A work in progress: the new South Africa's first fifteen years

Inroads: A Journal of Opinion, Summer-Fall, 2008 by Robert Cohen

The devastating HIV-AIDS pandemic is the great failure of these first years of democracy. When the World Health Organization assessed the performance of its health system in 2000, South Africa was ranked 175th out of 191 countries. It was ranked 121st out of 177 countries on the 2007-8 UN Human Development Index, which measures well-being in terms of income, life expectancy and adult literacy.

It's more than numbers--the plague is omnipresent. A colleague whispers to you that his sister died of the dreaded disease without mentioning its name. Another tells you she lost a relative and you do not ask from what. You go a funeral of a colleague, who did not die of AIDS; there are six open graves next to hers and you are told they will be all filled by the weekend.

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There is no excuse for the political leaders who have failed abjectly to protect the people's health--from the Minister of Health's well publicized suggestion that the cure lies in beetroot and garlic to President Mbeki's suggestion that this is a plot to demean Blacks. But the reality on the ground is another matter. An important breakthrough in removing the stigma came when Nelson Mandela joined the international public campaign, openly sharing his grief when his son died of AIDS. Now condoms are distributed at the workplace and commemorative candles are on display at the reception area. Every week there are new photos of recently deceased staff or relatives, their emaciated faces telling the story. The minister of the Provincial Housing Department exhorts her staff to use condoms. A vigorous education campaign includes graphic billboards, signs in public washrooms and even comic books.

Housing

The ANC put housing at the centre of its election platform in 1994, with its promise to build one million houses in five years. Although it took eight years, under the circumstances it is a major achievement. To date more than two million houses have been built and given free to the people. Yet the backlog is even greater, resulting largely from an unanticipated decrease in household size in response to the small size of the houses given away, higher disposable income and the promise of new homes.

Housing expansion has been facilitated by a parallel record of accomplishment in infrastructure. The number of households with access to clean water rose from 60 per cent in 1996 to 92 per cent in 2005, and electrification from 32 to 80 per cent, though the pace has been much slower in rural areas.

The South African constitution enshrines the right to housing, to be realized progressively as resources become available. The Constitutional Court has gone on record that it will hold the state accountable for providing plans and programs to house the poor and vulnerable, and engaging with them meaningfully in their implementation.

Housing policy is framed by national legislation and guidelines. The provinces receive an "equitable share" of national budget transfers to implement their social responsibilities such as housing, although they can set their spending priorities among a range of national policies and programs. Local governments have an independent tax base to fund housing, which complements their constitutional responsibility for development planning; zoning; providing water, roads and electricity; and leveraging public land for development purposes.