Perceptions of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) housing beneficiaries in South Africa on the extent to which the project meet their housing needs: the case of golf course estate in Alice town, Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Manomano, Tatenda
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Government policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Alice (South Africa)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M SW
- Identifier: vital:11765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005996 , Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Government policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Alice (South Africa)
- Description: The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of RDP beneficiaries on the extent to which the RDP housing project meets their housing needs in South Africa through a case study of Golf Course Estate in Alice Town with the following specific objectives; to assess the extent to which the Alice Golf Course housing project has achieved the RDP programme objectives; to establish beneficiaries‟ perceptions on the extent the RDP Alice Golf Course houses meet their needs; and to explore the level of satisfaction on the RDP houses by beneficiaries. This study utilized triangulation of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies with qualitative as the dominant approach while quantitative was less dominant. The qualitative design took the form of a case study while the quantitative took the form of mini survey. The study sampled 72 participants from the study population. The study utilized an interview guide and a questionnaire as instruments of data collection. The findings indicated that the gender representation of the beneficiaries was skewed. This is because there were more females heading the houses than males; unemployment was also high; most participants were unmarried and most were adults. This study also discovered that most people residing in these houses are not the real owners who were allocated the houses. There were qualitative problems associated with the components of these houses such as poor roofing, doors, windows, floors and walls. Service delivery complaints were based on inadequate access to clean water, small size and spacing of the RDP house. Security was also a challenge because all the houses did not have street lights and the roads were very bad. Though it is commendable that drainage and sewer facilities are available, but they are not serving their purpose since there is no water in these houses. The findings also indicated that there were discrepancies in allocation of the houses; pervasiveness of social ills; inadequate consultative meetings between the RDP Administrator or social worker and the beneficiaries; as well as the pervasiveness of HIV/AIDS among other issues. This researcher recommended that the government needs to promote economic empowerment to deal with unemployment; to improve the quality of the material building the houses; improvement on service delivery gaps; to beef up infrastructure; renovation and revamping of current houses; to establish commissions of inquiry to deal with corruption; to honour and monitor waiting lists. Partnership with other stakeholders was also critical, in addressing access to social services and helps deal with social ills and run behaviour modification campaigns. This researcher also recommended that there is a need to carry out further research on the role played by the municipalities in the RDP housing project as well as conducting a purely qualitative research to further explore the perceptions of other stakeholders, NGOs, traditional leaders, church leaders, and police on the implementation of the housing project. This researcher advises that such a research could be carried out through focus group discussions and also since this study was bound by a case study it is also necessary for similar research to be carried out in different places in South Africa.
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Reconstruction and Development Programme in Post-apartheid South Africa: a study of Public Perceptions of the housing service delivery in Chris Hani Park Block 3 township, East London
- Authors: Cewuka, Thembakazi Gloriadaria
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Government policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Housing -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Post-apartheid , Service delivery , Public perception , Sustainability , Involvement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11947 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005991 , Human services -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic assistance, Domestic -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Government policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Housing -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Post-apartheid , Service delivery , Public perception , Sustainability , Involvement
- Description: This research sought to understand the perceptions of the township dwellers who are the beneficiaries of the RDP houses in a selected township, Chris Hani block 3 in Mdantsane, East London, in the Eastern Cape. The study specifically sought to establish whether the houses delivered to the residents through the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) adequately meet the basic standards prescribed by the relevant housing policy of South Africa. During the apartheid era black South Africans were marginalised, their development was separate from that of whites and they had no say in what was provided for them, hence they were inadequately housed. On coming into power, the post-apartheid government undertook through legislation to provide sustainable, adequate housing that would address the needs of the historically disadvantaged citizens/poor people of South Africa. The main finding of this study conducted on a sample of ten RDP housing beneficiaries, through personal interviews is that, the RDP is a good programme; however, its implementation is characterised by corruption and greed. The people, whom the programme is meant to benefit, have never been involved in their own development with the results that the houses provided to them, are of a sub-standard quality. The houses do not adequately address the housing needs of the people. The housing policies are also not adequately implemented. It is the author’s hope that the recommendations made by this study, if implemented, will improve the standard of the RDP houses provided to the poor people of South Africa.
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Agricultural public spending, growth and poverty linkage hypotheses in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Ndhleve, Simbarashe
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural industries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Government spending policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Agricultural Economics)
- Identifier: vital:11157 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/493 , Poverty -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural industries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Government spending policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Finance, Public -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The adoption of the Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG1) of reducing the rate of poverty to half of the 1990-level by 2015, the advent of democracy in South Africa, among other things, have raised concerns over the potential role of the agricultural sector. There is a belief that the sector has the capacity to successfully reduce poverty among the rural masses and contribute to addressing the problem of inequality in South Africa. In line with that thinking, South Africa‘s agricultural sector has attracted considerable fiscal policy interest. For instance, South Africa‘s statistics show that public investments in agricultural development programmes have been growing. In spite of this, rural poverty is still a major concern on an overall basis. However, this might not be the case in the Eastern Cape Province and the situation might be different for each district municipality. This study assesses the linkages between public agricultural investment, agricultural growth and poverty reduction in the Eastern Cape Province. The study also addresses the question whether Eastern Cape Province is on course to meet several regional development targets. The study also aims to provide an estimate of the amount of agricultural investment required to attain the agricultural productivity growth rate which is sufficient to meet MDG1. The study reviewed the various theories of public spending, linkages between public investment and agricultural growth and how these components affect the incidence of poverty. The conventional wisdom that public expenditure in agriculture positively affects economic growth and this growth consequently reduces poverty was noted. The reviews also revealed that in many developing countries, the current level of public agricultural investment needs to be increased significantly for countries to meet the MDG1. This study employed the decomposition technique and growth elasticity of poverty concept to estimate the response of poverty to its key determinants. The size of public spending, prioritization of public spending and the intensity in the use of public funds emerged as important in increasing agricultural production. The relationship between government investment in agriculture and agricultural GDP shows iv that public funds were largely behind the province‘s success in increasing agricultural production throughout the period from 1990s to 2010. Agricultural spending went to sustainable resource management, administrative functions and then farmer support programme. Exceptional growth in the size of spending was recorded in respect to agricultural economic function, structured agricultural training, sustainable resource management and veterinary services. Overall output from the agricultural sector fluctuated, and the sector contributed less than 5 per cent to the total provincial GDP. Correlations between growth in agricultural sector and changes in the incidence of poverty in Eastern Cape show that during the period 1995 to 2000, increases in the agricultural GDP per capita may have failed to benefit the poor as poverty increased in all the reported cases.–However, for the period between 2005 and 2010, the situation was different and it was observed that increases in agricultural GDP per capita and were associated with reduction in the incidence of poverty. Growth elasticity of poverty (GEP) estimates reveal that agricultural GDP per capita was more important in reducing poverty in 5 out of the 7 district municipalities. Non-agricultural GDP per capita was only important in two district municipalities. It emerged that most of the district municipalities are not in a position to meet any of the regional set goals. This situation is largely attributable to the province‘s failure to boost agricultural production which is an outcome of low and inefficient public expenditure management, inconsistent and misaligned policies and failure to fully embrace the concept of pro-poor growth. Varied provisional estimates for the required agricultural growth rate and the increase in public spending on agriculture required in order to reach MDG1 were calculated for each district municipalities. All the district municipalities of Eastern Cape will need to increase public investment in agriculture for them to achieve MDG1.
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