South Africa to decongest informal settlements in cities

(3 minutes)

·         South Africa is undertaking a massive plan for de-congesting
housing areas, where the density of population are  very high to
contain   the deadly Covid-19 and outbreak of  other types of
contagious diseases

·         The imitative is undertaken by the Department of Human
Settlement of the national Government. The plan, which is under the
consultation stage, will focus on 29 informal settlements across South
Africa, which have been identified for the project

South Africa is undertaking a massive plan for decongesting housing
areas, where the density of population is  very high to contain   the
deadly Covid-19 and outbreak of  other types of contagious diseases.
The imitative is undertaken by the Department of Human Settlement of
the national Government. The plan, which is under the consultation
stage, will focus on 29 informal settlements  across South Africa,
which have been identified for the project. This includes informal
settlements in four metros, such as  in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape,
Western Cape   and Gauteng.  Some of these centers are highly
populated. They will receive priority for during the decongesting
drive.

There are apprehensions that some residents might resist the move.
Therefore, the department is putting in place a massive sensitization
plan, which includes consultation with the communities. The plan is to
relocate the people close to where they are staying now so that it
will not affect their avocations and commutation to places where they
work.

The plan that has been envisaged would last longer than the current
lockout. The government is aware that the project is a complex one
since many people refuse to leave the informal settlements because of
their affinity to the place and a lot of effort is needed to convince
them the advantages of the project. Also, temporary arrangements
should be made before relocating them from the place they stay before
building permanent dwellings with conveniences.

Another aspect of the long drawn out project is coordination with
municipalities, which will be the implementing agencies. They
(municipalities) will be given a free hand to implement the project to
suit the local conditions but the resources needed for the
implementation will be met by the National Government.