The impact of the corporatization of housing rental stock on the living conditions of tenants in eThekwini Municipality : a case study of Flamingo Court, Umbilo, Durban.

Abstract

South Africa is a developing country which has a segregated and apartheid past. In 1994, the new democratic government was established. The democratic governments’ constitution states that all South Africans should have a basic right of access to adequate housing. The government has a challenge to deliver housing especially to the disadvantaged groups -- Indians, Coloureds and Blacks. The housing in the urban areas has been for the elite group (whites) who were privileged with the majority being marginalised. The government sought to rectify this by implementing policies which would allow the under-privileged to have houses in the urban areas and also security of tenure. The eThekwini municipality has implemented various forms of housing delivery and this study focuses on the Discount Benefit Scheme which was replaced by the Enhanced Extended Discount Benefit Scheme. The scheme was anticipated to permit families that had been given state-funded and managed housing stock before 1994, the chance to take entitlement of the units in which they had lived (www.urbanlandmark.org.za/SERI). The researcher is interested in viewing this project as part of government trying to help the poor people by giving them full ownership of housing. This is part of a neoliberal policy agenda. Part of this agenda includes the corporatization of housing. This is a process of transforming state assets, government agencies, or municipal organizations into corporations. It is also linked with privatization which is referred to as the act of transferring ownership of a specified property or business operation from a government organization to a privately owned entity, as well as the transition of ownership from a publicly traded, or owned, company to a privately owned company. The study will attempt to examine the effects of corporatization on the living conditions of former tenants, and now owners of apartments in the previously council owned block of flats. The findings of the study indicate that corporatization of housing is not for the poor people and suggests that government needs to review DBS projects.