The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Human Settlements Department hosted an Urban Human Settlements Dialogue on 5 and 6 December 2013 in preparation for an overall KZN Human Settlements Summit planned for early 2014.
The purpose of the dialogue was to solicit views and inputs from key stakeholders, with the ultimate purpose of developing an integrated sustainable human settlements strategy for the urban areas in the province.
According to census 2011, 53% of KZN’s population of 10.2-million is already urbanised.
One of the resolutions of the August 2013 KZN lekgotla is that the sprawl of informal settlements in high-capacity municipalities like Ethekwini and Msunduzi be aggressively addressed.
In his opening address, the Honourable MEC for Human Settlements Mr RR Pillay pointed out that the key priorities of the department over the next five years are:
The HDA – represented by Lucien Rakgoale, Lebeko Madikgetla, Simon Malepeng, Nompilo Cebekhulu and Peter Ahmed – presented its Land Assembly Programme, which was well received by the participants. The HDA also participated in a special commission on land assembly. One of the key recommendations of that commission is that the HDA be actively engaged in addressing land-related challenges in human settlements delivery.
