South Africa: Housing problem in Tshwane yet to be tackled

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Housing problem in Tshwane continues even as residents warm up for the upcoming local elections on August 3. Several of residents are still living in informal settlements.

Withpeople coming from various provinces or countries to look for jobs, the Tshwane Metro is making all efforts to find better accommodation for them.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) however has alleged that the city is not giving stand owners their title deeds and Human Rights Lawyers holds the opinion that the city is contradicting what it preaches when it comes to housing destitute people.

Many cities in the world are beacons of hope for the destitute and South Africa’s capital city can not be an exception.

Several people come to the Tshwane Metro and more particularly the heart of the capital, Pretoria.

This results into informal settlements and land invasions.

Joshua Ngonyama, the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) in charge of housing in the city, says the city is making remarkable steps in providing accommodation to the influx as well as the natives.

The MMC says, however, most of the economic destitute people coming to the city don’t give the housing process to run its course.

Ngonyama adds that a political decision to integrate high density social housing all over the city, including the recently so-called white areas, has been taken and will happen. He however says they will take appropriate actions to punish land invaders.

SollyMsimanga, the DA mayoral candidate, however alleges that one of the biggest challenge in the city is that the title deeds of properties are not issued to the owners.

He noted corruption as one of the main reasons why the city is failing to meet the housing demand.

Msimanga also says excessive spending by the metro is negatively affecting the city’s obligation to offer housing and basic services to the residents.

Housing problem in Tshwane is not unique in South Africa. The country is still struggling to match demand but the deficit is still far from rich. But it is not South Africa alone, housing in Africa continued to be an a major challenge that has remained unresolved for decades.