Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities - Agence ...

8. The Limits of the Government’s Actions
8.2. The Obstacles Responsible for this Sectoral Approach
Two principal reasons seem to explain the approach based on the housing sector.
8.2.1. A Well-Ensconced Catch-Up Policy
The housing policy represents one of the foundations of the post-apartheid
government’s catch-up policy for low-income populations. The massive development
of small, single-family homes is a strong symbol, one that has been embraced and
demanded by populations. The Department of Housing finds it difficult to exit this
single-product schema, and is attempting to diversify it and overcome its failings
without for all that really challenging it.
8.2.2. A Facilitator Government
More generally speaking, the government of South Africa poses as a facilitator
government, proposing action for poor populations but not intervening any further in the
production of urban space. The neo-liberal discourse results in part from the
compromises made by the ANC at the end of apartheid, and aims to keep investors from
fleeing and gives them a great degree of autonomy. The government of South Africa thus
contents itself with providing services to poor populations but in no case seeks to control
or utilize the private sector to create functionally and socially diverse living spaces.
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8.3. Territory-Based Reasoning Difficult to Implement
Another hindrance to the design of integrated settlements in the urban landscape
for low-income populations can be seen in the difficulty of favouring, identifying and
developing one settlement over another. This rejection of territorialization comes
in large part from the history of apartheid, which consisted precisely of favouring certain
areas and penalizing other settlements reserved for non-white populations.
8.3.1. The Lack of Planning
This desire to avoid favouring certain territories over others shows through in how
difficult it has been for planning to re-emerge in public policies. The desire to let the market
Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities © AFD 2009