Land reform and housing : reaching for the rafters or struggling with foundations?

• Author: Juanita M Pienaar
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC197707
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• Date: 01 January 2015
• Pages: 1-25

Land reform and housing: Reaching for

the rafters or struggling with

foundations?

Juanita M Pienaar*

Abstract

With regard to land reform and housing, the pressing question is whether South Africans

have indeed reached their rafters (ie the structures which make up the main framework

of all roofs) and are therefore in the process of fixing roofs and enjoying protection against

the elements, or are they still struggling with foundations? Within the context of housing,

this overarching question also reflects on what would constitute the ‘foundation’ in order

to enable the eventual construction of rafters to support the roof. What is the link between

the foundation, required to stabilise the building on the one hand; and land reform and

housing on the other? Inevitably further questions follow: if there is a link between land

reform and housing, how and why did it emerge? What does the link entail and how is it

dealt with? What are the difficulties and shortcomings that threaten the link and how can

these threats be addressed? Essentially the premise is that access to housing (the rafters

that support the roof) cannot and will not be achieved if access to land (the foundation) is

not realised. The more sound the foundation, the better the overall structure and inevitably,

the rafters in support of the roof. As will be explained, various approaches to foundations

exist, depending on the kind of building to be constructed, the location thereof and the

environmental and geographical considerations. Simil arly, access to land, forming the

foundation, may be approached from various perspectives, including inter alia relational,

economic, property law and land reform approaches. The conclusion is reached that as

builders South Africans have to harness all the tools they have at their disposal: definitely

land reform tools, but also property law, planning and construction and economic and

financial mechanisms, mixed in with creativity and commitm ent. It is imperative that

sufficient land, ideally located, is secured in time and in a constitutional manner, so that

the walls can be built in order to finally, secure the roof so desperately needed.

BIuris (Cum Laude) LLB LLM LLD (University of the North West – formerly PUCHE), Professor of

*

Law, University of Stellenbosch.

2(2015) 30 SAPL

1 Introduction

Builders of houses, not necessarily master builders only, all agree that a roof

cannot be fixed securely without rafters to form a sturdy network of connecting

points. Consequently, rafters make up the main framework of all roofs. Rafters, the

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inclined members, are fastened to the ridge or to another rafter, depending on the

type of roof. Various types of rafters exist, depending on the kind of building, and

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they rest on the top wall plates. To that end builders further agree that, in order to

reach the rafters so that the roof can be fixed, strong walls have to be built, resting

on solid, sound and stable foundations. Therefore, in order to fix the roof to protect

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one against the elements, to provide safety and to finally ‘have a roof over one’s

head’, thereby constituting a home, a foundation is essential. Again, different types

of foundations exist, depending on the kind of building, its location, the soil, weather

conditions and environmental considerations.

Designing and constructing the correct foundation is an extremely technical

matter that involves, amongst other things, standards and safety considerations.

To that end the South African National Stand ards Regulations for Foundations

caution from the outset that: 4

Foundations of any structure, large or small, must be built to safely transmit a ll

loads of the building to the ground. If foundations are not correctly built, walls may

crack and at worst, could even collapse.

and require specifically that:5

The foundation of any building shall be designed and constructed to safely

transmit all the actions which can reasonably be expec ted to occur from such

building to the ground and in such a manner that any local damage (including

[United States, Depart ment of the Army] (s.d.) ‘Roof systems and coverings’ (chapter 7) in US

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Army carpentry field manual (no pagination), retrieved from Construction Knowledge Databa se

(Carpentry and Wood) on Construction Knowledge.net website available at http ://www

.constructi onknowled ge.net/pub lic_domain_documents/Div_6_W oods_Plastics/Partial%20Carp

entry%20pdfs/Roof_Framing_&_Roofing_%20Army_FM5-426.pdf (accessed 2015-03-04).

United States, Department of the Army (n 1): Common rafters are framing rafters that extend at

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right angles from the plate line to the roof ridge. They are called common rafters because they are

common to all types of roofs and are used as the basis for laying out other types of rafters. Other

rafters include hip rafters (roof members that extend diagonally from the corner of the plate to the

ridge) and valley rafters (extending from the plate to the ridge along the lines where two roofs

intersect).

Cook Building in the 21st century (2007) 6.

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‘Foundations: Regulations for foundations – Part H: A focus on safety’ (2011) SANS 10400

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Building Re gulations website (South African National Standards), November available at http://

sans10400.co.za/foundations/ (accessed 2 015-07-17).

Ibid.

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