Strategies for rural housing provision in Nkobonkobo Village, Alice, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mnqandi, Nomgqibelo Beauty
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Housing, Rural -- South Africa -- Alice Public welfare -- South Africa -- Alice
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MDS
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49692 , vital:41771
- Description: South Africa’s history, pre- and post-democracy, has been designed by different laws which moulded the socio-economic conditions of rural communities in numerous ways. The introduction of democracy in the country created a platform for understanding different rights for many citizens; amongst those rights a right to shelter, proper sanitation, and clean water. The provision of housing by the three spheres of government, local, provincial, and national aimed at addressing these rights for all citizens of the country, which is a privilege for both urban and rural communities. Even though provision of houses for the rural poor was not the priority in the first administration of the democratic government, as time progressed, discussions and implementation of the policy on housing provision for rural communities became a strong political debate. The intensity on housing provision for rural houses as from 2010 became more resilient. The objectives of this study firstly viewed the botches of the Department of Human Settlement, Water and Sanitation and the Municipality to monitor and evaluate infrastructural challenges faced by rural communities who became beneficiaries of houses under Rural Development Programme (RDP). The issue of poor sanitation and access to clean water by rural poor even in the fourth and fifth administration was also a concern of the study. The socio-economic factors on the provision of houses for rural housing beneficiaries was also a major apprehension, and support services provided by the relevant stakeholders to rural housing beneficiaries was also a point for discussion. It is therefore imperative that the study evaluate and recommend strategies that can be put in place for improving housing provision for the rural poor and create sustainable human settlements. The Eastern Cape Province is one of the provinces that are battling with backlogs related to housing provision, high unemployment rates, low rural household incomes, and low levels of education more especially to older citizens, which can create a higher risk of crime more especially by the youth. This study, therefore, attempted to highlight cases of poor administration, since it its findings the issue of wasteful expenditure of people’s taxes when houses constructed for community beneficiaries are not occupied. The absence of these important amenities in any community, poor sanitation and a lack of water which creates food insecurities, because there is no agricultural practice, even at a subsistence level and health communities are in danger more especially women and children. In such cases, poverty becomes rife, and health-related issues tend to expand. Similarly, economic growth and social development becomes limited. This treatise was concerned with the strategies used in the provision of rural housing in South Africa, the Eastern Cape Province. The findings further identify that the legislation that was supposed to be employed by the Department of Human Settlement in the provision of rural housing was not considered as a priority, hence there were many flaws identified. The policies applied in other countries, internationally, were suggested to be used as a benchmark for improving housing provision strategies in rural Eastern Cape municipalities. Since the study had adopted a descriptive approach, meaning the use of secondary data, the issue of public participation in any designed development project in rural communities should be as an important aspect of rural development, The Batho Pele Principles as key instrumental legislation in the government should be taken into serious consideration always more especially the principle of consultation. Rigorous debates are also required to produce policies that are informed by evidence in order to build and produce a better future.
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- Date Issued: 2020
The land restitution programme on Rural Livelihoods in the Amathole District, Eastern Cape: The case of Cata Community land claim.
- Authors: Mnqandi, Nomgqibelo Beauty
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Restitution -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Land tenure -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Land reform -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10453 , vital:35475
- Description: The history of South Africa has been shaped by the dictatorial laws of the apartheid regime which ushered an order of domination and segregation, ostensibly to perpetuate social inequality along racial lines. In the process the white minority intended to stifle the potential of the black communities and render them subservient and unable to question or stand against white domination. To this effect the white minority instituted discriminatory laws such as The Native Land Act of 1913, among others, in a bid to give impetus to the dispossession of black communities of their land. The dispossessed people were eventually forcefully removed from their land and posted to the middle of nowhere, at the so-called Ciskei and Transkei territories. In these homelands, as these states were called, the black South Africans started to feel the pinch of apartheid more. The worst of all, these people were impoverished since they had no jobs. It is only after the emergence of the democratic dispensation, in 1994, that the transformative action was taken even though it failed to deliver as expected. In the process, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform was established with a mission to transform and redress the evils of the past by either giving the dispossessed back their land, alternative land or financial compensation, among other arrangements. However, since it was difficult to give people back their land, the most popular option became financial compensation. This choice, it has been argued, was influenced by the high levels of poverty, high unemployment rate, low rural household incomes and poor levels of education – instances which may have led to the beneficiaries attaching little or no value towards land ownership and other possible means of land restitution. As such, ii the majority of the community thought that financial compensation would lead to sustainable livelihood and would, therefore, not allow such opportunity to slip off their hands. However, more than two decades after the emergence of the democratic dispensation, the popular financial compensation has not yielded the expected results. Yet there is a Cata community which, being among the first members of the society to successfully claim for land restitution opted for land restoration and financial compensation award was given to claimants to pay for houses that were demolished during the betterment process. Out of the award, the Cata community took a calculated risk and invested 50% of the compensation money towards the development and improving the livelihood of the Cata community. This being the case, the study sought to explore to what extent the restitution programme (with the financial compensation option) could succeed in improving the livelihoods of the Cata community. In a way, while this statement is the main objective of the study, it also satisfies the key question of the study. It will ensure that the Cata community, in their attempt to lead sustainable livelihoods, will become creative and ensure that people have good paying jobs, they budget and rationalise before using money; and that they are even prepared to take calculated risks in order to succeed, just as the Cata communities have done. No doubt this would ensure that every member of the society enjoys and is regaled by the fruits and transformative actions of the new democratic dispensation. Qualitative research methodology has been selected to conduct research of this study because it requires a researcher to dig deep to the research problems and give out rich research findings with insight because community experiences can only be understood qualitatively not through the statistics. The main findings of this study among others are that financial compensation should be linked with iii development in order to sustain livelihoods of the rural poor as the case has been with Cata community. A number of communities who opted financial compensation did not lead a sustainable livelihood instead they either became poorer or fell victims of poverty because they fail to use their financial compensation award wisely.
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- Date Issued: 2018