Housing in Southern Africa May 2016

H O U S I N G in Southern Africa

ED’S NOTES

It is clear that government’s newmessage emphasises the 4,3 million houses that have been delivered since South Africa’s first democratic government was elected. Housing, security and comfort

THE TEAM

EDITOR Carol Dalglish housing@crown.co.za ADVERTISING Brenda Grossmann brendag@crown.co.za DESIGN Karen Smith PUBLISHER Karen Grant DEPUTY PUBLISHER Wilhelm du Plessis DIRECTOR Jenny Warwick Colin Mazibuko CIRCULATION

T he Minister of Human Settle- ments, Lindiwe Sisulu, is on target to deliver a number of Catalytic Projects during her tenure. And in an election year, even amunic- ipal one, this is an achievement the government is deservedly proud of. The handover of housing tobenefi- ciaries at the fully integrated human settlement inMalibongwe andCosmo City, northwest of Johannesburg, has been a huge success. The joint venture between the Gauteng De- partment of Human Settlements, the City of Johannesburg and developer, Basil Read, has rolled out a variety of housing opportunities – affordable, rental and fully subsidised. The de- velopment is still one of the best of its kind in the country. Initially hailed as a blueprint for human settlements, other stakeholders have still to beat some of its design concepts. Every integrated human settle- ment development clearly adapts and makes changes in order to over- come previous shortfalls and chal- lenges, and introduces new ways of doing things. Travelling overseas recently, I was asked about the crime, corrup- tion and what it is really like to live in South Africa. People are usually gobsmacked when they hear how many houses have been delivered to the poor and low income earners for free; and howmuch government has achieved in providing housing for 20 million people, the social subsidies, free housing and affordable rentals. Sadly, we say farewell to Jeff Lawrence fromNedbank who is retir- ing and leaving the housing sector. We wish him well in his new private venture with his wife Sue. Jeff has been instrumental in a number of green initiatives at Nedbank. One example is sourcing funding from international development finance agencies to introduce solar, by pro- viding grant funding for new afford- able housing home owners. The likeable banker will really be missed in the sector. We welcome Des Hughes back to the affordablehousing sector. Hughes retired from Basil Read where he

played an integral part in establishing and developing the province’s first blueprint for an integrated human settlement at Cosmo City. He returns to the residential sector as Acting Chief Executive of RBA to manage the beleaguered housing developer’s turnaround and get them back on a firm footing. We also bid farewell to Mongezi Mnyani, NHBRC’s seasoned housing CEO, as hemoves on to newpastures. In the interim, Chairperson of the NHBRC, Abbey Chikane, has assumed the position of Executive Director un- til a suitable candidate can be found to take over the day-to-day running of the huge regulatory authority. There is somuch happening in this vital sector – exciting, dynamic and always interesting. Share your opinions, your own stories or weigh in with your com- ments. We welcome your feedback.

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Carol Dalglish • Editor

AVERAGE CIRCULATION (FOURTH QUARTER 2015) 3 743

Govan Mbeki Awards 2014 - Best Media - Housing in Southern Africa

May 2016