There is no National Housing Programme that provides funding for the construction of backyard rental housing units. Furthermore, the information provided by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Human Settlements indicated the following:
(3) (a) The initial allocation of the rental rooms was the responsibility of the Johannesburg City Council and the tenants were identified from 10 wards within Alexandra. These tenants were non-housing subsidy qualifiers who applied for rental housing and they resided in the areas targeted for informal settlement upgrading. Subsequently, the land owners/subsidy beneficiaries of the primary dwellings allocated rooms to the tenants. In the case of Malibongwe Ridge, the allocation of the rental room was been done by a committee of officials from both the City Council and the Provincial Human Settlement Department.
(b) The allocations of the rental units are administered in terms of the Allocation Policy of the Provincial Human Settlements Department.
(c) In the case of the Alexandra project, the initial rentals were determined by the Provincial Human Settlement Department while in the Malibongwe Ridge project, the City Council of Johannesburg will determine the rentals based on the prevailing market rentals in the area.
(4) Yes. The Gauteng Provincial Government has constituted a fully functional Rental Tribunal.
(5) (a) & (b) Yes. The Rental Tribunal in collaboration with the City Council of Johannesburg and the Alexandra Renewal Programme conducted various community engagements in Alexandra, educating the land owners and tenants on the provisions of the Rental Housing Act and regulations and mainly focussing on the rights of the parties and their respective responsibilities. The role and function of the Rental Tribunal were also addressed during these sessions.
(i) The education events in respect of Alexandra took place as indicated in the following table:
ENGAGEMENT |
DATE |
Community workshop in Alexandra Library |
15/09/10 |
Met with Landlords committee of Alex Ext 9. They needed clarity on the Mediation process which is still in the process |
21/07/11 |
Met with COJ Region E, ARP and the Mediators at 1066 to discuss the mediation outcome of Ext 9 and a way forward ( All the cases before the Tribunal were later referred by the Complainants to the Public Protector) |
26/07/11 |
Tribunal members, Inspectors, secretariat, CoJ, ARP, tenants and landlords representative, conducted a site visit at Alex Ext 9 |
28/11/2011 |
Open day and public education the Alexandra Plaza |
16/11/12 |
Interacted with the Alexandra Community through Alex FM radio talk show 30/08/12 |
30/08/12 |
Alex Pioneer Community News Paper Publication |
13/09/12 |
In the case of Malibongwe Ridge, the tenants will, as part of the Consumer Education and Training Programme, be educated and informed of their rights and obligations. This Education programme will be deployed as and when the allocation of the units are undertaken which is planned for later this year. In addition, the MMC for Housing of the City Council of Johannesburg has already conducted consultations with the targeted beneficiaries on the rental matters.
(ii) The education campaign was conducted by the Rental tribunal, the City Council of Johannesburg and the Alexandra Renewal Programme.
(iii) The cost of the education campaign is not known as each institutions was responsible for its own expensive as part of operational budgets.