Monday, July 31, 2006

Eight killed in E Cape shack fire

Eight people from the same family died when their shack burned down near Cofimvaba early on Monday morning, said Eastern Cape police.

Captain Zamikhaya Qinisile said four adults and four children died in the blaze just after midnight at Nququ Forest near Cofimvaba in the Queenstown area.

Qinisile said they were sleeping in the shack and had made a fire to warm themselves. The shack caught fire and, although neighbours tried to help douse the flames, the family died.

Police are investigating a case of culpable homicide. - Sapa

Friday, July 28, 2006

Low-cost housing to get a helping hand

Parliament

A formula will be finalised shortly for reserving portions of new residential-property investments for low-cost housing, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu has said.

Her department was holding discussions with stakeholders to determine the percentage required to be set aside, she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

“It is envisaged that this inclusionary housing programme will be finalised by the middle of this financial year.”

Property developers have agreed, in principle, to reserve a percentage of the total value of commercial housing developments for investment in low-cost housing. This would apply to developments above a price threshold yet to be determined.

To this end, the government and industry have signed a “social contract for rapid housing delivery”, the minister said.

“Details … will be further explored with the sectors concerned, taking cognisance of international best practice,” the minister’s response reads.

Research by the government and private sector had been presented to the signatories of the social contract, after which a task team was set up to develop an “inclusionary housing programme” in line with the commitments agreed to.

“The national Department of Housing is currently leading discussions with the various stakeholders to obtain finality, inter alia, on the percentage required in terms of an inclusionary housing programme.” — Sapa

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Evicted Police, Petrol Bombs and being homeless in Cape Town

Policemen warned to vacate flats… or else
Cape Town policemen who are facing evictions from their Kenilworth flats have been warned that they risk departmental disciplinary action and possible suspension if they fail to comply. Full Story….


Delft residents make petrol-bomb threats Irate backyard dwellers in Delft, Cape Town, have threatened to petrol-bomb the temporary homes allocated to residents from Langa, unless they too are housed. Full Story….


National Construction Week 27 July - 3 August 2006

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Fraud Controversy Delay - N2 Gateway

The eagerly awaited allocation of the remaining 700 completed N2 Gateway units could be delayed yet again - this time because of fraudulent applications.

Local government and housing MEC Richard Dyantyi said yesterday that the latest challenge to the government’s pilot housing project was the abuse of the application process.

“We are finding out that people who stay in Khayelitsha have used Langa addresses to apply. So now we have to be extra careful.”

Residents from Langa, Nyanga, Bokmakierie, Bonteheuwel and Joe Slovo were invited to apply for units in the completed first phase of the project. More than 8 000 people submitted applications in the hope of receiving one of the 705 units. So far, only five beneficiaries have been identified.

Dyantyi said while it was inevitable that some people would be disappointed, the allocation of the units was being done fairly and carefully.

Speaking at a media briefing after the premier’s metro co-ordinating forum, Dyantyi refused to commit to a date for when the next beneficiaries would move in and when further allocations would be made.

But he said there was “definitely a detailed plan” in place to move the beneficiaries into the N2 Gateway.

“It might take us a while, or even a month. The selection process has started but with the additional challenge, it is important for us to slow down”

Dyantyi denied allegations that two of the first five beneficiaries of N2 Gateway units, Nelson Mandyoli and Nosipho Bhokwe, have had to hand back their keys.

The two were given their keys last week at a high-profile launch attended by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and former executive mayor, Nomaindia Mfeketo.

But allegations that they have since had to give back their keys have sparked questions about whether the launch was a publicity stunt.

“This was not a publicity stunt. We started the handover last week and I would like it put on record that no keys were withdrawn.”

He said that the beneficiaries had asked for extra time to prepare before they moved into their new homes.

“If any of those five said tomorrow that they wanted to go in, nothing would stop them.”

Premier Ebrahim Rasool said it was better to “err on the side of caution” when suddenly putting people from different areas together in a residential complex.

Rasool said MECs, councillors and officials at yesterday’s meeting agreed that housing was a “big challenge” in the province.

“But these preparatory discussions have shown that we are no longer reacting to the challenge in a knee-jerk manner.

We are breaking down the problem so that we can move forward.” - Cape Times

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Controversial N2 Gateway housing plagued by problems

The controversial N2 Gateway housing project in Langa near Cape Town is experiencing yet another delay. This time around, the five families who were identified as the first successful applicants last Tuesday are yet to move into their new homes.

Community leaders have blamed the historic backlog to the delay in the occupation of the houses.

Shameel Manie, the community housing manager at a Western Cape housing NGO, the Development Action Group, has cited that lack of clarity surrounding the houses contributes to the current state of affairs.

“Houses will never belong to them”

“Many residents fail to understand that those houses will be used for social housing, meaning occupants will have to pay monthly rent of approximately R500, and that the houses will never belong to them,” says Manie.

Cape Town has become known as the shack capital of South Africa. It has a current backlog of more than 260 000 homes. - SABC

Monday, July 24, 2006

N2 Gateway controversy continues

The controversy around the N2 Gateway housing project is far from being resolved. The project seems to be embroiled in bureaucratic red tape, despite the fact that several houses have been handed over to their new owners with fanfare exactly a week ago.

The first five families that were scheduled to move into their new homes have still not moved in. They families say the reasons given to them was that incomplete paperwork was preventing their occupation.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape department of local government and housing issued a statement saying that the beneficiaries said they need more time. The beneficiaries have, however, disputed this and say they do not understand the reason for the delay. SABC

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Embattled N2 Gateway project is ‘poisoned chalice’

THE N2 Gateway project has been described by Cape Town mayor Helen Zille as a “poisoned chalice” inherited by the new Democratic Alliance (DA)-led multiparty municipal government from its African National Congress (ANC) predecessor.

The controversy over the project, a national pilot project partly aimed at improving the facade of shacks lining one of the city’s main gateways, from the Cape Town International Airport, is still far from over.

A legal battle now appears to be looming between the province and the city over aspects of the contracts. The forum for ministers and MECs (Minmec) declared the dispute, but has so far not released details

In addition, the city council has instituted a forensic audit into the entire project, specifically into the awarding of a R12m contract to Cyberia Technologies to manage the development. Cyberia Technology’s contract was ended in January, but an additional amount of R4m was paid to it without the matter being referred to the council.

Minmec’s decision to call in the auditor-general to review the finances of the project was welcomed by Zille, who says that the move does not mean that the council’s own forensic audit will not proceed…

After two postponements by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, the last meeting of the M3 was “mischievously” rescheduled for May 31, the day Zille and her multiparty government had to defend a motion to change the city’s executive mayoral structure to a mayoral committee system. It would have been suicide for her not to attend the crucial vote, given the slim majority of two that the multiparty government then had in the council.

The N2 Gateway, which has the aim of providing 22000 housing units, has been dogged by financial problems since it was announced by the cabinet in 2004. In June last year, while it was still under the control of the ANC, the city’s audit committee said that the total N2 Gateway project would cost R2,3bn and that 22000 residential units would be completed by December this year.

But the reality, according to the multiparty government, is that contractors are owed millions of rands and there could be a cost overrun of R28m on the 705 units completed so far at the Joe Slovo phase in Langa...

The deadline for applications in this process was yesterday.

The announcement of who will get these houses will be made “without pressure from anyone”, says Richard Dyantyi, Western Cape housing MEC.

Business Day - News Worth Knowing

Scopa dopes

Skelm will be keeping a beady eye on the career of Department of Housing director-general Itumuleng Kotsoane, who’s been in his job just seven weeks.

He and his deputy, Mziwonke Dlabantu, gave evidence last week to parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, Scopa, about a damning report by auditor-general Shauket Fakie on the irregular allocation of R320m to people who didn’t qualify for housing subsidies.

They dissembled spectacularly, to the displeasure of the committee, not to mention their boss, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Sisulu was so underwhelmed that she issued a statement afterwards. “I am appalled at the low level of performance by my officials during the Scopa hearing,” it said.

Cape Argus - A bit of Skelm


Wednesday, July 19, 2006

N2 Gateway handout marred by politics

The handing over of the first five houses in the controversial N2 Gateway project to residents on Tuesday was eclipsed by a high-level delegation of politicians…

Results of the audit of Cyberia Technologies, appointed to manage the first phase of the project, are expected soon.

“The obstacles of this project were worsened by the unfortunate political situation, which were made even worse by the media,” said national Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

Mfeketo said she felt “vindicated” by yesterday’s handover.

Mfeketo said the people who had “whinged and complained” had tried to “pour water” on the project.

ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha conceded that the community should have been more involved.

He said later in a statement: “The homeless are sick and tired of excuses; as well as those irresponsible opportunists who want to exploit their dire conditions for political point-scoring.”

Meanwhile an irate crowd gathered outside the fence, waving their ID books and red cards in the hope of being given a house. They said they were responding to radio advertisements that said they could collect keys to N2 Gateway houses.

As a steady stream of luxury cars passed the crowd bound for the formal celebrations, the cries of “Sisulu is lying” and “Down with the ANC” grew louder.

Many of the hopeful residents had taken a day off work to receive their houses.

Yolande Mjuza said she was “still sleeping under the table” in a shack while she waited for a house. Rosina Gobodwana said she has been living in her mother’s backyard since 1958.

“They are making us wait outside like dogs”, while another disappointed resident said: “They are giving the houses to their wives and sisters”.

Margaret Mtombeni, who has been on the housing list since 1997, said she had been told to collect her key on Tuesday, but was waiting for the authorities to tell her if she would get a house.

Organisers hastily redirected guests away from the entrance in an attempt to shift the focus to the organised programme.

Sisulu said the N2 Gateway pilot had been rolled out in Cape Town because it was the “shack capital” of the country.

She said the housing backlog was estimated to be 263 000. “If we assume that this will grow by 16 000 a year, in 10 years we will be much worse off,” she said in defence of the government’s “radical” housing programme. - Cape Times

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Farm dwellers out in cold after evictions

Dozens of farm dwellers are facing the chilly weather that is sweeping through the Western Cape without any shelter after they were evicted from their homes, news reports say. Full Story…

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Select few prepare to get N2 Gateway keys

The N2 Gateway’s first occupants will get the keys to their new homes from Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Tuesday.

The housing department could not say on Wednesday how many people would be among the first group of occupants.

Less than 10 percent of applicants for the first 705 available units will receive housing built during this first phase. It is expected that more people will qualify for the houses than those available…

All Housing MECs are expected to be present when Sisulu launches phase two of the N2 Gateway project in Langa next week. This phase will be a credit-linked partnership between the Department of Housing and First National Bank.

The controversial N2 Gateway project intends to build 22 000 houses near the airport for Cape Town’s poor. - Cape Argus

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

‘Race-based’ evictions to be probed

National police management is investigating allegations that low-ranking policemen in the Western Cape are being evicted from their police flats to make way for new recruits.

“It seems a bit unfair,” Senior Superintendent Mohlabi Tlomatsana said in response to claims that at least 150 policemen had been served with eviction notices ordering them to move out of their homes by the end of the month.

“We are verifying the facts with the Western Cape police to see if the policemen were given enough notice.”

The directive for the evictions would have come from the office of the provincial police commissioner.

“Head office was not aware of any procedures that were followed,” Tlomatsana said…

A police inspector, who spoke to the Cape Times on condition of anonymity, said about 50 lower-ranking officers living in Park Court flats in Kenilworth had been told to move out by July 31.

He cannot raise a loan for alternative accommodation.

“But the guys who are the worst off are the constables and the sergeants,” he said earlier.

He said his colleagues felt white and coloured officers were being targeted for eviction.

Jones said: “The criteria in allocating state housing are by no means based on the applicant’s race or rank in the police.”

Sapu has lodged a grievance and referred the matter to arbitration, expected to begin next month, but provincial police say the union has been involved with housing policy “from the beginning”.

Daniels said policemen had been given no warning of their evictions.

“This is not being taken lightly and we are working now to get a response from the Western Cape,” said Tlomatsana. - Cape Times

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Ndabeni land claim paralysed by infighting

CAPE TOWN – At the beginning of the 20th century, Cape Town’s first forced removals took place at Ndabeni, then called Uitvlugt. With Apartheid came the Group Areas Act, and the people at Ndabeni were again forcibly removed to Langa township.

Now, almost a decade after lodging their land claim and amid accusations and counter-accusations, hundreds of families are still waiting to return to their land, now neglected and used as a dump.

The problems faced by the Ndabeni claimants is a microcosm of the national challenges faced in the land restitution process — where poverty, inter-personal differences, bureaucracy and divergent interests compete against a backdrop of business speculators.

“We are frustrated with the slow progress of the project, particularly the lack of inter-governmental co-ordination and inclusiveness,” reads a June letter from the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust to Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.

In the letter, the Trust, which is to be the legally constituted body representing the claimants, also takes aim at the City of Cape Town, irrespective of the political leadership of the day, saying it was guilty of treating the claimants in a “contemptuous” manner.
This supposed attitude finds further expression when one looks at the Department of Public Works’ decision to leave claimants to their own devices when handing over the land. Claimants have to deal with the thorny issues of squatters, fires and illegal dumping on the site.

The South African Navy, which formerly owned the reclaimed land, also built a wall after the 2001 settlement, effectively encroaching on the claimants property.
In the 2001 settlement agreement, 54.8 hectares of the government-owned Wingfield land was handed over.

This agreement was not signed by the Democratic Alliance-led city at the time.
Now, the land forms an integral part of the city’s housing development initiative, with R29 million committed to upgrade the bulk sewer, stormwater, water and electrical infrastructure for the entire Wingfield land, of which the claimant land is a portion…

Read More - Citizen

Police eviction notices may lead to suicides, officer warns

One of 150-odd policemen served with eviction notices by Western Cape police management has warned that “this is the type of thing that pushes police to commit suicide”.

The inspector is one of at least 50 police officers who have been given until the end of the month to vacate their police residences in Park Court flats, Kenilworth.

The inspector, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, said he would not be surprised if the punitive action by the police’s top management resulted in displaced policemen “picking up a gun” as a away out.

Speaking on behalf of colleagues, who were afraid to talk to the media for fear of being fired, the inspector said: “We must fight crime for them (police management) but they do nothing for us. We are not animals.”

He said a neighbour, who has also been given until the end of the month to move out, was in tears yesterday as he contemplated his options.

Billy Daniels, spokesman for the South African Police Union, estimated that at least 150 police officers in the Western Cape were served with similar orders.

The lower-ranking members are apparently being evicted to make way for senior officers who have been brought to the province by provincial police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, and who have for months been living in hotels and private accommodation on the police’s account.

“We did not expect this (evictions). They (police management) have not abided by their own process,” said Daniels. Police officers can apply for residence in police flats and their Monthly rent is adjusted according to their salary scale.Daniels said police officers were ordered in November by management to make representations about their accommodation requests.

They expected an official response in May, but Daniels said the results were not released. He blamed Petros for the evictions.

“He promised these new members accommodation. But now that accommodation has become too expensive.” Daniels said most of the recruits were put up in hotels.

To cut costs, Daniels said, Petros was now having to evict lower-ranking officers to accommodate the Eastern Cape recruits.

The inspector said it was only constables, sergeants and inspectors who were being evicted. Captains and superintendents, who earned about R300 000 a year, could remain.

“And many of them have houses, with subsidies,” he said.

The inspector said he feared for his family’s future. Like many of his colleagues, he said he struggled to concentrate at work.

“We don’t know if we will come home to find our furniture out on the street.”

The Cape Times tried to get a response from provincial police management.

Elna de Beer, spokeswoman for Petros, referred queries to provincial police media officer Billy Jones yesterday morning.

Makhaya Mani, spokesman for Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane, said the matter was “administrative” and had to be handled by the SAPS media centre.

A spokesman for the SAPS housing policy committee, responsible for issuing the eviction orders, declined to comment. He said Jones would respond to any questions.

Jones said the questions had been forwarded to a Senior-Superintendent Tlomatsana in Pretoria who said he would respond today. - Cape Times

Sunday, July 9, 2006

Billions released for cheaper housing

South Africa’s major financial institutions have finally agreed to release R42 billion they committed to government for the provision of houses to people in lower income brackets, SABC news reported.

The banks said they would make the money available in 2005 in a three-year agreement that was to last until 2008, but it was never released due to major differences with government.

The banks have held up the funds because they wanted government to take the risk in cases where owners defaulted on their bonds.

Government refused, insisting that banks should assume the risk of their business activities.

After protracted negotiations which started in 2005, Zola Skweyiya, the social development minister, says they have agreed with the banks that government will share the risks with them when they make an increased investment in low-cost housing after 2008.

Skweyiya says the banks have advised them that they have already disbursed about R17 billion of the total amount to the target market by September last year. - Sapa

Friday, July 7, 2006

2010 Love to be … Sustained

In Cape Town, a proposed new 67,000-seat stadium, earmarked to host a semi-final match, has also got off to a faltering start.

The city’s new Mayor, Helen Zille, from the opposition Democratic Alliance, has questioned where the more than 1bn rand (about $160m) will come from to finance the construction of the stadium.

Ms Zille does not want the stadium to sideline more pressing needs like housing, sanitation and other essential services for the city’s poor.

Even the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), allied to the ANC, supported the mayor’s stance, saying the needs of the poor should come before an expensive football stadium.

South Africa’s 2010 Cup challenge - BBC

Thursday, July 6, 2006

Shack dwellers unhappy with Gateway housing

Shack owners in Langa outside Cape Town say they are unhappy at not being informed in time to make way for phase two of the N2 Gateway housing project. Their structures are being demolished by the Western Cape local government and housing department for construction of the RDP houses to start.

Nosipho Quba, the shack dweller, who has lived in the area for seven years, says communication by the housing department should be improved. Phase 2 will cater for those residents who cannot afford to move into 705 completed units, which are still unoccupied. SABC

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Hiccups in grand housing design

The attractive three-storey flats, with their landscaped gardens and paved walkways, stand empty almost two months after completion. They stand in stark relief against thousands of tin and wood shanties, with their concrete communal toilets.

The strange contrast on view in Cape Town’s Joe Slovo settlement epitomises the muddle and controversy that has beset the R2,2-billion N2 Gateway housing project.

Two years ago, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu announced the Comprehensive Plan on Sustainable Human Settlements, known as Breaking New Ground (BNG), an ambitious blueprint for nationwide slum eradication by 2014.

BNG was to be a radical departure from past state housing efforts, which have been plagued by corruption, mismanagement and sub-standard workmanship. The plan called for extraordinary cooperation between national, provincial and local government to circumvent bureaucracy and deliver at speed.

Sisulu promised that by July this year, 22 000 units would be completed in the Western Cape in three phases on a 10km stretch along the airport road. It was envisaged that 12 000 rental units would rise in phase one in Joe Slovo alone. To date, only 705 houses in that phase have been built.

The completed units are a fantastic model of the kind of dignified social housing the government envisages for the poor, but are unlikely to be replicated. From the original projections, the cost per unit has doubled to R160 000 and the overall cost of the scheme to R1,2-billion. A notable problem is that few of the poor people targeted by the development can afford the proposed rentals.

The original plan ignored the fact that the entire project is to be built on a landfill, requiring large-scale, off-budget excavation. No provision was made for roads, walkways and landscaping. Further costs have been incurred by the discovery that phase one stands on a 50-year-old floodplain.

Relentless spin doctoring and politicking by the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance have obscured the real issues and lessons of the N2 Gateway. ANC provincial housing minister Richard Dyantyi, for example, is arguing that the project is driven by needs, not costs. Some DA members have suggested large-scale corruption, of which the auditors found no evidence.

But Cape Town’s new DA administration is understandably unhappy about having to pick up the ANC’s pieces. It can be expected to question the project’s current R28-million cost overrun, for which it may be held responsible, and fears legal action from unpaid contractors.

The commissioning of two audits on phase one — one by M3, the oversight committee comprising the three levels of government, and the other by Auditor General Shauket Fakie at Sisulu’s request — is a tacit acknowledgement that the scheme is in trouble.

The first investigation, by legal firm Cheadle Thompson and Haysom, found no evidence of direct political interference or corruption. But it did politely suggest that the appointment of Cyberia Technologies, a Johannesburg-based IT company with no experience of managing a housing development of this size, “may have been flawed”.

Cyberia was not the tender evaluators’ choice and was originally the sixth-listed bidder before being mysteriously bumped up. In February, its R7-million contract — it was ultimately paid R12-million after tendering R5million — was terminated and the project was handed to Thubelisha Homes, a national service provider.

Thubelisha was tasked with project-managing the houses still to be constructed, consolidating Cape Town’s seven waiting lists and allocating the Joe Slovo rental units.

In a recent speech, Dyantyi took an indirect swipe at former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo and her city manager, Wallace Mgoqi, declaring that the city had been removed from the project in February, shortly before the Cape Town municipal election that the ANC lost, because of management incapacity.

Central to the runaway costs of the project was the turnkey system of contracting. In contrast to the traditional method of completing planning, costing and design before contractors are hired, it requires contractors to provide design and construction.

“There is nothing wrong with the turnkey method per se, but you need very strong project management,” said one industry expert. A good project manager, he added, would have carried out a geotechnical assessment and discovered that the Joe Slovo settlement was built on a landfill unsuitable for high-density housing.

New Director General of Housing Ithumeleng Kotsoane admitted that mistakes had been made, including the use of the turnkey method.

“This is a national pilot project, approved by Cabinet. If it gets attacked because of flaws, we must look at this. If someone has committed a crime, he or she will be arrested. The point of the project was not to have a big scheme for milking the government — it was to provide housing,” he said.

Marianne Thamm: M&G