Megaprojects as a vehicle for providing benefits to housing beneficiaries in the eThekwini municipality

Abstract

Background: The Integrated Housing Development Plan developed by the eThekwini municipality is aimed at creating sustainable human settlements. It was developed to ensure that by the year 2020, all residents would have access to a housing opportunity which was to include secure tenure, basic services and support in achieving incremental housing improvement in living environments with the requisite social, economic and physical infrastructure. However, this did not materialise because there are a lot of issues that the municipality has continued to grapple with in fulfilling this mandate.Aim: This article aims at rethinking the modality of megaprojects as a vehicle for providing long-lasting benefits to housing beneficiaries in the eThekwini municipality.Method: This article is qualitative, and data were collected from members of the Cornubia community, officials from the eThekwini municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements.Findings: The findings show the role played by megaprojects in creating a quality living environment for communities to meet government objectives. Whilst the South African government through these large-scale projects aims to provide quality accommodation together with basic services, this study also finds that this has cost implications for the poor because of other external factors such as unemployment and lack of access to resources.Conclusion: Whilst an enormous number of policies have been adopted to address the housing backlog, sustainable human settlements are still a challenge in South Africa. It should be observed that the Department of Human Settlements is chasing a moving target. The article has identified policy gaps in achieving sustainable human settlements which do not adequately address the achievement of integrated human settlements that the government is aiming at.