This week i wanted to show the new houses built by the governement of South Africa for people who can't afford to buy one at a normal price. Many of the houses that have been built are what are popularly known as "RDP houses." In 1994 the African National Congress adopted the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), an integrated socio-economic policy framework which is now the policy if the government. The RDP set a goal of 300,000 houses to be built a year with a minimum of one million low-cost houses to be constructed within five years.
The Housing Act, “housing development” is defined as:
1 “… the establishment and maintenance of habitable, stable and sustainable public and private residential environments to ensure viable households and communities in areas allowing convenient access to economic opportunities, and to health, educational and social amenities in which all citizens and permanent residents of the Republic will, on a progressive basis, have access to:
(a) permanent residential structures with secure tenure, ensuring internal and external privacy and providing adequate protection against the elements; and
(b) potable water, adequate sanitary facilities and domestic energy supply.”
Criticisms of the housing being built includes quality, size (many are very small) and location (numerous identical houses in areas with no social or economic infrastructure). Some RDP houses are so small and badly built that people joke that they are "so small you need to go outside to change your mind."
The view of these houses, all lined up is very impressive. People critisize the size, the quality or the fact that they come with a very small land which won't allow the owners to extend their house. But if we look in Europe, what did we do? We parked the people in big buildings which are for most of them in a very bad state... What i think of this program is that it brings dignity to these families...the dignity to own a house and a land.
