Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
It is a comparatively recent development that places housing not only as one of the main targets in the national plan, but also as a vital means of achieving other social and economic objectives.1 Admirable though this may be, a number of difficulties can arise in practice, particularly with regard to the question of new housing where many dwellings may be on unsuitable sites and require relocation or extensive redevelopment. The point is that remedial measures are likely to have only short-term effects, unless several underlying – and often conflicting – variables are taken into account. Four such variables have assumed importance in the planning for future housing needs in the Greater Manzini Area of Swaziland, and it is the purpose of this article to illustrate how policies relating to industrial location, urban growth, and housing, interact with the tenurial system in force.
Page 211 note 1 Cf. Koenigsberger, O., ‘Housing in the National Development Plan’, in Architectural Association Quarterly (London), 01 1970, pp. 11–16.Google Scholar
Page 211 note 2 Jones, H. M., Report on the 1966 Swaziland Population Census (Mbabane, 1968), table XIII. I.Google Scholar
Page 211 note 3 Cf. Friedmann, J. R., Regional Development Policy (Cambridge, Mass., 1966).Google Scholar
Page 212 note 1 See Swaziland Government, Report on the Survey of Manzini and Peri-Urban Area, 1971 (Mbabane, 1972)Google Scholar; and Lea, J. P., ‘Report on the Malkerns Survey, April 1972’, University of the Witwatersrand, 1972.Google Scholar
Page 212 note 2 Anderson, R. J., Manzini Development Plan. Part One. Report on the Survey (Manzini, 1969),Google Scholar and Whittington, G. W., ‘Towards Urban Development in Swaziland’, in Erdkunde (Bonn), XXIV, 1970, pp. 26–39.Google Scholar
Page 214 note 1 Cf. Friedmann, J. R., ‘A General Theory of Polarized Development’, in Hansen, N. M. (ed.), Growth Centres in Regional Economic Development (New York, 1972).Google Scholar
Page 214 note 2 Fair, T. J. D., Murdoch, C., and Jones, H. M., Development in Swaziland: a regional analysis (Johannesburg, 1969), p. 62.Google Scholar
Page 216 note 1 Sources: Report on the 1966 Swaziland Population Census, and Report on the Survey of Manzini and Pen-Urban Area, 1971.
Page 216 note 2 Some 80.9 per cent of the sample population questioned in the 1972 survey, stated that they had arrived at Malkerns since 1966, thus representing a growth in the total population of 423.4 per cent during the past six years.
Page 217 note 1 An examination of aerial photographs taken during October 1957, June 1961, and August 1967, showed that the huts of the squatting community could be distinguished from the more permanent iithabitants.
Page 217 note 2 Blair, T. L., ‘Shelter in Urbanizing and Industrializing Africa’, in Oliver, P. (ed.), Shelter in Africa (London, 1970), p. 234.Google Scholar
Page 217 note 3 Government, Swaziland, Post-Independence Development Plan (Mbabane, 1969), p. 36.Google Scholar
Page 217 note 4 The Times of Swaziland (Mbabane), 27 11 1970, p. 17.Google Scholar
Page 218 note 1 United Nations, Economic Bulletin for Africa (Addis Ababa), VIII, 1–2, 1971, p. 186.Google Scholar
Page 219 note 1 Anderson, op. cit. p. 37.
Page 220 note 1 Section so (i) (b) states that the Board shall report on ‘the suitability of the site with regard to area, position, water supply, soil, aspect, contour, possibility of extension, grade of Streets, climatic conditions, availability of building materials, accessibility from railways and through roads, and all other relevant circumstances.’
Page 220 note 2 See General Working Conditions in Swaziland (Mbabane, 1972),Google Scholar published by the National Industrial Development Corporation of Swaziland.
Page 221 note 1 Fair, Murdoch, and Jones, op.cit. p. 59.
Page 221 note 2 Matsebula, J. S. M., A History of Swaziland (Cape Town, 1972), pp. 35–8.Google Scholar
Page 222 note 1 This legislation has been altered by the Farm Dwellers Amendment Act of November 1972.
Page 222 note 2 Blair, loc. cit. p. 235.
Page 223 note 1 An example of such a body is the National Housing Corporation of Botswana, founded in 1970, which has among its functions: ‘to assess housing needs throughout Botswana at all levels, determine and advise on priorities and prepare a housing programme’. The National Development Plan, 1970–1975 (Gaborone, 1970), p. 93.Google Scholar
Page 223 note 2 Franklin, G. H., ‘The Place of Housing in the National Plan’, in Town and Country Planning Summer School Report (London, 1968), pp. 65–71.Google Scholar
Page 223 note 3 Daniel, J. B. McI., ‘The Swazi Rural Economy: some thoughts on the problems of land tenure’, in Proceedings of the Jubilee Conference, South African Geographical Society, 1967 (Durban), pp. 287–304Google Scholar; and Hughes, A. J. B., Swazi Land Tenure (Durban, 1964).Google Scholar
Page 224 note 1 Norwood, H. C., ‘Ndirande, a Squatter Colony in Malawi’, in Town Planning Review (Liverpool), 43, 04 1972, pp. 135–150.Google Scholar
Page 224 note 2 Economic Bulletin for Africa, VIII, 1–2, 1971, p. 186.Google Scholar
Page 224 note 3 Two recent developments are likely to make a positive contribution here: the preparation ofthe Second National Development Plan to cover the period up to 1977. and the appointment of consultants to produce a comprehensive physical plan for the Mbabane-Manzini region.