South African History Online

Speech by President Nelson Mandela at the closing ceremony of the United Nations habitat II African housing minister's conference

World Trade Centre, 18 October 1996

Secretary General N'Dow;
Honourable Ministers;
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me begin by thanking the United Nations for giving South Africa the
opportunity to host this historic gathering. It has been an honour for our new
democracy to be able to play this role.

I am informed that you have reached an African consensus on this critical
matter, that will be presented at Habitat II in Istanbul next June. I want to
complement you on this important achievement.

The world can be divided into those countries where the nation is comfortably
housed, and those where housing is part of a daily struggle for survival. Most
countries in Africa, including South Africa, fall into the latter category. And
this is a reflection of the challenges we face to ensure that our peoples do
indeed enjoy a better life.

Our approach to housing in South Africa, as in other parts of Africa,
embodies the principle that the government has an important role to play. But it
recognises too that government cannot solve the problem on its own. We fully
endorse the need for a full and meaningful partnership of government, the
private sector and homeless communities.

The very specific challenge that Africa faces is that of poverty: quite
simply, most of our people are too poor for a pure market solution to the
housing problem.

Yet, chairperson, poverty does not mean hopelessness. The greatest single
resource we have in solving this challenge is the energy and creativity of the
homeless themselves. It is an energy that can be mobilised in an effective
partnership that helps communities to help themselves.

In tackling the task of housing the nation, we are presented with an historic
opportunity to fundamentally challenge economic and social relations.

For, housing is not neutral. Our own country has in the past known only too
well how the provision and non-provision of housing can be used as a form of
social and political control. Here and elsewhere it has often been the means of
dealing with the urban and rural poor - to hide them, evict them, harass them
and trample on their self-esteem.

As such, a successful housing programme can at one and the same time become a
force for economic and social liberation. Built into this, in our situation, are
some fundamental requirements.

The first deals with security of tenure. The absence of such security is one
of the most consistent reasons for the non-improvement of housing conditions.
Granting such security leads to a completely different response from
communities.

Another critical issue is that of the provision of credit to people who do
not attract the interest of the formal banking sector. One of the most important
ways of changing this negative relationship lies in the mobilisation of people's
own savings. There are significant initiatives underway in South Africa that are
proving the viability of this approach.

A third key issue is one that is often overlooked or even scoffed at. Very
simply put: the success of our housing programme - of any housing programme - is
directly related to the extent to which women are directly involved. When we
talk about people-centred development, we should understand that the involvement
of women is often the difference between success and failure.

The last issue I would highlight, as critical to any effective housing
programme, or indeed any programme, is good and clean governance. I will return
to this matter, topical in South Africa at the moment, at the end of my speech.

Ladies and gentlemen;

It is very difficult to build a democracy when daily living is such a
struggle. The reality we face in South Africa is that the housing programme has
essentially to be implemented by the poor themselves. The state has a vital role
in facilitating and complementing this process. It has a central role in
infrastructural development. But by involving the people, we shall not only
ensure that they get jobs; but also that they will claim ownership of the
process and the final product.

In just a moment, a South African school pupil will read to you an essay
which he wrote. David Dladla lives in KwaZulu-Natal, and in his entry for the
competition organised by our Department of Housing for World Habitat Day, he
speaks of the hopes and dreams of many of our continent's children.

It is our task as leaders to ensure that the dreams of Africa's children
become a reality.

Ladies and gentlemen;

Housing as a global issue is also about resources. About the judicious use of
the world's natural resources, as well as about their just allocation. Our
decisions on these matters determine our living environment and, ultimately,
whether we are creating cities or slums.

Africa, as a continent, must play its part in creating a new world vision on
shelter at Habitat II. We must recognise that the provision of shelter is a
process that can both create and maintain the democratic process.

The Africa delegation that goes to Istanbul must know that they have the most
important mandate on this issue.

That mandate comes from the homeless.

You have our full backing; and we wish you every success.

Chairperson;

If I may return to the issue of governance.

I have taken note of the Report of the Skweyiya Commission which investigated
alleged corruption and malpractices in and by the government of the former
Bophuthatswana. It is clear to me that in the past decade or more, corruption
and malpractice of the kind dealt with in the Report were not confined to that
part of South Africa but were widespread, deriving from the workings of the
whole apartheid system which created the homelands.

We need to eradicate corruption throughout South Africa. The kind of plunder
of taxpayers' money, corruption, malpractices and dishonesty referred to by the
Skweyiya Commission continue to rear their ugly head and must be exposed and
dealt with.

Accordingly, and in the firm belief that it is in the national interest to do
so, I have decided to appoint a commission under the Commission Act, 1947, to
investigate and expose corruption, bribery and other forms of malpractices in
previous governments in South Africa, including the former homelands. It is my
view that we need to establish the whole truth so as to enable the country to
break with its past and create and consolidate clean, honest and open
government.

I will make a further announcement in this regard after consultation with the
Cabinet.

I thank you.