Johannesburg: Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane has called for a fundamental shift in how South Africa plans, finances, and delivers housing. The Minister said traditional construction methods are no longer sufficient to meet the country’s growing and increasingly complex housing needs.
According to South African Government News Agency, Simelane delivered the keynote address at the first Presidential Innovative Building Technologies (IBT) Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg. She described the gathering as a turning point in the country’s approach to human settlements delivery. The summit marks a crucial shift, focusing on decisive action and a collective commitment to change how housing is planned, financed, approved, and built in South Africa.
Simelane acknowledged that while the government had made significant progress since 1994 by delivering more than five million housing opportunities, the nation still faces a persistent housing backlog of about 2.5 million households. She identified rapid urbanization, population growth, pressure on land and infrastructure, constrained public finances, and the escalating climate crisis as structural challenges requiring new solutions.
The Minister emphasized that urbanization is reshaping the global landscape, with projections indicating that nearly 70% of South Africa’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. This growth often results in informal settlements on floodplains, unstable slopes, and environmentally degraded land, putting the poorest households at risk. Simelane also highlighted the undeniable reality of climate change, pointing out the country’s experiences with devastating floods, prolonged droughts, extreme heat, and destructive fires.
Simelane argued that housing must be reimagined as climate-resilient infrastructure, energy-efficient assets, water-wise systems, and engines of green economic growth. She noted that IBTs offer a practical pathway to achieving these goals. In South Africa, IBTs encompass building systems developed outside conventional methods and certified through Agr©ment South Africa. These include panelised and modular systems, lightweight steel framing, alternative foundation technologies, and prefabricated components.
The Minister stressed that these technologies are not experimental but proven construction solutions capable of delivering faster build times, predictable quality, reduced material waste, and improved energy performance, often at lower lifecycle costs. She noted that the mainstreaming of IBTs is grounded in government policy, as outlined in the 2024 White Paper on Human Settlements.
Simelane announced the department’s plan to finalize Performance-Based National Norms and Standards for IBTs, guided by summit outcomes. These standards will integrate IBTs into subsidized housing programs, provide regulatory certainty, protect consumers, and ensure safety and energy efficiency. However, the Minister warned that innovation must be approached honestly, highlighting concerns about local manufacturing capacity, skills availability, financing models, and market acceptance.
Central to the summit is the development of a Social Compact on Mainstreaming Innovative Building Technologies, which aims to bring together government, regulators, the private sector, developers, financial institutions, academia, research councils, and civil society.