u Tshani Buyakhuluma (The grass speaks): People's Dialogue and the South African Homeless People's Federation (1994-6)

Abstract

The paper describes the growth of the People’s Dialogue/South African Homeless People’s Federation alliance over the past three years including its housing savings schemes, exchange programmes, the uTshani Fund for housing loans, the land unit and its dealings with government. It also describes the remarkable community-based training and enumeration exercise which helps the residents in any settlement to develop their own plans for housing and priorities for action. The paper also describes the ineffectiveness of the Mandela government’s housing policies which thought that support for private sector “mass housing” was the solution, rather than support for people’s own processes, as advocated and demonstrated by the alliance. The paper ends with an account of how official support for the alliance has grown but also how difficult it is for any formal government structure to support community directed action.