In conjunction with World Habitat Day today, the Department of Housing is proud to announce the All African Housing Minister's conference in Johannesburg from October 16-18. Ministers from all 53 African nations are expected to attend the most important gathering of its kind for the continent. Their task will be to draft a position for Africa regarding human living conditions that will be presented to the UN Commission for Human Settlements (HNCHS) Habitat 11 conference in Istanbul next year. It is expected that South African Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi Nkondo will be nominated to present the African position in Istanbul.
Today is World Habitat Day which is celebrated across the globe. While this day has been part of the international calender since 1970, South Africa is only celebrating it for the second time. Habitat 11 aim to make the world's cities, towns and villages healthier, safer, more just and economically sustainable.
The deterioration of living conditions the world over has prompted governments to call on the UN to hold Habitat 11 twenty years after the Habitat 1 conference in Vancouver, Canada. While Habitat 1 drew international attention to problems in both rural and urban settlements, Habitat 11 will focus on cities and towns since they will accommodate a growing majority of the world's population in the next century.
Habitat 11's aim is to have a blueprint for urbanisation ready by the year 2000. This is particularly important for South Africa, which is faced by a 1,5 million housing unit backlog estimated to be growing annually by 200 000 as new families enter the market. Sectors of cities like Johannesburg and Soweto whose residents work and create wealth together must grow together.
Reunification of cities must also imply upgrading traditionally disadvantaged communities. Yet such development must avoid the destruction of greenbelts or the deterioration of traditionally white cities. It must mean cities that work for people. Cities where the travelling time to work is measured in minutes rather than hours. Cities in which the links created by new housing, public transport links and user-friendly local services and amenities.
During a Habitat II workshop in Nairobi earlier this year, Ms Sankie Mthembi Nkondo said that "the 1996 conference in Istanbul provides us with a focus and an international context which remind us of the errors which can be made as we build our cities. And it challenges us to do better, to avoid the pitfalls so often associated with housing thrusts around the world."
Note for editors: details of press facilities at the conference will be made known within the next few days.
Inquiries: Directorate: Communications Department of Housing Tel.: 083 700 3143 (012) 421 1406