Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
This study focused on but one Housing Programme, the enhanced People’s Housing Process
(ePHP), through which the South African Government provides subsidised housing to indigent
households. The 1998 White Paper: Supporting the People’s Housing Process (PHP)
introduced a self-build, incremental housing strategy. Through a process of reflective learning
Government and its Development Partners revised the 1998 PHP, and the ePHP was
consequently introduced in 2009 via an amendment to the Housing Code. The PHP as well as
the redefined ePHP are defined as “a housing delivery mechanism whereby beneficiary
households build, or organise between themselves, the building of their own homes, make a
‘sweat equity’ contribution through their labour and exercise a greater choice in the
application of their housing subsidy through their direct involvement in the entire process”
(NDOH, 2005:7).
The original PHP as well as the revised ePHP were implemented with various degrees of
success despite the institutional and financial support provided for in support measures. A
review of implementation challenges led to the realisation that both the challenges and
resources required to address these challenges were located at various levels (i.e. micro, meso
and macro) of engagement. The Policy Network approach was therefore explored to analyse
the relationship between network characteristics and the attainment of policy outcomes.
Skogstad (2005:5) argues, firstly, that in analysing such relationships the attributes of the
network (and not the actor within the network) should be the unit of analysis. Secondly, the
policy structure has to be linked to broader contextual factors; and thirdly, there has to be
recognition of the role of “actor agency”. This study therefore developed a multi-dimensional
model that addressed these requirements, and was utilised in the exploration and analysis of
the Masizakhele Five ePHP project located in Wallacedene, Cape Town. The central research
question for the study was “What role do Policy Networks play in the implementation of
the enhanced People’s Housing Process (ePHP)?”
Utilising a qualitative research design and methodology to collect and analyse data,
generalisable observations were developed about the relationship between network
characteristics contained within the multi-dimensional model, network operations in practice
and the attainment of policy outcomes. The outcomes of the pattern matching process revealed...