SCHOLAR CALLS FOR A RETHINK OF SOUTH AFRICA’S HOUSING POLICY

Despite the promises made in South Africa’s post-apartheid Housing White Paper, the nation’s urban landscape continues to reflect the spatial injustices of the past.

These were assertions made by Monwabisi Siwakhile Xegwana of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) who argued that the country’s housing crisis is less about shortages and more about the persistence of spatial segregation.

Xegwana presented his paper titled “The efficiency of the Housing White Paper on the Housing Crisis in South Africa” at the International Conference on Sustainable Construction and the Built Environment (ICSCBE) hosted by WSU and CBE from 6 to 9 July 2025.

In his presentation, Xegwana explained that while many see the housing crisis as a shortage of homes, his research focused on how apartheid-style spatial planning continues to shape where people live today.

“I’m not looking at the housing crisis as the shortfall of housing, I’m looking at the housing crisis as this spatial segregation in terms of housing and planning that keeps on repeating itself,” he said.

Xegwana’s study found that although the policy provides a framework for delivering affordable housing, it has not done enough to bring people of different races and income levels into shared spaces.

He highlighted issues like gentrification, NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard), and continued development on the outskirts of cities as key reasons why integration has been slow. These patterns, he said, continue to separate people along racial and economic lines.

“There’s a permanent mark inherited from apartheid. You jump the road and you’re in Alexander; you jump the road again, and you’re in Sandton. But it’s all one city,” remarked Xegwana.

To break these patterns, Xegwana suggested that the Housing White Paper should be revised to reflect current urbanisation trends and the realities of modern South Africa.

He argued that improving the enforcement of housing policies and encouraging stronger collaboration between the government and the private sector could help increase the availability of affordable housing for all citizens.

By Yanga Ziwele