Rose Molokoane

South African Homeless People’s Federation
Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI)

Ms. Rose Molokoane is National Chairperson of the 80,000-member South African Homeless People's Federation, their national savings coordinator, and a Board Member of Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI). A South African veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, she is one of the most internationally recognized grassroots activists involved in land tenure and housing issues. The South African Homeless People’s Federation has helped more than 150,000 squatters, the vast majority women, pool their savings. This has won them sufficient standing to negotiate with the government for a progressive housing policy that has already produced 15,000 new homes and secured more than 1,000 hectares of government land for development. SDI is a network of squatter groups on three continents. From her modest squatter home in Western Pretoria, Rose Molokoane has travelled to Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines as well as many African nations to share SDI’s methods. She was awarded the Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2005 for her tireless struggle to bring land and homes to the poor.