thus, for example, the urgent need to build a
special school might require the re-housing of households out of an
invaded factory to enable land to be released.
Housing opportunities must be allocated on a community priority
basis and must be considered in terms of both practical need and
in the context of potential social conflict. Such decisions are not
taken unilaterally, but in consultation with both Alexandra's social
and political structures, for maximum benefit to the broader
community.
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