There is a need to address the urban bias caused by the existing housing programmes. The Comprehensive Plan aims at:
Developing a Rural Housing Programme that deals with a range of rural development issues such as tenure security and the roles of local administration and governing authorities;
Improving the traditional technologies and indigenous knowledge related to housing delivery and construction; and
Developing appropriate funding mechanisms.
The holistic approach will cater for areas where households only enjoy functional tenure security and housing provision for farm residents (DHS, 2009).
The argument is that the rural population constitutes some of the poorest households in the country and such a programme which harnesses housing to create assets as a means of poverty alleviation is required in rural areas (DHS, 2009). Moreover, the Government has enacted the Communal Land Rights Act (11 of 2004) (CLaRA) (RSA, 2004) aimed at communal land tenure reform in rural areas to ensure that the environment is conducive for housing development (DHS, 2009).
In most instances, there is a strong bond between rural and urban areas largely due to continuous contact by dwellers of both areas. Rural areas are not similar and differ in issues like where they are located and their circumstances. These areas range from commercial farming areas to subsistence farming areas. They can include small towns and settlements which are largely dependent on agriculture. The National Housing Code (DHS, 2009) highlights that “in the context of the housing programme urban areas often reflect the flows
and counter flows of rural to urban and seasonal urban to rural migration” (DHS, 2009, 2009).
It is argued that many people who move to urban areas looking for work maintain strong ties with rural areas as they see them as better places to raise children and also that when they retire they can move back to their place of birth (DHS, 2009). According to the National Housing Code (DHS, 2009), “many new rural migrants living in informal urban settlements prefer not to access their “once-off” capital subsidy in the urban areas but would rather invest in housing in their rural area of origin”.
Moreover the National Housing Code (DHS, 2009) argues that, “the quality of housing in rural areas varies from very poor to very good in some areas where people have invested with a view to returning to their “home”. Many rural areas with communal tenure still have a high percentage of traditional dwellings, which in some quarters are preferred over “RDP” type housing which intrudes on the rural ambience” (DHS, 2009).
According to the National Housing Code (DHS, 2009) rural residents face a number of specific social and economic development challenges. For instance, rural areas are competing for access to scarce resources with their urban counterparts. The scattered nature of rural populations means that costs for development will be high and therefore limit the ability and/or capacity for Government to undertake efficient and effective rural development (Department of Human Settlements (DHS), 2009).
Furthermore, “the rural tax base is limited and poses challenges to rural authorities to mobilise sufficient resources to finance their own development programmes. This leaves rural authorities and communities dependent on the provision of central and/or provincial government capital grants. Rural areas are sometimes also politically marginalised, leaving little opportunity for the rural poor to influence Government policies and development priorities” (DHS, 2009).
According to the National Housing Code, “approximately 70 per cent of South Africa’s poor live in rural areas, and about 70 per cent of the rural residents are poor and 85 per cent live in the former homelands, and the rest on commercial farms and in the small towns. Their
income is constrained as the rural economy is not sufficiently vibrant to provide them with jobs or self-employment opportunities” (DHS, 2009).
The National Housing Code (2009) continues to argue that women form the majority of the rural population and female-headed households are particularly disadvantaged and their cost of living is high because they spend relatively more on basic social services such as food and water, shelter, energy, health and education, and transport and communications services (DHS, 2009).
According to the White Paper on Housing (RSA, 1994), 17.1 million people are estimated to be living under the poverty line and two thirds of those people are said to be in the rural areas throughout the country. It is estimated that of the 14.5 million people who live in the rural areas, a large number of these people stay outside the commercial farming areas.
Furthermore, there is a mixture of both formal and informal house structures but what they generally share in common is inadequate access to clean water, sanitation, amenities, access to economic opportunities, and a general insecurity of tenure. Before 1994, living conditions for rural dweller areas were characterised by poor quality of life and lack of housing. There was no infrastructure and a large number of rural people lived in mud houses with no basic services. Far too little has been done to improve the life of rural dwellers, especially in the housing environment. To change, this situation will need business, government, non- governmental, community-based organisations and the whole nation to work together.
The advent of democracy brought hope to all South African citizens. One of the challenges citizens hoped would be addressed was the housing problem as well as to have access to jobs and amenities which will improve their quality of life. But slowly these aspirations are fading every day; people are beginning to feel hopeless and helpless. There is a rise of violent protests as people demand delivery of houses among other things. Neither the private sector nor government is doing enough to address the plight of rural people in the fight against poverty. Housing delivery is at the centre of poverty eradication and rural development.