David Masango
11 April 2006
South Africa and the Netherlands are sharing ideas and knowledge on replacing informal dwellings with sustainable human settlements.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) and the Netherlands' Vereeniging van Gemeenten International are holding a two-day workshop in Pretoria, which started on Monday.
SA and the Netherlands signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of social housing - housing for low-to-medium income people that excludes immediate individual ownership - in 2003.
The Netherlands is helping South African municipalities with financial and technical resources for social housing.
The partnership has resulted in the development and publishing of the "Municipal Social Housing Policy Toolkit", an instrument for municipalities to develop their own social housing policy.
Netherlands housing minister Sybilla Dekker and her delegation held discussions with Salga officials, led by Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo, on Monday.
Addressing the media following the discussions, Masondo said municipalities such as Johannesburg were now "directly grappling with the issue of housing at a local level."
Dekker highlighted her country's continued commitment to building capacity at local government level in South Africa.
"Our country is involved in more joint ventures in social housing in South Africa than in any other country," Dekker said.
"South Africa faces common problems we faced, especially in big cities, where we need to restructure the inner city by renovating old buildings and ensuring that people with low incomes have their own houses."
Source: BuaNews
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