As I read the Public Protector’s report this week, I tried to calculate how many legal procedures had been flouted in the construction of Zuma’s Nkandla Estate. And I was overwhelmed once more (as I often have been during my years in executive office) by a sense of powerlessness and frustration at the innumerable obstacles that impede housing delivery for the poor. For “priority” infrastructure projects -- such Nkandla and the World Cup -- regulations are either eased or ignored altogether. But when it comes to housing for the poor, every millimetre of red tape (planning, zoning, environmental impact, traffic impact, heritage impact, visual impact, bulk services, repeated rounds of public participation etc) is measured and audited. It was far easier to deliver a World-Cup stadium, the biggest-ever infrastructure project in Cape Town, than it is to even get started on a modest housing project. Cape Town Stadium was completed within two-and-a-half-years from conception to the World Cup kick-off. But housing projects initiated as early as 2006, are still limping along -- almost eight years later. Yes, the complex regulatory environment (planning, zoning, environmental impact, bulk services, public participation, etc) all contribute to the delays. But nothing does more to prevent progress than conflict within the beneficiary community. This struck me again during a recent visit to Hangberg (Hout Bay), where Mayor Patricia de Lille and I turned the first sod for the new Council rental flats on what is arguably the most beautiful piece of waterfront real estate in Africa.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:07:24 +0000
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