The right to adequate housing is guaranteed under international human rights law. This right, like many other economic, social, and cultural rights, is not expressly recognised in the Namibian Constitution though. Namibia, however, ratified some of the major human rights instruments which recognise this right. Importantly, the Constitution embraces an international law-friendly disposition towards international law. It provides, for instance, for the automatic incorporation of international agreements binding on Namibia into the Namibian legal system. This provision accordingly reads the right to adequate housing into the Namibian legal order. The right to adequate housing, however, is one of the most blatantly violated rights in the country. To this date, no claim has been instituted before the courts claiming, specifically, the right to adequate housing. The question is why not? Could this be because of a lack of understanding of what this right entails? This article presumptively assumes that the answer to this question is in the affirmative. It adopts a primer approach by giving a synoptic exposition of the right to adequate housing. Its prime objective is to augment potential knowledge gaps which may exist in respect of the scope, content, entitlements, and obligations imposed by the right to adequate housing.
Uploaded date: 21 November, 2023
New emerging narratives are exposing the contrast between the current appalling housing situation and the potential possibilities of urban life in Namibia. In this article, I argue that the current housing situation is not only a crisis, but has its origins in Namibia history. The beginnings of urban development in Namibia were anchored in colonialist dispossession and an apartheid-economy of housing and urban land. Secondly, the narratives emerging from the cries of current day protests on the streets of Namibia’s urban areas. They are feminist and decolonial in approaches. The research used a mixed methodology. This included critical discourse analysis, secondary analysis of official statistics, research reports and policy documents as well as qualitative performative work for empirical data collection. I conclude that the emerging narratives provide a fuller critique of land and housing, beyond narrow land delivery or high housing prices arguments. They also expose what young contemporary thinker-practitioners decry as delayed coloniality and false transformation.
Namibia’s fraught history of segregation remains the phantom that haunts contemporary urban spaces. The nature of urbanisation, and attendant problems that this process presents – as far as provision of housing is concerned – undoubtedly indicts the history of spatial segregation. Since the lifting of influx control in the mid-1980s, urban areas across Namibia have experienced unsustainable waves of urbanisation and resultant lack of decent housing. This lack of housing has implications for social justice, viz. right to shelter. Archival research findings allow for a retracing of colonial spatial segregation that continues to provide valuable context. This context needs to be thoroughly understood so that a meaningful change of Namibia’s urban spaces ensues. The question of housing provision remains a problem area in most of urban Namibia, for there have been more misses than hits These misses have implications for social justice as those who suffer the indignities of lack of decent housing are largely the black, urban poor.
This article describes the forms and conditions of access to land, housing and municipal basic service infrastructures among the residents of the precarious urban fringes of Windhoek. It pays particular attention to the ways in which they understand the situation and how they justify their demands of improved access. The article discusses how the issue of urban land, housing and basic services can be interpreted beyond its practical, concrete aspects as simultaneously indexing broader issues such as urban and national citizenship, principles of access and redistribution, and ideals of a good society. Formal mechanisms of access to land and housing, as well as concomitant basic services such as water, electricity, and sanitation, depend on one’s ability to participate in the housing market as a buyer. In contrast, for those who live in informal settlements or otherwise informal conditions in the urban fringes, access to these necessities is partial, incremental and dependent on relations with relevant authorities, mainly those representing the City of Windhoek. The residents criticize the authorities for failing to provide improvements and justify their pleas in terms of need, fairness, or their rights as Namibians instead of the market- based access that dominates the formal sphere of provision and planning. Their visions of a better future are twofold – they often entail dreams of ascending to the propertied classes but also ideas of a caring, responsive public authority that honors the perceived mutual obligations between the citizens and authorities. The article is based on interviews, recorded meetings and observational material from fieldwork carried out in 2016 and 2019.
This collection of case studies explores the housing challenges faced by women in rural areas, highlighting their unique struggles and resilience. The studies, conducted across diverse rural landscapes, aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intersectionality between gender and housing in these settings. Key themes explored include the impact of economic disparities on women's housing opportunities, the role of traditional gender roles in shaping housing dynamics, and the significance of community-based solutions. The studies also investigate the influence of policy frameworks on addressing or exacerbating housing inequalities in rural areas, with a focus on women-specific housing initiatives. The findings emphasize the need for context-specific interventions that recognize the unique challenges faced by women in rural settings. The compilation aims to contribute to informed policy decisions, community-driven solutions, and advocacy efforts promoting equitable and sustainable housing outcomes for women in rural areas.
In Namibia access to urban land and housing remains a complex and contentious subject. On the one hand, the pressure on urban land is becoming increasingly acute; on the other, the demand for serviced land and adequate affordable housing is exceeding supply. This paper explores the relationship between gender and access to housing in urban areas and its implications for human rights and gender justice. This article draws on secondary data from research reports, official statistics, governmental reports and newspaper articles to analyze women’s access to land and affordable housing. The lack of gender disaggregated data was the greatest limitation to the research. This research uses an Intersectional Feminist approach to housing. It questions whether incremental approaches can deliver adequate housing under conditions of precarity and calls for gender-sensitive and gender-transformative approaches to housing. This recognizes that women do not form a homogenous group. Their access to housing depends on where they are socially situated with regard to “race”, class, nationality, marital status, age, ethnicity and disability. Differential social locations afford privileged access to housing for some and exclude others. An Intersectional Feminist approach to housing can lead to more gender sensitive and gender transformative outcomes.
Botswana has a land area of 585,370 square kilometers with a small population of just over 2 million according to the 2011 Population and Housing Census. Traditionally a pastoral society, with a predominately rural population, an ever-increasing numbers of Botswana have moved to urban areas and larger villages in the last three decades. In 2000, urban growth rates have been estimated at about 7% per annum (Government of Botswana, 2011). Between the early 1970s and the early 1990s the percentage of the urban population more than doubled. Botswana instituted a national urban development strategy in 1978 and a national housing policy in 1982. The government has only provided housing to its direct employees while the urban poor and new migrants from the rural areas have been left to fend for themselves (Mosha, 2010). The provision of shelter was not considered a top priority by the Government until the 1980s. There was no attempt before Independence in 1966 to prepare either a national, regional or local housing plan or those that existed were usually for the areas where the white European settlers lived. Fifteen years later, there was a realization that the problem of slums and squatter settlements which were mushrooming in almost all of Botswana’s urban centers required urgent attention. The rapid urbanization led government to introduce tenure regimes such as the Certificate of Rights to curb squatter problems and the Fixed Period State Grant (FPSG) for the middle and high income groups. Beneficiaries are issued with a Certificate of Rights (COR) which allows them to enjoy the use of the plot while the state still owns the land. This tenure is secure, inheritable and can be ceded with the consent of the Council. Although COR can be given as collateral, financial institutions are hesitant to accept it since the land still belongs to the state and require consent of the Council. In order to address this challenge Government approved the conversion from COR to Fixed Period State Grant (FPSG). This is a simple form of title deed and is accepted as collateral by financial institutions. With this tenure system, the beneficiary can transfer the ownership of their plot to another person without the approval of the relevant council. It provides a secure tenure that is so much needed (Self-Help Housing Agency, 2006). This case study highlights the policies introduced by the Government of Botswana to address the problem of lack of decent housing for all income groups in Botswana. This includes the issue of providing affordable housing to the poor in urban areas and the issue of abolishing informal settlements in urban areas. The challenges and measures taken to address those challenges are outlined and the conclusion highlights the achievements of the programs
This case study examines the housing cooperative movement in Uruguay, which emerged as a radical solution to the housing crisis. By 2018, over 25,000 families were organized in 560 cooperatives, representing one of the world's most ambitious attempts to solve the crisis. The economic situation in Uruguay influenced access to housing, which became expensive and often inaccessible for working-class families due to existing economic inequality and real estate speculation. As urbanization accelerated, the claim for the right to housing shifted to "the right to the city," asserting the right to the city and citizenship.
Venezuela has long been a country with extreme inequalities, particularly in housing. Insufficient government housing policies led to sprawling shanty towns and mass poverty. The country experienced rapid urbanization, with the urban population increasing six-fold between 1950 and 1999. Local elites controlled the real estate market, reducing housing to a trade able commodity, resulting in social exclusion of the urban poor. With the 1998 election victory of the Bolivar Party, significant changes began to alter Venezuela's political, economic, and social landscape. Chavez envisioned a "people's government" with a people's direct participation and control over national resources. Following the attempted US-backed coup against the Chavez government in 2002, participatory democracy became the vehicle to address inequalities in all spheres of life.
The case study explores the challenges in designing affordable housing in Southern Africa, focusing on the role of design in this context. Housing has traditionally been an engineering exercise, with architects playing a peripheral role. Most projects focus on providing standard units on plots, based on false notions of a nuclear family. The Mount Frere Extension 6 Affordable Housing project aims to address these issues within the domain of architecture, considering the constraints of market forces, building codes, and policy frameworks beyond the domain of architects. The project is located in Mount Frere, Eastern Cape, and aims to provide freestanding affordable housing units with each house centrally located on a 250m2 plot.
The housing backlog in Namibia is currently 300,000 units, despite a population of only 2.5 million and 30 years of neo-colonialism. The Swapo government has been a massive failure in housing, with the majority of Namibians living in inadequate housing. The former deputy minister of urban and rural development, Derek Klazen, suggested that N$76 billion would be required for land servicing and housing construction. However, this is a significant sum of money, given the Namibian government's neoliberal assumptions, which assume that building materials must be purchased from the private sector at current prices and that housing is not a social right. This has led to the housing crisis worsening over the years, with the government only building 35,000 houses over the past 30 years.
The study explores the urbanization of developing countries, particularly Namibia, due to rapid population growth and poverty. The abolition of the contract labor system, which previously limited migration to urban centers, has accelerated this trend. The country's independence in 1990 has led many Namibians to move from rural areas to urban areas, seeking better lives. This trend has impacted legislation and institutions, causing a significant urbanization crisis.
Namibia, six months after celebrating its thirty-year independence from South Africa in March 2020, is currently facing a crisis. Protests began on October 7, 2020, following the murder of a young woman, Shannon Wasserfall, who had been missing since April 2020. A new generation of youth activists, fueled by femicide and gender-based violence, is demanding the resignation of Namibia's Minister of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Doreen Sioka. Their major rallying cries include #OnsIsMoeg and #ShutItAllDownNamibia, which aim to disrupt business-as-usual in a crisis. Protesters have been marching on various ministries and demanding the resignation of Sioka.
The essay discusses the protest action and photographic remnants of the #ShutItAllDown movement in Namibia, which aims to mobilize Praxis for decolonial futures. The protests express collective fear, anxiety, and exhaustion of living in an unsafe country. The protest posters, such as "Ons Is Fokken Moeg" (#OnsIsMoeg), address the normalization of trauma in post-apartheid Namibia and highlight the unfinished business of collective healing. The poster "Jou Poes Doreen" is a radical rudeness directed at Minister of Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Doreen Sioka for her insensitive views on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). This radical queer feminist gesture disrupts the politics of politeness and amplifies feminist voices against femicide and Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in Namibia. The protesters at #ShutItAllDown Namibia embodied disruptive politics of public life, occupying intersections in the CBD and other significant sites in the city. The protests were organized by predominantly young women who aimed to challenge the status quo and demand change.
Namibia, a country of 82 million hectares, was under colonial rule from 1884 to 1990, presenting challenges such as a skewed land distribution favoring a white minority population. At independence, 44% of the total land area was freehold agricultural land, owned by 4,200 whites, while 40% consisted of non-freehold commercial land, occupied by 92% of the population, mainly black Namibians. The remaining 16% was state land, including government commercial farms, national parks, forests, mining areas, research stations, and townlands. The Namibian government convened two historic national land conferences in 1991 and 2018 to address the land issue, and in March 2019, President Dr. H.G. Geingob established a Commission of Inquiry into Claims of ancestral land rights and restoration.
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