From Shacks to Streets
MEC Unveils Bold Plan to Upgrade Informal Settlements
 

Rustenburg/ North West – On Tuesday 12 August 2025, MEC Gaoage Oageng Molapisi of the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, outlined his department’s ambitious plans to transform informal settlements into thriving communities.

Molapisi confirmed that the department has finalised the Provincial Informal Settlements Upgrading Strategy, fully aligned with the National White Paper on Human Settlements. The plan sets out a roadmap to upgrade 219 informal settlements to phase three – the stage where essential services such as water, sanitation, roads, and stormwater systems are installed.

“This upgrading programme follows three critical phases: land acquisition, formalisation of land rights, and, finally, the installation of essential services,” Molapisi explained. 

During the 2024/25 financial year, the department successfully upgraded seven settlements – including sites in Mamusa, Amalia Ext 5, Wolmaranstad Ext 17 & 19, Lebaleng Ext 6, Kanana Ext 17, and Rustenburg’s Popo Molefe and Mbeki Sun – to phase three. Through the Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant, 2,504 housing units were delivered to beneficiaries.

Looking to the current financial year, the MEC announced that the department has set aside R166.5 million to deliver 2,257 service sites. The majority of this funding will go towards installing basic services, with the remainder earmarked for land acquisition and formalisation in key priority areas.

Molapisi emphasised that the strategy is not just about housing, but about reshaping communities for the long term.