Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Gateway fiasco - lets not build like this

Gateway ‘could be delayed by five years’

Completion of the N2 Gateway housing development, scheduled for December, could be delayed by at least five years, while the City of Cape Town will have to pay an outstanding R34-million for the units already built.

This was said on Monday by Neil Ross, chairperson of the City’s housing portfolio committee, who said he had been informed by Thubelisha Homes - the section 21 company appointed as project managers in February when the provincial housing department took over the project from the City - that “unless extra money comes from province, the projected finish time for the project is five years from now”.

In June 2005, the City’s audit committee said the total N2 Gateway project would cost R2,3-billion and that 22 000 residential units would be completed by December 2006.

Dogged by financial problems

“The major problem is with the construction of the flats,” said Ross. Instead of costing the projected R80 000 per unit, each flat’s top structure cost over R120 000. “Council will have to pay for this overrun.”

These shock revelations come soon after the call, made earlier this month by the housing committee, for an urgent forensic audit into the awarding of a R12-million contract for N2 Gateway to Cyberia Technologies.

Although Cyberia’s contract was terminated in January, former city manager Wallace Mgoqi approved the allocation of an additional R4-million to the firm, without referring the matter to council.

Ross said the request for an urgent forensic audit into this closed bid had been sent to the executive mayoral committee (mayco).

He said the extended contract period “gave light” to concerns that the N2 Gateway project has been dogged by financial problems.

First handover a year later than scheduled

In November last year, the Cape Times received a copy of confidential correspondence sent by Vula Joint Venture, one of the consortiums contracted by the City to the N2 Gateway management project, referring to a meeting where the City admitted to funding shortfalls.

It read: “The City advised that as a result of cash-flow problems which existed, relating to the funding of the N2 Gateway Projects, it was necessary to review the projects… currently in progress.”

Ross said revised figures for the project, incorporating the new time frame set by Thubelisha, were not yet available.

Vusi Tshose, spokesperson for Western Cape Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi, said the first families would move into completed units at the Joe Slovo informal settlement at the end of May.

This is nearly a year later than the initial handover date scheduled for June 2005.

A senior councillor who declined to be named said it was unlikely these families would move in this year, as the location of the development and suitability of the land was being investigated.

Tshose said work on the next phase “was already happening” but could not comment on Thubelisha’s five-year prediction for completion of the Gateway project. - Cape Times

Monday, April 24, 2006

Cape Town turmoil - Province steps in

The Western Cape government is taking seriously a request by African National Congress councillors to have Cape Town placed under provincial government administration and is forcing Democratic Alliance mayor Helen Zille to account for the continuing political strife in the council.

Local government and housing provincial minister Richard Dyantyi gave Zille until Wednesday to present her side of the wrangling over Wallace Mgoqi’s contract as city manager, after a petition by the ANC last week…

Dyantyi’s spokesperson, Vusi Tshose, said the provincial minister was “concerned”, but did not elaborate on what steps would be taken. “Service delivery may suffer because people are focused on the dispute,” he added. - M&G

Friday, April 21, 2006

Western Cape Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi has vowed clampdown on “underhand activities” in housing projects

Cape Town - Western Cape MEC for Local Government and Housing Richard Dyantyi has vowed to clampdown on “underhand activities” in housing projects aimed at uplifting the poor.

This follows a moratorium on a number of low cost housing projects due to alleged maladministration and corruption.

“During 2005 it came to my attention that some of the beneficiaries of these housing projects within the Cape Metropolis did not receive their rightful share,” he said.

He said beneficiaries in some of the projects such as the Umzamomhle housing project in Khayelitsha had lodged complaints with his department after the project came to a standstill.

The complaints according to Mr Dyantyi ranged from unauthorized payments of state subsidies and failure by the service provider to comply with contractual requirements.

As a result of the alleged corruption, hundreds of poor people who were supposed to have benefited from the housing projects still remain homeless.

The plight of the victims prompted Mr Dyantyi to institute an investigation, which he said was now at an advanced stage.

“I have decided to act decisively in this matter and requested the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) with whom my department has co-operative agreements, to investigate,” he said.

The investigations, which so far have resulted in the arrest of one official involved in the housing projects, form part of Mr Dyantyi ’s mission to monitor and support municipalities while at the same time rooting out corruption and maladministration.

My Dyantyi said he would this weekend hold a meeting with the victims to update them about the investigation process.

“The programme of addressing these housing corruption victims is key to me as it will provide all the necessary answers to our people,” he said.

However, Mr Dyantyi said that while the money that was meant to provide shelter for beneficiaries had been misused, the government still had a responsibility to build houses for the victims.

“We therefore need to discuss the matter with the affected people and give a clear way forward,” he said. - BuaNews

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

2004-05 edition of the South African survey

There were protests about service delivery, most notably about lack of sanitation facilities or against the bucket system. Most demonstrations concerning housing delivery took place in the urban areas of Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

There are many issues that prevent municipalities from being economically viable and from delivering essential services to citizens. Among those frequently cited are lack of skills; corruption; and failure to spend budgets.

Frequently overlooked is the creation of jobs, specifically in the rural parts of the country. More rural jobs would ease the influx of people into the urban municipalities and thus minimise the demand for housing (and services associated with it) in those areas.

The high demand for housing in urban areas contributed to the proliferation of informal settlements, which grew 119% between 1995 and 2004.

2004-05 edition of the South African survey

Thursday, April 6, 2006

Housing - what the Judgements say

October 04 2000

A Constitutional Court judgment in favour of the “Irene Grootboom” group Cape Town.

In a landmark judgment on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court ruled that the state had an obligation to implement an effective housing plan and to provide emergency shelter to destitute people.

In an unanimous judgment, Justice Zakeria Yacoob ruled that the constitution obliged the state to act positively to lessen the plight “of the hundreds of thousands of people living in deplorable conditions throughout the country”.

The South African Human Rights Commission and the Legal Resources Centre welcomed the decision.

05 April 2006

What the judgement says
The City of Johannesburg v Rand Properties (Pty) Ltd and others: On March 3 2006, the high court ruled that the City of Johannesburg could not evict residents of condemned buildings without providing alternative accommodation.

Judge Mahommed Jajbhay ruled that the city had failed in its statutory and constitutional obligations to provide a suitable plan of action for rehousing inner-city residents, and prevented it from carrying out the evictions.

“Our Constitution obliges the State to act positively to ameliorate these conditions,” he said. In terms of Section 26 of the Constitution, all people have the right to access to adequate housing and the state must take reasonable measures to achieve the progressive realisation of this fact.

“We now require a coherent plan and the implementation of the plan at the micro level. The obligation is to provide access to adequate housing to those unable to support themselves and their dependents,” said Judge Jajbhay. - M&G Eviction and Dereliction

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Housing conference under way in Kenya

A two day African ministerial conference on housing and urban development is under way in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. The conference chaired by South African Lindiwe Sisulu, the housing minister, is focussing on achieving the millennium development goals in Africa especially the realisation of global commitments on slums.

The African ministerial conference on housing and urban development AMCHUD was set up a year ago to develop a programme of action relating to slum upgrading and prevention. But African states are yet to meet the millennium development goal on improved livelihoods of slums. Moody Awori, the Kenyan vice president, says many African governments are overwhelmed by the rapid urbanisation as well as high poverty levels in urban areas.

The United Nations Habitat estimates that 72% of Africa’s population in urban areas lives in slums without basic services such as clean water, electricity or proper sanitation. - SABC