Protesters cause more Cape traffic chaos

Cape Town - Protests on the N2 on Monday morning resulted in traffic chaos for thousands of commuters as the inbound and outbound lanes were closed.

Nyanga residents staged a service delivery protest from early this morning.

The protesters burnt tyres at the Airport Approach intersection and littered the N2 with the contents of portable toilets and piles of burning rubbish.

The highway was closed at Airport Approach and at Borcherds Quarry. Police had not made any arrests at publication time.

City Traffic Services spokeswoman Inspector Maxine Jordaan said major delays were experienced on alternative routes because of the added influx of traffic. “The N2 is one of the main arterial routes into the city. If it is affected, the ripple effects extend to all detours, resulting in backlogs.”

The outbound lanes opened at 10.25 this morning, but the inbound lanes remained closed at publication time.

A group of workers contracted by the City of Cape Town cleared obstructions on the N2, including piles of human excrement.

Several callers to 567 CapeTalk this morning expressed frustration at police, who were seen to be “monitoring” the situation, but who did “nothing” to clear up the obstacles blocking the road.

Responding to the complaints, Cape Chamber of Commerce president Fred Jacobs suggested that the police consider employing more people and extend their mandate to “alleviate” such situations as quickly as possible.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut defended the officers.

He said the police’s mandate was “monitoring” and ensuring that “law and order” was maintained.

“The waste needs to be dealt with carefully and professionally. Police are not equipped to provide this service and it is thus the city’s responsibility.”

Jacobs said this morning’s delays were “massively damaging to the city’s economy”.

“With the background of the recent bus strike, this is once again our… productivity.

“People are late for work and the added stress means that they will be less productive,” he said, suggesting that a spokesperson for the protesters needed to be accommodated by the city in order to avoid future protests.

However, the Cape Argus was unable to locate such a spokesperson this morning.

- Cape Argus

Protest closes Cape highway

Cape Town - A section of the N2 highway in Cape Town was closed on Monday morning because of a service delivery protest, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said a group of people blockaded the highway with burning tyres and toilet pots near Airport Approach road from 4.20am.

“At this stage, both lanes on the N2 are closed and traffic is being diverted to alternative routes,” he said.

Police were monitoring the situation and no arrests had been made. - Sapa

Nkandla legal opinion writer did not see report

THE author of the legal opinion which saw the report into spending at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead being kept from the public never saw the report

National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu based his decision to refer the report to the joint standing committee on intelligence on this opinion, of which Super Saturday Citizen has a copy.  

In it, Parliament’s senior legal adviser, Ntuthuzelo Vanara, wrote that he had to rely on “a brief background coupled with my security knowledge” to enable him to formulate a view on the legality of a possible referral of the report.     

“I am in an unenviable position, in that I am required to advise on a report that I have not had sight of,” wrote Vanara. 

Vanara proceeded to argue that because Zuma was the commander-in-chief of the defence force and the architectural plan of his private residence was a matter of national security, the report should not be made public. 

Vanara wrote that although the Constitution envisaged Parliament’s default position to be that of transparent governance, that because it was “safe to assume that parts of the report might contain intelligence information” it was reasonable and justifiable to refer the report to the closed committee. 

Addressing the classification of the report, Vanara cited a  Constitutional Court case.

In this case Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke stated that a mere classification of a report as confidential, secret or even top secret would not place the documents beyond the reach of the courts, because once documents were placed before a court they would be susceptible to its scrutiny and direction as to whether the public should be granted access or not.

Vanara argued the same should apply to the joint standing committee on intelligence with regards to the Nkandla report. 

As with the courts, the committee would have to weigh up the competing rights or interests carefully with a view to ensuring that the limitations it places on open justice is properly tailored and appropriate to the end it seeks to attain, wrote Vanara. 

This means that the committee will act as a quasi-court in that it will, at its discretion, decide which parts of the report will be made public, if any. 

Advocate Paul Hoffman of the Institute for Security Studies said that Vanara’s admission that he had not seen the report placed him in no position to “reasonably justify it being kept secret”. 

“The report’s subject matter covers a lot of material that has already been thoroughly ventilated.

“What possible point is there in now seeking to keep the matter a secret?” asked Hoffman. 

Hoffman stated that it was “far-fetched to suggest that any of the values (enshrined in the Constitution) were served” given the amount of publicity the upgrade has already enjoyed, nor does national security dictate that a report that presumably covered and attempted to explain the expenditure on the upgrades should be regarded as secret. 

“Whether any (aspects to national security) exist is impossible to say from where I sit and it is also impossible for Mr Vanara to say from his position, as expressed in his legal opinion,” said Hoffman.

- The Citizen

Nkandla: The details will, and should, be made public

The Minister of Public Works must have jumped for joy when he was told that details of the abuse of public funds to upgrade the private home of President Jacob Zuma and Nkandla could be suppressed by invoking the truly authoritarian National Key Points Act. Passed in 1980 – as the finger-wagging, lip-licking, PW Botha and his securocrats were consolidating their autocratic powers and creating new mechanisms to censor the media to prevent another embarrassing Info scandal – the Act is a true relic of an undemocratic and oppressive past. No wonder it is only invoked selectively in an attempt to hide aspects of some – but not other – scandals washing like the proverbial tsunami over the Zuma government.

When journalists reported that a plane full of wedding guests (attending the lavish wedding organised by the politically connected Gupta brothers) had landed at Waterkloof Air Force base, they probably did not realise that they were potentially exposing themselves to the risk of a three-year prison term for breaching the provisions of the National Key Points Act. This is because Waterkloof Air Force base has allegedly been declared a National Key Point – although there is no way of knowing whether this is true or not because the list of National Key Points is itself a state secret. (For all we know there is no list of places declared as National Key Points at all and our government makes up National Key Points as they see fit in order to cover up corruption and maladministration – we simply do not know.)

But when, first, Gwede Mantashe and then later several cabinet ministers also commented on the scandal, they must have known that they were running the risk of breaking an infamous Apartheid law – if Waterkloof Air Force base is indeed a National Key Point as alleged. But because they were trying to protect the president, they seemed to have shown little concern about the possible dangers of breaching the provisions of the National Key Points Act – and rightly so. Pity the same level-headed attitude about this Act is not in evidence as far as the corrupt use of public funds to upgrade the private home of President Zuma at Nkandla is concerned.

Section 10(2)(c) of the National Key Points Act states that any person who:

“furnishes in any manner whatsoever any information relating to the security measures, applicable at or in respect of any National Key Point or in respect of any incident that occurred there, without being legally obliged or entitled to do so, or without the disclosure or publication of the said information being empowered by or on the authority of the Minister… shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine not exceeding R10,000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”

This section is rather broad. It prohibits any person from revealing any information about any “security measures” (or lack of security measures, one would assume) applicable at a National Key Point. It also prohibits anyone from furnishing any information on “any incident” of terrorism or subversion that had occurred at the National Key Point. However, we are not allowed to know which areas have been declared National Key Points and we are asked to trust the relevant Minister who claims at will that this or that site has indeed been declared a National Key Point.

This means that the journalists and the ministers who furnished information to the public about the landing of a private plane at Waterkloof Air Force base and the relative absence of security measures at the time, as well as the manner in which the guests on that plane was dealt with, might – at a stretch – inadvertently have revealed information about “security measures” applicable at Waterkloof and in theory might have committed an offence in terms of the National Key Points Act.

But I suspect the journalists and the ministers will be safe from criminal prosecution. Although the section is indeed absurdly broad, the Act does not prohibit anyone from providing any information about the National Key Point at all. It is clear that the Act does not prohibit anyone from revealing any information on non-security related measures or incidents at a National Key Point. On this basis the journalists and the ministers who revealed information about the landing of a private plane at a National Key Point might escape criminal prosecution. They might argue that they only revealed information on events that took place there and did not reveal what security measures are in fact in place at Waterkloof.

If this is correct and if the journalists and Ministers did not commit a criminal offence when they revealed details of the Gupta plane landing, then the claim by the Minister of Public Works that the report on the Nkandla scandal cannot be made public and must be discussed behind closed doors because Nkandla is a National Key Point is demonstrated to be pure nonsense invented to hide the truth about the abuse of public funds. Just as the journalists and the ministers were allowed to reveal information around the landing of a plane at Watekloof, we are also allowed to reveal information about the use of public funds for the upgrade of the private home of President Zuma at Nkandla.

Soon the Public Protector will finalise her report on the Nkandla scandal. In a futile attempt to protect the president, the very cabinet ministers who ignored the possible infringement of the National Key Points Act in the Guptagate saga will invoke this law to try and suppress that report. Those of us who might obtain a copy of the Public Protector’s report might do well to follow the example of the various ministers by ignoring the absurd law and publishing the Public Protector’s report.

As a complainant in the matter I expect to receive a copy of that report. Taking my cue from the Minister Jeff Radebe, I promise to publish it on my blog as soon as I receive a final version of that report. After all, I have no evidence that President Zuma’s Nkandla home has indeed been declared a National Key Point, and would take any claim to the contrary by the Minister of Public Works with a pinch of salt.

And even if Nkandla had indeed been declared a National Key Point as claimed, a report dealing with the use of public funds to upgrade the private home of the president will surely not reveal information about existing security measures at Nkandla. For the same reasons the Ministers ignored section 10(2)(c) of the National Key Points Act when they discussed the landing of a private plane at Waterkloof, I will also ignore that section when provided with the Nkandla Report by the Public Protector.

Surely, if we agree with Minister Jeff Radebe, who said during the Guptagate scandal that “the truth shall set you free”, we all have a duty to expose rather than cover up corruption. It is for that reason – and because it will not break any law – that the Public Protector’s Report on Nkandla must and will be made public. 

- DM

- Consitutionally Speaking

'Nkandla secrecy undermines constitution'

Former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli said on Tuesday the delays and the secrecy surrounding the various investigations into government spending on President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla residence was undermining one of the fundamental pillars of the constitution.

In January, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said over R200 million had been spent on Zuma's home explaining that the money was used only for security upgrades.

Over the last few weeks Parliament had decided to discuss the public works probe into Nkandla behind closed doors.

 

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said one department had still not given her the information she had requested.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed it was still waiting for a a Presidential Proclamation to begin its investigations.

“One of the values of our constitution demands that we have a government which is accountable.” Pikoli said.

He added there was also conflict of interest that the President has to tell the SIU to begin its probe.

Zuma's home features underground bunkers, a clinic, a fire station, special quarters for police, and a helipad. 

- EWN

SIU against the ropes on Nkandla probe

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has confirmed that it has still not begun its investigation into the Nkandla debacle.

The unit made the statement three and a half months after Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi said the unit would probe government spending into the controversial Nkandla residence which belongs to President Jacob Zuma.

Nxesi made the promise while announcing that over R200 million had been spent on what he said was a security upgrade for the property.

The SIU said it's still waiting for an official proclamation that will allow it to investigate the Nkandla issue.

Corruption Watch head David Lewis said this means it could be a very long time before the unit actually makes a finding as Zuma is the only person who can issue the proclamation.

OTHER PROBES?

Meanwhile, It still remains unclear which state department is holding up the investigation into Nkandla.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's office said it plans to release a preliminary report on its investigation soon.

Her office confirmed that she was still awaiting crucial documents from government before she wraps up her investigation into the Presidential homestead.

Government has spent more than R200 million on consultants and security upgrades to Zuma's Nkandla homestead, using taxpayer's money.

The Public Protector is remaining mum on which department has been keeping crucial documents from investigators and also won't say which documents are still outstanding.

Both the Presidency and the Department of Public Works have been fingered as the culprits by various media houses.

The Presidency has refused to comment on these allegations.

Kgalalelo Masibi from the Public Protector office said, “The investigation is at an advanced stage the Public Protector hopes to release a provisional report soon.”

Meanwhile, the Justice Department's Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has failed to start their own investigation into the matter. 

- EWN

Cape vows that bucket toilets will go

The City of Cape Town aims to do away with at least 958 bucket-system toilets by next year in an effort to alleviate a sanitation backlog.

During a press briefing on Sunday, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said some residents had rejected portaloos and had opted to use the bucket system.

In a statement, De Lille said: “The reality is that in some instances communities have rejected the use of PFTs (portable flush toilets) for a range of reasons.

“This is regrettable as… it is often the only available toilet technology for a community.”

Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said the reason some residents had rejected the portaloos was to “hold the city to ransom” because they wanted houses and flush toilets.

Madikizela said it had also been found that people pretending to be “gatekeepers” would claim to be mandated by “the community” to communicate with the city and would reject new systems.

But after investigation it was established that the “gatekeepers” were not in fact representing the needs of residents.

The city planned to not only engage with community leaders and gatekeepers but also to communicate with individual households.

The city said it was impossible to give everyone houses and flush toilets at once and that the portaloos were a “dignified option”.

De Lille said: “The city has already rolled out 11 300 of these portable flush toilets to communities, especially in informal settlements.

“We now plan to roll out another 12 000, of which we will prioritise 958 where we still have the old bucket system.”

In a warehouse depot in Woodstock there are about 12 500 portable flush toilets in storage, to be distributed to the areas identified as still using the bucket system.

The city said it serviced 958 bucket toilets.

“Sanitation investment” had been boosted, with funds spent on sewerage infrastructure increasing from R51 million in 2006 to R130m in 2011-2012.

The number of toilets in informal settlements has more than trebled from 10 591 to 34 225 over the same period, according to the city.

Social Justice Coalition’s Axolile Notywala raised doubts about the number of bucket-system toilets quoted by the city.

The coalition has been vocal regarding the monitoring of sanitation in the city. Last week, it raised the alarm about the monitoring of outsourced services.

“A lot of residents see it (porta-loos) as an improved bucket system – but still a bucket system,” Notywala said.

He said the city undermined research that showed that about half a million people did not have access to sanitation.

“Our research shows that the city is failing to monitor outsourced services,” he said.

Regarding those who did not want the portaloos, Notywala said: “There are people who don’t prefer to have the portaloos. But I don’t think the reason is that.”

He said the city had failed to explain to residents that the portaloos were a temporary measure.

“Because then people would be interested,” he said, adding that it was a generalisation to say residents were against the portaloos. (From IOL)

Spike in Cape Town land invasions

Cape Town - There has been a spike in the illegal occupation of private land in Cape Town, a mayoral committee member said on Thursday.

Human settlements councillor Tandeka Gqada said the occupation of the Marikana site in the city earlier this week, and other areas, seemed to be part of a co-ordinated effort to “make the city ungovernable”.

“The City is aware, through our law enforcement and other agencies, that information is being provided to groups of people regarding the location of vacant land which they can attempt to illegally occupy,” she said.

“Privately owned land, in particular, appears to have been targeted in a systematic fashion.”

The city said the housing problem should be solved within the confines of the law, to ensure a just and equitable process.

“Whilst we are deeply sympathetic to the plight of residents currently without access to formal housing, we have a duty to protect the rights of the hundreds of thousands of people who have gone through the correct channels in order to be provided with a housing opportunity by the City.”

Last week the City demolished shacks erected at the Marikana site in Philippi East, where the land had been set aside for other purposes. 

- Sapa

Dozens left homeless as fires raze shacks

Cape town - Nearly 60 people have been left homeless after fires broke out simultaneously in the informal settlements at Sonwabile Drive in Crossroads and at the Nonquebela railway station in Khayelitsha.

No one was hurt or killed, but 16 structures were destroyed in Crossroads, leaving 50 people displaced, and another three shacks were destroyed in Khayelitsha, leaving six people homeless.

Nine emergency vehicles were sent to Crossroads, while six vehicles went to the Khayelitsha fire.

It is not clear what started the Crossroads fire, but the Khayelitsha fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault that ignited bedding, said Wilfred Solomons-Johannes of the city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Crossroads residents said the fire spread so quickly that they fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

An hour-and-a-half later residents were salvaging what they could from the burnt rubble, alongside firefighters who were dousing the dying embers.

Barefoot and dishevelled, Siphsethu Kitchen, 21, walked from the badly damaged shack that she had shared with her mother and baby sister.

She was clutching a small envelope with her identity book and other documents. The fire, which gutted the living area, had been extinguished moments before it engulfed the family’s bedroom area.

“I am happy for this, because life can be difficult without an ID. At least I could save my baby sister. But still, I have nothing left. Not even shoes.”

Asked what she needed, Xoliswa Faleni, who lost her home of 12 years, said: “Clothes, food and shelter.”

Some residents said that they had family in the area, while others said that they were in Cape Town alone and would have to ask neighbours to take them in for the night.

Solomons-Johannes helped victims with food parcels, blankets, baby packs, clothing and building materials.

“When going to bed, residents should isolate electrical devices and extinguish gas burners, candles, lamps and paraffin stoves to prevent fires,” he said.

- Cape Argus

Cape Town Stadium’s bill so far: R436m

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has finally released the true costs of running the Cape Town Stadium - a whopping R436 million since construction.

As global megastars Bon Jovi rocked the 2010 World Cup Stadium on Tuesday night, and teen sensation Justin Bieber to follow on Wednesday, alarming figures have finally been made public.

On April 8, the Cape Argus published figures calculated by councillor Yagyah Adams, of the Cape Muslim Congress, who is on the finance portfolio committee, that the operating cost of the stadium from the end of 2009 until June this year was projected to be more than R300m.

Deputy mayor Ian Nielson’s office said the figures were incorrect.

At the time Kevin Jacoby, chief financial officer for the City of Cape Town, said the financial results for the various financial years were presented unclearly.

He would review the report and present it at the next finance portfolio committee meeting.

The new figures were presented on Monday. And instead of being less than the disputed figure of R300m, the new total is R436m.

On Tuesday, Adams and the Cape Argus submitted the following questions to Nielson, to which the acting mayoral committee member for finance, Brett Herron, replied last night:

Q: Have Cape Town ratepayers paid R436m since 2009/2010, in addition to the city’s contribution to the capital costs?

A: Yes.

Q: Was it known upfront that the city would be liable for such massive costs?

A: The City of Cape Town accepted the responsibility of World Cup and all its related obligations. Since the Cape Town Stadium is a strategic asset, the city has provided for costs. We however intend to minimise, as much as possible, the impact on the ratepayer.

This is why we undertook a feasibility study which is currently open for public comment on how to ensure our asset raises revenue in response to the capital investment. All inputs are appreciated.

Q: Why were there such high expenses at inception, as “general expenses” and “contracted services” and “consultant fees”? A total of around R238m was spent in the 2009/2010 financial year. What was this spent on? Were these more like “set-up costs”, or actual “running costs”?

A: We have to analyse (specific costs)… with more time. Significant operating cost were required for what turned out to be a very successful World Cup. Residents can be assured that we went through our normal, prudent procedures, taking into account our obligation to the event and the costs to the ratepayer.

Q: Over the full period, what were R50m in “employee-related costs” spent on?

A: The Cape Town Stadium is a strategic asset that belongs to all residents of the city. As such, we are obliged to care for it and ensure that it doesn’t fall into disrepair. This requires a high level of care from staff. Employee-related costs reflect this.

Q: What were almost R40m in “consultant fees” spent on?

A: More time is needed to respond.

Q: The operating surplus/loss for 2012/2013 is almost R48m, but includes R26m for “depreciation”. While this may be correct accounting procedure, is the annual actual “expense” therefore more like R22m for this year?

A: The Finance report to the portfolio committee was transparent and included all costs including depreciation, or a measure as to how the asset is consumed. Any Finance report that excludes depreciation would be an incomplete report. You may however categorise the costs and analyse separately.

- Cape Argus

In Langa, Cape Town: A dark combo of housing corruption & police brutality

Twenty-seven-year-old Siyabonga Magcida is in Groote Schuur Hospital today, under 24-hour police surveillance, because he is considered a flight risk. Yet he is severely injured, is connected to drips on both arms and is unable to walk or even speak. By JARED SACKS - DM.

The answer will take us back a full six years, when the Joe Slovo community first rose up to fight their pending eviction to the peri-urban township called Delft on the outskirts of Cape Town. Now, Magcida’s enemy is not just the housing department, but also his former comrades.

In September 2007 the community of Joe Slovo, a shack settlement in the township of Langa, rebelled against the directives of then Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu's flagship N2 Gateway housing project. Spearheaded by the newly elected Joe Slovo Task Team, which was frustrated with Sisulu's perceived 'arrogance' for refusing to meet with them, the community decided to make their voices heard on the streets. They blockaded the N2 freeway for hours and were shot at when police decided to send the community back home.

Years later, the community still remembers this action as the turning point in its struggle against what was seen as an Apartheid-like eviction to a desolate township far from work, decent schools and other services. Despite losing (with conditions) at the Constitutional Court in 2009, public pressure against the eviction eventually forced its suspension.

One would think that this was a happy ending for the Joe Slovo community, as Minister Tokyo Sexwale and MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela triumphantly agreed to upgrade the settlement rather than evict them. However, this process seems to have been only the beginning of Joe Slovo's woes.

The development of Joe Slovo began with the involvement of Gates Foundation-funded NGO called Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) which has been instrumental in facilitating negotiations between the community and the provincial housing department. SDI quickly co-opted a number of Task Team leaders into their organisation, specifically hiring the respected Mzwanele Zulu to lead a newly formed Informal Settlement Network.

They then expedited an agreement between the community via the Task Team and the Provincial Department of Human Settlements. So far, so good. The community was happy they would get houses. The Province could claim to have turned around the failed N2 Gateway initiative.

However, eventually things started going very wrong. There was a fight amongst the Task Team. People were resentful of Zulu's beneficial relationship as an employee at SDI. Also, a rival grouping called the ‘Residents’ Committee’ began to attract various sidelined community members.

Then, as the house building began, community members started to complain that the Task Team leaders were being hired as Community Liaison Officers and applying for tenders as subcontractors within the project. Zulu, for instance, is said to run a security company operating at the project.

Then the housing allocation process began. The agreement made by the community as a whole was that the elderly residents would get the first houses that were built, followed by long-term Joe Slovo residents. The remaining houses would later go to newer residents that had moved into Joe Slovo in recent years.

Yet, according to former Task Team member Mzimasi Ntwanambi, this allocation process was never followed. The Task Team apparently changed its strategy and allegedly began allocating the new houses to friends, to family, and to people who never resided in Joe Slovo but were willing to pay them a fee.

Those said to have drawn up new allocation lists that contradicted the older City list are Task Team members Zulu, Zikali and Dlamini, with the help of Housing Development Agency (HDA – formerly the infamous Thubelisha Homes) representatives known as Bongani and Thulani. The group is said to be behind the bulk of the housing misallocation in the project. Interestingly, Bongani and Thulani are also named by Abahlali baseMjondolo as being involved in the selling of temporary structures in the HDA-managed Langa Intersite.

As Cindy Ketani, an Abahlali activist, remarked, “I'm not surprised when they [the Joe Slovo community] are complaining, because we have experienced the same problem of corruption - where HDA works directly with the Intersite committee to sell temporary houses.”

In September, after most of the Task Team was among the first group of community members to be allocated homes, the Daily Maverick was present at a spontaneous protest by hundreds of residents who converged on the new home of Task Team chairperson Sifiso Mapasa. Then in December 2012, some disgruntled residents met with MEC Madikizela, who promised to immediately investigate the allegations of corruption. (There seems to have been no follow-up by the MEC's office.) Tensions remained high and on 13 January, a section of the community elected a new committee called the Area Committee.

There were now three committees in Joe Slovo vying for power: the Task Team, the Residents’ Committee and the Area Committee.

When the Task Team was asked to step down for being “illegitimate” and because they “no longer lived in Joe Slovo but in the new houses”, an Area Committee member named Peko recounts that Mzwanele Zulu told the community that “I will leave Joe Slovo when I die. It doesn't matter if I live in Joe Slovo or not. I am the leader here.”

(However, when the Daily Maverick spoke to Zulu, he turned the tables, accusing the Area Committee of lacking popular support except only amongst “a small minority of the community”. Zulu alleges that this new committee is causing problems and stalling development because they are “power-hungry”.)

Then everything came to a head. The Area Committee heard through the grapevine that the Task Team was going to demolish Chris Hani Hall – a structure built years ago to act as a community meeting-place for residents. When the Task Team moved into their new houses, they stopped holding meetings in the hall. During the day, it was then taken over by a crèche. By night, the hall became a place to hold Area Committee and community meetings.

Zulu explained the need to demolish the hall to make way for a road that would be extended through the settlement. Yet Area Committee members, upset that the community was not informed about this, retort that the road will not be built for at least a year and that surrounding shacks were not yet slated to be demolished. Why the hall? They say the real reason for the destruction of Chris Hani Hall was to prevent their committee from being able to meet.

On Tuesday morning, the Area Committee mobilised community members against the destruction of the hall. Zulu and Zikali of the Task Team arrived and then drove off. Only ten minutes later, six Law Enforcement and four SAPS vehicles arrived. In front of the community, Mzimasi recounts hearing an official speaking to Zikali over the phone. Area Committee leadership was said to have been named for arrest. Peko was identified as “the one who is wearing a Springbok t-shirt”.

As Mzimasi tells it, when the community resisted the demolition of the hall, Peko was grabbed, slapped around, pepper-sprayed and put into a Law Enforcement bakkie.

Photo: Police assaulting Peko, an Area Committee member.

Siyabonga Magcida was also grabbed and as photo evidence suggests, possibly choked by police. An entire can of pepper-spray is said to have been used on him as he tried to get out of the bakkie. As further punishment, Siyabonga was punched and kicked and had the bakkie's back door slammed repeatedly on his legs. Further photo evidence taken by two eyewitnesses and in possession of the Daily Maverick suggests these allegations of police brutality have merit.

Photo: Law Enforcement forcing Siyabonga Magcida into a police van where he is allegedly assulted and has the door slammed repeatedly on his legs.

While Peko was able to escape the bakkie when community members distracted police by throwing rocks, Siyabonga was out cold and wasn't so lucky. He was taken to Langa police station and then for a quick visit to Vanguard Clinic before getting locked up once again at the station. For at least five hours, Siyabonga's family was not allowed to visit him. Once he was seen by family, his condition was so bad that they were able to convince the station commissioner to send him to the hospital. Owing to the severity of his injuries, he was immediately transferred on arrival from Somerset Hospital to Groote Schuur.

Photo: Siyabonga Magcida in hospital.

Photographs taken of Siyabonga in hospital show serious discoloration and injury to the head as well as appalling gashes running the length of his legs. Currently, he is unable to walk, talk or respond to anyone who visits him.

Police were not available in time for deadline to comment on the case. Task Team Chairperson, Sifiso Mapasa, also was unaware of what exactly happened yesterday. He said he'd get back to the Daily Maverick once he knew. However, when Mzwanele Zulu was called late last night, his response to what happened to Siyabonga was to say that while he wasn't present during the alleged police brutality, he blames everything on the Area Committee, who he says started the violence. Zulu was unapologetic: Siyabonga “is suffering from a disease. He deserves what happened because it is the end result of his behaviour”.

This lack of empathy was astonishing coming from someone this Daily Maverick reporter has known for years. In fact, it was more astonishing than the actions of the police, who are often called out to back up well-connected locals against their political rivals.

In an email conversion, politics lecturer Richard Pithouse explained that “full measure has not been taken of the degree to which police violence is routinely deployed on the instruction of local political elites - councillors, their ward committees and so on. The reality is that for many people, the police are little more than thugs who act with impunity and in flagrant disregard for the law. They work in the interests of powerful people or are mediated through local political party or service delivery structures.”

Police rarely act as independent and unbiased arbitrators of disputes who carry out justice on both sides. Instead, they tend to pick sides and favour those who already have wider political favour. In this case, if accusations hold weight, the police are acting on the instruction of the Joe Slovo Task Team, who are backed up by powerful NGOs such as SDI, and important parastatal groups such as HDA and government departments (in this case, Human Settlements).

However, Siyabonga Magcida's aunt, who identified herself only as Noncedo, only “wants justice to be done”. DM

Main photo: Law Enforcement forcing Siyabonga Magcida into a police van where he is allegedly assulted and has the door slammed repeatedly on his legs.

All photos supplied by the community.

News National Nxesi aims to soothe naysayers about state of public works

A day before he delivers his controversial department’s budget to Parliament, Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi says the department has stabilised.

The public works department has stumbled from one scandal to another and has had three ministers and a number of suspended senior managers since 2009.

Nxesi told journalists on Tuesday afternoon that they were making real progress in tackling the immediate and systemic challenges and have put in place building blocks to rebuild the department.

He revealed that 23 of the 40 investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) on irregular leases and projects have been completed and this has resulted in successful disciplinary actions, dismissal of six officials including a deputy director general and court actions to recover monies wrongly paid by the department.

Nxesi said they were awaiting reports from a disciplinary hearing involving one deputy director general and one chief director.

The SIU has also completed investigations into the Prestige projects in Pretoria, relating to renovations of ministerial houses and have recommended that officials involved be disciplined.

“We have now extended the investigation to Cape Town where approximately R100-million was spent on renovating 11 ministerial houses.

“The Prestige projects constitute a major area of collusion and irregular expenditure which has attracted negative publicity – deservedly so,” said Nxesi.

Cancellation of two high-priced projects

He said they have taken firm control of Prestige by centralising it, implementing a new structure and creating a direct reporting line to the newly appointed director general.

This has resulted in the cancellation of two high-priced projects, saving the department R18-million, said Nxesi.

The minister said that in light of these recurring problems, they have started to enhance investigating capacity within the department.

In the short term, as part of the funding for the turnaround, an internal audit was empowered to commission forensic investigations and some 19 investigations have been completed.

The department is also establishing an internal compliance and enforcement unit – as advised by the South African Revenue Service – as part of a separate risk management branch.

Nxesi said they were establishing a separate supply chain management branch, where they will work closely with the national treasury to review and strengthen supply chain management processes.

The department is also, for the first time, developing an immovable assets register.

'This is a real game-changer​'

Nxesi said the state land reconciliation with the deeds office records has been substantially completed and the asset register updated – led by auditing firm Ernst & Young, which was working with an official in the department. This involves checking the records of some 180 000 land parcels, ascribing custodianship to the responsible department or level of government and starting the vesting process where necessary.

“The figures we now have will form the basis of a physical verification process due to commence in July 2013.

“The aim is to substantially complete the immoveable assets register by March 31 2015,” he said.

The department still has to allocate custodianship to some 4 500 land parcels, and approximately 24 000 land parcels need to be vested.

“My main point although this is a lengthy exercise, I am very confident that we are on track for the creation of an asset register that will, for the first time ever, accurately reflect the state’s assets.

“Let me make a further point that this is a real game-changer. With a sustainable register of state immoveable assets in place, we will have at our disposal the tools to leverage this massive property portfolio for economic development,” said Nxesi.

State property has an estimated value of R30-billion – approximately seven times the value of the largest private property portfolio.

Nxesi will deliver the department’s budget in Parliament on Wednesday morning.

- M&G

'Bucket system here for decades'

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale hopes that the current national sanitation backlog of 2.278-million households will be eradicated by December next year, but critics believe this target is unrealistic and the minister himself has cast doubt upon it.

The government has made repeated promises to eradicate the sanitation backlog, including the infamous bucket system, but these have failed to materialise, resulting in a strong community outcry in several areas.

Now Mr Sexwale admitted, in a written reply to a parliamentary question on Friday, that he did not know when the bucket system would be finally eliminated.

Democratic Alliance human settlements spokesperson Stevens Mokgalapa was adamant that the government was unlikely to meet its latest target in view of the very slow progress made so far, particularly in rural areas.

The Social Justice Coalition also believed that eradicating the sanitation backlog was likely to take many years, "if not decades", and that the minister’s estimate of its size was too conservative.

Missing next year’s deadline would mean a failure to meet the United Nations millennium development goal on sanitation by 2015.

Mr Sexwale said the target "may not be met due to insufficient financial resources and a lack of technical and financial management skills at municipal level".

He attributed the magnitude of the backlog to a number of factors, including an "exceptionally large" backlog that was inherited by the post-1994 government. Further, the number of people per household had declined while the number of households had risen and there had been a rapid rise in informal settlements — particularly in urban areas — as a result of migration from rural areas and of foreigners.

Mr Sexwale said municipalities had not made sufficient allocations for sanitation in their budgets.

Social Justice Coalition deputy general secretary Gavin Silber said the estimated backlog of 2.278-million was conservative "as it assumed that all public toilet facilities installed in informal settlements to date are properly maintained, whereas municipalities across the country are failing to do so. Many toilets have broken down and have not worked for years, while others are very unhygienic and unsafe."

At the current rate of delivery and population growth in informal settlements — in addition to the absence of co-ordinated and coherent informal settlement development plans at local level — it was likely to take many years if not decades to eradicate the backlogs, he said.

"The only way to address this is through a new approach that incorporates meaningful engagement with affected communities, better intergovernmental co-operation, and an acknowledgement that informal settlements are in many cases not ‘temporary’ but permanent communities deserving of quality basic services," Mr Silber said.

Mr Mokgalapa urged the government to consider alternative sanitation systems that were not dependent on water.

- iafrica

Pregnant woman, toddler die in fire

A pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter died in a fire in Vrygrond, Cape Town, on Sunday, the city's disaster management said.

“A fire was reported at 4.21am today (Sunday) at 6 Frederick Street, Vrygrond in the southern suburbs of Cape Town,” spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

Fire services arrived on the scene at 4.30am and found three shacks on fire.

“At 4.49am during the firefighting efforts the emergency crews found the remains of Magdalena Cloete, 41, and of her daughter, Tallulah, aged two, under the rubble.”

Cloete's other child was away for the weekend with her grandmother.

Mphito Trust, 30, suffered slight burn wounds to the head and face and was taken to a local hospital.

The fire was extinguished at 5.30am. Ten people were left homeless.

The cause of the blaze was believed to be a candle which lit bedding after falling over. - Sapa