Human unsettlement
T
Cas Coovadia
GOVERNMENT WANTS
TO IMPROVE THE
LIVELIHOODS OF ALL
OUR PEOPLE, BUSINESS
WANTS TO CONTINUE
DOING RESPONSIBLE AND
PROFITABLE BUSINESS FOR
YEARS TO COME AND LABOUR
WANTS TO REPRESENT
WORKERS TO ENSURE GOOD
WORKING CONDITIONS.
6
his edition of Banker SA brings us to the end of a tumultuous
year for South Africa!
The year 2014 saw the fifth national elections since the
advent of our democracy in 1994. We also celebrated 20 years
of democracy, with joy and trepidation. We marked the first
anniversary, on 5 December, of the passing on of our beloved
leader, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and we cherish his life and memory while
trying to live by the values he instilled in our psyche.
This edition also focuses on the serious problems we have in housing
our people. We also look at the progress we are making in addressing this
problem, with particular reference to the outcomes of the Annual Banking
Summit, which had human settlements as its theme. The Banking Summit
was preceded by the Human Settlements Summit, convened by the Minister
of Human Settlements, the Hon. Lindiwe Sisulu. The Summit put back on the
table the imperative for a social compact between the numerous stakeholders
in the human settlement value chain. These include financiers, construction
companies, municipal government, consumers, government and others. There
was significant support for this initiative, with a large number of organisations
signing the contract.
The Banking Summit, convened on 31 October 2014, looked at various
matters related to human settlement. The following are some of the pertinent
outcomes:
• Fast-track the release of appropriately located land, owned by the state, for
human settlement development;
• Look at different building technologies to reduce the cost of construction and
ensure environmentally sustainable products;
• Promote different housing tenure options, including rental and social
housing;
• Emphasised the importance of compact and that it is imperative that all parts
of the value chain work together;
• Emphasised the importance of enabling municipalities to the critical role they
must play in enabling delivery;
• Encouraged ongoing engagement on an appropriate regulatory environment
to enable construction and financing, including appropriate subsidies,
addressing the “gap market” and enabling private sector financiers to go
down market;
• Address the spatial development challenge, to break from the “apartheid”
development patterns; and
• Address the infrastructure needs to enable building of houses and enabling
integration of communities.
The Banking Association South Africa committed its members to intensify
efforts to address the human settlement challenge. We are a signatory to the
Social Contract and will work with other stakeholders to play a decisive role in
addressing this critical problem.
Our country can, 20 years into our democracy, boast a number of significant
achievements. A report from Goldman Sachs, alluded to in an earlier edition of
these magazines, states:
• GDP almost tripled from $136bn to $400bn today;
• Inflation fell from an average of 14% from 1980–1994 to an average of 6%
from 1994–2012;
• Gross Gold and FX Reserves rose from $3bn to a prudent $50bn today;
• Tax receipts of R114bn from 1.7m people rose to R814bn from 13.7m people;
• In the last decade, a dramatic rise in the middle class with 4.5 million
consumers graduating upwards from the lower (1–4) Living Standards
BANKERSA | Edition 12
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