Category Archives: policy

Young women from informal settlements report on their experiences of accessing sexual and reproductive and other health services

Young women from informal settlements report on their experiences of accessing sexual and reproductive and other health services from clinics

Melissa O’Reilly & Laura Washington
Agenda, Vol. 26, No.2 pages 126-138, 21 Aug 2012

Abstract

Project Empower is a Durban based non-governmental organisation (NGO) working with young women in a programme aimed at increasing their ability to defend their sexual and reproductive rights as a strategy to support their efforts to avoid primary and secondary HIV infection. Project Empower has worked with up to 80 young women from Durban shack settlements and has become aware of the struggles faced by young women in accessing sexual and reproductive health services. The research reported in the Briefing shows that young women shack-dwellers perceive that they frequently face inadequate and sometimes harmful service provision. Some of these are well known and documented such as long queues, delayed test results and drug stock-outs. Less known is the prejudice and discrimination experienced by young women from health care providers, reported by women in the research to frequently hold anti-poor, sexist and ageist attitudes. The Briefing argues that these experiences discourage young women from returning for follow-up services, often with long-term negative consequences for their health. This Briefing is based on focus group discussions with young women participating in our programme and outlines their experiences of accessing sexual and reproductive health care. It also compares these experiences with the Department of Health’s own policy document ‘Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Fulfilling our Commitments 2011–2021 and Beyond’ (published in May 2011) and presents the young women’s demands for how the services can be transformed. Continue reading

A Resource Guide to Housing in South Africa 1994-2010

Click here to download this guide in pdf.

A Resource Guide to Housing in South Africa 1994-2010

by Kate Tissington, Socio-Economic Rights Institute

Chapter 1
Introduction

Chapter 1 provides a framing overview of the housing landscape in South Africa, examining some of the systemic problems facing housing policy implementation and briefly discussing the nature of adequate housing.

Chapter 2
Housing legislative and policy framework in South Africa

Chapter 2 outlines the housing legislative and policy framework in South Africa, examining the Constitution, the Housing Act, the PIE Act, the Rental Housing Act, the National Norms and Standards, the Social Housing Act, the White Paper on Housing and Breaking New Ground in more detail. The National Housing Code, and the national housing programmes categorised therein, is outlined. Information pertaining to the National Housing Subsidy Scheme (NHSS) is provided, including the generic qualifying criteria for beneficiaries wishing to access state housing subsidies. The chapter further examines some of the legislated housing institutions in South Africa including the Housing Development Agency (HDA), the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), the Social Housing Foundation (SHF) and the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA).

Chapter 3
What is adequate housing?

Chapter 3 examines the concept of “adequate housing”, as enshrined in section 26(1) of the Constitution. The chapter briefly outlines what is contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and what the Constitutional Court has said regarding the “progressive realisation” and resource constraint clauses contained in section 26(2). This chapter should be read together with chapter 5 of this guide, which outlines constitutional jurisprudence on the right to housing in South Africa.

Chapter 4
Housing delivery and backlogs

Chapter 4 delves into the terrain of statistics – and data reliability – around housing delivery and backlogs in South Africa since 1994. It provides both qualitative and quantitative information on housing delivery, as
well as on housing demand and backlogs particularly in relation to informal settlements, low-income rental accommodation and so-called affordable housing. Figures are provided for the number of houses completed or in the process of completion (by province); housing grant allocations and actual delivery since 2004; estimated housing delivery from 2008 to 2014 (by province); need for adequate shelter estimates (housing backlog) from 1994 to 2009; distribution of households by main dwelling (by province); and number and percentage of households living in informal dwellings (by major city).

Chapter 5
Constitutional jurisprudence on the right to housing

Chapter 5 provides an overview of the constitutional jurisprudence on the right to housing as developed by the Constitutional Court over the past decade. The chapter begins by describing the meaning of “respect, protect, promote and fulfil” – obligations on the state in respect of the rights enshrined in the Constitution. The Grootboom1 case – the standard-bearing case on socio-economic rights which resulted in detailed directions to the state on requirements for an effective housing policy framework – is described in detail. The chapter further outlines some of the implementation challenges surrounding national housing policy as well as what the Court has said in relation to other housing-related cases including Olivia Road, Joe Slovo, Abahlali and Nokotyana. Finally, a summary of key findings from the Constitutional Court cases is provided.

Chapter 6
Housing policy development: 1994 – 2009

Chapter 6 provides an overview of developments in housing policy since 1994, including a summary of the deliberations at the National Housing Forum held between 1992 and 1994. The chapter examines the overarching policy framework contained in the 1994 White Paper on Housing, and the problems with RDP houses built after 1994. It also unpacks the 2004 Breaking New Ground policy amendment specifically in relation to its focus on the role of local government and the process of accreditation of municipalities, informal settlement upgrading,as well as urban renewal/inner city regeneration. Other specific policies which are examined include the People’s Housing Process (PHP) and the Inclusionary Housing Policy (IHP). The chapter concludes with an outline of the National Housing Code published in 2000 and recently updated in 2009.

Chapter 7
National housing programmes: policy vs. implementation

Chapter 7 summarises each of the national housing programmes and subsidies included in the revised National Housing Code (except for the rural programmes). Each sub-chapter outlines which groups are targeted by the specific programme, what funding is available and what institutional arrangements are in place or envisaged. A number of the programmes are examined in greater detail, referring to challenges in implementation and recent developments. These include the accreditation of municipalities, the rectification of post-1994 RDP houses, the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP), the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP), the Emergency Housing Programme, the Social Housing Programme (SHP) and the Community Residential Units (CRU) Programme.

Chapter 8
Bibliography

Chapter 8 of this guide is a detailed reference section, providing full citations and online links (where available) to all books, journal articles, research reports, publications, media articles, government documents, housing policy/legislation and Constitutional Court judgments discussed in the guide.

A Progressive Policy Without Progressive Politics: Lessons from the failure to implement ‘Breaking New Ground’

The full article is attached, below, in pdf.

A Progressive Policy Without Progressive Politics: Lessons from the failure to implement ‘Breaking New Ground’

by Richard Pithouse

“Depoliticization is the oldest task of politics.”
– Jacques Rancière (2007: 19)

This article provides a brief overview of post-apartheid housing policy. It argues that, in principle, ‘Breaking New Ground’ (BNG) was a major advance over the subsidy system but that the failure to implement BNG, which has now been followed by more formal moves away from a rights based and towards a security based approach, lie in the failure to take a properly political approach to the urban crisis. It is suggested that a technocratic approach privileges elite interests and that there could be better results from an explicitly pro-poor political approach – which would include direct support for poor people’s organisations to challenge elite interests, including those in the state, and to undertake independent innovation on their own.

Policy & Law – Documents, Analysis & Guides

South African Government Documents (Policy & Law)

Analysis of Policy and Law in South Africa

Guides to the Law In South Africa

Documents from Other Governments

International Guides to Resisting Eviction & Asserting the Right to the City

Documents from Legal Actions Against Evictions in South Africa

Documents from Other Legal Actions in South Africa

United Nations, Human Rights Reports etc (and analysis and critique of these)

Also See

  • Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa
  • Community Law Centre
  • Centre for Applied Legal Studies
  • Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions
  • Development Action Group
  • Legal Resources Centre
  • Research on Informal Settlement Policy and Intervention in the School of Architecture and Planning, WITS