South Africa: Informal Dwellers Save for Houses
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Cape Argus (Cape Town)
10 July 2008
Posted to the web 10 July 2008
Peter Luhanga
Residents of an informal settlement near Cape Town, who face eviction from the land on which their shacks are built, have started saving money to build their own houses.
The residents, who have lived in the Doornbach informal settlement near Milnerton in Cape Town for the past 10 years, have formed the Doornbach Poor Peoples' Housing saving scheme (DPPH) and have saved R41 000 since September.
The land on which the residents live was privately owned and has been sold to a developer. DPPH founder and chairperson Zoliswa Gila, 38, said residents did not know when they would be evicted but when they heard that the land had been sold for industrial development they had started saving.
There are 150 members who belong to the housing scheme.
Each member contributes R10 a week to the fund and, although there is not enough money to build houses, the members hope that in time the cash pool will be enough to help them build houses. Gila said residents had "had enough" of government promises to provide land and housing.
She said residents wanted to be self-reliant and would continue to save funds until land was made available for them to build houses.
"We don't want government to get a contractor to build our houses. We want to build our own houses."
DPPH member Albert Mazula, 29, said in winter life was "unbearable" in the informal settlement. The rains of the last few days have left hundreds homeless in Du Noon, with Philemon Khoza, director of the Du Noon Advice Centre, saying 393 people were left homeless due to the flooding.
Mazula said he joined the savings scheme to escape these dilapidated living conditions.
"If you are on the bed, when you step down you step in water," said Mazula.
"I have been staying in a shack for more than 11 years and can't take it any longer."
He said saving money was the only way to get out of the tough living conditions.
Mazula also said that, by saving for their houses, members would learn about the value of house ownership.
The informal settlement falls within the Blaauwberg sub-council.
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Blaauwberg sub-council manager Peter Deacon said the land on which Doornbach was situated had been sold by Cape Killarney Property Investments to a developer. He was unable to say when the residents would be moved, or to where.
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Great stuff,what you(Capetown informal residents)are doing will be lauded in the future,don't be surprised if the ANC does not like it,just carry on and vote for someone else. A change of mindset like this is probably the hardest change to make,I congratulate you.