City of Cape Town first metro to introduce City-backyarder services 

29 August 2019

The City of Cape Town notes the South African Human Rights Commission’s Backyarder Summit that was held today and welcomes the spotlight being placed on the plight and concerns of backyard dwellers that are often not eligible for government subsidised housing due to higher income earnings or their more youthful age. It is fitting that its Summit has been held in Cape Town as this metro was the first in the country to provide backyarder services to those residing as backyarders on Council-owned property.

The recent backyarder protests in Cape Town have also highlighted the need for more affordable accommodation options in urban centres across South Africa. The growth of the occurrence of backyarders is directly proportional to the rapid urbanisation in Cape Town and across South Africa and the accommodation needs that exist for more affordable housing options located near urban centres.

The City is doing much work on this but substantial partnerships between all government levels as well as the private sector are required. No one organisation or one level of government can take responsibility for increasing urbanisation, here in South Africa or in the rest of the world for that matter.

- City’s backyarder programme started in 2014: It entails the provision of one-on-one water, refuse and electricity services to backyarders residing on Council-owned property, such as rental units.

- More than R850 million of the R4 billion mentioned has been earmarked over three years for upgrades to informal settlements and backyarder services.

- Of this, R713 million has been earmarked for investment in backyarder service provision and the informal settlements upgrade programme. In addition, some R150 million is budgeted for the delivery of electricity services to backyard dwellers residing on Council-owned property.

Types of backyarders

- On City property

- On private property

- On invaded land, paying rent to the original illegal occupiers

For formal subsidy houses and affordable rental opportunities near urban centres, the budget over the next three financial years is just over R1,6 billion. However, the days of following one model of housing delivery are over. We cannot solely rely on Breaking New Ground (BNG) accommodation. We must increasingly look towards affordable rental options, enhanced backyarder services provision and the upgrading of informal settlements. We must continue working towards reversing the legacy of apartheid spatial planning by promoting transport-oriented development.

At the same time, we must work towards creating affordable and inclusionary housing on well-located land close to public transport and job opportunities. In addition, we must plan and cater for a wide range of income groupings to respond to the increased demands of urbanisation.

The national conversation regarding housing delivery continues to move away from the primary and historic emphasis on the delivery of brick and mortar houses and towards the upgrading of informal settlements and bringing services to backyard dwellers.

Since 2014 the City’s Informal Settlements and Backyarder Department has installed 2 460 water and sanitation points to backyard dwellers on City rental property. The City plans to continue rolling out approximately 2 000 service points to backyard dwellers over the next three years. The Municipal Finance Management Act determines that public money may not be used for enhancing private properties. Therefore, much work still needs to be done to see how backyarder services will be rolled out to those most vulnerable residents who are residing on private properties within the framework of the law.

Urbanisation is not a municipal challenge alone, all tiers of government, the private sector and civic organisations, must work together and ensure that we are ahead of the curve with our plans to address rapid urbanisation. We must bring our communities on board with the alternatives that there are on offer. This is also why we take a zero tolerance approach to land invasions as any invasion of existing projects jeopardises our planned interventions.

Issued by Malusi Booi, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, City of Cape Town, 29 August 2019