InternAfrica

Make your voice heard at the NCOP Hearings on the Secrecy Bill!

2012-01-30T17:31:00.002+02:00

Following the passing of the Protection of State Information Bill (the Secrecy Bill) by the National Assembly in November 2011, the Bill now moves to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for consideration. The NCOP is holding public hearings in all 9 provinces, so make sure you and your communities attend, and make your voices heard! The current draft does not adequately protect our right to know.There has also been a call for written submissions in a variety of national newspapers. Details of the hearings, which kick off in the Western Cape on 31 January, are below. Where available, maps to the venues are on our Facebook Page.

Western Cape: Tuesday 31 January 2012

Hearing 1

09:00 - 16:00 City of Cape Town Metropolitan District Municipality, Gugulethu,

Venue: Gugulethu Sports Complex

To join the R2K delegation for Gugulethu, call Nkwame 0782276008

Hearing 2

09:00 - 16:00 Eden District Municipality: George, Thembalethu

Venue: Thembalethu Community Hall

To join the R2K delegation for George, call Tinashe 078 831 5809 or Murray 0726725468

Eastern Cape: Thursday 2 February 2012

To join the R2K delegations in the Eastern Cape, call Perme 0847815822

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 O. R Tambo District Municiplaity (KSD), Umtata

Venue: Vulindlela Heights

Hearing 3

09:00-16:00 Joe Qadi District Municipality

Venue: Barkley East Town Hall

Free State: Tuesday 7 February 2012

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality

Venue: Bram Fischer Hall

Gauteng: Monday 14 February 2012

To join the R2K delegations in Gauteng, call Bongani 0710432221 or Raashied 0795259866

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality: Mamelodi

Venue: Mamelodi West Community Hall or Vista College

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 Sedibeng District Municipality, Sharpeville

Sharpeville Community Hall

Kwazulu-Natal: Thursday 16 February 2012

To join the R2K delegations in KZN, call Des 0839826939

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Zululand District Municipality

Venue: Vryheid uMondlo Township

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 Ugu District Municipality: Harding

Hearing 3

09:00-16:00 eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality: Umlazi Township

North West: Tuesday 21 February 2012

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Bojanala District Municipality

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality: Klerksdorp

Mpumalanga: Thursday 23 February 2012

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00, Ehlanzeni Distric Municipality: Bushbuckridge,

Venue: Mapulaneng College

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00: Gert Sibande District Municipality

Venue: Lillian Noguyi Community Center

Limpopo: Tuesday 28 February 2012

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Mopane District Municipality: Mamaila

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 Waterberg District Municipality: Mokopane

Hearing 3

09:00-16:00 Capricorn District Municipality: Mafefe

Northern Cape: 1 March 2012

Hearing 1

09:00-16:00 Francis Baard District Municipality: Galeshewe,

Venue: Galeshewe Community Hall

Hearing 2

09:00-16:00 John Taolo Gaetsewei District Municipality: Moshaweng,

Venue: Moshaweng Multi Purpose Center

Further Public Hearings: Monday 13-Tuesday 14 March 2012, Parliament, Cape Town

Let's see you there in full force voicing your concerns about the Secrecy Bill!

Warm regards

The R2K Team

For more information, please contact us

National coordinator

Murray Hunter murray@r2k.org.za or right2knowsa@gmail.com or 0726725468

R2K Gauteng

Bongani Xezwi bongani.xezwi@gmail.com or 0710432221

Raashied Gallant research@fxi.org.za or 0795259866

R2K Western Cape

Nkwame Cedile on nkwame.cedile@gmail.com or 078 227 6008

R2K KwaZulu Natal

Des D'Sa on sdcea3@mail.ngo.za or 083 982 6939

R2K Eastern Cape

Permie Isaac on 0847815822

Residents vow to ‘mobilise’ if more people arrive

2012-01-30T15:59:00.000+02:00

Blikkiesdorp residents have vowed to remove any new structures in the camp.

On Friday the Western Cape High Court granted an eviction order to move Tafelsig squatters from Mitchells Plain to Blikkiesdorp.

The illegal squatters moved to the field, beside the Kapteinsklip train station in Tafelsig, last September after they were evicted from a site nearby, which is owned by the City of Cape Town.

Alie Blankenberg, 39, a community leader, said residents would mobilise if the city tried to move anyone else into Blikkiesdorp.

“The city is pushing more and more people into poverty. How long do we still have to stay here?

The community said if they had to bring 1976 back into Cape Town, the time when people stood up to apartheid, then they would bring it back.

“We as community leaders can only help up to a point, the community decides what they want to do.”

Ricardo Joshua, 35, who has been living in Blikkiesdorp for more than a year, said they were fed up. “The city is only taking note of people living outside the Western Cape. A structure like this is what animals live in. It is our human right to have our own house.”

Lenaise Titus, who has been living in the area for three months after being moved from Swartklip in Tafelsig, said sanitation was inadequate. “Blikkiesdorp was already full when we moved in here. If the city comes to build structures, we will protest against it.”

Community leader Jerome Daniels said residents didn’t want any more structures in Blikkiesdorp.

Ernest Sonnenberg, the mayoral committee member for housing, said: “The intention is for them (Tafelsig backyarders) to be moved to Blikkiesdorp. It’s the only emergency site the city has available.”

- Cape Argus

Charges dropped after Common protest

2012-01-30T15:57:00.001+02:00

Charges were dropped on Monday against all 41 people arrested in connection with an illegal gathering at Rondebosch Common.

More than 100 people gathered outside Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday and celebrated the outcome.

Mario Wanza, Proudly Manenberg chairman, said this was a “major victory” for the people. They had the right to protest and police had no right to arrest them if they were not breaking any laws, said Wanza.

Wanza, however, will make his second appearance before Athlone Magistrate’s Court on March 16 after a brief appearance on Monday.

He was arrested in Manenberg on Friday before the initiative got off the ground.

He was released on R500 bail, on condition that he didn’t take part in any illegal protests.

“That my charge wasn’t dropped shows victimisation. We are considering (bringing) charges against the mayor for abuse of power,” said Wanza.

Meanwhile, an application has been made to the City of Cape Town for another protest in a week’s time. Cosatu has made a separate application.

Yushra Adams, a member of the newly formed Democratic Left Front, an anti-capitalist movement, said they would continue to invade all open land in Cape Town, including golf courses.

“There are too many golf courses in Cape Town and no houses. The government of this country only cares for the rich. We have a constitution, but our rights are not respected,” she said.

“We are put on the periphery, in the dump stations of the Western Cape. We need decent houses, not soup and itchy blankets.”

Weekend Argus reported that the Common was turned into a war zone on Friday as protesters, outnumbered by a huge police contingent, were sprayed with blue dye.

Scenes of chaos followed as police arrested the group, throwing people into the back of police vans, Casspirs and a police minibus.

They were taken to police stations at Mowbray, Claremont and Rondebosch.

- Cape Argus

Outrage over arrests on Rondebosch Common

2012-01-30T11:02:00.000+02:00

A storm has erupted after protest action at Rondebosch Common, with organisers planning to lodge a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission, claiming the city’s show of force was “overkill” and “illegal”.

About 40 protesters, including chief organiser Mario Wanza, were arrested during a demonstration by campaigners who had not obtained permission to protest. Police, who outnumbered protesters, sprayed blue dye on the crowd to disperse them on Friday.

Organisers said Wanza remained behind bars at Manenberg police station over the weekend ahead of his court appearance in Athlone on Monday. Other protesters were released and are to appear in court on Monday.

Police would not confirm or comment on Wanza’s incarceration but defended the use of force.

The City of Cape Town said the actions on Friday were the police’s decision and responsibility. Speaking on behalf of mayor Patricia De Lille, mayoral committee member Grant Pascoe said arrests were not carried out on her instructions.

“Our guys were there as back-up. It’s difficult to say why SAPS reacted the way they did. But in this instance Wanza failed to meet the requirements of the Gatherings Act. But I want to categorically state that (De Lille) said our law enforcement guys must not act heavy-handedly. (The) mayor said ‘no physicality’,” said Pascoe.

The defiant group plans a second week of protest action, with a “renaming” of the open space this weekend.

Occupy Rondebosch Common claims to have the backing of the SA Council of Churches, Cosatu, the SA NGO Coalition and the Institute for the Restoration of Aborigines of SA.

Organisers are reprinting UDF banners in a bid to revive the mass anti-apartheid organisation of the 1980s.

On Sunday, one of the organisers, Richard October, accused De Lille of having a hand in Wanza’s incarceration and for “personalising” the campaign.

Saying the group would approach the HRC on Monday, October said: “One person is still under arrest and that’s (Wanza). From what we understand it is De Lille who is personalising this matter and making it about Wanza.”

October said the SAPS and metro police contingent and the arrests were “overkill”.

De Lille singled out Wanza during her speech at last week’s council meeting and dedicated a large part of her weekly newsletter to him, branding him and his supporters “agents of destruction”.

De Lille wrote that occupations, illegal actions and invasions were all “side-paths. But they lead nowhere. All that remains at the end of these short diversions is more pain, suffering, conflict and violence. And when we descend there, we will forget where we were going, forever.”

SAPS spokesman Andre Traut told the Cape Times: “The march was illegal. They had no permission and the South African police cannot tolerate lawlessness.”

He said 26 females and 14 males were arrested.

“They did not adhere to the instruction to disperse and that’s why they were arrested,” said Traut, who refused to disclose how many police were at the scene. Weekend reports stated that there were “hundreds” of police officers and six Casspirs.

Jared Sacks of Communities for Change claimed that police acted in contravention of the Gatherings Act.

“We will come back to the common next Sunday for a renaming ceremony and we will occupy District Six and golf courses,” Sacks said, adding that they didn’t need permission to conduct a renaming ceremony on open space.

Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said there would be “war” on the common. “Police stopped people at many points and some from boarding trains. But Cosatu filed an application on Friday for a protest on the common on Saturday.” Organisers would call on “all white communities to join us”.

SAHRC spokesman Vincent Moaga could not be reached for comment. - Cape Times

Battle of the Common

2012-01-28T20:53:00.002+02:00

A usually peaceful Rondebosch Common was turned into a war zone on Friday as protesters, outnumbered by a huge police contingent, were sprayed with blue dye, arrested and thrown into the back of police vans.

With many still behind bars at the time of going to press on Friday night, they were, however, undeterred – and warned that Mowbray Golf Club would be next.

Earlier this week mayor Patricia de Lille branded Occupy Rondebosch Common organiser Mario Wanza and his supporters “agents of destruction”. And she had the police out in force from early on Friday in a bid to stop the marchers before they got anywhere near Rondebosch.

Wanza was himself arrested by police in Manenberg early in the day. But, said Farouk Davids, a protester who was with him at the time, he urged the others to continue.

The original plan was to march from various Cape Flats areas such as Mitchells Plain, Manenberg and Hanover Park, gathering at about 2pm at Athlone Stadium and then proceeding to the Common.

The protesters had warned they would “reclaim our right to the city”, occupying the Common to raise awareness about the lack of housing and jobs.

When they arrived at the stadium on Friday, a police function was under way, so they continued on the road to Rondebosch – to be met by a blockade of police who fired water cannons filled with blue dye before any of the group of just less than 40 people even made it off the pavement.

Scenes of chaos followed as police arrested the group, throwing people into the back of police vans, Casspirs and even a police minibus. They were taken to police stations at Mowbray, Claremont and Rondebosch.

Late on Friday night police spokesman Lieutenant Andre Traut said they would appear in court soon.

Amelia September, of Proudly Manenberg, said their initial plan to occupy the Common was changed on Wednesday “to show police that we were going to be peaceful”.

“We were going to march to the Common to raise awareness and make authorities aware that we are now pursuing other ways to make ourselves heard.”

Traut was adamant, however, that the event was illegal and said the organisers had not followed procedures. “Police had to act swiftly as lawlessness will not be tolerated anywhere,” he said.

Grant Pascoe, mayoral committee member for tourism, events and marketing, said on Friday night he was was also unaware of any change in the protester’s plan to occupy the Common. He added that the city had always intended respecting their right to protest.

“The unfortunate thing is that they are trying to address the issue of housing, which we are also concerned about,” said Pascoe.

“We would love them to come and discuss it with us through community forums and various other channels. We do not want to see people resorting to illegal activities as we have seen today,” Pascoe said, adding that the city wanted to help people by working with them, “through the community”.

But Jared Sacks, of Communities for Social Change which was helping drive the protest, warned they would “not be deterred”.

“We will occupy every golf course, we will occupy every piece of vacant land until both the DA and ANC governments listen to the people instead of the corrupt business people and big corporates who fund their election campaigns, and dictate land, economic and fiscal policy,” he said.

He even ended in a slanging match with Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich, leader of the ANC in the city council, who was among the protesters.

Ehrenreich condemned the police’s decision to use force on the crowd, accusing local government of failing the community.

“The police’s reaction was inappropriate. I am not sure if it is because black people cannot come and protest on the Common.”

He revealed, too, that Cosatu had already applied to gather on the Common next Saturday. He promised that 1 000 protesters would be present.

Daniel Ras, from the Mitchells Plain Forum, added his voice to the anger.

“How can this amount of force be available for a peaceful march?” he asked. “Why do police not implement this much manpower to come and sweep crime off the streets of our communities?”

- Weekend Argus

Ex-official jailed for taking cash from fire victims

2012-01-27T23:56:00.000+02:00

A former City of Cape Town employee was found guilty on Thursday of talking fire victims who had lost their homes into giving her money for a place on the housing waiting list.

Nomkitha Matinisi, 48, who had initially pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to five years in jail and convicted on eight counts of corruption at the Commercial Crimes Court.

The mother of two from Langa worked at the city’s Department of Housing office for three years during which time she received R16 500 from eight Langa residents.

Magistrate Amrith Chabillal said that Matinisi had fabricated a so-called “longer and shorter process” in terms of the waiting list, where the “shorter process” meant residents could pay her money to jump the queue.

“It was nothing but a figment of Matinisi’s imagination. (Matinisi) would offer the ‘shorter process’, helping those who were not on the list. Out of desperation, people would agree and hand over the money.

“There was no such thing as a long and short process,” he said.

In 2005, a fire claimed the homes of more than 500 Langa residents. The city had old hostels renovated for fire victims to rent. However, a waiting list had to be drawn up.

As a member of the community and employee at the Housing Department, Matinisi was given the duty of liaising between the city and residents to ensure that the fire victims received new homes.

For the past seven years, the majority of these victims have been living in shacks and old run-down buildings while some had received “assistance” from Matinisi.

About 30 people crammed into the public gallery at the court to hear her fate.

After sentencing, the crowd – mostly pensioners – ululated and danced in a circle shouting “down Nomkhitha, down!”

An elderly woman, Nophela Cuba, said she had been on the waiting list since 2007 and had still not been given a house.

“Because of (Matinisi), I live in an old shack which I am upset about. It is so old, there are rats in my house.

“People who are not on the list are receiving houses illegally before us.

“That (Matinisi) was found guilty made me extremely happy,” she said flinging her hands in the air.

The court heard testimonies of eight witnesses since the start of the trial on Monday.

According to Chabillal, who read the testimonies out in court yesterday, witnesses said they visited the Housing Department’s offices in Langa in an attempt to find out their position on the housing waiting lists.

“On count six, the witness testified that he visited the Housing Department’s offices. He was helped by the accused (Matinisi) and she asked him whether he was prepared to receive housing via the long or short process. The witness agreed to take the short process.

“The witness then testified that (Matinisi) told him to stand aside while she helped other people. She then called him to her office where she’d offered to help via the short process,” Chabillal said.

Chabillal went on to say the witness testified that Matinisi asked for R4 000 in exchange for “her assistance”.

“Out of desperation, (the witness) agreed.

“The following day, he handed over the money and received keys to a unit and an envelope with an address on the front,” he said.

Matinisi was previously convicted for theft in 1988 which she denied. - Cape Times

Sexwale to join Antarctica climate change expedition

2012-01-27T14:26:00.001+02:00

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale will be joining a climate change expedition to the Antarctica this weekend.

The expedition, called Destination: Reality 2012, aimed to resolve doubts about the seriousness of climate change and the crisis facing the world, the Human Settlements Department said on Thursday.

The team was convened by Climate Reality project founder and chairperson and former US Vice President Al Gore. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres, the President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and the Turner Foundation chairperson Ted Turner also formed part of the team.

The 116-strong group would depart for the Antarctica from Ushuaia in Chile aboard the National Geographic Explorer on the January 29 and return February 5.

In a letter to expedition members, Gore said he was last in the Antarctica in 1988 and was looking forward to learning from the world scientists and a “very select group of extraordinary individuals” as they developed and shared new ways to confront and solve the climate change crisis.

“Ashore in Antarctica, we will explore its many natural wonders and observe, first hand, the dramatic impacts of climate change on the continent, and learn about what they mean for the world as a whole,” he wrote.

Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile would be acting Human Settlements Minister during this period.

- Engineering News

Mob destroys woman’s shack after she criticises ward councillor

2012-01-27T13:45:00.002+02:00

A woman who spoke up against her ward councillor in Khayelitsha’s RR Section on community radio station last week, had her shack destroyed in retaliation by a group of residents on Monday.

Police arrested 13 people on Tuesday in connection with the incident. Each was released on R500 bail, after a brief appearance in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where they were charged with malicious damage to property.

The residents were believed to have destroyed Mandisa Selane’s shack after she accused ward 89 councillor, Monde Nqulwana, of favouritism when it came to moving people out of RR informal settlement and into housing in Mfuleni.

Outside court yesterday about 100 residents from RR pooled money to bail out the accused.

One of the residents accused Selani of being “a witch” and told fellow residents that they must prevent her from returning to live in RR section.

SANCO committee member, Vuyani Mbhutye, said the conflict between Selane and other residents began when the Eyethu electrification project began.

Mbhutye said 70 people were moved out of RR Section to Mfuleni in order to make room for Eskom to erect poles.

“Mandisa was not one of those people, (but) instead of speaking with us and the councillor, she accused him of taking sides.”

He said residents then asked her to leave and when she refused to, they broke down her house.

Selane, a mother of three children, said she was one of the people who were supposed to have been moved but the ward councillor chose people he favoured and she was left behind.

“My mistake was to go to the media with it.”

She said after she spoke on radio Zibonele, Nqulwana called a community meeting which she attended.

Nqulwana informed gathered residents of the statements she made on air and the residents turned against her.

After another meeting on Friday last week she was told she had three days to leave the area.

“On Monday I heard them toyi-toying. I was feeding my children.When I went out the house to check, the residents had spades and hammers. They told me I know why they are here. I told one guy I haven’t got a place to stay but he grabbed and pushed me. I ran away. I left the children there.”

She went to the police station and they came to rescue her children.

She said Nqulwana was with the mob that destroyed her house.

However, Nqulwana denies he was there, but said he was aware that Selane was told to leave on Friday last week and had made a statement to the police.

The case was postponed until March. - West Cape News

Blikkiesdorp community protests

2012-01-27T13:00:00.000+02:00

The Blikkiesdorp ward councillor has never set foot in the area.

Khayalethu Makeleni, who is also responsible for Delft and the surrounding area (Ward 106), admitted on Tuesday that he had not visited Blikkiesdorp since he was elected in May.

On Tuesday, more than 100 residents marched to Makeleni’s offices at Delft South Library. Protesters carried posters that read: “I refuse to die in a blik (tin), we want houses” and “Down with the Blikke”.

They also complained that Makeleni had never been to see them. When asked if this was true, he conceded, saying: “Yes, I haven’t been there.” He went on to say: “They are not wrong. I do understand where they are coming from. I will meet with them on Thursday to discuss the way forward.

“As a councillor, I am not involved in housing and don’t deal with these issues directly. I usually have meetings with the Blikkiesdorp committee and convey their concerns to the whole ward. We inform the relevant departments.

“In this instance, residents are complaining about rubbish not being cleared. I will inform the cleansing department and pressurise them to deal (with the matter).”

He added that it was unfair that residents were made to stay in a temporary relocation area for several years without eventually receiving houses.

Residents handed over a memorandum to Makeleni, posing 11 questions which they felt they had the “right to ask”.

Among these were: “What is the possibility of getting houses in the near future under you Mr Councillor?” and “Why have you never been in Blikkiesdorp since being elected?” Blikkiesdorp community leader Beverley Jacobs pleaded with Makeleni to assist residents. “About 100 children don’t attend school. Parents don’t have money for registration fees so principals sent them back. This leads to crime,” she said.

Jacobs also said bushes needed to be cut because four bodies were found dumped there over the festive season.

Makeleni said he was unaware of the deaths.

According to Blikkiesdorp4Hope chairman Jerome Daniels, residents noticed at the weekend that trenches were being dug beyond the Blikkiesdorp boundaries. The organisation was started by members of the community to fight for adequate housing.

“If more trenches are being dug and pipes lie in the ground, it tells us that more structures are going to be erected. It was stated in court that there should not be more than 1 500 structures. There are already close to 2 000. This is supposed to be temporary, but some are here for five or six years,” said Daniels. The frustrated residents then filled the trenches with dirt and ripped pipes out.

Daniels also said there were about 20 000 people in Blikkiesdorp and nearly 12 000 were children. “Overcrowding is causing disease outbreak in Blikkiesdorp, especially among children. One child is already in hospital with TB. The rule is four families to one toilet, but we have more than 20 families using one toilet. People dump their rubbish everywhere and sewerage drains are blocked. All this while the council only cleans once a week,” he said.

As a result of the blocked drains, streams of waste water ran from outside toilets leaving a foul stench between homes.

The mayoral committee member for human settlements, Ernest Sonnenberg, said they didn’t always have time to convey messages to the community should they require emergency relief. He said if residents were concerned with the performance of their ward councillor, they should contact the Speaker’s office.

- Cape Times

One in three jobless or living in poverty

2012-01-24T07:41:00.000+02:00

Urgent attention is needed to create 600million jobs in the next 10 years, the International Labour Organisation says in a pessimistic report on the global jobs market.

"Despite strenuous government efforts, the jobs crisis continues unabated, with one in three workers worldwide, or an estimated 1.1billion people, either unemployed or living in poverty," the organisation's director-general, Juan Somavia, says in the report "Global Employment Trends 2012".

"What is needed is that job creation in the real economy must become our No1 priority.

"Whether we recover from this crisis will depend on how effective government policies ultimately are," he says.

The report says governments must coordinate and act decisively "to reduce the fear and uncertainty that is hindering private investment so that the private sector can restart the main engine of global job creation".

The International Labour Organisation's senior economist, Ekkehard Ernst, said that the recovery that started in 2009 had been short-lived and there were nearly 29million fewer people in the labour force now than "would be expected, based on pre-crisis trends".

"Our forecast has become much more pessimistic than last year, with the possibility of a serious deceleration of the growth rate."

The report refers to "discouraged workers", those who have stopped looking for work because they feel they have no chance of finding a job.

"If these discouraged workers were counted as unemployed, then global unemployment would swell from the current 197million to 225million, and the unemployment rate would rise from 6% to 6.9%," Ernst said.

Young people continued to be the hardest hit by the jobs crisis.

"Judging by the present course," the report says, "there is little hope for a substantial improvement in their near-term employment prospects."

About 74.8million youths, aged 15 to 24, were unemployed in 2011, an increase of more than 4million since 2007 in the total global labour force of 3.3billion, according to the organisation.

Globally, young people are nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed.

The global youth unemployment rate, at 12.7%, is a full percentage point above the pre-crisis level.

Ernst recommended more public spending "to support both the domestic and global economies."

The report warns that, outside of Asia, developing regions have lagged behind developed ones in labour productivity growth, raising the risk of a further divergence in living standards and limiting poverty reduction.

- SAPA - AFP

Cape shack fires leave 25 homeless

2012-01-22T16:10:00.004+02:00

Two Cape Town fires have left 10 shacks destroyed and 25 people displaced, the City's Disaster Risk Management Centre said on Sunday.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said a fire at 10pm on Saturday in Ntanga Street, Nozamo near Strand destroyed eight shacks and left 20 homeless.

At 9.30am on Sunday two shacks behind Mission Area near the Strandfontein police station were gutted by fire. Five people were displaced, he said.

No one sustained any injuries and all the people living in the two areas were accounted for.

Solomons-Johannes said the City's disaster response teams would assist the victims during the course of the day with food parcels, blankets, clothing and building material.

The cause of the fires was still unknown. Authorities would investigate, he said. - Sapa

Housing backlog ‘stretches back 24 years’

2012-01-20T13:46:00.000+02:00

If you submitted a housing application after 1988, which was 24 years ago, chances are the City of Cape Town has not yet got around to it.

This emerged in an affidavit, which was submitted to the Western Cape High Court this week as part of a court wrangle to evict a group of Mitchells Plain families.

The families were among the hundreds of backyard dwellers who illegally invaded four pieces of city-owned land in Tafelsig in May.

The high court evicted them in August, and while most of them have since moved, about 50 people moved on to a nearby piece of land owned by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.

The agency is now trying to evict them, and when the matter last appeared in court, the city’s legal team said all its temporary relocation areas (TRAs) were filled to capacity.

Acting Judge Pearl Mantame ordered the city to submit a report as to why there was no alternative accommodation available for the families. The city this week submitted the report, which laid bare its mounting challenges in rolling out its housing plan.

In the accompanying affidavit by Gregory Goodwin, the city’s head of sub-councils and area co-ordination for human settlements, he said any vacant accommodation was offered to people on their housing database, according to when they had lodged their applications.

The city was currently dealing with applications which had been submitted between 1983 and 1988.

The report showed that there had been an “enormous migration of people” into Cape Town over a number of years.

“The population of Cape Town will continue to grow significantly each year, from both natural birth as well as in-migration. By 2030, the city’s population is expected to have grown by 13 percent to 4.2 million. The challenge of providing various forms of housing… and municipal services within the constraints of the resources available to the city is obvious,” the report said.

There were about 400 000 households in Cape Town that needed adequate housing, and this figure increased by between 16 000 and 18 000 households a year.

In addition, the city’s TRAs were full, with the exception of Blikkiesdorp in Delft, leaving no other site but Blikkiesdorp for the Tafelsig families to be placed.

This was an about turn from the city, which last told the court that the families could no longer be accommodated because all its TRAs had been filled.

The city has two TRAs – one in Delft and the other in Mfuleni, known as Bosasa settlement.

The province also has three other emergency housing sites, namely Bhekela in Philippi, Tsunami in Delft and another site in Langa.

The city’s report said eight other areas had been identified as possible locations for emergency housing; however, these would only be developed within three years. The case resumes on Tuesday.

- Cape Times

Children in locked shack hell

2012-01-20T13:08:00.001+02:00

Locked in a shack during a heatwave, one tied to a bed – this is how police found two children this week.

Aged two and five, the children were found in an informal settlement in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village at noon on Wednesday, as temperatures nudged the high 30s.

With no insulation beneath the tin roof sheets, the shack was a cookhouse.

The children, who already lived in desperate poverty, including no access to proper ablutions and fresh water – conditions thousands of children around Cape Town suffer daily – were faced with another ordeal after their mother allegedly locked them in a tiny room, tied her five-year-old boy’s leg to a bed post, and left home.

In their bedroom there was no sign of them having had access to water.

Police said neighbours were alerted by the children’s screams for help at about noon.

They called police, who freed the children.

The 28-year-old mother was later arrested and is due to appear in the Somerset West Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of child abuse, police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said.

The informal settlement, known as the Rasta Camp, comprises several hundred shacks linked by narrow, winding dirt alleys.

The children’s room is 1.5m wide and 3m long, with a double bunk strewn with filthy blankets and clothes.

Neighbours said they were shocked by news of the children’s ordeal.

“I would not even tie up my dog inside, especially not in heat like this,” said one neighbour, who did not want to be named.

Another neighbour said Sir Lowry’s Pass Village’s notorious vehicle thoroughfare – the road which runs up to the N2 at the Firgrove intersection – might have been the reason the mother locked her children indoors.

Another said it might have been the social environment, including shebeens, open drug abuse and a recent history of crimes against children in the village.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille’s office said a child’s care was the responsibility of a parent or parents.

“There’s no justification for leaving two kids alone like that, and then still tie them to a bed. It’s inhuman. How did she expect them to get water, especially in a heatwave?” she asked.

“But what this does point to is the responsibility of the father. Where is the father? He must also be arrested and held responsible. This needs to send out a very strong message that both parents must care for children.”

The mother’s explanation will only be heard in court, possibly on Friday or at a later trial.

The father’s whereabouts could not be established.

For the past two nights the mother has been behind bars at the Somerset West police station. Residents said they had heard the children were being taken care of there, but police could not confirm this at the time of going to print.

In May 2010 police arrested an uMbumbulu couple in KwaZulu-Natal for allegedly tying up their six-year-old daughter. Neighbours said this situation had been going on for three years.

The girl was rescued by a police

man who was patrolling the area. He had been stopped by a resident who informed him about the child.

“When police went to the house they realised there was a little girl inside and they broke down the door and found her tied in a corner,” said police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker.

He said the girl was silent after officers rescued her and showed little emotion.

The girl’s parents, who are in their 20s, were tracked down and arrested.

The girl taken into protective custody by social welfare.

- Cape Argus

SA's sinking moral fibre

2012-01-20T10:54:00.001+02:00

OUR main story yesterday about the R16-million of taxpayers' money paid to tenderpreneurs who built only one RDP house instead of 700 units is a reflection of the depth of corruption in this country.

It is well and good that President Jacob Zuma has authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe this and other shoddy housing deals around the country.

It is also well and good that Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale appears to mean business when he says he wants to root out corruption.

South Africa's entire anti-corruption legislative machinery is well advanced and comprehensive enough to nail those who defraud the taxpayers of hard-earned cash.

The Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act is among the most comprehensive pieces of legislation then president Thabo Mbeki signed while in office. This legislation seeks to punish corrupters and corrupted with minimum sentences of 15 years in jail.

Another piece of legislation Mbeki signed was the Public Finance Management Act. It details how public funds should be used, including expenditure on tenders. It also makes it an offence to spend public money as though it was withdrawn from someone's account.

So, what we have are sound laws well suited to deal with the rotten apples in our society.

The problem, though, is that the law can work up to a certain point. Something more needs to be done to stop the scourge of corruption from eating the very little that is left of our diminishing moral fibre.

Quite often political will is there, but not sufficient nor consistent. Some of our political leaders are not exemplary enough to inspire confidence in the fight against corruption.

While they point fingers at others, the accused correctly warn their accusers to watch the direction of the other three fingers.

What this means is that if the comprehensive anti-corruption legislation has to be useful, it has to apply comprehensively. Now, with regard to the payment of R16-million for one RDP house in Taung, North West, the SIU and Sexwale's department need to go deeper to establish who benefitted from this deal.

Is it the directors of the construction company who have since been arrested by the Hawks? With whom in the municipality or in the province did they connive to deprive community members of their constitutional right to shelter?

While the law must take its course in this matter, it must apply to all those involved.

Perhaps we can begin to see some tangible results.

- Sowetan

Toilet resentment lingers

2012-01-20T10:40:00.000+02:00

Makhaza, a community outside Cape Town, became a symbol of delivery in South Africa.

Photographs of the unenclosed toilets there, of poor black residents relieving themselves in the open, often wrapped in blankets in a pitiful attempt at maintaining a semblance of dignity, provoked widespread outrage last year.

What was delicious about the criticism was that the shameful degradation of black South Africans was taking place in the one province the usually vocal DA had snatched from the ANC, the Western Cape.

The ANC Youth League and civic organisations were quick to rally around the Makhaza community, seeking the censure of the South African Human Rights Commission and the courts.

By the time local government elections rolled around in May, toilets had become the symbolic issue of the poll.

Ultimately, a court instructed the City of Cape Town to enclose the toilets - in spite of the DA insisting that they had been constructed in agreement with the residents of Makhaza.

Many of the residents are grateful for the enclosures they have now, the restoration of their dignity, and their removal from the gaze of both passersby and the media.

But there remain pockets of unhappiness - that the structures are too small and some leak when it rains.

The councillor for Makhaza, Andile Lili, has gone as far as accusing the city of punishing the residents for protesting against the open toilets.

Lumkile Sizila, an activist for the Treatment Action Campaign, complained that city contractors had not connected his toilet to a water supply. He said he had to pay a plumber so he could flush the toilet.

Sizila said his toilet leaked when it rained.

"The City of Cape Town undermined us. They didn't monitor the contractors' work," he said.

"Even the quality of the structure is questionable. It is very low and it fills up with sand when it is windy."

Another resident, Nomzekelo Tlatsi, said: "I'm not satisfied with these toilets. They are small. Our feet stick out when we use them. You can't even close the door if you're tall. It's even worse when it rains."

Resident Thobile Mamba said the contractors had undertaken to build a special toilet to cater for his disability, but never did.

"I'm grateful to have a toilet, but it's no good for someone with a disability. I have a problem using it. I have a back problem. I had a stroke and my one leg does not work properly," said Mamba.

"I have to get someone to help me because [the contractors] did not make the path they promised to make from my house to the toilet.

"The toilet also leaks, but because they said the toilets were temporary I'm hoping to get a proper one soon," Mamba said.

Cape High Court Judge Nathan Erasmus ordered the City of Cape Town in April last year to enclose 1316 toilets that formed part of the Silvertown upgrade projects, including the toilets in Makhaza.

City officials consulted the residents and reached an agreement on the model of enclosure for the toilets.

Prototypes ordered by the city received the thumbs-up from residents, who agreed that the new facilities, despite being basic, gave back their dignity.

But Lili, who was at the forefront of the toilets campaign, accused the city of trying to provoke the residents by building substandard toilets.

"The City of Cape Town has punished the people of Makhaza for fighting racial discrimination," he said.

"They have divided the Silvertown development. But since they are bound by the court order they will build us houses this year, and we will wait for that. But if nothing happens, we will challenge them on both the toilets and the housing project," said Lili.

Solly Malatsi, spokesman for Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, said the city had consulted the community before the toilets were enclosed.

"We showed the community the prototype toilet, which they agreed upon, giving us the green light to proceed with the roll-out.

"Lili is trying to reignite an issue that has been resolved for his own political reasons.

"We will follow up the incident involving the toilet for the disabled man to ensure that he has a toilet that meets his needs," said Malatsi.

- Timeslive

Left destitute by shack fire

2012-01-20T10:29:00.004+02:00

Lubisi Mbolekeni's sunburnt face strained as he pleaded for something to eat and wear.

"I don't even have a spoon because the fire took everything I own. Please somebody, anybody, help us," he begged as a shiny aircraft passed overhead en route to Cape Town International Airport.

Mbolekeni is one of more than 160 people from the Lusaka informal settlement, along the N2, who lost their home in a fire on Wednesday.

Yesterday, dozens of men braved the heat wave to build homes from corrugated iron and wood, sponsored by the City of Cape Town.

Richard Bosman, the city's executive director for safety and security, said it was suspected that the fire started after a cooking device was left unattended.

Bongi Bega, 35, watched the fire, which started in her neighbour's shack, burn dozens of homes to the ground in minutes.

"The children were screaming and crying and we grabbed buckets of water but we could save nothing. All I have are these clothes," she said.

"The city brought us food and blankets but we need nappies for the children. And perhaps some soap. It is not nice to smell like this," said Bega.

Bosman said that since November the city's fire and rescue services had responded to 4978 fire-related incidents in Cape Town, including false alarms.

In Swellendam, inland in the Western Cape, 75 brave men and women battled through the night to bring a fire under control.

Yesterday, chief fire officer for the Overberg District Municipality Reinard Geldenhuys said the fire had been burning for a week in the Marloth Nature Reserve.

"People don't understand how difficult it is to bring this fire under control. I challenge anyone to try putting out a fire burning 3m high, in temperatures of 36C. The hot, dry and windy conditions are not helping," said Geldenhuys.

- Timeslive

Crossroads fire leaves 160 homeless

2012-01-19T07:06:00.000+02:00

A fire in Crossroads, Cape Town, left 160 people without homes on Wednesday afternoon, the city's disaster risk management centre said.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the fire started on the Old Klipfontein road in the Lusaka informal settlement at 3.30pm.

A total of 45 shacks were gutted. No casualties were reported.

"The overhead electricity network infrastructure was also damaged by the fire. That affected the supply of power to the area."

Solomons-Johannes said technicians soon restored the power supply.

Food, blankets and clothing were provided for those affected. The cause of the fire was unknown.

- Sapa

Zuma on jobs: we've failed

2012-01-18T09:14:00.000+02:00

A FOUR-DAY cabinet lekgotla started yesterday with an admission by President Jacob Zuma that his government has failed to create jobs as he had promised.

Zuma blamed the global financial crisis, saying 2011 was a difficult year.

Zuma had declared 2011 a year of job creation and had tasked various government departments with ensuring that short-term and long-term jobs were created.

Zuma told the ANC NEC recently that South Africa had lost jobs instead of creating them, especially in the manufacturing sector.

"But we are ending the year on a positive and promising note as statistics released recently indicate that the unemployment rate has dropped ...

"(We are) not out of the woods yet, given the negative economic climate in the Eurozone which has had a profound negative impact on our country," Zuma said.

Evaluation and Monitoring Minister Collins Chabane said yesterday the lekgotla would deliberate on a mid-term assessment of the Zuma administration's performance since coming into office in 2009.

"From the point of view of ordinary citizens there is great expectation that we should build on the best aspects of our performance and that we should respond clearly and swiftly in instances where we could do better or where we are letting people down.

"We will also assess the state of our economy in view of the continued global recession and will evaluate our response to various international questions," Chabane said.

Ministers responsible for five national priorities of government will give a mid-term assessment report at the lekgotla. These include job creation, health, education, rural development and land reform.

In July last year, the cabinet lekgotla emphasised an urgent need to accelerate job creation and the provision of infrastructure in rural and urban areas.

The lekgotla then established two management structures in Zuma and Motlanthe's offices to look into infrastructure development and job creation, respectively.

It also adopted a 12-point plan on job creation, which focused on a number of interventions that run concurrently with all other job creation programmes in government.

The interventions included short-term employment schemes such as the expansion of the community works programme and big projects to be identified and monitored by Motlanthe.

The lekgotla also agreed to unblock private-sector projects with the aim of creating jobs.

The meeting will provide the basis for Zuma's State of the Nation address on February 9, which will give direction to government's programme for this year.

- Sowetan

Hemp house in Asheville North Carolina

2012-01-18T08:58:00.001+02:00

Although there is ongoing debate over the illegality of growing maligned, environmentally friendly hemp, in 2009 in nearby Asheville, North Carolina, construction began on the first house permitted in the U.S. to be built with hemp. Hemp Technologies mixed about four parts ground-up industrial hemp stalks with one part lime and one part water and poured it into two-foot-by-four-foot recycled plastic wall forms creating eight inch thick hempcrete block walls. More hemp houses are now in various stages of completion in the area.

The amazing factor is the walls' life expectancy. With a properly cared for roof, the walls could last several hundred years or more. David Mosrie of Push Design states "the wall is actually getting harder and stronger as time goes on. The durability is unlike anything we have seen, with the exception of stone, as perhaps even beyond that as there is no mortar joint failure possible. Studies in Europe have estimated about a 600-800 year life span for the wall system." The secret is the breathability of the substance. It actually continues removing carbon dioxide from the air and the lime in the hemcrete calcifies which petrifies it eventually. However if it ever needs to be demolished, the hemp and lime can be crushed and become good fertilizers for the soil--no earth destructive pollutants involved.

Even with the added expense of importing the hemp from the U.K., since it's illegal to produce in the U.S., the owners Karon Korp and Russ Martin say the approximate cost was $133 per square foot excluding land and excavation. That's a very low figure for a custom home in pricey Asheville, NC. Less lumber is needed because the hemp is so strong. Martin states they have spent less than $100 a month to cool the home which has 3,000 square feet and a garage. It features interior walls lined with 100 per cent recycled paper panels called PurePanels and doors of the same material skinned with veneer. It took about nine months to build under unfavorable weather conditions and inexperience with hempcrete.

Besides being affordable, hemp has air-purifying properties and is excellent insulation when it's so thick. It is non-toxic, mildew-resistant, pest-free and flame-resistant, good for the people who live in the home and the environment.

Despite the fact that hemp is cousin to marijuana, you would have to smoke about 2,500 pounds of it to get high which would be about the entire master bedroom. It's the same plant fiber that arrived in the New World in Columbus' ships' sails.

The designer of the house on Towne Mountain Road in West Asheville is Anthony Brenner with eco-friendly Push Design.

Hemp-Technologies are the hemp experts. More about hemp

- examiner

Fire claims life of ‘heroic’ gran

2012-01-17T12:50:00.001+02:00

An 80-year-old grandmother has been hailed a hero after she died while trying to save her three great-grandchildren in a blaze that burnt their home to the ground.

Evelena Witbooi’s four-year-old great-grandchild Togheeda Hendricks is now undergoing plastic surgery on her face after the killer fire.

But it could have been a lot worse had Evelena not been so brave in her final hour.

Now relatives believe their family is plagued by fire and burning deaths after Evelena’s son Willem Witbooi died a month ago after being burnt with boiling water in Mitchell’s Plain.

Evelena’s grandson Paul was 19 months old when he died in a burning car 26 years ago.

Then on Monday morning, tragedy struck again, this time at the family’s Wendy house in Hillview, Seawinds.

Family members tell in horror how the randmother and other relatives pushed the three kids through the windows in an attempt to save their lives.

Evelena’s granddaughter Jeanith Witbooi, 25, and her husband Moneeb Hendricks, 25, recall waking up at 3am surrounded by flames.

Their three children, one-year-old Isma-il Hendricks, Leeyawna Witbooi, 10, and four-year-old Togheeda were all fast asleep.

“When I woke up, the fire was already in the kitchen,” says Jeanith.

“My grandmother was awake and in her room.”

Jeanith says she immediately grabbed her baby.

“My grandmother was in front of me and by that time all the children were rescued and put out through the windows,” Jeanith explains.

“The smoke was so thick, I couldn’t breathe anymore and I had my baby on my arm... I tried to help ouma (grandmother).”

She says that was when she lost sight of Evelena.

Jeanith’s mother Jennifer Witbooi, 25, who lives next door, says her little granddaughter is also a hero.

“Togheeda’s face burnt and now they are doing a skin graft on the whole face at Red Cross Children’s Hospital,” she says.

“My mother-in-law Evelena tried to put the children through the window.

“Togheeda was rescued first but she ran back into the house and that was when her face burnt.”

The grieving relatives say the little child emerged from the burning Wendy house saying: “Ouma (grandmother) is dead.

Now Jennifer believes her family is cursed by fire.

“I keep having to recall this and maybe I am cursed but God knows best,” she says.

“My son Paul died when he burnt in a car and my ex-husband was thrown with boiling water and now my mother-in-law dies in the fire...”

Another resident Charmaine Fredericks, 49, who lives next door to the family, also lost all his belongings.

By late on Monday, the family were still unsure about how the blaze started.

* Anyone who can help the families are asked to call Charmaine Pretorious, Chairperson of Hillview Residents on 073 310 7536.

*This article was published in the Daily Voice

R2bn down the drain

2012-01-17T10:50:00.004+02:00

PUBLIC entities, which include state-owned companies like Eskom, wasted more than R2bn during the past financial year in irregular expenditure. Salt rubbed into the wounds of taxpayers is that the figure rises to R5bn when wasteful expenditure and other costs accrued by many of the entities are added.

This was revealed in the auditor-general's report in Pretoria yesterday.

The infamous National Youth Development Agency, which made headlines last year by hosting a youth conference costing millions, was among the biggest spenders. The agency blew R68m because of supply chain management issues (SCM), wasted R2m and lost assets worth R39m.

Most entities seem to have struggled with managing their supply chain.

The National Lottery Board irregularly spent R11m. The Road Accident Fund wasted R26m and lost R15m due to scm issues. The Robben Island Museum blew a total of R35m. Auditor-General Terence Nombembe, pictured, listed SCM as one of the crucial areas that public entities and government departments were struggling with.

"The biggest issue is supply chain, especially when it comes to procurement. The rules are known but there is constant deviation from this," Nombembe said.

Added to the supply chain woes are problems with financial reporting. Most entities failed to provide adequate annual and monthly financial statements. Service delivery and compliance with regulations were problems.

Only 8% of public institutions received qualified audits, meaning a fraction had their books in order.

- Sowetan

Spineless sheeple deserve to be fleeced

2012-01-15T08:00:00.001+02:00

WITH the podium awash in cake and catharsis, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe raised his glass and proposed a toast. "The leaders will now enjoy the champagne, and of course they do so on your behalf through their lips." Later, the leadership drove off in luxury cars on behalf of those who had no transport and stayed in expensive hotels on behalf of those who lived in shacks. Welcome to the year of living vicariously.

The new year has set off at such a blistering pace that it already feels old. Maybe it's just me. I knew I shouldn't have sat through the president's entire speech in Bloemangafonteinung. Even though I took pharmaceutical precautions to offset any negative side-effects, I still feel like tearing my face off and stuffing it up my bottom. Brenda says I might have taken the wrong medication.

I don't even know where to begin. Education, perhaps. Did you see the kiddies on their first day of school this week? Brenda said they looked cute. I thought they looked angry and disillusioned. Perhaps they had been watching cartoons the night before and daddy switched to the news and they saw mobs of semi-literate matric exemptionistas storming the universities and realised they were about to board a runaway train on a 12-year journey to nowhere.

If our best and brightest are prepared to trample people to death in the hope of staving off unemployment for another three years, can you imagine what the others are capable of?

Education Minister Blade Nzimande must shoulder the blame for this fiasco, but only because he is a communist. There's a reason the bull's-eye on a dartboard is red. Wait. That makes no sense. A bull is the highest scoring ... well, apart from a triple 20. Forget the analogy. This is the year in which nothing makes sense and I don't see why I should be the exception.

I would like 2012 to be remembered for the way the little people stood up for themselves. I'm not talking about dwarves or tokoloshes. I am talking about those who find themselves being treated with disdain and disrespect by everyone from civil servants and spouses to restaurant staff and bosses.

My dream of seeing the government on its knees - and this should be the default position of governments everywhere - is unlikely to be realised. I know this because more than 200000 Gauteng motorists have already sloped off and registered e-toll accounts with the Cosa Nostra-like SA National Roads Agency. They did this in spite of Cosatu and the Automobile Association pointing out that Sanral's artful ambush on what are quite clearly public roads would fail dismally if nobody cooperated.

The AA is about as radical as the Fish Hoek Croquet Club and yet they have the guts to take a stand against this highway robbery. You craven e-tag-buying cowards, on the other hand, are spineless sheeple who deserve to be fleeced by the state at every turn. Don't be e-tag ready, be civil disobedience ready.

What else? Oh, yes. The government wants to make it illegal for anyone to issue warnings of severe weather without permission from the SA Weather Service. I kid you not. The penalty? A fine of R5-million or five years in jail. Next on the list will be the prosecution of economists who predict a recession without prior permission from the minister of finance and the incarceration of psychics who tell fortunes without first clearing them with SARS.

- Ben Trovato

Police told not to use rubber bullets

2012-01-14T15:15:00.000+02:00

Police officers are no longer allowed to use rubber bullets or shotguns on protesters, according to a newspaper report.

Beeld reported on Saturday the order was made at the end of December by Lt-Gen Elias Mawela from the police's reaction unit to all police officers in the country.

This follows widespread use of force by police, over the past two years, mainly in protests over service delivery. The use of force and rubber bullets was highlighted by the death of Andries Tatane last April during a protest in Ficksburg.

According to the communiqué by Mawela there were a large number of crowd control incidents where a large number of rubber bullets were used over the last few months.

"Some of these incidents led to negative publicity in the media which led to questions about the use of rubber bullets in such situations," he reportedly wrote.

Rubber bullets are, according to regulation 262, to be used as a last resort.

In spite of the regulation and that supplies of rubber bullets were recently decreased, there were still serious injuries," he said.

"The use of rubber bullets and bird-shot must therefore summarily be halted." Negotiation remains the first option, then pyrotechnics (blanks), water cannons or tear gas can be used.

The goal must be to defuse conflict with minimum force.

- Timelive

Fatal W Cape fires injure hundreds

2012-01-10T07:18:00.000+02:00

Two people were killed and over 200 others displaced in shack fires around Cape Town over the past two days, the city's disaster risk management centre said on Monday.

The first fire broke out in KD Section, Philippi, just after midnight on Sunday, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

Twenty-five shacks were gutted, displacing 72 people. About an hour later, another shack was destroyed by fire in Asanda Village in Strand. One person was killed.

At 9am, two wendy houses at the back of a home in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, caught alight. Nine people were displaced.

A fire in Lusaka informal settlement, Crossroads, at 10am gutted a shack and left three people without a home.

Solomons-Johannes said a fire in the early hours of Monday at Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa gutted 33 shacks.

“The fire started in a locked dwelling that rapidly swept through the area,” he said.

A total of 122 people were displaced. A fire around the same time destroyed eight shacks and displaced 32 people. It also claimed the life of a man.

Solomons-Johannes made a renewed appeal for people to practice fire safety.

“When going to sleep, residents should switch off electrical devices and extinguish gas burners, candles, lamps and paraffin stoves in order to prevent accidental fires.” - Sapa

Number’s up for apartheid-era Native Yards (NY)

2012-01-09T17:54:00.002+02:00

The offensive NY street names, which stand for “Native Yard”, are the City of Cape Town’s next target as it plans to put 52 NY name change recommendations out for public comment.

The NY street name changes follow the process whereby names of 31 streets in the city, including Hendrik Verwoerd Drive and JB Hertzog Boulevard, were put on a list of recommendations for change by the city’s new naming committee.

The committee, at its inaugural meeting, submitted the changes for public debate. In the new year, the city is to turn its focus on the NY street names which can be found in Gugulethu.

Apartheid planners did not give names to any of the roads in the township, and all were simply numbered as “Native Yards”.

Naming committee chairman Brett Herron said the committee decided at the last meeting that the naming proposals of the previous panel of experts, headed by Rhoda Kadalie, be submitted for extensive public participation. “The city’s public participation unit was tasked with preparing a public participation programme. That programme will roll out during February and March,” Herron said.

He said it was the committee’s intention to deal with the NY names in the next few months and the process would be taken to the public, and the city would conduct extensive public meetings.

“Yes, it is the committee’s intention to deal with the NY names in the coming months. NY1, Gugulethu is already on the list going out for public participation,” Herron said.

He said the naming and renaming process was an important process of city-building.

“It is an important part of our commitment to building an inclusive city. For the process to be successful, it is essential that we encourage and facilitate extensive and comprehensive public participation. This is so important to the successful implementation of renaming that a special meeting of the committee, to consider the proposed public participation programme, is warranted and this will be scheduled as soon as possible,” Herron said.

He said the committee’s next meeting, which was scheduled for this week, was cancelled because no new agenda items needed discussion, given that the council had been in recess.

All 52 NY name change proposals were submitted by the PAC when the process opened in 2007.

PAC councillor Anwar Adams said: “We are going to take a look at all the names again. We submitted all those names, but we’re going to need a refresher. But the names were all activists that were relevant round about the 1960s. The NYs must be changed.” - Cape Times

Champagne for a special 100

2012-01-09T07:23:00.001+02:00

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe proposed a toast and told the half-empty stadium that if they did not have champagne, they could take photographs of their leaders drinking, or raise clenched fists.

"The leaders will now enjoy the champagne, and of course they do so on your behalf through their lips," he said.

- News24

Sexwale & Winnie Madikizela-Mandela toilet advice

2012-01-08T20:09:00.004+02:00

Should be available today....?

The Four months are up... Mama Winnie hows the plumbing going?

Time for spin is up, it's been years of human indignity and failure from B-BBEE to step forward with some uBuntu.

Fire destroys 25 shacks in Cape Town

2012-01-08T18:32:00.001+02:00

A shack fire in Kosovo near Phillipi has left 72 people homeless and destroyed 25 dwellings, the City of Cape Town's disaster management centre said on Sunday.

There were no injuries or fatalities, said spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

The fire started on Saturday night around 11.15pm.

“The city’s disaster response teams are on the scene providing humanitarian relief aid - food, blankets and clothing - to the affected victims.

“The city’s housing directorate of informal settlement management unit is also on the scene issuing building material to the affected community to rebuild their dwellings,” he said.

The cause of the fire is unknown. - Sapa

Secrecy Bill shows ANC's historic mission is over

2012-01-06T08:20:00.001+02:00

When the National Party government realised it was losing its grip on power, it became preoccupied with state security. It was so paranoid that secrecy and censorship became a tool of oppression. It was criminal to possess any document government saw as threatening. Media censorship was severe. On “Black Wednesday”, October 19 1977, 18 black consciousness formations were banned and their leaders jailed, tortured and killed. Newspapers were also banned.

Former president Nelson Mandela, addressing the Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) in 1994, said: “If the ANC does to you what the government of the National Party did to you, you must do to the ANC what you did to the government of the National Party.”

But when the people protest against corrupt politicians who treat the poor with contempt, the ANC does not listen. Instead we are beaten, jailed, tortured and even killed. Who can forget Andries Tatane? His murder was a repeat of what happened to Hector Petersen on June 16 1976. He has become the martyr of the rebellion of the poor. Who can forget what happened to the demonstration of Abahlali baseMjondolo in 2006, when police open fire to a peaceful march? It was a repeat of the 1980s. Who can forget when the residents of Hangberg in Cape Town were jailed and shot at for refusing evictions? Some lost their eyes to rubber bullets. It was a repeat of what happened at Crossroads in Cape Town when people resisted illegal evictions.

Recently reporter Mzilikazi wa Afrika was arrested and no one knew where he was being held. This was a move to intimidate journalists. It was a continuation of apartheid tactics and a collapse into rule by decree, outside the Constitution. This is not democracy.

There is no freedom if the people do not know what the government is doing in their name. Every cent that goes to a political party or to a politician should be public knowledge.

Otherwise how do we know why or in whose interest decisions are made? The arms deal and its cover-up was the point at which we first lost the freedom to know and it has got worse.

The secrecy Bill is the ultimate manifestation of the elected deciding what the people they are supposed to serve will be allowed to know. Politicians want to be kings and queens, not servants of the people. Just look at their blue-light cavalcades. This is not democracy.

It is becoming more and more clear that the government of the ANC is starting to do to us what the government of the National Party did to us. It is repressing our struggles, forcing us into transit camps at gunpoint, leaving us to shit in buckets in shacks, denying most of us the right to decent education and denying millions of us the right to work or to have a decent housing.

At the same time, these ANC leaders are undermining the Constitutional Court and media freedom. And they are corrupt beyond repair. They are millionaires and billionaires through tenderpreneurship. They have privatised our struggle and they rule our country as if it is their private property. They are indulging in the politics of who has the right to plunder our resources.

We are supposed to accept that politics is a choice between Julius Malema (and his faction) or Jacob Zuma (and his faction). We are supposed to think that politics is a choice between Malema destroying a R4-million house in Sandton and building a R16-million house on the property or Zuma building a homestead in Nkandla at a cost of hundreds of millions of public money. This lavish homestead is surrounded by falling-down mud houses and people who go to bed hungry.

Our movements have won some important victories in the Constitutional Court. Although we must defend it from attack by the predatory elite, the fact is that it cannot protect us forever and it cannot, on its own, give us what we need. The court is already being undermined by the Zuma government and the ANC has made it clear it intends to subordinate it to the party.

Civil society has won some victories too. But NGOs do not represent the people and have no real power to stand up to an increasingly ruthless, predatory elite.

The answer to the betrayal of our struggle can be seen in Tahrir Square. When the people of Egypt took to the streets, united and determined in their actions, their former president looked to the head of the army to defend him. The response of the general was: “It is time to go.” Yes, it was time to go, because the people united can never be defeated. Now the people are demanding that the generals must go. If they stand together and stand strong in their numbers, the generals will go too.

It is only mass action by the masses of the people that can protect the people from an oppressive government and advance their interests. Our people are already on the streets. The rebellion of the poor has been raging for years now. It has produced some powerful movements in some places.

It is time for us to come together and sustain mass action in a united front against those who have captured and privatised the people’s struggle for a free, democratic and equal country. It is time for us to stop pretending that the Constitution and civil society will save us. Only the people, organised and united in struggle, can save us.

The ANC is doing to us what the National Party government did to us. It is time for them to go! We must embark on the second wave of revolution. We must draw our inspiration from the revolutions that started in Tunisia and have moved across the Arab world and fed into the mass protests in Greece, Spain and now the United States.

The ANC has served its historic mission. Its time has passed. It must go now. The time has come to start building real alternatives from the ground up.

Ayanda Kota is the chairperson of the Unemployed People’s Movement, Grahamstown

The passing of the Protection of State Information Bill came as no surprise, raising the threat to media freedom. View our special report.

- M&G

The Cape Town model, state violence and military urbanism

2012-01-06T08:15:00.000+02:00

The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants to present itself as South Africa's opposition-in-waiting, for the day when ANC domination withers. But look at Look at urbanisation policy in the Cape, controlled by the DA: behind the liberal rhetoric of the party lies an ideology very comfortable with increasing the suffering of the most vulnerable.

Lead by the pugnacious Helen Zille, the Democratic Alliance is South Africa’s official opposition party and the governing party of the Western Cape, the only one of nine national provinces not under the control of the ruling ANC. Despite recent successes the party has failed to win substantial support among South Africa’s black majority, due to a widespread perception that notwithstanding its meretricious rhetoric of an ‘ Open Society’, the party remains a bastion of white privilege. Further scepticism has been created by the parties’ aggressively neoliberal policies which propose to reduce the country’s already partial post-apartheid social welfare system . However, the DA is hoping that the increasingly overt internecine fighting with the ANC will alter South Africa’s political landscape to give it a credible chance of becoming the ruling party by the end of the decade. With the ANC beset by corruption scandals, a growing intolerance for political dissent and the seeming inability to robustly tackle growing levels of social inequality, the DA is attempting to position itself as a pragmatic and efficient government in waiting.

Central to the strategy is the promotion of the City of Cape Town as an exemplar of good governance. The DA’s Cape Town manifesto promotes the city as beacon of ‘world class services, order and stability’ (and by extension paints ANC run urban areas as decrepit ‘feral cities’). Notably, in a country where inequality has sustained high levels of violent crime, the DA’s Cape Town model offers humanistic sounding injunctions about improving safety through reducing historical legacies of underdevelopment, poverty reduction and ‘’violence prevention through urban upgrading’’. The DA’s official line on urban safety promises to enrol ordinary people in the improvement of the city through social crime reduction strategies: as one memorable slogan in the recent local election campaign noted ‘’ a child in sport, is a child out of court’’. . Notably, the DA claims that its policies are linked by a concern for individual freedom and the limitation of abusive state power.

However, as the last few years have shown much of the self-proclaimed success of this model is in fact contingent on state violence and the perpetuation of a low level social war against the urban poor. Rather than an aberration this betrays a basal authoritarianism within the DA, which views the poor as targets for pacification, containment and ‘warehousing’.

Take for example the saga of the N2 Gateway housing project. In conjunction with the ANC led National government the city has attempted to move thousands of people from the city to Delft. Despite all the talk about meeting housing ‘’backlogs’’, most activists and researchers argue that the construction of ‘beautiful formal housing opportunities’ between the international airport and the city was a pretext for massive forced removals fast tracked ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Indeed, the quality of these housing opportunities was quickly revealed to people who had been moved from shack settlements into the two Temporary Relocation Areas (TRA) associated with the project. The DA managed Symphonthy Way TRA ( better know as Blikkiesdorp) greeted its new residents with government built corrugated iron shacks, barbed wired fencing, access control by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and regular patrols by apartheid era Casspier armed personal carriers.

The residents of the Symphony Way informal settlement were so unenamoured with the prospect of being forced into a glorified refugee camp that they occupied a nearby road in Delft for 21 months, the longest political action of its kind in South African history. And as the city was continually warned by residents this uprooting of communities has seen Blikkiesdorp invaded by gang related violence. With Blikkiesdorp as its premier dumping ground for unwanted and ‘risky’ populations, the ‘world class’ security of the city is often bought at the expense of creating insecurity on the periphery.

For example, immediately prior to the World Cup last year, hundreds of homeless people were evicted from the areas around the Greenpoint stadium to Blikkiesdorp, a sudden influx of people which seemed to bear all the hallmarks of an orchestrated clean up . The international media had a field day with this story, especially because of the camps disturbing similarities to the titular zone of exception in the film District 9. . However, the DA’s slick press cadres denied that there were any links between this and the upcoming World Cup. Indeed, when conducting research for my PhD, one City spokesperson even told me that they were not even aware of any controversy about the evictions. These denials looked slightly farcical in light of the cities public unveiling of its philanthropic sounding ‘ Winter Readiness Plan for street people’, which aimed to ‘’rehabilitate’’ its ‘’participants’’ by offering vaguely described ‘’activities ’’ which would keep them out of the city bowl. Coincidently, the plan was initiated a month before the World Cup and happened to fit exactly into FIFA imposed by-laws about restricting the visible presence of poverty within host cities. Most tellingly, the plan stressed the importance of ensuring that ‘’ our task is to get to people living on the streets before they acquire survival skills on the streets. Once a person survives a winter on the streets it is even more difficult to persuade him to consider getting back home." Using language that wouldn’t be out of place in the control of wild animals, the statement reveals much about the status of the down and out in the eyes of the Cape Town authorities.

The creation of a far flung prison camp, whose architecture serves as a weaponised form of containment is one thing, but the city considerably upped the ante with last years attempt to evict the residents of Hangberg. As gruellingly recorded in the Uprising of Hangberg documentary the police were clearly told to prepare for war: without provocation the SAPS opened fire with rubber bullets, destroyed homes, beat up schoolchildren. Several residents lost eyes. This shock and awe campaign was undergird by a sophisticated DA strategy of disinformation, in which the press was assured that the police were ‘liberating’ the area from ‘ drug dealers’ and falsely claimed that violence had been initiated by the community.

One of the most telling scenes in the film is Zille’s petulant response to the community’s anger about this officially legislated brutality. Surrounded by her police praetorian guard she storms off when the understandably furious community refuses to accept a pious lecture about their own best interests. Among activists Zille has become notorious for this kind of behaviour, with radical community groups who deviate from the official agenda set down in meetings accused of undermining ‘development’ through talking ‘politics’. As seen, in Hangberg, this rapidly transmutes into the vilification of protest as ‘criminal’. The DA script entails a division between the ‘deserving poor’ who want development and ‘troublemakers’ who make the cardinal sin of demanding to be engaged in the political process.

The violence at Hangberg was so extreme that containing the negative publicity proved a challenge even for the parties’ finely honed techniques of reality management. At a local election meeting this year I saw a normally slick councillor reduced to half-baked evasions when the issue was raised. After mumbling something about a ‘tragic misunderstanding’ his conclusion was ‘’ you know how the police get in these situations’’. While the level of state violence unleased was perhaps exceptional, this kind of militarised policing is not. As an aspirant ‘World City’, the DA has managed Cape Town by drawing on a transnational repertoire of what Stephen Graham calls the new military urbanism : ‘crowd control’ which aligns ‘non-lethal’ weaponry with hyper aggressive tactics and campaigns of media dissemination. While this initially tested on groups which the state considers marginal it may quickly become the norm. Indeed, the party’s official security policy reveals an eagerness to rollout such ‘first world security measures’ if in power, from mandatory prison labour to the pre-emptive identification and tracking of ‘potential’ criminals. To this end, Cape Town’s central business district (CBD) has seen the establishment of a CCTV network of Orwellian proportions whose surveillance footprint far exceeds any other city in the country. However, this funnelling of resources into the CBD stands in strong contrast to the epidemic violence in the sprawling Cape Flats to the south east, in which children have exhibited signs of post-traumatic stress comparable to a warzone.

As the party supporters are quick to point out, ANC dominated councils in other cities have engaged in similar actions, from orchestrated attack on the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali base Mjondolo in 2009 to last year's dramatic upsurge in recorded cases of police brutality. Indeed, it can be argued that this is a problem which transcends parties as urban authorities’ efforts to create sanitised world class cities fuses with historical legacies of authoritarianism. Despite the troubling developments, post-apartheid South Africa has a vibrant civil society which continually exposes and challenges these abuses. However, the nature of our recent past means that ordinary South Africans must be continually vigilant about the application of state power, especially when this is glossed in a packaged coat of ‘’international best practise’’.

Thus, despite the service it pays to liberal platitudes about an open society, the DA’s approach to Cape Towns ‘peripheral’ areas and populations appears to replicate a governmental strategy of disgusting inequality by force and lashing out at society’s most vulnerable. As Jean Pierre de La Porte has put it, the DA’s Cape Town model is divided into a Manichean “world of orderly haves and embarrassing have-nots, mocking the weak has become acceptable, since their own failure to be prudent and follow the rules has brought their every misfortune upon themselves – the vulnerable are dunces’’. Under Zille’s botox hardened smile lies a ready resort to the fists of iron which fortify this divide.

- opendemocracy.net

From 'terrorists' to high flying leaders of new South Africa

2012-01-05T10:49:00.001+02:00

Top ANC leaders were also deemed international terrorists -- the United States only removed Mandela from its terrorist watch list in 2008

For decades, activists in the ANC were jailed and exiled as terrorists. Now its top brass are titans of South African politics and business, in lives far removed from ordinary members.

The party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary Sunday, has produced four presidents since taking power in the first all-race elections in 1994. Three spent at least a decade in prison, and the fourth lived in exile for 28 years. "In many people's eyes we were still terrorists and former prisoners with no experience of running the country," Housing Minister Tokyo Sexwale told AFP, remembering the African National Congress's transition from a banned liberation movement to a ruling party.

"We never saw ourselves as terrorists, we were satisfied in our minds that we were freedom fighters and we were supported in this by the entire world," said Mac Maharaj, the current presidential spokesman, who like Sexwale was jailed on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela.

"When Mandela was released, I think that was the biggest shock to" white South Africa, he told AFP.

"They expected a person with horns, and when they heard the language that he was speaking, when they saw his attitude, they couldn't understand that 'hey this is a person like you and me'."

Many of South Africa's government leaders were persecuted under the apartheid-era Terrorism Act, which forbade any activities to overthrow the white-minority regime from 1948 to 1994.

Top ANC leaders were also deemed international terrorists -- the United States only removed Mandela from its terrorist watch list in 2008.

Some, like Sexwale, raised alarm bells after receiving military training in the Soviet Union.

But once in power, the party chose economic liberalism, creating a new generation of "black economic power" that has changed the face of the continent's biggest economy.

South Africa's black middle class counts between two and three million people, and several ANC stalwarts have emerged as business giants.

Four years after becoming premier of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, Sexwale quit government and founded Mvelaphanda Holding, a company with assets in mining, media, healthcare, construction and technology. The millionaire, who hosted South Africa's version of "The Apprentice" TV show, returned to government to become minister in 2009. He's perhaps the most successful of ANC leaders who have used their political clout to build massive economic empires, along with Cyril Ramaphosa, who has interests in everything from mining to the local McDonald's franchise.

Ramaphosa founded South Africa's most powerful trade union federation Cosatu and was a top negotiator during peace talks with the apartheid regime.

His Shanduka Group sold a 25-percent stake at two billion rands ($250 million, 190 million euro) to the Chinese Investment Corporation in December.

Blurred lines between the worlds of politics and business have sparked repeated scandals -- and stoked discontent among many ordinary South Africans who have yet to reap economic gains from their political freedom.

About 39 percent of South Africans currently live under the poverty line of 419 rands ($52, 40 euros) per month. That number has hardly budged since 1994. "Today's South Africa looks very different from the one we left behind in 1994," Trevor Manuel, head of the National Planning Commission, said recently. "Yet for many poor South Africans, there is still much that looks the same."

A growing concern is that membership in the ruling party is seen as a gateway, or even a prerequisite to business success. "People ask, do you have to be a member of the ruling party to be successful? It seems to be the obvious answer," said political analyst Joe Mavuso. "Out of all the African leaders who made it in business, all belong to the ruling party." afp

72 people left homeless after shack fire

2012-01-01T14:19:00.000+02:00

Seventy two people have started the new year without a home, after a fire broke out at the Du Noon informal settlement on New Years Eve, Cape Town's Disaster Risk Management Centre said on Sunday.

"The fire destroyed 38 shacks in the Du Noon informal settlement," said the centre's head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes in a statement.

He said the fire, with the cause still undetermined, started at 11.25pm on Saturday.

No one was injured but those left homeless have been provided with food, clothing, blankets and building materials.

On Monday night, a 25-year-old man died after a fire broke out in the same area.

The man was fast asleep while the fire ravaged twenty shacks in the informal settlement.

Forty seven people were left homeless after the incident. - Timeslive

Ministers’ R92m housing bill

2011-12-29T14:57:00.002+02:00

Ministers and deputy ministers live in state-owned mansions barricaded with extra security that costs more than many people’s homes.

President Jacob Zuma’s expanded executive has cost you R92 million in new houses - mainly in the Waterkloof area - in Pretoria for 15 politicians - and that’s just for their second collection of state-funded homes.

The national Department of Public Works spent R71.795m buying the 15 properties, including attorneys’ fees.

That’s an average of nearly R4.8m a house… but that wasn’t good enough for your politicians.

So the department spent another R11.4m on renovations and furnishings, and another R8.5m on extra security. The total bill came to R91 644 540.48.

And it’s not finished yet; some spending on furnishings and renovations is continuing.

Another 19 houses in Cape Town cost another R116m, excluding extra work or furnishings.

When The Star asked cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi if the cabinet had discussed any security threat to the ministers and deputy ministers that explained the level of expenditure, he referred all queries to Public Works.

The department had not responded to earlier requests for comment by late on Wednesday.

The details of the Pretoria expenditure are in the reply by the minister of public works to questions in the National Assembly by DA MP John Steenhuisen.

“It’s little wonder they’re so out of touch with the needs of ordinary South Africans when they’re living in such a cosseted situation,” Steenhuisen commented to The Star.

“It’s a huge form of largesse.”

Last week The Star reported on the purchase in March of one of the 15 houses in Auriga Street, Waterkloof Ridge, for R6.3m.

The department had refused - for “security reasons” - to tell The Star which member of the executive would occupy the house, but the minister’s reply identifies the occupant as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Dina Pule.

The houses for Pule and Deputy Minister of Higher Education Hlengiwe Mkhize were the most expensive of the 15, at R6.3m each, plus lawyers’ fees.

Pule’s job involves monitoring government delivery and assessing related policy. The Presidency’s policy document for this monitoring lists one of the “non-negotiable principles” for improving government performance as the need to “recognise that there will always be limited funding and resources, and yet be willing to commit to doing more with less and doing it on time”.

The cheapest house cost R2.4m. It hasn’t been assigned to anyone.

The department paid above the Tshwane metro’s official valuations for every property, in some cases well above. One cost three-and-a-half times the market-value estimate.

So far, 11 of the houses have been assigned - three to ministers and eight to deputy ministers. None of the properties were bought through open tender but through a “negotiated procedure”, the minister said in its reply.

As they are the second state-provided properties for the incumbents, they are supposed to pay rent on these: R905 a month each for three of the properties and R745 a month each for the other eight.

The spending flies in the face of the lack of funds for service delivery. For example, of the 203 state schools in the Joburg central area, nearly three-quarters get less than R500 000 a year each in state funding and only nine get more than R1m.

The cost of those 15 houses could have added R450 000 to the budgets of every one of those 203 Joburg schools. What was spent on those 15 houses could have run Gauteng’s Heidelberg Hospital for a year or Mamelodi Hospital for six months.

The extra security alone on the house for the deputy minister of police cost enough to pay a police lieutenant in the Presidential Protection Services for 31 months or a Limpopo police station commander for two years.

The curtains for the deputy minister of mining’s pad cost as much as the pay for a minimum-wage coal miner working underground for about four years. - The Star

Fires over Christmas leave one dead, others destitute

2011-12-29T14:43:00.002+02:00

Instead of relaxing over the festive season, residents of Phumlani Village in Lotus River are counting the cost of a fire on Christmas Day which killed one man and destroyed a number of shacks.

Sisanda Mthiywa, 22, lost her home and her friend Mzingaye Mlilo, who was living with her and her boyfriend, early on Christmas morning when a fire broke out at about 3am.

It spread quickly from one shack to the next.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

A devastated Mthiywa said all she remembered was her boyfriend waking her up to get out of the shack.

“It happened so fast, and even though my partner and I made it out of the shack, our friend, Mzingaye Mlilo, did not,” she said.

Mlilo died after suffering severe burns.

Neighbours have stepped forward to help Mthiywa build a new home with the leftover burnt material along with five 3m zinc plates, a box of nails and a roll of black plastic sheeting supplied by the city’s disaster management.

Mthiywa is staying with her neighbours while her shack is being rebuilt, while Xwayile Phakati, who also lost his home, said he was spending each night at a different friend’s home.

“All I have are the clothes on my back.

“I lost everything. I don’t even have enough material to build a new shack,’’ he explained.

Apart from the building material given to residents, the city’s disaster risk management unit has made arrangements to provide food parcels, clothing and blankets.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, the city’s disaster risk management spokesman, said trauma counselling would also be provided.

A community committee member, Leticia van Roman, has criticised the city for not doing enough.

“It’s so heartbreaking to think that these people lost everything, especially at Christmas.

“All they received to rebuild their homes was five zinc plates, a packet of nails and a roll of sheeting.”

Van Roman said Mthiywa had received small bags of mealie meal and samp, a small pot of peanut butter, five tea bags and a small packet of sugar.

Since Christmas, there have been 16 fires in suburbs and 11 in informal settlements.

Fifty-one people have been left homeless.

l Following the numerous fires over the festive season, the City of Cape Town is continuing with its public awareness campaign to equip residents with the knowledge to prevent unnecessary deaths and life-changing accidents.

Summer in Cape Town is a high fire-risk period, with many people suffering loss of life or livelihoods, and injuries.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said that in the past five years the city had doubled its firefighting staff in the Western Cape to 900, and that more than R2 million had been spent on five new departments.

“We also have a specialised training academy in Epping which has worldwide certification,” he said.

Even though the province had one of the best fire departments in the country, problems lay in informal settlements.

“Lack of access, overhanging illegal cables and other factors delayed engines from accessing burning structures.”

- Cape Argus

Shack fire shatters New Year’s dreams

2011-12-28T12:36:00.003+02:00

They would have spent their year’s savings on New Year’s celebrations.

Instead, Sonwabo Mazala’s family will now have to spend their money on his burial.

Mazala, 25, died in a shack fire on Monday, one of seven people who died in 13 fires in the city since Friday. Almost 100 people were displaced.

The fire in Dunoon spread in Section 28 after the shack behind Mazala’s caught alight at 11pm on Monday.

Two of Mazala’s cousins, Mzimkhulu Tshali and Mzonke Charlie, said the fire spread through the informal settlement rapidly because of the strong winds.

At Section 28 on Tuesday, about 50 men, all of whom had lost their homes in the fire, worked tirelessly to reconstruct their shacks. The men demarcated the site of Mazala’s shack with structures made from wooden beams and zinc sheets.

“We won’t build anything on this spot because this is the place he died. This hurts so badly, especially over the festive season. We are not looking forward to New Year.

“We won’t celebrate because we don’t have the money. It will cost about R8 000 to send Mazala’s remains to his parents in the Eastern Cape and that is money we don’t have,” a tearful Charlie said as he beat his heart with his hand.

Tshali, who shared a shack with Mazala, said when he heard the screams and saw the fire spreading rapidly, he shouted: “There’s a fire, there’s a fire. Get out.”

Mazala, however, did not heed his call.

“I could not stay any longer, I did not even save anything. My clothes, shoes, television, ID and bank cards were all destroyed in the fire. I have nothing. I don’t know what I am going to do,” said Tshali.

Another resident, Nandipha Madyolo, described Mazala as a “good person”.

“At the time of the fire, the shack was locked and the man who lived there was out. No one knows what the cause is,” said Madyolo Zimasa Qolo, who lived close to Mazala.

“I had already bought all my daughter’s clothes and our food for Christmas and New Year. When I returned 15 minutes later after fleeing from the flames, everything was gone. My stove, microwave, my child’s stationery and clothes I spent hundreds on (are all gone).

“After the last fire in April where I also lost everything, I worked hard to get it all back.

“Now, again I have nothing. We can’t celebrate New Year,” she said.

Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said: “Arrangements have been made to assist victims with food parcels, clothing, blankets, building material and emergency trauma counselling.”

Emergency services can be contacted by dialling 107 from a landline. Cellphone users, dial 021 480 7700.

- Cape Times

Man killed in shack fire

2011-12-26T15:45:00.002+02:00

A man was killed in a shack fire in Phumlani in Cape Town on Sunday, December 25, 2011, disaster management said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found the charred body of a man inside one of the shacks around 2am, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

The man was burnt beyond recognition and four shacks were completely destroyed, leaving 15 people displaced.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Three other people, including a two-year-old baby girl, were killed in shack fired in the province since the start of the weekend . Twenty-one were left displaced.

Solomons-Johannes said those displaced were offered shelter and building material by the disaster management. - Sapa

Man ‘loses house to E Cape student’

2011-12-24T15:57:00.002+02:00

A 63-year-old Mitchells Plain man, who has been on the Cape Town city council’s housing waiting list for 21 years, had hoped he would be in his own home for Christmas after his subsidy was approved for a house last year .

But Teddy Cyril Timm’s joy was shortlived when he found out that even though he’d begun receiving bills for municipal services relating to the property, he could not move in. This was because the house had meanwhile been allocated to a student who apparently lets out the house to tenants.

With his hopes dashed Timm, has been placed back on the 346 000-long housing waiting list.

However, Timm, an unemployed backyard dweller who lives in a wendy house on someone else’s property in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, told Weekend Argus he might not live long enough to be finally granted a home because he suffers from heart problems.

“I almost died last Christmas when I had a heart attack,” he said.

Timm is a member of a group of people who recently met senior housing officials to try to find out how far they are on the housing list.

The group, led by April Engelbrecht, the chairwoman of the Beacon Valley and Westridge residents association, tried to find out when they will be granted homes.

The city’s human settlements strategic director Alida Kotze and senior human settlement officials Brian Shelton and Trevor Mitchell told the group they would investigate and report back to them.

(The Cape Town city council refused to allow Weekend Argus to observe this meeting).

On May 3 last year, Timm was overjoyed when he received the documents to inform him his housing subsidy had been approved for Erf 57163.

Soon afterwards, he started receiving electricity, water and sewerage bills for the property.

But when he started to make enquiries and visited the property in Stella Way, Mitchells Plain, he found somebody else had moved into his government-subsidised home.

He discovered the house had been allocated to a journalism student, who has gone back to the Eastern Cape and according to Timm has let the property to a tenant for R500 a month.

“I’ve been to the council’s housing offices six times already this year.

“I’m always visiting the council, pestering them. I’ve walked myself tired for this house. There, my house is standing. But somebody else is living in my house.

“Now they want to put me back on the waiting list that I’ve been on since 1990

I had a heart attack in December. I have high blood pressure and angina. I don’t think I will live as long as to wait until they offer me another home,” said an upset Timm.

Sonnenberg confirmed city council officials could not trace Timm at the time the house was supposed to be allocated to him and that the council then allocated the home to somebody else. At the time, Timm was “in hospital due to a heart attack” and this was one of the reasons he could not be found.

However, Timm and his daughter, Shinazj Jeftha, said it was impossible that council officials were unable to find them and the only possible explanation was that officials did not make the effort to look for them.

No one from the council called Timm on his cellphone number or Jeftha on her cellphone number, which always accompanies Timm’s paperwork.

Council officials also didn’t visited Timm’s wendy house in Tafelsig, even though they sent his bills to that address.

He and his daughter said had officials bothered to go to the house, people there would have told the council where Timm was.

Jeftha said: “My father had a hernia operation in December. Soon afterwards, he had heart failure and we didn’t believe he was going to be home for Christmas. It’s not his fault he had a heart attack”.

The Cape Town city council refused to allow Weekend Argus access to the housing waiting list on the grounds they were protecting the privacy of the people on it.

In addition, Sonnenberg made it clear that even if the public had access to the list, they would not be able to find out the basic information relating to their government-subsidised homes.

Sonnenberg said the list did not indicate an applicant’s position on the list, when an applicant would receive a home, or which project the applicant was part of.

Sonnenberg said: “There are at present 346 562 names registered on the database. The data is confidential as it contains personal information.

“Lists are regularly misinterpreted and lead to wrong assumptions or conclusions which create serious problems,” he said. - Saturday Argus

De Lille oversees donation of 1 000 fire extinguishers

2011-12-23T22:58:00.000+02:00

For the families and communities of the 126 people who lost their lives in shack fires this year there may yet be hope in the fight against fires on the Cape Flats.

Yesterday, the City of Cape Town launched a pilot project, distributing 1 000 hand-held fire extinguishers worth R85 000 in Joe Slovo township in Langa Zone 30, 31 and 32.

News of the dramatic entrance of Mayor Patricia de Lille and her entourage in Zone 32 spread fast and a crowd of nearly 100 emerged to hear her.

As members of the community stood in the pouring rain, mayoral committee member for community safety JP Smith told the community they were “special” because they were the first community to receive the hand-held devices. De Lille said the fire extinguishers would enable residents to take “immediate action and help deal with small fires at the incipient stage”.

“It is difficult for fire engines to come in between structures,” she said, saying the small extinguishers were essential to prevent fires spreading.

“Every year, we see many of our community lose all their belongings in a fire, sometimes even people’s lives.

“There is no money that can buy a person’s life. We will explore the possibility of expanding the project to other informal settlements that are prone to fires once we have measured its effectiveness.

“The portable fire extinguishers are part of the city’s ongoing plans to supplement awareness and education programmes, bolstering prevention strategies of our Fire and Rescue Services,” De Lille said.

The project is funded by the Mayoral Special Projects Fund.

Recent interventions by the city include increasing the number of city fire stations to 30 (all of which are open 24 hours a day) and appointing seasonal firefighters to enhance the capacity to deal with fires, particularly during the high-risk summer period.

Educational material highlighting safe practices around the use of fires, cooking, heating and lighting devices have been made available and an Expanded Public Works Programme-based project to help mitigate the risk of fire has been implemented, De Lille said.

She said they would also be launching an awareness campaign.

“The city will continue to monitor how effective (the fire extinguishers are) and will continue the roll-out to other communities,” she said.

- Cape Times

Partnerships ‘pivotal to success of District Six’

2011-12-20T08:08:00.000+02:00

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille says a strong partnership between national, provincial and local government and the private sector will be pivotal for the success of the District Six restoration project

CAPE TOWN — A strong partnership between national, provincial and local government and the private sector will be pivotal for the success of the District Six restoration project, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said yesterday.

Earlier this month the public was given the opportunity to comment on the final restoration plan. The multibillion-rand project will result in 5000 homes being constructed and once successful claimants have been allocated homes, the rest of the properties will be made available at affordable rates to buyers.

The plan includes extensive details of the mixed-property development, which will include residential and commercial centres along with offices and public spaces.

Ms de Lille said that after many delays and disagreements, there was now optimism that the project would be successfully completed. "District Six is one of the land settlements which was still outstanding and it is important that there is consensus.

"There seems to be an agreement within the community on how the land should be used. Obviously you cannot please everyone, but there is a general consensus."

Ms de Lille said how the public consultation process was handled showed that a partnership between the national, provincial and local governments together with the private sector was important for the success of the project.

Nas Allie, CE of the District Six Redevelopment and Beneficiary Trust, said yesterday that the public consultation process had been very "successful". "The whole purpose of the consultations was for the public to comment and the general impression was positive."

He said the entire project was significant not only from a justice point of view but also from a business perspective. "This project could be replicated elsewhere in the country and could solve the housing crisis."

He said that the project would be completed in seven years’ time. The development of 42ha of land will cost about R7bn. The City of Cape Town will provide the bulk infrastructure for free and the national government will contribute R1,3bn towards the project. Claimants will also be asked to contribute about R225000 on average towards their homes, valued at R1m. Thus, claimants will be given shares in a special purpose vehicle company that would be set up to run the development.

This option meant that the land would still be in the hands of the claimants and revenue would be generated by leasing some of the land.

- BusinessDay

Baby dies in shack fire

2011-12-19T17:30:00.000+02:00

An 18-month-old baby died and a total of 33 people were left homeless in separate fires in the Cape Town area on Monday morning, the city said.

The baby died in the Happy Valley informal settlement near Blackheath in the early hours of Monday morning.

The fire also gutted five shacks and left 17 people homeless, the city's disaster risk management centre said in a statement.

In the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, five people were left homeless after a fire burnt down two shacks around 2.43am.

The fire was extinguished by the victims and residents of the community.

At 7.40am a fire broke out at Forest Heights, Eerste River and gutted three backyard dwellings and damaged a formal house. Eleven people were left displaced.

The centre's acting head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the cause of the fires was being investigated.

“Arrangements have been made for assisting the victims with food parcels, clothing, blankets, building material and emergency psychosocial trauma counselling,” said Solomons-Johannes.

– Sapa

Child killed in Cape Town shack fire

2011-12-18T15:22:00.000+02:00

Cape Town - A two-year-old child was killed after 10 shacks caught fire in Lansdowne in Cape Town on Sunday, fire and rescue services said.

Fire-fighters extinguished the blaze in Flamingo informal settlement around 05:00 and found the burnt body in a shack, spokesperson Theo Lyne said.

He could not immediately provide further details on the dead child.Lyne said the incident left 16 people displaced."The cause of the fire is not known and it will be investigated by the relevant authorities," he said.- SAPA

Call for consultation on street renaming

2011-12-16T20:29:00.000+02:00

GUGULETHU residents have called on the City of Cape Town to consult them when it starts with the process of renaming the township's streets.

Early this week the city said it would consider whether to rename Gugulethu's "NY" streets in the new year.

The call to rename the streets was initiated under former ANC mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo because the reference to the streets as NY's (which stood for Native Yard) is offensive.

The city then wanted to rename NY1 as Amy Biehl Avenue after the American exchange student who was killed by PAC members in 1993. There is also a proposal to rename NY1 as "Steve Biko Drive" - after slain black consciousness leader Steve Biko.

Yesterday Sowetan conducted a vox pop to gauge people's feelings about the renaming of streets. Those interviewed said the city should consult with residents first.

Resident Ntombomzi Ncivathe said she was in favour of the street name changes.

"They (NYs) must be changed because they are offensive to black people. (But) I don't think NY1 should be named after Biehl."

Ncivathe also rejected "Steve Biko Drive", saying "many streets or facilities throughout the country have been named after Biko".

Ncivathe suggested that the street be named after a community leader or anti-apartheid struggle activist from Gugulethu.

Another resident, Mzamo Sidelo, accused the city of dividing residents by proposing that NY1 be named after Biko. He, however, supported the idea of naming the street "Amy Biehl".

Sidelo said the street would be viewed as a "monument" because of the 1993 incident and the fact that Biehl had done community work in the area.

Kholeka Nyongo supported " Steve Biko Drive". - Sowetan

Man killed in Cape shack fire

2011-12-16T15:12:00.003+02:00

A man was killed in a shack fire in Philippi in Cape Town on Friday morning, the disaster risk management said.

Fire-fighters extinguished the flames in Sweet Home informal settlement after midnight and found the body inside a shack, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johaness said.

The man was burnt beyond recognition.In a separate incident, 16 people were displaced after seven shacks burnt in Khayelitsha on Thursday night.The shacks caught fire around 11pm, and the flames were soon extinguished, Solomons-Johannes said. No one was injured.“The causes of the fires are not known and they will be investigated by the relevant authorities,” he said. - Sapa

Minister too busy to worry about shacks

2011-12-16T08:17:00.001+02:00

The title of Minister of Housing changed to Minister of Human Settlements and the present incumbent is Tokyo Sexwale.

Since the very first free elections, housing in South Africa has largely been beset by badly built or nonexistent Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, corrupt contracts or simple pipe dreams. Former Minster Lindile Sisulu promised in Cape Town to build 20 000 houses in three years . . . nope, it was 18 months. Nope, it was 12 months. Anyway, it did not happen – not even 2 000 houses and now she is Minister of Defence, where she can make much bigger promises.

The reason for the change of title to Minister of Human Settlements is, I think, that nobody could dignify the dwellings in which half the population lives as houses and it would probably be politically unwise to have a Ministry of Miserable Shacks and Mansions, as appropriate as this may be.

One has to admire Tokyo S. He is a very busy man. He was very much part of the recent African National Congress disciplinary hearing into the actions of Julius Malema, which function must have rated way above worrying about Human Settlements. He certainly was not present at that most important recent event (in our lives here at home) – the burning down of Morris’s shack.

Morris works for my practice and has four children. All were, fortunately, spared when the youngest child lit the ‘flame stove’ in Morris’s shack in the wrong way and the shack caught alight and burned down.

I did some investigation (after getting the Morris family back in business) and found out this: 95% of shack fires are caused by electrical faults or stoves or lamps. The electrical faults occur since illegal taps to power lines feed a whole series of extension cords strung together to bring power (at a fixed rate) to shack after shack. When the cords overload, they melt and stuff catches fire. In Cape Town, they are quite prepared to supply safe low-cost power connections (even to a shack) but they want the way clear so they can easily service these connections. This doesn’t happen, so it doesn’t happen.

Paraffin lamps get knocked over and . . . well . . . fire.

The simple way forward is this: ask consulting firms around the country to let contracts to build houses which have a low fire load (the self-build houses in Mossel Bay are an excellent example). Contract on open (really open, no rubbish) tender and build houses. Trust me, a trained matriculant could administer this.

As for lights, we have been testing some solar lights which consist of a panel with a battery, a solar panel and lamps. Some of them are good, some not so good. But the good ones we have tested are very good – durable, reliable and simple, and cost about R900 per set of two lamps.

Now, since the power for lighting in shacks is going to be stolen anyway, why do municipalities and Eskom not just buy a whole lot of these and free-issue them to those who need lights? I can let whoever wants see the results of our tests on various solar lights. If they supplied 100 000 solar lights, then, at a cost of R800 each, with each set replacing 120 W of incandescent light, for R80-million you would knock 120 MW off the power system.

Think about it – each of those ghastly wind turbines produces about 2 MW and costs R12-million; the solar lights are a significantly better idea. Will it happen? I am certain not. Our Minister is too busy giving evidence for comrades and being president of the South African-Japanese Business Forum, honorary consul general of Finland in South Africa, honorary colonel in the South African Air Force . . . and Morris, after all, is just a bricklayer. But now a bricklayer with solar lights.

- Engineering News

Blaze teacher’s lesson in bravery

2011-12-14T12:49:00.002+02:00

Meet the brave teacher who saved an entire pre-school from a hellish fire that destroyed 15 shacks.

If it were not for quick-thinking Nontando Dase, she and the 35 little angels in her care could have died in the blaze on Saturday.

And while she is glad they escaped with their lives, the daycare centre is left in ruins.

All the clothes, food and toys, donated to the Masithembane Daycare Centre in Wallacedene ahead of the festive season, have been destroyed.

The 43-year-old caregiver tells the Daily Voice about her harrowing brush with death as she sifts through the remains of her RDP house which served as the daycare.

Nontando cares for 35 kids between the ages of four months and eight years.

So when she heard people screaming that a fire was spreading fast, she immediately sprang into action.

She says some of the children were sleeping in a back room while she was feeding a group of toddlers in another room when she heard the neighbours’ frantic screams.

“I suddenly heard people screaming outside… There were four children sleeping in the back room where the flames were coming from,” Notando recalls.

“The house was then suddenly engulfed in smoke.

“I ran to the room and saw this big blaze coming through the window.”

The mother of two explains that she immediately picked up three kids at once and dashed to safety, handing them to neighbours before she ran back inside.

With the intense heat scorching everything in its path, Nontando dashed back into the house to save the last child left in the room.

“People helped me with the other children… I still cannot believe that I made it out,” she says.

“I want to thank God for all the strength he gave me.”

Looking down at the little ones she cares for, she adds: “These kids could have died from the smoke.”

And while residents are relieved the kids survived, they are now baying for the blood of the man who they believe started the fire.

Residents told the Daily Voice men were hunting for the man who is believed to have fled Wallacedene.

They say he started the fire after an argument with his girlfriend.

Resident Willemina Appels, 50, whose house was partially burnt, says the fire destroyed her Christmas.

“The fire destroyed all the windows and curtains I just bought for Christmas,” she tells the Daily Voice.

”I wish they could find this man so that he repay us for all this.”

Neighbour Someleze Koki, 29, says she came home to find that the side of her tiny RDP house burnt.

“The fire destroyed the electricity box – we have lost everything here,” she says.

“We are very angry with the man who started the fire, he must come and explain why he did this, especially this time of the year.”

* This article was published in the Daily Voice

Nepotism claims against boss of housing agency

2011-12-14T10:25:00.001+02:00

ALLEGATIONS of nepotism, duplication of duties and flouting of procedures to appoint service providers have rocked the Housing Development Agency.

The agency's chief executive, Taffy Adler, is alleged to have hired his sister-in-law Josie Adler and a close friend, Brad Arden, to work with him at the HDA.

Josie and Arden are currently employed in the programmes and projects division.

The agency is responsible to secure vacant land for the Department of Human Settlements to build houses for the community and reports directly to Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

The agency's spokeswoman Kate Shand confirmed yesterday that Josie and Arden were indeed consulting for the agency.

She admitted that Josie was Taffy Adler's sister-in-law but denied that Arden and Adler were close friends.

"Josie Adler is Mr Adler's sister-in-law (but) Mr Adler only has a professional relationship with Brad Arden," Shand said in an e-mail.

She, however, denied that Josie Adler's relationship to the chief executive had influenced her appointment.

Experience, she said, gave her the nod.

"Josie Adler has a 40-year reputation in her field and she was appointed - independent of her relationship with Mr Adler - by an HDA general manager to undertake neighbourhood development work," Shand said.

Adler is also accused of contracting Sally Blaine to do human resource-related work.

This is despite the HDA having a fully-fledged HR department that performs the same functions.

Sowetan understands that employees in the HR department have complained about Blaine's appointment.

Blaine, who is stationed in the chief executive's office, received an hourly payment of R798 over 31 months.

Regarding Blaine's contract to the HR department, Shand said: "Sally Blaine was initially appointed to provide HR support as the HDA did not have an HR manager at the time.

"(She) currently provides strategic support to the HDA and only has a limited HR role where her prior knowledge of the organisation is brought to bear.

"We confirm the hourly rate of R789 including VAT."

According to the report, which studied irregular expenditure in the agency between March and September this year, Arden, Adler and Blaine were paid R418,608; R249,600 and R870,846 respectively

- Sowetan

Speak to the Minister of Human Settlements at a price

2011-12-07T13:04:00.001+02:00

The cash-strapped Western Cape ANC is targeting businesses for relief from its financial stress. And for this it has roped in Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale who is to address a “private and exclusive” cocktail function on Thursday.

The ANC in the Western Cape is hoping to fill a cash void of R3.5 million owed to, among others, the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), a car hire firm, and suppliers of election posters and T-shirts.

“Sponsors” hoping to get close to Sexwale and his director-general Thabane Zulu have been invited to cough up R200 000, R150 000 and R100 000 respectively for Platinum, Gold and Silver status at the function.

Platinum Sponsors receive two “VIP tables”, seating 10 in a “premium” position, with signage at each table, the prominent display of company logos and the opportunity to display promotional products. But instead of the ANC’s name appearing on the invitation, the function is being hosted by the “Western Cape Development Agency” (WCDA).

Several Cape Town businesses have received invitations to the event, to be held at the five-star Taj Hotel in Wale Street.

“The programme will outline business opportunities in the Western Cape. Presentations by the minister and his director-general will provide a comprehensive overview of housing opportunities in the Western Cape,” read the invitation sent in the name of the ANC’s provincial treasurer Fezile Calana.

The invitation explains that the WCDA “is motivated by the wish to give back to the communities, and through their talents and experiences, to provide leadership to the youth of the region”.

“The WCDA has identified as its first area of intervention education, economic development and entrepreneurship.”

There’s also mention of “special scholarship programmes” which would “promote integrity, the spirit of Ubuntu and regionalism”.

Calana did not want to comment on the invitation. But sources in the provincial structures of the ANC acknowledged that the WCDA was a vehicle the party used to raise funds “because white businesses don’t want to fund us”.

Hennie van Vuuren, director of the Institute for Security Studies which has researched party political funding in South Africa, said fund-raising moves like this fuelled corruption.

“One of the greatest missing pieces in the chain of anti-corruption measures remains the regulation of private funding of political parties.”

He said party funding was linked to access to ministers. Spaces were being created for elites to access politicians who had been elected by ordinary people.

Cape Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said businesses being made to pay for introductions to ministers could be misinterpreted as a bribe. - Cape Times

1790 stranded after shack fires

2011-12-07T13:02:00.000+02:00

LANGA residents have appealed to the city of Cape Town to relocate residents who were left homeless when their shacks burnt down last weekend.

Fire destroyed about 178 shacks at various informal settlements, leaving about 626 people homeless. Two people also died over the weekend.

The first incident occurred on Saturday night in Zone 18, where about 56 shacks were destroyed and 166 people left homeless.

On Sunday night about 42 shacks were burnt on Brenton Road, one person died, another one was injured and 160 people were displaced. On the same day in Zone 24 about 80 shacks burnt down and 300 people became homeless.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

Weziwe Hewu said: "People call Langa embawuleni because our houses are affected by fire every year. I don't know where I'm going to sleep because all my relatives also lost their homes."

In Zone 24 some people were rebuilding their shacks, while others were sitting in the shade waiting for the council to give them building material.

"I don't have money to buy building material. I don't even know how I am going to rebuild my shack because the council promised to give us five sheets of corrugated iron and 10 poles each, which are not enough. My shack was old so I can't use that material," Nobandla Stemela said.

ANC councillor Mayenzeke Sopaqa said he had informed the disaster risk management and promised to provide the victims with food and building material. The city's disaster risk management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons urged people to be cautious.

"More than 1790 people were left homeless after 14 separate fires across the Cape Peninsula this weekend, and 10 people died in fires," he said.

He said the council has provided humanitarian relief to the victims that were affected by the various fires.

- Sowetan

‘Groundbreaking’ Sustainable Green housing development

2011-12-07T11:03:00.000+02:00

The Tomorrow’s Garden City project at Hartington Place follows a competition by the Royal Institute of British Architects in which architects were asked to submit their design of the ideal affordable 21st century house.

The winning designs from the 2007 competition, run in partnership with Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and North Hertfordshire District Council, incorporate new technologies, environmental designs and use economically and socially sustainable materials such as hemp.

The project will provide 60 new homes for private sale, shared ownership and affordable rent.

Nick Wright, managing director of Rowan Homes, which is managing the build, said: “The ambition of the competition was to deliver high quality, low cost, environmentally friendly, groundbreaking housing in Letchworth - the world’s first ever Garden City - and we are so far delighted with the progress and are on track to deliver just this.

“The mix of property types will create a sustainable community with a wide spectrum of society and will encourage and support social inclusion, diversity and strong community spirit.”

Adrian Brace, the Heritage Foundation’s director of property, added: “This development is a great example of how the principles of Letchworth’s 1905 and 1907 cottage exhibitions have been re-invented to meet the environmental and social needs of a modern day Garden City.

“The competition represents a positive, pioneering approach to innovative architecture and town planning which supports our commitment to sustainability in the long term.”

An open day with the opportunity to look around a show home is planned for the start of 2012.

- thecomet

Cannabis Investment: An Industry Primed for Growth

2011-12-07T07:55:00.001+02:00

If you thought cannabis investment was only a teenage pastime, think again. Hemp and medicinal cannabis are both tried and tested money-making industries, and both are moving at a fast pace. For those on the lookout for unusual investment opportunities—particularly in construction and pharmaceuticals—this could be a growing market.

Although industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent of the psychoactive component THC, in the United States the stigma attached to its hallucinogenic elements have hindered its development.

Production there ended in 1957 after prohibitive laws were passed, but while US legislators continue to debate the issue, 30 countries around the globe are cultivating the crop, including China and Australia.

John Hobson, president of the European Industrial Hemp Association, explained the interest: “Ten years ago if you stopped somebody on the street and said, ‘What is hemp?’ they would probably think it was something that you smoked.

“But now with construction and hemp insulation taking off, I think that the general public are becoming much more aware of what hemp is,” he said, adding that hemp has the added bonus of being cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

“Hemp is low on input, particularly chemicals, because it has a zero chemical requirement. It doesn’t suffer from any pests or diseases that would warrant a spray. And its quick growth in covering the ground would blot out any weed competition," he said. “It’s a fantastic crop for cleaning up ground, and profitable for the farmer to grow.”

Rick Diamond / WireImage

Draperies manufactured with hemp.

About 15,000 hectares of hemp are being cultivated in the European Union, providing food, biodiesel and paints, paper and textiles and construction materials.

With a turnover of around $4 million, Britain’sLine Technology is at the forefront of hemp development and demonstrates the versatility of the crop, producing everything from concrete blocks to panels for the BMW five series.

Hobson summarized hemp’s attractive investment possibilities, telling CNBC:

“It is a profitable product for the grower, the processor, the construction companies, and the people who will be living in those structures, because there are huge savings on energy to be had in hemp construction.”

Cannabis is also increasingly popular in the pharmaceuticals industry, where it is used for pain relief for chronic illnesses.

Justin Gover, managing director of GW Pharmaceuticals told CNBC about the medicinal properties of cannabis and the science of ‘cannabinoids’:

“The cannabis plant has an extraordinary range of medicinal properties—it has had over many thousands of years a history of medicinal use.”

Developed over the past 12 years, his company’s drug Sativex is derived from two standardized extracts of specific types of cannabis to help multiple sclerosis sufferers.

Already available on the National Health Service in the UK and approved in four countries this year, Gover said he hoped by the end of next year nearly 20 countries should have approved the product.

Addressing concerns about costs of development in the current climate, Gover said, “The product costs about six pounds a day, which in the context of a lot of new medications coming onto the market is a significant discount. In particular treatments for the disease of MS are significantly more expensive.

“We appreciate that this isn’t as cheap as an old generic medication, but it is treating a patient population for whom those treatments have failed to provide adequate benefit.”

Gover agreed that the US was the place to be for pharmaceuticals, given it represents half of the market share. “It would be a significant inflection point for our company to be approved there,” he said, adding that in two years he hopes GW Pharmaceuticals will be involved in the care of terminal cancer patients.

He told CNBC that cannabis could help in not just pain relief, but the actual treatment of chronic illnesses such as cancer, epilepsy and diabetes.

The success of Sativex shows that cannabis based products do have a place in the global drugs market; commercial rights have been out-licensed toNovartis [NVO 113.62 2.48 (+2.23%) ] to sell to Asia, the Middle East and Africa, German based Bayer for the UK and Spain’s largest drugs companyAlmirall.

So in the construction, textiles, energy and drugs industries, hemp is a truly diverse and versatile crop; an alternative investment that's looking evergreen.

- CNBC

Winnie aims to flush away toilet woes

2011-12-06T17:53:00.001+02:00

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is in Cape Town this week to see for herself the sanitation issues faced by residents across the city.

On Monday, Madikizela-Mandela, who is head of the ministerial sanitation task team, listened to residents and NGOs at the Civic Centre, where she noted their grievances and recommendations.

Madikizela-Mandela said she would spend this week in Cape Town speaking to residents and looking at service delivery around sanitation.

“For a change, I am not going to give any political speech today,” she told the audience. “Be as honest as you’ve ever been in your lives. I’m here to listen.”

She said that when she was in Crossroads in 1994, she promised to get rid of squatter camps, the bucket system and to see to it that people got houses.

“Tell us where we have succeeded and failed you since 1994,” she said on Monday.

Madikizela-Mandela commended the Western Cape provincial government for its “sterling job towards meeting the demands of our people”, and urged the province to continue being an example to the country.

Gavin Silber, policy co-ordinator from the Khayelitsha-based Social Justice Coalition, said safety was an important part of people’s access to toilets in the area because the toilets were too far away, and some people had been assaulted and raped while walking to them.

He said there were also serious health issues like diarrhoea, the leading cause of the death of children aged up to five years old in Khayelitsha.

Silber said it sometimes took months for the toilets to be repaired and this was often not done properly. This led to a situation in which up to 100 residents had to share a toilet.

He recommended monitoring and maintenance in the short term.

Philippi resident Zukile Rafuza said Cape Town could not be considered one of the best cities in the world “while we still have the bucket system and people live in shacks”.

Seipati Nyelele, of the SA Red Cross Society, said the bucket system had to be eradicated because people’s dignity was being compromised.

Madikizela-Mandela said the residents’ concerns were “precisely what we needed to hear from you”.

“These are the recommendations we would want to implement ourselves, not an academic report.”

- Cape Argus

Green Hab Oakus Hemp Triangle

2011-12-06T13:55:00.000+02:00

The just-completed housing development by Hab Oakus - the partnership between Kevin McCloud's company Hab and housing group GreenSquare - is the focus of a new Channel 4 documentary series that begins this week.

The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development in Swindon, features in the two-part series 'Kevin's Grand Design' as part of the Great British Property Scandal season.

During the programmes McCloud, fed up with the poor quality of Britain's identikit new houses, aims to prove that it shouldn't cost any more to build better designed places that are a nicer to live in and can help residents live happier, more sociable lives.

Kevin McCloud said: “We've almost completed the project now and overall I'm quietly very pleased. The public areas are now pretty well complete and I'm looking forward to seeing the wild flowers emerge next summer.

"I'm also looking forward to seeing how productive the polytunnels, veg beds and edible hedgerows are. Soon we'll have our Shimmy home information systems up and running and be able to talk to residents about how they take ownership of the scheme forward.

“What's great for us at Hab is that our partner, GreenSquare, is there for the long haul as community manager, offering support for what is going to be an interesting ride for us all. We've laid down some pretty fertile ground for a community to flourish and I really hope it does.”

GreenSquare chief executive David Ashmore said: “We're delighted to have completed our first Hab Oakus development and wish the residents at The Triangle a happy and comfortable future in their new homes. It's been great learning with, and from, Kevin and his team and the new residents.

“There is a massive challenge to provide the homes that millions of households in this country urgently require. We will work with Government and other partners to find yet more creative ways to improve the supply of high quality sustainable homes.

“GreenSquare has demonstrated its ability to deliver and to innovate and, importantly, to go way beyond beyond bricks and mortar – improving people’s lives and wellbeing through, for example, training and employment initiatives and all kinds of community activities.”

The award-winning designs for The Triangle are by Glenn Howells Architects with landscape architects Studio Engleback. Other key members of the project delivery team included build contractors Willmott Dixon Housing, environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, cost consultants DBK, GOCO CAR, Carnego Systems, and Lime Technology.

Homes at The Triangle are designed to be super insulated – naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – and have a range of features that do make them different from more ‘traditional’ homes including: air sourced heat pump; rain water harvesting and low water usage bathroom fittings; stack effect ventilation with chimney-style ventilation cowls; sheep’s wool loft insulation; triple glazed windows; bicycle storage built in to the front canopy of each house; and walls built from a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture.

The development was supported with an investment of around £2.5 million from the Homes and Communities Agency and backed by £840,000 investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund because of its use of environmentally-sustainable materials.

Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season investigates some of the issues that have contributed to the current housing crisis and speaks to a broad range of the people affected by it.

The season highlights that while almost two million British families are currently on the waiting lists for social housing, one million properties lie empty across the UK, even though many cost huge amounts to keep secure.

- 24dash

'No money for climate jobs'

2011-12-06T08:51:00.001+02:00

SOUTH Africa has spent R70billion on the arms deal, R40.3billion on the 2010 Fifa World Cup and committed R1.5trillion on future electricity production. But the government will not finance climate jobs, delegates at the One Million Climate Jobs conference heard yesterday.

SA had R70bn for arms deal, R40bn for World Cup and R1.5tn on future electricity production - but no money for climate jobs

Trade unions, social movements and environmental organisations met to discuss an alliance to campaign for the creation of one million jobs, which they believe would address both the country's unemployment crisis and curb climate change.

Under the banner One Million Climate jobs, the alliance is demanding that the South African government release funds to create jobs as it works towards a greener economy.

Said the alliance in a statement: "One million climate jobs would cost R9-billion. Research shows that there is more that R250-billion available annually to finance climate jobs.

"There is also at least R200-billion available to kick-start investment in renewable energy and other climate-friendly developments."

Speakers at the conference said there was a lack of political will to do so.

"It is clear that South Africa has money. The challenge is to channel this money into providing for our most pressing needs as people and to withstand the pressure from the minerals energy complex and international lobby to expand electricity production with no regard to climate change, human wellbeing, environmental risks or resource depletion," the statement said.

The alliance proposed that the country moves towards renewable energy, which it estimates would create more than 150,000 direct and permanent jobs in the manufacture, installation, maintenance and extension of the electricity grid to link renewable energy plants.

More than 700,000 jobs would be created if the country's transport system goes green with the expansion of the rail passenger and general freight network, upgrade of existing fleets to become more energy efficient, construction of bus rapid transit lanes, manufacture of bicycles and the construction of cycle lanes, green spaces and safe pedestrian walkways.

The alliance wants government to provide "energy-efficient, good quality" low cost housing which it estimates would create 250,000 jobs.

Jane Barrett of the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union said the reality was that at least 40% of South Africans were unemployed.

"This is not an official figure. This is a real figure," Barrett said.

- Sowetan

20 die in shack fires

2011-12-05T19:12:00.002+02:00

Ten people died and hundreds are homeless after weekend fires tore through informal settlements and razed countless homes across Cape Town.

Since Friday, the Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service had been battling major fires in Khayelitsha, Langa, Mfuleni and Lwandle, said the city’s disaster management centre.

On Sunday, residents guarded the few possessions they had saved while others got to work rebuilding after a fire in Lwandle, Strand claimed three lives and left nearly 500 people homeless.

In other weekend incidents:

* A fire in the Taiwan informal settlement in Khayelitsha destroyed 40 wooden structures, leaving 160 people homeless.

* Two people died and eight were displaced after a fire in Solomon Tshuku Road in Mfuleni.

* Two people died and 16 were left homeless after a blaze swept through Khayelitsha’s TR Section.

* One man died and 40 people were displaced in Langa.

* A fire in Langa’s Joe Slovo informal settlement on Saturday morning gutted about 20 shacks and left about 100 people homeless, reported the Weekend Argus.

* On Friday, two men died and six people were left homeless when a fire gutted three shacks in Khayelitsha’s Site C.

In Lwandle, stunned residents sat with their belongings on the pavement in Onverwacht Road after a fire destroyed their homes in the early hours.

Cape Town Fire and Rescue spokesman Theo Layne said close to 200 shacks had been gutted by the fire, which started at about 1am. He said 466 people had been displaced and three men had died.

It had taken firefighters nearly five hours to contain the blaze, which was believed to have been caused by a paraffin stove that caught alight.

Piles of corrugated iron and debris were swept aside to make way for new structures.

Andiswa Madanda, 26, stood with a baby bag, gas stove and some belongings she had rescued along with her two children.

“I was asleep and around 1am I saw the fire. I put my baby on my back and grabbed the other one by the arm to get them out. It was so windy and the fire just got bigger.”

Dimpho Lmoshoeshoe, 34, said his plans to spend Christmas in the Eastern Cape with his family were now ruined.

“I was preparing to go home... but now there’s no way out because I have no money. I spent so much already on the Christmas trip and now I will have to stay in Cape Town to rebuild my house again,” he said.

Some residents made a desperate plea to the government to fast-track the building of houses.

“This thing must come to an end. People lose their IDs, lives, everything. It’s such a disaster. People are voting every time when they say we must vote, so government must build houses for the people. It’s sad when this happens because our families don’t know what they are going to eat, wear, or where they are going to stay tonight,” said Chippa Mbala, 24.

Meanwhile, other families were left reeling, reliving the horror of losing their loves ones.

Bongani Phatsoane, 42, said that after the fire broke out he rushed to check on his brother-in-law, Thembinkosi Dose, 37.

“Everything was on fire when I got here, there was smoke everywhere... I saw his bike he used to go to work with and just felt something was wrong here,” he said.

He tried Dose’s cellphone but got his voicemail.

“I ran back home to tell my wife I couldn’t find him. I told her something wrong happened there, and then came back. The firemen stopped me when I tried to get in, they told me the body was there. I told them I don’t believe them.”

Dose’s wife, Nomsa, son, Athenkosi, and daughter, Khanyisa, live in the Eastern Cape.

Eunice Dangazele, 33, lost her brother, Bulelani Dangazele, 26.

“We got the call from one of the neighbours that he had burnt to death... ” she said.

At the time of going to press the disaster management centre was unable to confirm the details of those who had died

- Cape Argus

10 die as fires blaze through Cape settlements

2011-12-05T11:29:00.003+02:00

Ten people were killed and close to 2,000 people were displaced in five separate fires across the Western Cape.

Disaster officials said least 23 homes were destroyed in fires in Du Noon, Strand, Wallacedene, Khayelitsha and Langa.

All five fires occurred between Sunday night and Monday morning.

In the most recent incident, three people died when their shack caught alight in Du Doon.

Disaster Management's Wilfred Solomons Johannes said, “Ten people lost their lives in fires across the City of Cape Town. Disaster Management appeals to residents to exercise caution when dealing with fires and extinguish them when they go to bed.”

It is understood that several structures were damaged in the Du Noon blaze while other settlements assess the damage.

- Eyewitness News

6 die in Cape Peninsula shack fires

2011-12-05T07:33:00.001+02:00

Western Cape authorities are adamant they are doing their utmost to raise awareness about the dangers of fire in homes, especially informal settlements.

At least six people died in separate shack fires in the Cape Peninsula this past weekend.

In one blaze in Lwandle near Strand, about 200 shacks were gutted, leaving dozens of residents homeless.

Western Cape Social Development MEC Albert Fritz said they are schooling communities on fire safety.

“One of our projects, we specifically look at issues around fire prevention. It is important. That is where we spread the news. To do everything in people’s power to prevent fires,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cape Town firefighters said they are still investigating the cause of a fire on a ship in Table Bay Harbour.

The fire apparently started in the hold of the Chinese vessel on Friday.

- Eyewitness News

Jobs promise gives SA green fever

2011-12-04T08:22:00.001+02:00

SOUTH Africa is hoping to capitalise on a "green revolution" that could boost the economy and generate hundreds of thousands of jobs within 10 years.

Key government, civil society and business players at the COP17 climate talks on Friday night were all pushing for the country's transition towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable economy.

Renewable sources of energy and materials form the basis of a green economy, in which industries commit to limiting their harmful carbon emissions.

South Africa currently produces more than 90% of its electricity from coal-fired power stations and accounts for just over 1% of man-made greenhouse gases in the world.

The government, through its "green" tax system, collected nearly R700-million over the past year from levies and taxes on plastic bags, fuel, electricity, vehicle emissions and air travel.

The taxes are aimed at reducing the negative impact on the environment.

Now the government is intensifying plans to move to a low-carbon economy within the next decade, with the recent signing of the national green economy accord in Pretoria.

The accord binds government, business and labour to creating 300000 jobs by building a green industrial base in South Africa.

Experts believe the new accord has the potential to significantly change the country's current carbon and capital-intensive economic framework.

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said this week that South Africa had to make the move towards a green economy as quickly as possible.

"As a considerable emitter of greenhouse gases, South Africa faces the challenge of transitioning to a less carbon-intensive growth trajectory without delay."

At a round-table discussion hosted by the Financial Times and Brand SA on Friday, Environment Minister Edna Molewa said she welcomed South Africa's "confident move into a green economy", with the creation of jobs in the next 10 years.

"At COP18 we will stand up proud and say to the world, 'yes, we are doing our bit'," Molewa said.

"We have stressed that there will be creation of jobs. This is not just an effort that is jobless, we will be getting into sustainable development, that talks to our people, our economy and takes care of our environment."

According to a "green jobs" report released on Friday, the largest contribution to the job market would come from natural resource management "due to the rich endowment that SA has in terms of solar and wind power".

The report - compiled by the Industrial Development Council and the Development Bank of South Africa - estimates that as many as 500000 jobs could be created in a greener economy.

"As more and more businesses, households and the public sector begin to embrace green technologies and practices, the potential exists to create a sustainable number of new job opportunities and to facilitate reskilling," the report said.

It showed that other jobs would come from green building activities, recycling, the conversion of waste to energy, the production of batteries for electric vehicles, soil and land management and renewable energy generation.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said South Africa needed to find more effective economic models to address the issue of climate change.

"We must convert opportunities into actuality," he said. "What we have witnessed now as a result of the climate crisis is the inability of the current economic models to create jobs ... Greening the economy is a huge opportunity."

Cosatu is backing the move towards a greener economy.

Said its spokesman Patrick Craven: "In the long run it is essential for the survival of the planet, that we have an economy which is not dependent on the burning of fossil fuels.

"Of course some jobs will be lost in some sectors. We believe that many, if not more, could be created in other sectors."

- Timeslive

3 die in shack fire

2011-12-02T13:42:00.000+02:00

Two men died in a fire that destroyed three shacks in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town on Friday morning.

City of Cape Town disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons said the fire started at 2.30am at Site C in Gubayo Street.

“The blaze destroyed three shacks, leaving six people displaced. In the fire two adult males were burnt beyond recognition.”

The city had arranged humanitarian relief for the families affected by the fire. Solomons said the cause of the fire was to be determined. – Sapa

Protestors burn tyres in housing protest, demand meeting with MEC

2011-11-30T09:09:00.000+02:00

An angry crowd of about 200 residents blocked Pama Road in Khayelitsha Site B with burning tyres, rocks and rubbish yesterday morning in protest against a lack of housing opportunities.

The residents, who came from S-informal settlement disrupted traffic between the major thoroughfare of Lansdowne Road and Pama road from about 4am until police arrived shortly before 5.30am.

Police used a water cannon to disperse the protestors and six people were arrested and charged with public violence.

“I have been living in this place for more than 20 years. The place is not safe, it’s dirty, my house is leaking, there are no toilets, I’m using my bucket to relieve my self. I was once robbed on my way from the stand pipe taps because they far from our homes. Government must build us house I don’t want to die here,” said Protesting resident Nomisile Gawulani, 71.

S informal settlement residents’ committee chairperson Thando Mpengezi said the community was tired of “empty promises” from government.

He said S informal settlement, which had 460 shacks, was over crowded.

“We want the Human Settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela to come and see where we stay. This place is very dirty. We don’t get any service delivery here. The previous ward councillor promised to get us houses but nothing has happened.”

Mpengezi said the community would protest again until they got Madikizela’s attention.

Madikizela’s spokesperson Bruce Oom said the Department was aware of the protest.

However, he said Madikizela was in Brazil this week and would not be able to accommodate the protestors’ demands for him to meet them with the six-hour timeframe they provided.

“The point must be made that the Department supports the right for people to voice their opinions, but does not support any threats of violence in order to make sure demands are met,” said Oom.

Provincial police spokesperson Frederick Van Wyk said about 200 people started protesting and burning tyres early yesterday morning.

He said the incident happened on the corner of Pama and Mew Way Roads and the corner of Pama and Kusasa Roads in Khayelitsha’s Lingelethu-West Area.

Van Wyk said the protestors dispersed peacefully by 8.30 am and no shots were fired but they returned two hours later and again started to burn tyres and throw stones at passing vehicles.

Police then blocked the roads off and used a water cannon and two stun grenades to disperse the protestors.

He said six protestors were arrested and detained at the Lingelethu West police station. “POPS members and Metro Police are monitoring and patrolling the area. The situation is under control.”

City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Human Settlements, Ernest Sonnenberg, said he was aware of the protest and would be attending a community meeting tonight (Tuesday).

Sonnenberg said the S-informal Settlement, which consisted of 565 dwellings, was not identified for current housing projects or formal upgrading but the city would “continue to deliver basic services in the area”

- Westcapenews

Gov Funds██ █ ████ ███ Cannabis (sic ████) research

2011-11-29T06:21:00.009+02:00

The South African government will ██ █ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ today.

01/11/1995 ████ ███ Others ARC – Rustenberg Tobacco & Cotton Research Institute Published Research Response of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) varieties to conditions in Northwest Province, South Africa Cost: ████ ███

13/09/1998 SAHC ████ ███heim Agriculture, CSIR, ARC Cost: R25 Million Tobacco & Cotton Research Institute ████

22/06/2000 Max Mamase Minister Agriculture EC ████ ███ corruption ████ ███ farmers in the province to be granted a special license by year's end that would allow them to grow hemp commercially. Cost: ████████

10/05/2001 HOH HPA ████ ███ DR BEN NGUBANE Minister DASCT CSIR House of Hemp SA (Ltd) launches its first retail outlet in Gandhi Square, Johannesburg Key stakeholders in the national hemp project include various government departments (DACST, Agriculture, Health, Trade & Industry, Environmental Affairs & Tourism); provincial and national research institutions (CSIR, ARC-IIC, MRC); private sector (Hooked on Hemp, SAHC); development agencies (ECSECC, CIMEC); rural communities (Qamata, Libode, Mtiza, Idutywa, Maluti) and tertiary institutions (████, ████, ████, ████, ████), amongst others. Cost: ████ ███

08/03/2002 ████ ███ Dr Joubert ARC-IIC NW Province Institute for Industrial Crops ████████

23/09/2005 Sunshine ████ ███, ████ ███ ARC-IIC, CSIR Dhone Agricultural Development Institute Published Research Performance of four European hemp cultivars cultivated under different agronomic experimental conditions in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Cost: ████ ███

03/03/2008 Sunshine ████ ███ CSIR Cost: multi-billion-rand ████████ ███ THE Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is piloting a multi-billion-rand agri-business project that could encourage Eastern Cape farmers to grow hemp and flax for the textile industry.

31/03/2008 ████-███ ████ Former Advisor Agriculture Cost: R65 Million ████ ███ ARC, Agriculture, Health

19/10/2009 ████ ███ Minister Social Development R20 Million Judging by the long list of government departments and agencies involved in this project, Launch of The Hemp Project, Maponya Mall, Soweto DBSA, CSIR, ARC, Departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Department of Trade and Industry.

14/10/2010 Sunshine ████ ███ CSIR Cost: multi-billion-rand Pictures

Some NEC members are snakes - Gwede

2011-11-29T06:18:00.001+02:00

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has called party leaders who leak confidential information to the media snakes.

"Leaders who go on public platforms to criticise the ANC are like a snake that bites itself to try and heal itself," Mantashe said.

Addressing journalists at Luthuli House yesterday, Mantashe said the NEC meeting which was held at the weekend also raised serious concerns about media leakages.

'This tendency was strongly criticised as it reduced national leaders of the ANC to being sources of journalists. Concern was also raised on the conduct of some members and leaders of the ANC who use public platforms to attack the organisation.

"If, as a leader, you leak confidential information you are like an agent that has infiltrated the party," he said.

Mantashe did not mention names of ANC leaders who had criticised the party publicly, but there is speculation that he could have been referring to Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Sexwale and Madikizela-Mandela were both witnesses in the disciplinary case of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema, and have on several occasions spoken against the party's decision to charge Malema and the league. Mantashe said the NEC meeting did not discuss the ANCYL nor its president Malema.

He said the ANC would only raise issues affecting the ANCYL during a bilateral meeting with the league.

Mantashe said the ANC in Parliament would decide on the action that would be taken against party members who abstained or voted against the information bill last week. ANC MPs Gloria Bosman and Ben Turok did not vote for the bill.

'The conduct of members acting as free agents is not an option. Public representatives of the ANC hold public office at the instance of the ANC," he said.

He said members of the ANC were bound by policy directives of the party and not their individual thoughts.

'The bill is not a media bill, it is a security bill. It is about peddlers of information and not about whistle blowers.

"There are processes the ANC will follow in Parliament. I cannot pre-empt," Mantashe said.

He said research on nationalisation of mines had been completed but the party had referred the report back for simplification before it could be distributed to ANC structures for debate.

He said ANC sub-committees were assessed and found to be functional.

- Sowetan

City vows to act after deadly fires

2011-11-28T16:26:00.001+02:00

A special task team will be set up to curb fires this festive season following a series of shack fires at the weekend which left one man dead and 150 people displaced, the city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre has said.

Centre spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the team would intensify efforts to raise awareness in communities most at risk.

Food parcels, blankets and building starter kits were distributed to the victims yesterday after 13 fires destroyed homes across the city.

Solomons-Johannes said the authorities were still to investigate the causes of the fires.

On Sunday, 19 shacks and six backyard dwellings were gutted by five separate fires in Gugulethu, the Freedom Farm informal settlement in Belhar, Netreg, Kalkfontein and Nyanga.

Solomons-Johannes said 97 people had been displaced by those fires.

On Friday three shacks were razed in Gugulethu leaving three people homeless.

Two homes were also gutted by a fire in Khayelitsha’s BM section, leaving 16 people homeless, while another fire destroyed a shack in the Sweet Home informal settlement.

During the early hours of Saturday, five shacks burnt down in the Witsand informal settlement in Atlantis, which left six people without homes. One of the victims, 67-year-old Harold Fransman, died after sustaining serious burn wounds, said Solomons-Johannes.

During two other incidents, 16 people were left homeless when a fire destroyed four shacks in Church Circle in Vrygond, Muizenberg, and a backyard dwelling at 65 Junker Road in The Hague, Delft, was gutted.

Another 10 people were displaced by fires which burnt down three shacks in the Barcelona informal settlement in Gugulethu as well as a shack in Pumlani Village, Lotus River.

“The city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre encourages residents to be fire-safe when working with open flames. When going to bed, residents should isolate electrical devices and extinguish gas burners, candles, lamps and paraffin stoves to prevent fires,” he added.

Meanwhile, another 16 people were left homeless in Witsand after a large tree was uprooted by gale-force winds, damaging their homes.

The incident occurred on Saturday following a warning issued by the SA Weather Service of strong south-easterly winds on the Peninsula.

Solomons-Johannes said that on Saturday evening the tree had fallen on to four shacks, damaging them.

He said 16 people had been displaced but no one had been injured. A response team had helped to remove the tree.

Solomons-Johannes said the families had been given building starter kits, food, clothing and blankets.

- Cape Argus

Low-cost housing boom

2011-11-28T09:49:00.001+02:00

THE affordable housing sector is the future lifeblood of the market. Major banks are now waking up to this reality and focusing on this segment of the housing market.

The affordable housing bracket caters for households with a monthly income from R8,000 to R15,733.

These usually also get a full loan for their bond and can typically afford a house of up to R500,000.

Currently the South African bond market is sitting at more than R900billion and Standard Bank has a good share with about R250-billion of the market.

The bank claims to be the leading financier of the affordable housing sector, with bonds to the value of R10.7-billion.

The bank is housing about 10,000 families.

"Of the bank's 9million clients, 7million fall in this category. Keep in mind that many of these clients are young people," said Nicholas Nkosi, director for affordable housing at Standard Bank.

He said this sector of the market was most active right now.

"Two years ago an affordable house was R250,000.

At present, the going price for a house is R320,000.

Funeka Ntombela, director of home loans at Standard Bank, said: "The demand is there. Capacity is the issue so we are working with developers. Developers are very keen and many are almost exclusively focusing on affordable housing.

"Land is an issue, though. To find suitable land and bulk infrastructure developers have to do the bulk infrastructure themselves - sewage pipes, roads, storm water drainage - that pushes the price up."

Ntombela said banks assessed developers and have in the past rejected many developments because they are not satisfied with the quality of the material or cost of development and therefore price of the house among other factors.

She said clients should, however, do their own quality assurance.

Ntombela said the R1-billion insurance for the gap market - households with an income of less than R8,000 - referred to by Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale, was still under discussion.

- Sowetan

One killed, 150 homeless after Cape Town fires

2011-11-27T21:16:00.000+02:00

A man was killed and 150 people were left homeless in separate shack fires across Cape Town, the city said on Sunday.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said 13 fires broke out in different areas on the weekend.

He said a 67-year-old man died after he sustained serious burn injuries when his shack in Atlantis caught fire.

A total of 150 people were left homeless in areas including Gugulethu, Atlantis, Phillipi and Delft.

- Sapa

SA's green economy could create 460,000 jobs

2011-11-25T17:59:00.001+02:00

Greening South Africa's economy could create 460,000 new jobs by 2025, according to a report released on Friday.

"The experience of several advanced and emerging countries that have been adopting green initiatives point towards an extraordinary opportunity for South Africa as it pursues a job-rich new growth path," Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said at the launch of the report in Johannesburg.

The green jobs report was compiled by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), and Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (Tips).

The report estimates that 98,000 new jobs could be created in the short-term and around 255,000 in the medium term.

Long-term, 462,000 employment opportunities could be created in the formal economy.

The greening of the economy could create jobs in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors.

"As a considerable emitter of greenhouse gases, South Africa faces the challenge of transitioning to a less carbon-intensive growth trajectory without delay," Patel was reported as saying in a statement issued by the IDC and DBSA.

"In short, our challenge is to use less carbons and more people in our economic growth."

Employment challenges
Head of IDC's research and information department and co-author of the report, Jorge Maia, said a greening economy should result in expanded productive capacity.

"This should be progressively supported by investment activity and result in considerable employment creation ... the momentum provided by the greening of an economy is being increasingly exploited in countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, China, and Brazil, among many others, especially in light of the employment challenges faced at national level."

The DBSA's divisional executive of strategic operations, David Jarvis, said the green economy was complex, new, diverse, and fast-evolving.

"South Africa will be dealing with the progressive and simultaneous introduction of technologies that are being improved, developed, or commercialised ... the economic merit of many of these technologies may only be fully established in years to come, opening up opportunities for the establishment of infant industries over time, but placing a requirement on countries to invest now to realise any first-mover advantages," he said.

The report's research team looked at four broad types of activities that could create jobs.

These are energy generation, energy and resource efficiency, emissions and pollution mitigation, and natural resource management.

South Africa's new growth path aims to create five million jobs by 2020, while its national development plan proposes creating 11-million jobs by 2030.

- Sapa

Stepped up security irks protesters

2011-11-24T09:20:00.000+02:00

People visiting Cape Town’s Civic Centre without proof of appointments were furious when they were prevented from entering the area by security guards.

From early morning, visitors were turned away as a result of an illegal protest staged by 15 leaders of informal settlements and backyarders across Cape Town.

The rainy and windy weather would not stop Tafelsig Backyarders Association, Abahlali BaseMjondolo, Mitchells Plain Backyarders, Kensington Backyarders Association and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign from gathering outside the Civic Centre yesterday.

There was a heavy security presence with guards and Metro police officials making sure no-one entered the building.

The 15 people who attended, contrary to the numbers expected by the city and the media, made their presence felt as onlookers stopped for a glimpse of what was happening.

The 15 leaders carrying placards formed a line and blocked motorists from passing through Hertzog Boulevard, though some motorists forced their way through. According to the organisers, the protests follow a number of attempts to secure an open public meeting with the mayor, Patricia de Lille.

Mzonke Poni, coordinator for Abahlali BaseMjondolo said his organisation had in the past asked the mayor to address public meetings about issues that affect informal settlements and backyarders such as floods, shack fires, water cutoffs and the role of law enforcement.

He said yesterday’s protest was one of a number of protests they would embark on until De Lille addresses issues affecting them.

“Should the mayor fail to meet with us then we will be left with no option but to go back to our members and communities,” he said, adding that the only way forward was to make Cape Town’s informal settlements ungovernable.

He said today they would be protesting outside the human settlement department and tomorrow outside Premier Helen Zille’s office.

Charles Abrahams, from Mitchells Plain Backyarders Association, said De Lille “failed to respond to memorandums submitted previously and should she not respond to our demands we will be left we no choice but to make the city ungovernable.

“Anything will be possible and might have a huge economic impact,” said Abrahams.

Lwandiso Stofile, from De Lille’s office, said if the community wanted to engage with De Lille they were free to do so, but they needed to follow the right channels and procedures. “It is not going to help if we continue the way we do, because we have always opened the door for engagements,” said Stofile. – WCN

Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela On the Cancelled Handover of Houses in Mama's Project, Pelican Park

2011-11-24T08:37:00.000+02:00

"The planned handover of 59 houses in Phase 1 of Mama's Project, Pelican Park, Cape Town has been postponed until further notice.

The postponement is the result of a court interdict bought against the department by a group of project beneficiaries, contesting the allocation of the first 59 houses.

It must be noted that the beneficiaries who may have been expecting to benefit from Phase 1, and who will no longer be a part of Phase one, will still be accommodated in Phase 2 of the project.

Phase two is expected to be completed in December 2012.

The handover has been delayed in order to respect the judicial process. However, it must be clear that I, and the department, are committed to the fair allocation of the first 59 houses, and to ensuring that houses are delivered as fast as possible to the people who need them.

The department has the authority to allocate housing opportunities according to criteria it deems suitable.

The allocation criteria are fair and objective, and result in beneficiaries who have been part of the project the longest, and are also the most senior in age, being given priority."

- AllAfrica

"Government is like God. Quick to hear, but slow to respond."

2011-11-23T08:19:00.001+02:00

That was the message President Jacob Zuma had for villagers in Qumbu in the Eastern Cape at the weekend when he encouraged them to return to farming - and not to wait for government hand-outs.

At Tsilitwa village after visiting Gqunu village to promote the Masibambisane agricultural project on Saturday, Zuma said the government - like God - helped those who helped themselves.

"People must go back to farming. They must decide on their own and not be dependent," he said.

"Then they can go to government and ask for assistance with fencing, seeds and so on. We want to improve the lives of rural people. We must not complain about hunger when there is so much land."

Zuma said: "Masibambisane is for the people, it is not political. God helps those who help themselves. He softens the hearts of government and of business owners ."

Accompanied by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson and Eastern Cape premier Noxolo Kiviet, Zuma promised 1000 goats would be delivered in instalments of 100 to the Gqunu community.

He emphasised the importance of the government and the business sector joining hands to eradicate poverty.

"Our policy at Masibambisane is to sell what we do not use from our gardens. We want to bring back the dignity of our people. We need to reduce meetings and increase action," he said.

Other ministers there made promises to the community on behalf of their respective departments.

Public Works Minister Thembelani Nxesi said they had learnt that there was a river that sometimes overflowed and as a result children drowned.

"We have identified that the river needs a bridge and the road leading to Gqunu is really bad, so those are the instantaneous things that we have acknowledged that need to be fixed. We will also not be using machinery because we want people to get jobs," Nxesi pledged.

Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa promised that her department would spend R2-million in the area.

"We saw a child fetching water from a very dirty well. So we will spend R2-million to bring water tanks to the villagers. There will be other schemes that we will be involved in," Molewa said.

Community member Zandile Mthini said the villagers were glad Zuma had come to visit them.

"We are not a lazy community but we lack resources. I am happy the president has recognised that and is here with people from government and they are ready to help us," Mthini said.

- Timeslive

Black Tuesday 22/11/11

2011-11-22T11:39:00.001+02:00

Fire razes shacks, leaves 50 homeless

2011-11-21T10:14:00.000+02:00

A fire has destroyed 15 shacks and left 50 people homeless near Philippi, the City of Cape Town said on Monday.

The fire stated at 6.40pm in the Siyanyazela informal settlement on Saturday night.

“Some 50 persons were left homeless as a result of the fire,” the city said.

Disaster response teams were on the scene on Sunday night and offered emergency accommodation. However, the victims preferred to stay and protect their belongings. They sought shelter with family and friends.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire was not known. – Sapa

Hemp grand design for the great British housing problem

2011-11-20T07:17:00.000+02:00

Kevin McCloud at The Triangle housing project in Swindon. Photograph: Professional Images

A former editor of mine was fond of saying, as he watched his eminent colleagues accept toxic invitations to advise on projects such as the Millennium Dome, that "journalists can't do things". We might spend our lives telling others how to save the euro, or select an England team, or design a skyscraper, but when it comes to organising people to achieve a shared aim, we tend to lack patience or the ability to work towards a deadline months rather than days away. Writers tend to be individualists, looking for new discoveries, not methodical team players.

The same could be true, with knobs on, for TV presenters. So it is striking that Kevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs, should now be trying his hand as an enlightened property developer. For years, he has cast his eye over the hopes, follies and struggles of people trying to build beautiful homes for themselves. Now he is daring to show how it should, or could, be done. "I would get on a train to go from one location to another," he says, "and pass another 5,000 houses in Ilfracombe or Norwich or Aberdeen and they would all look the same. I thought, 'Is this the best we can do?' "

Five years ago, he set up a company called Hab (Happiness Architecture Beauty) in order to "build houses that make people happy". The recession has slowed its progress, but its first creation, a 42-home development in Swindon called the Triangle, is now complete. Next month, Channel 4 is screening Kevin's Grand Design, a two-part documentary about the project, which was achieved in partnership with the housing association, GreenSquare Group. When it is suggested that the attention these programmes will attract will be a double-edged sword, he says: "It will be a one-edged sword with the blade laid across my throat."

He is addressing the great British housing problem. For decades, it has been plain that new houses are unimaginative, overpriced, undersized and resistant to the kind of technical improvement that is standard in industries such as car making. Changes in planning law, to improve design or make housing more accessible, are forever tried and forever failing. The rather daunting task he has set himself is to deflect the glacial flow of change, to make "a very significant difference from conventional development".

With his trademark energetic enthusiasm, he reels off technical details about attenuation tanks and swales. He wants to create a truly sustainable development. So the Triangle's open spaces are designed to soak up rainwater, so that the risk of flooding is lowered, the pressure on Swindon's drainage is reduced and the planting remains lush in hot weather. It has what Hab's design director, Isabel Allen, calls a "muddy, soggy landscape" which has the added benefit that it is fun for children to play in it.

The development is built around a ‘village green’, where children are encouraged to play. The Triangle’s open spaces are designed to soak up rainwater and so reduce the risk of flooding. Photograph: Hab Oakus

The external walls of the houses are made out of hempcrete, a material that is not only highly insulating but, being made out of a plant – hemp – takes more carbon out of the atmosphere than it puts in. The houses also have chimney-like objects on their roofs, which are actually ventilators, that help the houses to cool naturally.

"Anyone can build an eco-home," he says, "but it doesn't solve anything. There is nothing to stop them turning up the thermostat. What's more interesting is the way people live and behave." So the Triangle has allotments and polytunnels where people can grow their own food, and a car club and a scooter club that make their use of transport less wasteful. He sees such things as more important than the design features of individual houses.

Most of all, McCloud wants to create a community. The houses of the Triangle are arranged in traditional terraces, enclosing a kind of village green. Here, children can play on slopes and interestingly arranged logs and splash in water. Conventional swings and slides are avoided, however, on the grounds that these would mark the place as only for children and alienate the adults and teenagers who, it is hoped, will also enjoy the green.

Part of the point of the allotments and polytunnels is to bring people together and such things as barbecues and Halloween parties are encouraged. Irrigation is achieved with old-fashioned water pumps – more fun than standpipes – around which residents might gather. Each house is fitted with a "shimmy" – a touch-screen computer that McCloud calls a cross between "an iPad and a parish magazine". This enables residents to exchange information, help and advice and tells them about upcoming events.

Of the 42 homes, 21 are what is called "social rented", which is for people on the local authority's list of people in need of new homes. Eleven are "intermediate rented", which is at 80% of the market rent. Ten are "rent to buy", which means people rent them at below-market rates, with a view to saving for a deposit and ultimately buying their homes. There is therefore a mixture of people: teachers, retirees, single mothers formerly in council hostels, families who were in accommodation for the homeless.

The Triangle is so designed that no distinction is made between the house types. This, says McCloud, is "unlike schemes, including one that won the Stirling prize" – he means the Accordia development in Cambridge – "where the houses for sale are lovely and the social stuff is behind a wall".

It is striking, with all this ingenuity in the design, how very plain-looking the houses are. Any Grand Designs fan expecting another of the exotic creations featured in the programme will be disappointed. They are pitched-roofed, in straight rows, partly inspired by the railway workers' cottages that Brunel built in Swindon. Their elevations are in shades of cream and grey that echo the existing terraces and semi-detacheds of this part of town.

The chimney-like features on the roofs are ventilators that help the houses to cool naturally. Photograph: Paul Raftery

Glenn Howells, the architect of the Triangle, says that "the conversation we had was, 'Do we have the nerve to do something very, very normal?' With Kevin, everyone was expecting it to be more eye-catching, more televisual. People go there and say, 'Blimey, it looks normal.' That's the point." The idea of the terrace, he says, "started a long time ago and it will go on for another 500 or 600 years. It is such a good form". The only problem is that "there is a perception in the housing market that it won't sell, so developers have to make things convoluted, even though those to-die-for streets of Islington, where Boris Johnson lives, are all repetitive".

The aim, says Howells, is to "prove you can do excellent ordinary housing that sells and that people want to live in". It is about little things achieved within the standard budget for housing association developments – apart from a little additional support for some of the more adventurous environmental features. Bedroom doors are placed away from corners, so it is possible to place wardrobes behind them, and windows are larger than in most new housing. Ceilings are higher than standard on the ground floor (which means, to stay within budget, they are lower upstairs). The porches include space for bike racks, so that they don't have to be lugged through houses from the back garden, which makes it more likely they will be used.

On the outside, architectural expression is sought in such things as oversize rainwater pipes, which, together with change of hue from one house to the next, and vertically proportioned windows, help to define individual houses. In front of each house are gabion walls, gabion being the form of construction used in road embankments, where loose stones are placed in wire cages. Here, they screen parking spaces, so that cars do not dominate the appearance of the space.

McCloud says that "the design of spoons and the design of cities is one process" and it is the totality of the Triangle's inventions that matters. He is particularly keen on the importance of landscape design. Usually, says the Triangle's landscape architect, Luke Engleback, his role is to "decorate masterplans by others". Here, Engleback was involved from the outset in shaping the concept and form of the development.

McCloud keeps saying that "it's about the residents – it's their happiness that will determine the success of scheme". It will take years to find out if it really works but, meanwhile, I am introduced to 64-year-old Maggie Lowton, who was forced out of her home of 38 years by negative equity. "Since I started my affair with Kevin," she says, she has bought into his dream. "We love the house and feel privileged and proud. It's lighter, airier and easier to clean. It feels too nice and too new." The architectural aesthetics are of secondary importance. "People say, 'What are those stones for?'" she says of the gabions.

She says you can see a community forming, even if there are some points of friction – "you do hear snippets, like someone parking in someone else's space". As a Christian, she is wrestling with the problem of other people's faiths, including paganism. "Perhaps we can have a multi-faith Christmas tree," she says, "but I don't know how to do that… maybe we can have a pagan log." She wants "it to work for everyone. I want Kevin's dream to come true. What a waste if it didn't".

Allotments, polytunnels and entertaining areas are designed to encourage communal activities. Photograph: Paul Raftery

For McCloud, the dream seems to originate in a love of the organic. "I grew up in the countryside – Bedfordshire. I was interested in birds and bees and flowers and mushrooms." He says there is "a spiritual dimension" to living with nature that he wants to give to the residents of Hab's developments. The village where he lived was also the kind of place where "kids played in the street on their bikes, and if a car came round the corner, it had to slow down".

Realising this dream requires a great deal of technical grind, of dealing with planners, highways authorities, water suppliers. It requires responding patiently to officials such as the one who, Engleback says, objected to fruit trees on the grounds that "someone might slip on a berry". McCloud's celebrity means that "doors are opened a little more quickly", but also that "it is very important for local authorities not to be seen to be granting us the smallest favour. We can't cheat or push or cut corners".

The Triangle has required an exceptional amount of effort by Hab, GreenSquare, their architects, engineers and other consultants, all to achieve a simple array of row houses which – albeit without such high environmental performance – would once knocked have been knocked up almost without thinking by builders. Larger developments are now on the way in Oxford and Stroud, but McCloud is not expecting these to be much easier. The hope is that others will follow the example.

He acknowledges that the Triangle is not as advanced as some of the continental schemes in Tubingen, Stockholm and elsewhere which were his inspirations. They "emerged from a culture of planning and construction that is far more evolved, and far more sophisticated, than in Britain," he says. "But," he adds, "I feel we have hit on the grail. We have made a very significant difference from conventional development… we're 90% there, and to do it in Swindon in a difficult economic climate – I'm happy."

He thinks he is doing better than the Prince of Wales's Poundbury. "One positive thing about Poundbury was the way perceived ownership of the public realm meant the residents adopted it," he says. But "one of the failings is the way the external appearance is at the expense of internal architecture". In order to achieve the look of old cottages, "you get low ceilings and tiny windows".

The Triangle is in a tradition of model villages beloved of aristocrats, princes, of Brad Pitt in New Orleans and the Bordeaux sugar-cube manufacturer who commissioned workers' housing from Le Corbusier. Such places can be over-scripted, too much about fulfilling their makers' picture-book fantasies about contented communities. There is a whiff of this with Hab's gooey talk about "making people happy", although they are conscious of the need not to over-control. "If they decide they don't want to grow food and just want to park cars, we'd be a bit upset," says Isabel Allen, but in the end it will be up to the residents.

Maggie Lowton sounds a note of caution by citing other communities in Swindon that started well but went downhill. No amount of forethought and attention to detail can guarantee the success of the Triangle. But at the very least it is an imaginative and well-designed project, which achieves about as much as can be done with its budget. It focuses on what matters most and gives itself the best chance of success. Which is far more rare than it should be in British house building and a much better application of celebrity philanthropy than most.

- Guardian

Sexwale playing it wrong:

2011-11-20T07:14:00.000+02:00

I WAS fascinated by Sibusiso Ngalwa's "Malema hopes NEC will ride to his rescue" (November 13), on the demise of the controversial Julius Malema.

You detailed two camps - the one for Julius Malema and the other one for Jacob Zuma. One name stood out, that of Tokyo Sexwale. He is, as expected, in the Malema camp.

One need not look too far back to remember that before the watershed Polokwane conference, Sexwale had championed himself as the alternative candidate to head the ANC, only to abort his mission after realising that the light at the end of the tunnel might be an oncoming train.

He is at it again, taking Juju's side and even attending weddings with him after testifying on his behalf.

His ambitions are discernible - he is banking on Malema's support at the Mangaung conference.Zuma might have thrown him a lifeline by appointing him minister of human settlements, but Sexwale - by consistently advertising his political myopia and backing losing horses - might be sending himself into political oblivion.

Sexwale might be educated, but Zuma is self-taught and if "education is what is left after you have forgotten all that you have been taught", then Zuma is at an advantage.

Therefore, Sexwale is up for political insolvency. He just cannot play his cards right.

- Timeslive

Shack fires leave 85 homeless

2011-11-20T07:11:00.000+02:00

Cape Town - Three separate fires in Cape Town informal settlements left 85 people without homes overnight, the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre said on Sunday.

12 shacks were destroyed in Maroela Street, Wallacedene informal settlement, near Kraaifontein, displacing 50 people on Saturday night, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.

Five shacks were destroyed in Burundi informal settlement, off Naledi Street in Mfuleni, leaving 20 people without homes.

A further four shacks were destroyed in Wallacedene informal settlement, off Botfontein Road, displacing 15 people early on Sunday morning.

Authorities were investigating the causes of the fires, said Solomons-Johannes.

He appealed to residents to exercise caution in working with open flames. Gas burners, candles, lamps and paraffin stoves should be extinguished before going to bed, and electrical devices should be isolated. - Sapa

Cop hurt as crowd hurls stones

2011-11-18T08:41:00.000+02:00

ABOUT 200 protesters blocked Stellenbosch Arterial between Erica Drive and Modderdam Road by throwing stones and burning tyres over housing disputes.

This led to an urgent meeting being arranged between residents of the Freedom Farm informal settlement in Belhar and city officials for 10am today.

Police fired rubber bullets at the crowd after they became aggressive and injured a student constable.

Freedom Farm’s Section B committee chairwoman, Margaret Faas, said she had been living in a shack for 23 years and was still waiting for her house while people who had come to the informal settlement only three or less years ago were being moved to the new Symphony Way as part of the N2 Gateway housing project at Delft.

“All of this started on Monday when people came to say who would be getting council houses next. On Tuesday 30 families from the new section were given homes and only 14 to our people,” she said.

“Those people haven’t been here longer than two or three years, we have been here for over 20 years. That’s when we decided enough is enough.

“They told us that only 505 families would get the council houses, but there are almost 1 000 families living here.”

Ward councillor Asa Abrahams said it was a case of “miscommunication”.

“We will be having a meeting with all the parties involved to solve the issue of relocation and to try and clarify the confusion.”

Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral committee member for human settlements, said: “The city… is confirming the status of all persons listed to ensure that they meet the criteria.”

Police spokesman November Filander said a resident threw a rock at a female student constable.

“She was taken to hospital.”

Filander said police had fired rubber bullets when the crowd threw stones and bricks at officers.

No one had been arrested.

- Cape Times

Bank pledges R7m to kill toilet stink

2011-11-18T07:34:00.001+02:00

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was supposed to attend a meeting with residents but she failed to show up, due to ill-health.

MOQHAKA local municipality in the Free State, which has been hit by the open-toilet scandal in the last few years, has been given a lifeline after it entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Developmental Bank of Southern Africa to acquire R7-million to cover the remaining open toilets.

This was announced at a meeting with residents of the municipality - which encompasses Kroonstad, Viljoenskroon and Streynsrus.

ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who chairs the Department of Human Settlements' task team on the open toilet saga in the country, was supposed to have attended the meeting.

But, she failed to show up at the meeting with residents of Rammulotsi due to ill-health.

Task team member Patrick Magebhula, who attended, said they visited the township in order to listen to community members' grievances about the toilets.

Magebhula said: "Some toilets have been covered while others have yet to be covered. The workload is too much. We have another programme in which going to visit the affected houses.

"And if it happens that we find wrongdoings during our investigations, there are recommendations that will be applied."

According to the provincial department of human settlements, the municipality still has about 2800 uncovered toilets.

Department spokeswoman Senne Bogatsu said there were still a number of toilets that were unclosed, but that most of them had surfaced after media reports early this year.

She said most of the current uncovered toilets surfaced after residents realised other toilets were being fixed.

Bogatsu said: "Initially, there were 1831 uncovered toilets in the Rammulotsi and surrounding areas, but most residents destroyed their toilets with the intention of acquiring new ones."

The good news is that the municipality has entered into a partnership with the DBSA to assist in covering all the uncovered toilets, she said.

The department has also pledged R2.5-million to help cover the costs of the open toilets.

"Most of the outside toilets were covered with sub-standard material," she said.

The task team, which was sent to all provinces by Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale to investigate irregularities and malpractices in the implementation of the programme, visited the area to assess the progress of the covering up programme.

One of the objectives of the team is to investigate problems and challenges relating to the delivery of sanitation facilities towards the development of sustainable and integrated human settlement.

About 500 residents who gathered at the town hall urged the government to fix the toilets in their areas.

Most of them complained that they had houses without toilets, while others had toilets without proper houses.

Resident Neo Mokoena said her toilet had been fixed, but she did not have a proper house.

"We can see that they are trying to fix the toilets, but they must not forget that we are still in need of proper houses," she said.

- Sowetan

Gvt car burnt in construction jobs spat

2011-11-17T10:02:00.001+02:00

A spat over job allocations at a low-cost housing construction site in Mfuleni has sparked violent protests by Khayelitsha residents, culminating in a government-owned car being set alight on Tuesday evening.

The protests by a core of over 100 residents from Khayelitsha’s Wards 90 and 92 who believe they should receive a percentage of the casual labour jobs at the Nuwebegin housing project, started on Monday night after a meeting with Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela did not take place.

Residents set scattered garbage and tyres alight across Mew Way on Monday night and proceeded to force their way onto the Nuwebegin construction site in Mfuleni on Tuesday, bringing work to a halt for four hours.

On Tuesday night, a government vehicle that had apparently been hijacked elsewhere in the township was set alight. It is not known what happened to the occupants, but they are not believed to have been harmed.

Stones were also thrown at passing cars and police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

On Wednesday morning rubbish was set alight across Mew Way.

The cause of the protests is a perception that the Ward 90 and 92 residents – who are set to benefit from the Nuwebegin project in Mfuleni some 15km away – were promised 30% of the casual labour jobs on site by Madikizela.

According to protestors, a telephonic conversation between Ward 90 residents’ committee secretary Khaya July and Madikizela took place on Sunday during which Madikizela undertook to liaise with them on Monday.

Following no word from Madikizela’s office on Monday, residents started protesting following a community meeting.

July said Madikizela was aware of their grievances.

“Residents from TR Section fought for this land, they deserve to benefit from it.”

July said residents of Ward 108, where the housing project was situated, should receive 40% of the manual labour jobs on site, the adjacent Ward 17 residents should receive 30%, while Ward 90 and 92 were to share the remaining 30%.

But he said since construction started earlier this year only residents from Ward 108 had been employed.

Lingelethu police spokesperson, Siphokazi Mawisa, said a white Toyota Yaris from the Department of Public Works was set alight in Mew Way on Tuesday evening.

Mawisa said the driver abandoned the car when protestors pelted it with rocks, and opened a criminal case at the Lingelethu police station.

“By the time police arrived at the scene, the car was already set alight,” he said.

No arrests had been made following the protests, said Mawisa, and police were patrolling the area.

Meanwhile, a similar, but less violent protest over job allocations at a Temporary Relocation Area (TRA) construction site in Delft on Tuesday brought work to a halt for the day.

Residents in existing TRA units in Delft are demanding that the construction company, Asla, allocate 50% of the casual labour jobs on site to them.

Scores of protesting residents, who are living within the fenced off site locked the gates to the site on Tuesday and intimidated workers.

TRA5 resident’s committee secretary Pumeza Kobe said residents were “unhappy” with Asla hiring labourers from other others “while we sit here with no jobs”.

“We been writing letters to them asking them to hire 50% from our area but we never got response. That’s why we decided to close the gate and stop them from entering the site.”

A meeting between the TRA5 community leaders, Asla managers and Subcouncil representatives was held on Tuesday to try find a solution, resulting in two residents being hired, but the protestors refused to open the gates until they reported for work on Wednesday.

“Residents are happy with an agreement, but the construction has to be stopped until the two people are hired. Residents are now happy and we hope we will continue to work together with construction leadership,” said resident committee chairperson Xolani Mbaxa

- Westcape News

Cape Town battling with housing: De Lille

2011-11-16T22:00:00.000+02:00

The City of Cape Town is battling to keep up with an increasing demand for housing, says executive mayor Patricia de Lille.

"We do the best we possibly can, but barely shift these numbers before they are replaced by new people waiting for houses," she said in Factreton, outside Cape Town, on Wednesday.

Numbers continued to grow as more people moved to the city to look for job opportunities.

De Lille said the waiting list for houses was about 400,000, but that resources were limited.

The backyarders project -- launched on Wednesday -- was one way the city could determine how it could help with the provision of basic services.

"For too long, people have been forced to make a life for themselves without all the help that they need," she said.

"That help means access to water, sanitation and electricity -- access to services."

Backyarders are people who live informally on council-owned properties.

- SAPA

Stupidity has now become South Africa's official ideology

2011-11-15T17:56:00.001+02:00

LAUGH to avoid crying. I am now convinced that we have entered the era of total power madness.

So when this year ends, we shall have to concede that we have had three major national inspirations, all linked to tenders and abuse of political power.

Firstly, it was Kenny Kunene and his sushi. Not to be outdone was Malema and his R20-million house with a bunker in Sandton.

Lastly, we had the Mauritius wedding costing more than R15-million!

These developments are trend setting.

We can now imagine that the black tender business class will be organising birthday and wedding parties to beat the Mauritius experience.

They are going to be bigger and better!

What is not known is that such developments have been normal in all post-colonial Africa.

As soon as the colonialists leave, the native political and business classes go berserk in desperate attempts to be the new whites.

They do some real funny stuff, like wearing purple suits - like pimps on beach resorts.

This is the vulgarity of new money. It's all about showing off and littlesubstance.

I think the biggest 2011 innovation is the bunker. The bunker was made famous by Adolf Hitler, who had to dig himself deep underground to avoid being bombed.

Basically, a bunker is there to protect important people from being bombed during war.

Now, why would a private citizen want to have something like that? I have atheory.

When Malema ordered himself a bunker he may have had a bank in mind, a private bank.

If the reports of paying R1.5-million in cash are true, or the alleged report that his friend in Polokwane was found with a R2-million cash stash, then one can see why comrade Malema needed a bunker.

Who is going to bomb the comrade?

I speculate that a vault was being built in the middle of Sandton for the millions of Polokwanetenders.

Comrade Jacob Zuma wanted to show the Polokwane upstart who the real boss is around here.

So our president ordered himself a bigger and better bunker in Nkandla.

Newspapers tell us that our government will spend anything between R69-million to R400-million of our money to build Zuma a palace in Nkandla.

The house will have a private clinic, gym and other beautiful things, but, more importantly, Zuma will have a 10-room bunker.

Since this is the private home of our president, who will soon be out of office, we must wonder who is planning to bomb Zuma, or is it a bank in Nkandla we are talking about here?

I'm speculating and allowing my imagination to run wild since we live in times of madness.

Let's call 2011 The year of the bunker!

Why are our leaders trying so hard to live like rats in holes?

There is a popular understanding that human rats are not good people. A bunker is a house for amagundwana (rats).

I wonder were it's all going to end.

This turn of events bears testimony to my idea that the official ideology of South Africa is stupidity.

Mngxitama is the author of Is Malema a Mugabe?, a short political biography.

- Sowetan

‘We need each other to build houses’

2011-11-15T13:16:00.001+02:00

A fifth of people registered on the province’s housing waiting list can qualify for a bond, says Premier Helen Zille.

Speaking at a Human Settlements indaba in the city on Monday, Zille said that of the 500,000 people on the province’s housing waiting list, about 100,000 could get a loan for a house.

“People who can afford to live in a bonded house are living in rental stock and backyards,” said Zille. “We have to speak openly and honestly about housing if we want solutions. We know there is a housing crisis in the Western Cape, and we have to work together get out of this.”

Zille said the three spheres of government were central to delivering housing opportunities for those who were desperately in need of shelter.

“However, we have to keep politics out of it,” she said. “Each sphere of government has a specific role. The province gets funds from the fiscus in proportion to the population in the Western Cape, based on the last census in 2001.”

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the city needed the support of both the provincial and national governments to build houses.

“One sphere cannot build houses without the other,” said De Lille. “We also cannot use the 2001 census to determine how much money should be spent. A lot has changed since 2001. The money we receive from the national government is based on the 2001 census, from figures of how many people were without houses. The population has grown three-fold since then.”

De Lille said the housing crisis had become a “blame game” in the city.

“This indaba is very significant. We have to work together and all three spheres have to be on the same page when it comes to housing delivery.”

Zille said the perfect time to bring politics into housing was before an election, in a party manifesto.

“We have to create a culture of active citizenship,” she said. “The big issue is community resistance. We see a lot of service delivery protests, which are actually anti-delivery protests around housing.”

Zille faced a barrage of questions from angry community members who attended the indaba.

Mario Wanza, of the Proudly Manenberg campaign, said that the government was not addressing the needs of the poor.

“We have a plan if the government does not want to come to the party,” said Wanza.

“We will target and take over the Rondebosch common, the Mowbray golf course and parts of Hout Bay.”

Yusrah Adams, of Zille Rain Heights, said people who had been on the waiting list for decades were suffering.

“We’ve been on the bucket system for the past five years,” said Adams.

Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said his department was embarking on a new strategy to create more serviced sites in informal settlements.

He said the department was no longer “chasing numbers”.

“Because of the global fiancial crisis, we will have to do more with less,” said Madikizela.

“We have to spend more money providing basic services, and also unlock the gap market for people earning between R3,500 and R15,000 a month.”

Deputy Human Settlements Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks said that more than two million people were registered on the national housing waiting list, 500,000 of which were in the Western Cape.

She said that housing delivery was not the responsibility of the government alone.

“Everyone has to come on board,” said Kota-Fredericks. “There is an acute shortage of land, but we are doing our best with what we have. We cannot deliver homes to everyone immediately – resources are limited.”

The two-day indaba, hosted by the provincial government and attended by representatives of more than 100 community organisations, ends on Tuesday.

- Cape Argus

Western Cape launches settlements indaba

2011-11-15T09:02:00.000+02:00

WESTERN Cape Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela delivered the opening remarks at the inaugural Western Cape government Human Settlements indaba yesterday.

About 100 different organisations from civil society and the government were represented at the two-day indaba that started yesterday.

In efforts to ensure that the provincial department of human settlements' strategic direction was understood by all, it was envisaged that a platform of engagement be created with all stakeholders in the human settlements delivery chain.

Madikizela said: "This indaba is not just about our communicating with civil society, but about civil society also talking to the government.

"Human settlements is about local, provincial, national government and civil society working together. We have been building houses for people living far away from schools, job opportunities and hospitals.

"We must build human settlements where people have access to the services and amenities they need. Everyone must work together to build healthy human settlements."

Madikizela said housing delivery had nothing to do with politics.

"When we all share a common vision we can work together to deliver. We cannot create human settlements alone as a government. We need everyone's input and, as partners, we can do things better," Madikizela said.

- Sowetan