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An Exploration of RDP Housing in Johannesburg

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An Exploration of RDP Housing in Johannesburg State ambitions and peoples’ practices: An exploration of RDP housing in Johannesburg Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield. Sarah Charlton August 2013. ABSTRACT South Africa’s RDP housing programme has delivered ownership of a house and serviced land to millions of first time home-owners since 1994. Intended to both provide shelter and address poverty, the housing programme is typical of improvement initiatives of the modern state aimed at advancing the physical, economic or social situation of a target population. Yet little is known about the results of the South African housing programme for recipient households, except that some beneficiaries attract state censure for interacting with their houses in unexpected and unwelcome ways. Despite the lack of clarity on its effects, the large-scale costly housing programme continues to be implemented. This study investigates the programme’s outcomes in Johannesburg through the perspectives of both RDP beneficiaries and state housing practitioners. Findings transcend the denigration of RDP housing as ‘poorly located’, revealing people’s complex interactions with their housing which show its flaws and limitations but also their attachment to it. To minimise the shortcomings of the housing benefit RDP settlements are appropriated, adapted and transformed, households composition may be re- configured and alternative accommodation off-site brought into play. In general the state has limited insight into this intricacy, little institutional appetite to explore it and holds contradictory positions on the outcomes of the programme. Despite the evident resources and power of the state, it is confounded by the complexity of people’s practices. More broadly, the study contributes to housing and planning literature through its focus on the interface between state and beneficiary practices. Peoples’ responses to RDP housing emphasise both the state’s limited capacity in addressing the housing need, but also the catalytic value and potential its intervention triggers. Rather than portraying the state and the subaltern as clashing over conflicting rationalities, it illuminates their overlapping aspirations and mutual shaping of space. Page 2 of 400 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to all of the following people, who in various ways have helped me produce this thesis: Claire Benit-Gbaffou, Bob Charlton, Diana Charlton, Julia Charlton, Nathalie Charlton, Robin Charlton, Natasha Erlank, Ed Ferrari, Bronwen Findlay, Clive Glaser, Phil Harrison, Shireen Hassim, Marie Huchzermeyer, Aly Karam, Garth Klein, Neil Klug, Claire Loveday, Alan Mabin, Miriam Maina, Vanessa Mello, members of the Wits-UJ Reading Group, Eulenda Mkwanazi, Eugene Ndaba, Pam Notununu, Edgar Pieterse, Margot Rubin, Melinda Silverman, Alison Todes, Tanja Winkler and Tanya Zack. Particularly heartfelt thanks are due to: Daryl Glaser, Elsje Bonthys, and Paula Meth; my skilled and patient research assistants and translators Lerato Motlaung and Mawabo Msingaphantsi; the respondents interviewed for this research, who were enormously generous with their time and insights. I am profoundly indebted to Glyn Williams, who has provided unfailingly wise and deeply skilful supervisory guidance and encouragement. With sincere thanks to the National Research Foundation (South Africa), the University of Sheffield and the University of the Witwatersrand for generous financial support. Page 3 of 400 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF FIGURES, MAPS AND TABLES ............................................................................................... 10 ACRONYMS ....................................................................................................................................... 12 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 13 1.2 The research question ...................................................................................................... 18 1.3 The approach .................................................................................................................... 19 1.3.1 Housing issues .......................................................................................................... 19 1.3.2 State-society relations .............................................................................................. 23 1.3.3 Method ..................................................................................................................... 26 1.4 Structure of the thesis ...................................................................................................... 28 2 CHAPTER 2 - STUDYING STATE AND PEOPLE INTERACTIONS WITH A HOUSING BENEFIT ...... 32 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 32 2.2 Improvement, modernity and development ................................................................... 36 2.2.1 Modernisation and modernity ................................................................................. 36 2.2.2 Varying outcomes ..................................................................................................... 40 2.2.3 What attracts state attention in reviewing improvement interventions? ............... 42 2.3 Seeing from the state ....................................................................................................... 52 2.3.1 Seeing from the bureaucracy ................................................................................... 52 2.3.2 Mechanisms and techniques .................................................................................... 59 2.4 People ............................................................................................................................... 67 2.4.1 Considering the applicability of literature on the everyday ..................................... 68 2.4.2 Organising along a spectrum .................................................................................... 71 2.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 89 Page 4 of 400 3 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 96 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 96 3.2 A case study: peoples’ interactions with RDP housing in Johannesburg and how this is viewed .......................................................................................................................................... 97 3.2.1 Geographic ............................................................................................................... 97 3.2.2 Institutional .............................................................................................................. 99 3.2.3 Experiential ............................................................................................................. 100 3.2.4 The case as a whole ................................................................................................ 100 3.3 Location of the case within literature ............................................................................ 102 3.4 Research design .............................................................................................................. 104 3.5 Data gathering activities ................................................................................................. 106 3.5.1 Interviews ............................................................................................................... 106 3.5.2 Interview analysis ................................................................................................... 125 3.5.3 Policy documents and analyses of policy ............................................................... 125 3.6 Personal positionality and ethical considerations.......................................................... 126 3.7 Limitations of the methodology ..................................................................................... 128 3.8 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 129 4 CHAPTER 4 - SOUTH AFRICA’S RDP HOUSING PROGRAMME ................................................ 131 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 131 4.2 The nature of the housing benefit ................................................................................. 131 4.3 Locating the South African housing approach ............................................................... 138 4.4 Diverse housing instruments .......................................................................................... 141 4.5 The aims of the RDP housing programme .....................................................................
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