Better housing can halt gang violence
ALMOST every day of every week, an innocent child or adult is murdered. There is no respite for many communities in Cape Town. Sleeping on your bed, sitting in your lounge or walking to the corner shop is hazardous.
As a councillor attending monthly meetings of Sub-Council 10 in Khayelitsha and as a weekday subscriber to the Daily Voice, in addition to many other newspapers, I am appalled to hear and read what fellow citizens in the townships of Cape Town are going through over and above the daily challenges of putting bread on the table.
Policing has been a palliative, not a solution. Moreover, police presence is not possible in every spot every moment of the day. Something more has to be done to create permanently safe neighbourhoods.
After studying the National Housing Code of 2009, I was struck by the requirement that the human settlement process should be both participatory and decentralised to allow for an effective response to priorities and opportunities at the local level. The extended meaning creates an opportunity for communities to put democracy to the test. They should have urgency in respect of how human settlements function and operate.
The National Development Plan recommended that the state should gradually shift its role from a direct housing provider of last resort to a housing facilitator, ensuring adequate shelter and greater access to a wider choice of housing options.
The state should in terms of the plan also have a role in facilitating the creation of safe neighbourhoods, where the spectre of violence is absent.
Co-operative Act No.14 of 2005 was passed when I was an MP to encourage the formation of co-operatives as legal entities based on the values of "self-help, self-reliance, self-responsibility, democracy, equality and responsibility.”
All of the above, taken together, create legal room for communities to look to the co-housing model to turn their residential localities into safe neighbourhoods.
There are many gated communities in Cape Town and a variation that suits each area will help to take back the streets and make living and going about safer than it is today. With grants and help from the different levels of government, communities can become stronger and more resilient.
I tabled such a motion on March 31, 2021. Mayco member Malusi Booi referred the matter to the portfolio committee. If the idea is attractive to any community, please write to the PC asking for the City to engage with you.
One death of an innocent individual is one death too many. FAROUK CASSIM | Cope