What happened to South Africa’s promise of low-cost housing?
When apartheid collapsed in 1994, South Africa introduced a policy of low-cost housing for the poor. But millions still live in shacks. So could 3D printed houses be the answer?
“Life here is difficult. You have to be a resilient person to survive. There’s no electricity. The roads are almost non-existent. In sunny days, the shack gets too hot. You can’t stay inside. When it’s cold, it gets very cold. When it’s raining, it gets flooded” – Lala Maria Sebetlele, a resident of a Johannesburg shanty town
When Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress took over in 1994, it introduced the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). It’s a policy that aims to build low-cost homes for the poor, thus reversing the legacy of apartheid.
More than three million such houses have since been built, but many people still live in shanty towns due to a variety of reasons. They include internal migration and rapid urbanization.
The University of Johannesburg has now come up with an initiative to use 3D printing technology to construct low-cost houses to help ease the accommodation burden. How exactly does it work? And will it make a difference?
Presenter: Alan Kasujja
Guests: Lala Maria Sebetlele, Dr. Alec Moemi and Professor Jeffrey Mahachi
Podcast
-
Africa Daily
One question to wake up to every weekday morning. One story from Africa, for Africa
