The South African National Government, the Gauteng Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government, the Emfuleni Local Municipality and the Sedibeng District Municipality have been the major role-players in the Evaton Development Project.

The National Department of Housing aims to meet government’s constitutional responsibility of ensuring that every South African has access to permanent housing that provides secure tenure, privacy, protection from the elements, and access to basic services. The housing backlog grows despite the delivery of 1,831 million subsidised houses between 1994 and March 2005, as well as the servicing of 57 065 new sites and the building of 52 548 houses between April and September 2005.

The department has started simplifying the administration of housing subsidies to accelerate housing delivery. The income qualification categories have been collapsed to allow all qualifying households to receive the same subsidy. This has extended the reach of the housing programme by allowing households earning up to R7 000 per month (up from R3 500 per month) to qualify for housing subsidies and by upgrading informal settlements.

Recognising that South African cities and towns still reflect the hallmark of apartheid spatial designs, the "BNG Housing Comprehensive Plan" has been developed to assist in the building of settlements that promote both racial and class integration, while also promoting economic growth. The reality is that our current spatial development patterns have not yet adequately aligned themselves with the South African government's broader transformation agenda for viable human settlements. They have not had the desired impact on our cityscapes and inadvertently continue to perpetuate racial and class differentiation despite the remarkable strides we have made in other aspects of our societal life. The economy is growing and expanding and yet the lower to middle class workers, who are integral to the functioning and success of this very same economic infrastructure, are perpetually confined to the periphery of our urban centres. The current property boom that the country is experiencing continues to benefit the materially advantaged classes while the lower classes remain barricaded in poverty-riddled areas. The BNG seeks to address this by creating sustainable human settlements that use new and innovative spatial development methods to tackle the dire problem of continuing race and class segregation.

The “BNG” is being implemented through pilot projects in each of the nine provinces. The pilot projects will improve the living conditions of 103 000 households in informal settlements. The “BNG’s” prime objective is the eradication or upgrading of all informal settlements in the country by 2014/15.

Gauteng covers just over 17 000sq km - approximately 1.4% of the total land surface of South Africa. Despite being the smallest of nine provinces, Gauteng is home to approximately 8 million people. In the seSotho languages 'Gauteng' means 'Place of Gold', which is appropriate as the province has its economic and historic roots in the thriving gold industry that was sparked by the discovery of gold in Johannesburg in 1886. The province has a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure, excellent financial institutions and a well-serviced urban environment. Although highly urbanised, there are also several natural tourist attractions. A significant portion of South Africa's past is manifested in the province where sites such as the Union Buildings and the Newton Cultural Precinct in Johannesburg, document the country's rich cultural and historic heritage.

Gauteng has developed a special urban and industrial character that is uniquely African. In recent years, this energy has been directed towards developing a province for the new millennium, a smart province that is globally competitive.The Gauteng Provincial Government has re-aligned its focal economic sectors from low value added production to more sophisticated sectors such as information technology, finance and business.

Emfuleni is an active, highly industrialised and diversified area of Gauteng - one of the most knowledge-intensive areas of Africa. Emfuleni Local Municipality is one of three local municipalities that constitute the Sedibeng District Municipality. It is the Western-most Local Municipality of the District, which covers the entire southern area of the Gauteng province extending along a 120 kilometres axis from east to west. It covers an area of 987.45 km². The Vaal River forms the southern boundary of the Emfuleni Local Municipality and its strategic location affords it many opportunities for tourism and other forms of economic development. Emfuleni shares boundaries with Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State to the south, Midvaal Local Municipality to the east, the City of Johannesburg metropolitan area to the north and Westonaria and Potchefstroom (in North West Province) Local Municipalities to the west.

The Sedibeng District Council is an innovative, dynamic, developmental government that consistently meets and exceeds the expectations of the communities and the various stakeholders it serves. Its mission is the creation of a local governemnt dedicated to the provision of quality services in an effective, efficient and financially sound manner by: promoting the Batho Pele principle;ensuring cost effective and affordable service delivery; monitoring and developing staff to ensure consistently high work output; adhering to good governance and sound management practices; and developing a culture of accountability and transparency.