HOUSING EDUCATION CHALLENGES IN RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (RDP) HOUSES IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF GOLF COURSE RDP HOUSES IN ALICE TOWN, EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE

The prominent goal of accessing education to the people of South Africa has been largely met with obstacles even though many commendable initiatives have been staged. This study sought to explore housing education challenges in RDP houses with a case of the RDP houses in Alice Town, Eastern Cape Province. The study triangulated both qualitative and quantitative approaches with the qualitative as the dominant approach and the quantitative as the less dominant approach. The qualitative design took the form of a case study while the quantitative took the form of a mini survey. The study was exploratory, explanatory and descriptive in nature. The researcher utilized one-on-one in-depth interviews to collect data from 22 RDP housing beneficiaries; one social worker; one RDP housing administrator while 50 RDP housing residents were subjected to a questionnaire interview. The findings indicated that access to primary schools was very difficult, expensive and risky; secondary schools were located far from the beneficiaries; University/ (Further Education and Training (FET) College was expensive to access and risky; subjective high rates of HIV/AIDS affecting the beneficiaries. It is based on the findings that this researcher recommends the government to consider a more bold and proactive approach towards adequately housing educational institutions in these houses as well as strengthening the accessibility of HIV/AIDS education to raise awareness and to educate the public to reduce the prevalence of the epidemic. It is hoped that the findings from this paper will steer more involvement and contribution from other researchers, policy makers, the government and NGOs towards ensuring that education is significantly provided to the vulnerable and needy in South Africa especially in RDP houses.