WEBVTT

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Previously on Life Housing needs

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to be treated not as a commodity but
ought to be treated as something

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that people have as a right.

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The space of the city begins to enable women
and they can emerge as political subjects.

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They know if they want to get something

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they have to be organized.

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Nearly one-third of Cape Town’s population

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of three million live in slums
or squatter settlements.

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It’s lot of problems to live in a shack.

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You are not feeling comfortable.
You are not feeling safe.

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If you have a shack, while it’s raining,

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the rain can go in your shack. You are at work,
you come back, then you come on your bed,

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you want to sleep at night, it’s wet.
The rain has wet your bed.

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And the fire. When one shack
burn at the other side

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you must be definitely sure,
it comes to you straight.

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This is the reality for
four million homeless

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people across South Africa.

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A Sunday morning meeting of the South African
Federation of Homeless People in Khayelitsha,

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a vast township East of Cape Town.

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The Federation is part of Shack Dwellers
International - a worldwide organization

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of homeless people, which helps to
provide the poor with opportunities

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that otherwise they’d never have.

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There are more than 80,000 members in South
Africa. Most of them live in shacks.

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All of them dream of
owning their own houses.

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This is the story of five women
and what they are doing to make

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their dreams come true.

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Cape Town - one of the world’s
rapidly growing cities,

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has all the attractions
that large cities offer.

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It is proximity to the
famous Table Mountain

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and beaches that define social status.

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The leafy green suburbs clinging to the
upper slopes are the most affluent.

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Further away the housing is more modest.

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Far from the city on a
windswept, sandy flood plain

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known as the Cape Flats and stretching further
than the eye can see are the black townships

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and shack land. This is
Khayelitsha - meaning \"New Home\".

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For 30 years, there has been an
ever-increasing flow of people from

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the desperately poor rural areas
of the Eastern Cape to the city,

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where there is some hope of work. These
migrants, often women and children,

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build squatter settlements for
themselves outside the city,

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not even the apartheid laws
forbidding blacks to live in areas of

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the country reserved for
whites could keep them away.

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When the ANC came to power in 1994, President Mandela
promised to build a million houses in five years.

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The new government introduced
a system of one-off grants

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and subsidies to enable houses like
these to be built for the very poor.

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It has met its target, a
considerable achievement,

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but many are still waiting for houses.

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We’re talking about four million people
who didn’t have shelter prior to 1994,

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but now have shelter. We provide a home -

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there has to be electricity,
water and sanitation.

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We are also providing a hope to people who
have, some of them have waited for more than

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20 years for just that 40 square meter.

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One has to start by acknowledging
the government’s successes.

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For generations there has been very few
examples as effective as this one.

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One has to go back decades to see the kind
of capacity and the scale of delivery

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that this government has met. But it has faced
a number of obvious constraints and problems.

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And one of those is that what
they have been able to deliver

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is not really a decent or
an adequate shelter in

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the majority of cases. And there
is quite a negative association,

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even within the communities, towards
what are known as the \"RDP houses\".

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RDP stands for Reconstruction
and Development Program -

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the government program that’s constructing houses for
the poor in South Africa, like these in Khayelitsha.

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Since 1994, you have one uniform policy

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where each eligible household is
entitled to a once-off subsidy,

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a grant which does not have to be repaid.
It is intended as a starting mechanism,

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a kick-start into the housing
market, as we like to call it.

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It was never intended to be the only
mechanism. Mildred Mqwathi is one of

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the 150,000 people in Cape Town to have moved
into one of the government built RDP houses.

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With only one room and a bathroom,

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even a house as small as this is an improvement
over the shack that she lived in for 28 years.

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With many children and no
job, her life is hard.

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I lived in a shack from
1972 up till last year,

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which was 2000. All that
time I lived in a shack.

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I was tired of shack life.
This is much better.

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In a shack, when it’s
cold, it is cold inside.

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If it is hot, it is dreadfully hot inside.

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Also, people die in shacks.
They are burnt alive in shacks.

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There are nine children in my care now,

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counting the grandchildren.
About seven of them are my own

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and two are grandchildren.

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My shack was built by my husband.
Then he got sick.

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He had a stroke. My husband
passed away in 1995.

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[sil.]

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We sleep four to a bed.

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Next to the bed, we use a mattress.

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We don’t get much sleep.

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Even though it is small, I am satisfied,

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because it is not like staying
in a shack and getting wet.

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[sil.]

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These government houses are small and cramped,
but ownership of even such a small house

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does give security. Those
who can afford to,

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make extensions and improvements. Those
that can’t, simply rebuild their shacks,

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either to increase the living space or
to rent them out as a form of income.

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Boniswa Kuse lives in a one-room shack

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with two of her children, in the
backyard of just such a house.

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These places, it’s not good for the kids.

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The… The shack sometimes is burning,

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things like that. I need a big
house, because I have a family.

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It’s not life to stay like this.

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Overcrowding causes problems of crime,

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family breakdown, environmental
pollution, and disease.

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According to the South African
Department of Health,

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the Western Cape has the highest tuberculosis
rate in the world and a rapidly growing

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HIV infected population.

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[sil.]

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People keep on arriving, searching
for a better life in the city.

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About 10,000 families come
to Cape Town each year,

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trying to escape the poverty of
rural areas like the Eastern Cape.

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This family are recent arrivals.

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The piece of waste ground
on the edge of Khayelitsha,

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where they are building their shacks,
lacks even the most basic amenities.

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In the metropolitan area, there is
something in the region of 160,000 shacks

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at the moment. I think it would take a long
time. It would take more than 20 years

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to work off that backlog alone.
And we’ve not taking into account

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any new shack developments
that might spring up.

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What the answers are, I… I
really don’t have them.

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Dealing with the housing backlog

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and the ever-growing need for new
houses, is beyond the capacity of any

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government to solve on its own.

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We’re looking at a multi-pronged
approach to housing provision,

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because we think no single approach
can provide us with shelter,

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if we’ve got this backlog
which is very huge.

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There are other organizations who’ve come up with
different, and sometimes more innovative schemes.

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Homeless People’s Federation is
women and men who desperately want

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to live in their own houses. So,
we build these houses on our own.

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First thing, we save a little bit money
- one rand, two rand to five rand -

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it depends to you. Then you got
your own little saving book.

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I started this process in 1995,
to join this federation.

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It’s a nice thing to join,
but it takes long time.

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Some of us, we are old already but we’ve
been patiently waiting to get the houses.

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For 15 years, I’ve been staying in a shack, and
now, I’ll be moving into this house tomorrow.

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I’ll be coming in with a big
huge truck with my things.

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This is my sitting room. This.
It’s all attached together,

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the kitchen and the sitting room.

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Thelma’s house is in the third phase of
the Victoria Mxenge Housing Development.

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This was the first project of
the South African Federation

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of Homeless People in South Africa.
It was started by a group of 30 women

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who lived in squatter shacks in Khayelitsha.
They drew their inspiration from

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the Bombay slum dwellers
who visited them in 1991.

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Patricia Matolengwe was one of
the Federation’s first members.

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Until only a year ago, she
too lived in a shack.

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She moved into her own house very recently.

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Fortunately we were lucky. We achieved
something which we never thought of.

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It’s something which is still
surprising, as if you are dreaming.

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The women in the federation
make regular savings

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of small sums of money, which
are pooled in a saving scheme.

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This enables them to add to the government
grants, and with input from themselves,

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build bigger houses.

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I think for the women it was because that
it was something which was voluntary.

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Men are always like to involve themselves
where they are going to get something

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towards what they are doing.
So, I can say that,

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because women are always dedicated
themselves to be volunteers then

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it was easier for them to involve
themselves than the men.

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Today, Thelma is moving into her house.

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[music]

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When I was given the key for this house,

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I was shocked really. Although I know
the house is only… is getting built,

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but I didn’t know it was
going to come for me.

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It was a shock for me.

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[music]

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Well, it’s like a little
heaven for me, because it’s

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the first time for me to be staying in a
house like this. I’m happy. I’m pleased.

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Bit by bit, I’ll try and
make it better and better.

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The Federation of Homeless People have now

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built nearly 10,000 houses
themselves throughout South Africa,

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a remarkable contribution to the
government’s housing target.

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There are now nearly 600 houses in various
stages of construction at Victoria Mxenge

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and the related developments
of Hazeldean and Vukuzenzele.

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It is a small oasis in a
seemingly endless sea

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of shack dwellings and squalor.

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Lulama Katsha’s house is
not far from Thelma’s.

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She moved in three months ago.

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The houses vary in size
and design depending

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on how much the women
are able to contribute.

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My house is 72 square meter.
It’s a three-bedroom

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and a bathroom and the kitchen,
the dining room, and a lounge.

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I’m very proud of it. And I say
that I did work very hard for it.

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I’m telling you, about 2-3 I’ll wake up.

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It’s as if I’m dreaming of I’m still there.
It’s as if I’m in another place.

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I wake up on my bed, come to sit here,

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just going around looking if
it’s true that I am in my house.

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Lulama does the bookkeeping

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for some federation projects.
It has been good for me,

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because I’m getting a lot
of experience of things

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and to be involving with lot of people.

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The bookkeeping, I learned
from the federation,

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because I didn’t know about
the… the bookkeeping.

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Every day new members of the housing
federation come to seek help

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and advice at the Victoria
Mxenge community centre.

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[music]

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This is where records of all the
groups in the province are kept.

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Everybody was discouraging and say that, \"No
ways, forget it. It’s not going to work.\"

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But we keep on trying and trying up to now.

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Today, we don’t believe ourselves. Everybody
doesn’t believe the houses which we have.

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Everybody is still asking, is it me,

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after so many years, you know.

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Thelma’s long years of waiting are over.
Well, my house is perfect.

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Never mind then it’s like that, but I’m
happy I’m in something. It’s perfect.

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Thelma and her grandchildren
have settled in their new home.

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Each year there are exchange
visits between members of

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the South African Federation and similar
organizations in other countries -

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like India, Thailand, and Ethiopia.

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These visits have been crucial to the
way the federation has developed.

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Any single community only has a finite range of
experiences to draw on for its own development needs.

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So, if you link many communities together,

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they just are able to learn not only from their
experience but from the experiences of others. So,

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one can say without exaggerating it that those exchange
visits are the goose that lays the golden egg.

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Without those exchange visits,
you don’t have a federation.

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I learned a lot from them, because we were having
exchange programs that… so that we can see

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that we are not the only ones who are the
very poor. In some of these countries,

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most of these countries, we were
sharing the experience of the poverty.

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Setting up their own saving scheme has been key
to the success of the Victoria Mxenge women.

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Not only has it enabled each
of them to take out loans

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to build the kind of houses they want,
it’s also meant that the money repaid

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goes back into their own community.

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The crèche provides childcare
for working mothers.

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[non-English narration]

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The women have started a small pottery.

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With a scheme to grow lilies
for the commercial market,

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income is generated for the
women who participate.

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We need to stand up. We need to organize
ourselves. We need start to secure our own monies.

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And start to be part and parcel
of the economy of this country.

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It sort of acts as an attraction
to government finance,

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because what the government likes about the
federation process is that the money revolves.

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People take loans. They use the
loans to meet certain needs.

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Those loans are repaid, and then the next
family is able to utilize the same money

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to meet different needs.

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The work of the federation has inspired
similar saving schemes in South Africa

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and has also influenced government policy.

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You look at the participation levels of the
peoples’ housing process, it’s the women.

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You look at the majority of
members of the saving schemes

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that we’ve been talking about, they are women. The
government is moving very clearly towards placing

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savings at the centre
of its subsidy system,

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and that can be traced
directly to the federation.

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The federation has organized and mobilized women from its
very inception around savings, and has used their savings

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as a leverage for housing.

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I think the federation has changed
everyone’s view toward housing.

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And I’m very pleased about that. They’ve made government
understand that they had been housing themselves for years

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and all they required were the
mechanisms to enable them to do that.

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And I think this is…
this is… it’s brilliant.

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Thelma is visiting her old
shack to fetch her cat.

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Her adult children and their
families have moved in.

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And I’ve been staying in
this house for 15 years,

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
from 1985. As you see,

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
it’s not a proper thing which is well done.
All the time, I was staying here.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
I’m squashed. I… I like it,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
because I spent most of my life in it.
So that’s why I left it standing.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
I didn’t want to demolish it. Then
it’s the future for my child.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
[non-English narration]

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
I think she’s going to
be all right like this.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
It’s used… very used to me.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
[music]

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
Boniswe has only recently
joined the federation

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
and is now waiting for her turn to build.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
It’s nice to join the federation,
because you save, you do things,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
you… you solve things with the people.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
It’s very nice. I am very happy for that.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
[music]

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
In other parts of Khayelitsha, the
people’s housing process is also

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
a saving scheme for the homeless. Endorsed
by the government, it too allows people

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
to have a say in building the
kind of housing they really want.

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
[music]

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Ma May is one of the founding members.

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
I came from the Eastern Cape at 1974,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
because I come in look for work, for job.

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
The people’s housing
process works like this,

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
we say the people will build their…
their own houses themselves.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
Secondly, the people will choose

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
what size of a house does she
wants or he wants to build.

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
And thirdly, people must
know, you can also stand up

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
and use your head and your brains
and your mind to get something,

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
not to sit and say, \"I want that.\"

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
I’ve learned a lot in this housing process.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
I am filling the forms in
for people who is coming in

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
to make application for the subsidy.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
When there is work outside for
the block yard, I am also there.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
Helping the people there, making blocks.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
If one is missing, no problem, I’m there.

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Ma May’s house is her pride and joy.
When I move here,

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
they make the finishing there
on top there, it was on Friday.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
I come and sleep here on Friday, the
same day. I said, I… I cannot wait.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
And I called that guy there, I said, please go
and put my doors in. I don’t mind the windows.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
No, I haven’t got glasses. But I will stay in my
house. The same Friday, when they finish, I move in.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
I sleep here, on this
mat here, on the floor.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
I was so happy, so happy.
I couldn’t believe.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
Early in the morning, I wake up,
half-past four, I open the door,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
and I stand there by the street and look outside.
Is it really my house? I couldn’t believe, really.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
I am very happy. If you’ve involved people,

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
initially from the planning process
to the completion of their home,

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
they get attached to that structure,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
because they’ve added what we call \"sweat
equity\". They’d made sure that they participate

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
in acquiring their own home.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
Well, the government policy has shifted more and
more towards pushing developers to increase

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
the size and the quality of the
houses that they deliver. And the…

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
the federation has almost been like a ghost
in the machinery here. They haven’t demanded

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
that the government must increase the quality or the
size of houses. They’ve just gone out and done it.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
It’s for my kids to stay here when… while…

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
when I’m dead. Then they can
show and say, this house,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
my mother built this house.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
[non-English narration]

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
Before dawn each day,

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
Boniswe leaves for her job as a domestic
worker in the smart suburbs of Cape Town.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
It is a long journey and
she earns very little,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
but having a job enables her to save.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
Like more than four million
other South Africans,

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:20.000
she is still waiting for her house.