New provincial law to reform land use

A revised Planning and Development Act will be introduced in the Western Cape to achieve "meaningful reform" of the apartheid-style land use patterns that are still the legacy of the province, Environment and Planning MEC Tasneem Essop has announced.

Presenting her budget speech in the provincial legislature on Thursday, Essop said the poor had to be brought closer to economic and social opportunities which had been denied during apartheid.

An Amended Planning and Development Act would achieve meaningful spatial reform and social land use goals in the short term and would replace the "dreaded" Land Use Planning Ordinance.

"We are looking at giving us the power to issue socio-economic and climate change conditions in authorisations - for example, social housing, renewable energy, energy and water efficiency, and so on."

'That was an unfortunate ruling of the court'

One of the "biggest disappointments" of her four-year tenure had been a High Court decision that had blocked her attempt to insist on social housing in a planned "elite development" on a farm near Stellenbosch, she said.

"That was an unfortunate ruling of the court - I hope the precedent will be overturned."

Essop said the total budget for the department, including both the environmental affairs and planning branches, was R198,8-million for the 2008/9 financial year - an increase of just 0,8 percent.

Of this, R87,8-million would go to the conservation agency CapeNature.

Essop pointed out that the Western Cape had been the first province to undertake scientific research into the local impacts of climate change.

"The science was clear and confirmed national research that this province will be one of the most vulnerable to climate change," she warned.

The province had now finalised its climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy - also a first in the country - which was premised on the understanding that climate change was a poverty issue.

She quoted from the seminal work, The Hot Topic by Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King which states: "It's a nasty irony that the people least responsible for the problem (of climate change) will also be the ones that suffer first and most."

Essop also said that she was now more convinced than ever that her 2006 decision to emphasise the importance of unlocking the Western Cape's "environment economy" had been correct: "The future economy is green!"

Referring to previous criticism of long delays and red-tape in approving planning and development applications, Essop said the department had - "despite very serious capacity constraints" - managed to finalise and approve 8 707 development applications from a total of 11 191 in the past four years.

"This represents a R50-billion investment injection into the economy of the Western Cape and has facilitated the creation of more than 20,000 permanent employment opportunities and more than 50,000 temporary employment opportunities."

The provincial government was setting an example by employing energy-efficient technologies and construction methods in all public buildings and part of its "green procurement" strategy could involve a requirement that all tenders for provincial government projects complied strictly with environmentally friendly technologies, she said.

- Cape Argus

Xeno situation assessesment leads to Poverty WAR ROOM

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and the ANC Women's League in Tshwane have condemned attacks on people from other countries in various parts of South Africa.

On Friday Mlambo-Ngcuka visited three areas in the Western Cape affected by violence on people from other countries, said spokesperson Denzil Taylor.

"The visit was to assess the situation on the ground, speak to all stakeholders and talk to government's interventions on the ground.

During a fundraising dinner on Friday night Mlambo-Ngcuka said there was no eradication of poverty without the empowerment of women.

''It is women who look after the family. If you address the issue of women, you address the issues of poverty in the family."

She also announced that government would soon launch the 'anti-poverty war room', announced by President Thabo Mbeki earlier in 2008.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the anti-poverty war room would announce specific interventions that will address poverty, with definite targets of how the plight of the seven million unemployed in the country will be addressed. - Sapa

'Private funding needed to finish N2 housing'

A lack of private sector funding was the biggest challenge to the completion of the N2 Gateway project, housing director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane has said as the flagship housing project reels from yet another setback - the technical insolvency of its housing agency, Thubelisha.

"If we want to deal with the housing backlog, we need to encourage more private sector funding."

Kotsoane said a Section 32 company that could borrow and invest money was to be set up.

'...we need to encourage more private sector funding'

This was the only way to make "a dent" in the housing backlog, now at 300 000 homes.

This company, the National Housing Agency (NHA), would take over the N2 Gateway and other housing projects from Thubelisha within the next six months.

The national Department of Housing has said the "politically-divided environment" and the resistance of Joe Slovo residents to moving to Delft to clear land needed for the Gateway project were responsible for Thubelisha's failure to meet its delivery targets.

"That Thubelisha was engaged in delivering a national pilot project in Cape Town, experimenting with and quantifying the delivery of a range of new housing typologies - in a multi-stakeholder, politically-divided environment - also provided challenges," said Kotsoane.

Thubelisha's performance review for 2007/08, presented to Parliament's portfolio committee this week, showed that the company had made a loss of almost R70-million.

'To date this project has been nothing but a disgrace'

Thubelisha would, however, have enough money to continue its mandate until the NHA took over.

Kotsoane said Thubelisha and another state housing agency, Servcon, was being shut as part of the government's rationalisation of state institutions.

"The institutional rationalisation in the housing sector was designed to improve and accelerate housing delivery."

Kotsoane said Thubelisha had a "specific time in history", and there was now normality in the housing market in the townships.

"There were limits on Thubelisha in terms of its mandate and legislation. As it was a Section 21 company, it had to go to the market and raise its own money (for projects)."

The Democratic Alliance has slammed the Department of Housing and Thubelisha for "creating a divisive and politicised housing project" that it claims ignores the housing needs of people in Nyanga, Crossroads, Bonteheuwel and Athlone.

"To date this project has been nothing but a disgrace," said councillor Mzuvukile Figlan.

Meanwhile, some residents of Joe Slovo have agreed to move to temporary areas in Delft.

The Cape High Court ruled in April that more than 4 500 households had to be evicted from Joe Slovo so construction of the next phase of the N2 Gateway project could begin.

Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, general manager of the N2 Gateway project, said about 120 households would have moved voluntarily by the end of the week.

"We are determined to minimise further delays," he said.

Kotsoane said the shutting down of Thubelisha would not affect the delivery of the N2 Gateway project, which was three years past its delivery deadline. He said there was no question that what had been started would be finished. - Cape Times

Locals expect war

The explosive xenophobic attacks in and around the city could be masking tensions between the province's local communities, warn field workers and experts.

As fury over unemployment and lack of service delivery and housing mounts, scape-goating could take on any guise, making economic migrants from the Eastern Cape particularly vulnerable.

Mlu Dywili, a community field worker in Delft, said: "Resources are badly lacking in the black communities of the Western Cape and when resources are few, conflict erupts as those whose needs are not met exert their power over those they deem powerless."

He said African immigrants had been an easy scapegoat for South Africans as they tried to make their way in a new country but that, "without them, people already settled in the Western Cape would be turning on those arriving from the Eastern Cape".

He said unemployment had laid the foundation of the tensions and that any sector of a community could become a scapegoat.

"Because of the divide and rule tactics of apartheid, there is the issue of who has the rights to the resources of a city," said Loren Landau, director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Wits University.

He said the same conflict resolution mechanisms that had failed to prevent attacks on foreigners would fail to protect locals too.

"Where scarcity exists, conflict erupts along any cleavages and there is a deep worry that the current violence could expand into South Africans attacking each other too."

Patricia Dingane, a domestic worker who lives in Nyanga, also highlighted employment as the major issue. Dingane is an economic migrant from the Eastern Cape, one of the country's poorest provinces, who came to the Western Cape to work.

"Many of us who come from the Eastern Cape have a job already waiting for us. In that case, it's because a relative organised it for you before.

"But those who have been in the Western Cape for a long time get jealous if they haven't found work, even though they are also from the Eastern Cape from before. When I came here, I didn't get a warm welcome," she said.

Housing was also a major point of tension said community worker Nontembiso Madikane, adding that houses were allocated on a "first come, first served basis".

Refugees have become the focus of hatred, but as food and petrol prices rise, service delivery and housing crises show little sign of abating, and migrant communities flock into urban areas in search of work, that focus could shift.

Exactly a year ago, when the City of Cape Town formulated what it claimed to be a very progressive policy document on rights for refugees in the Cape, experts in the field of prejudice warned it wasn't enough, and some reasons they had cited were applicable to foreigners and South African economic migrants.

Professor Kwesi Kwaa Prah, director of the Cape Town-based Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, said, "Across the world, those who have experienced oppression tend to hate themselves or those who are standing in similar shoes."

The press office of the South African Institute of Race Relations said recent events "paint a very gloomy picture of our national psyche" and "South Africans have been taught to fight each other by our fathers and their fathers before them".

Another point raised by the institute was that of frustration building up as grievances were not heard, and how inappropriate outlets were then sought.

"Policy failures and lack of communication from the government have allowed these grievances to fester, but none of these frustrations can find an outlet when dealing with the highest bureaucracy in the world," the institute's press office said.

Instead, people turned on those who were "close at hand", "easy to blame", and "even easier to punish".

- Cape Argus

Department shows dodgy dealings

More than 31 000 potentially corrupt housing transactions, costing the taxpayer millions of rands, have been unearthed in a department whose minister has begged the government for billions more to help house the nation.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Wednesday told the National Assembly during her housing budget vote that the Special Investigating Unit had identified 31 259 "potentially irregular housing subsidy transactions" that had been awarded to government employees nationally.

The Special Investigating Unit had begun prosecuting individuals, with 29 cases already finalised and culprits forced to repay the value of the houses.

About 200 cases would be placed on the court roll in the current financial year.

'Funding for housing delivery is grossly inadequate'

"The total amount of debt we expect to recover is R6 827 036,30," Sisulu said.

Building contractors who failed to fulfil their contractual obligation to the Department of Housing are also to come under scrutiny.

Sisulu said these contractors' non-performance dented the department's reputation as well as causing significant losses.

Preliminary analysis of all contracts submitted by the various provincial housing departments has begun, with 65 housing projects so far earmarked for forensic auditing, which is expected to result in possible legal action.

The African Christian Democratic Party and other opposition parties yesterday expressed their deep concern at the degree of corruption in housing.

'We will be seeking to introduce a once-off injection'

Sisulu meanwhile begged the government for more money, warning that unless this happened, there would be catastrophic consequences.

She said although the Housing Department had housed the equivalent of the combined populations of Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho over the past four years, there was a growing backlog.

The minister said her department would need far more resources to overcome this growing shortfall, especially against the tide of impatience shown over the past two weeks.

"We have repeatedly pointed out that the funding for housing delivery is grossly inadequate in the face of the backlogs we face," she said.

Sisulu earlier commented that the spectre that hung over the horizon following the turmoil of the past fortnight would forever haunt the country.

Many analysts believe tardy service delivery and the demand for low-cost housing were major causes of the wave of anti-foreigner violence.

Financial research indicates that a funding shortfall of R102-billion would exist by 2012 if the housing budget continues its current growth trajectory of 23,2 percent a year.

"To alleviate our present circumstances through the budget process, we will be seeking to introduce a once-off injection of resources estimated at around R12-billion, and an extraordinary effort, so we can impact on the housing backlog and poverty in the next 12 months and increase housing delivery," Sisulu told MPs.

- The Star

State housing ‘for South Africans only’

CAPE TOWN — Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu yesterday announced the tightening of regulations to prevent the sale of government-subsidised houses to foreigners by municipalities.

This was in response to claims by protesters over the past few weeks that foreigners had benefited from the government’s housing policy while they had not.

Sisulu also gave notice in the National Assembly that the housing department would be seeking a once-off additional injection of R12bn from the fiscus this year to fast-track housing delivery in addition to special funding for severely stressed and overcrowded informal settlements.

An audit to flush out corrupt housing developers would also be conducted.

Sisulu said in her budget vote speech that measures would be introduced to prevent municipal councillors from allocating houses to foreigners in contravention of government policy, which stated that only indigent South African citizens who met the qualification criteria and who were on official waiting lists were eligible.

It would be compulsory to adhere to the national housing demand database so that no municipality had the right to allocate houses outside this verified and audited database. The data would be independently audited and submitted annually to Parliament.

“This will ensure that our processes are aligned to the necessary transparency and integrity required for universal acceptance. Our policy has been amended accordingly and provincial workshops are currently under way to ensure compliance,” Sisulu said.

The measure was being introduced despite the findings of an audit conducted last year by Auditor-General Terence Nombembe that no foreigners had been specifically awarded houses. The audit into the granting of housing subsidies to those who did not qualify was prompted by allegations that councillors were at the forefront of corrupt practices to divert these subsidies to foreigners.

Sisulu said occupancy audits would be conducted to ensure that the original beneficiaries of housing subsidies still lived in them. The fact that government-subsidised houses were occupied by foreigners meant that they had either bought them from beneficiaries before the period of limitation (eight years) had elapsed, or were renting them.

“We have been very concerned about the incidence of the sale of our houses. Our laws prohibit this, but the practice goes on. As an urgent measure, we have decided to enlist the services of the Special Investigations Unit to take action against the practice,” Sisulu said.

The unit would also conduct a forensic audit of housing contracts to determine where developers had failed to comply with the terms of the contractual obligations by developing insufficient and inadequate low-cost housing. Sisulu said this was a “scourge” that had resulted in significant losses to the department.

Democratic Alliance MP Butch Steyn criticised the department’s housing delivery performance, noting that there were blocked or incomplete projects worth about R2,4bn in 2006 terms.

- Business Day - News Worth Knowing

Cape refugees in tug-of-war

Antagonism between Western Cape and Cape Town authorities over the refugee crisis is boiling over as the province moves to wrest control of their accommodation from the city.

The province announced on Wednesday that it will set up its own safe sites and use 2 000 volunteers to help peacefully reintegrate the immigrants back into the communities from which they fled.

Premier Ebrahim Rasool went so far as to slam the council's controversial camps on the outskirts of the city and what he called the "unilateral decision by the city to remove people from the community halls to the remotest, coldest and inadequate beach camps around the city".

In addition, Rasool said the province would apply urgently for parts of the Western Cape to be declared disaster areas, which he said would free up resources to "better manage" the humanitarian relief efforts.

The split between provincial and city authorities has been the subject of controversy all week, with civil society groups slamming the lack of joint planning, saying it is harming the relief effort.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Mayor Helen Zille chose not to attend a briefing last Thursday night at the Joint Operations Command about the Du Noon attacks with Rasool and Community Safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane.

The JOC co-ordinates police and Disaster Management efforts.

The Black Sash's Nkosikhulule Nyembezi told the Cape Argus that Zille had arrived, got out of her car, but then turned on her heel and got back in.

Asked to comment, Zille said she had not climbed back into the car, but had gone to speak to refugees outside. She was not there to speak to the politicians.

"I went to speak to the refugees and to organise the opening of our community halls because we were in an emergency," she said on Thursday.

The latest move by the province is intended to put control of the estimated 19 000 displaced people in the hands of the provincial authorities. Up to now, city has been responsible for accommodating the displaced people, and the province responsible for food relief and blankets.

Rasool said the camps should "ideally" be closed because they removed displaced people from workplaces and schools, exacerbated health problems, made reintegration more difficult, and were perceived as "non-humanitarian".

So far the City of Cape Town has spent R100-million on providing alternative shelter for the immigrants, which Zille said was being done "on a shoestring budget".

She has defended the camps, saying it was sad that the ANC and non-government organisations were critical of the decision when it was these humanitarian agencies which had appealed to the city to set up the camps in the first place.

"It is very sad because we should be working together. No one has been forced to go to these camps and no one is being prevented from leaving," Zille said.

Rasool said his Cabinet would "utilise its resources to support those shelters (housing about 10 000 people) which are in or near communities, so that they are adequately cared for by maintaining an adequate human rights standard".

The province was to file a formal application to have certain parts of the Western Cape declared disaster areas today, and was hoping to get the go-ahead from the government by Friday.

Countering criticism that the government had not been pulling its weight so far, Rasool, who conducted his media briefing in the company of more than half his Cabinet yesterday, announced that feeding the displaced people had so far cost the province about R3-million, or R400 000 a day.

On Thursday night officials were working to locate open land for the province's planned community-based shelters, and unconfirmed reports indicate these will be in Khayelitsha, Philippi and at Masiphumelele.

Prime sites would be provincial-owned land situated close to communities and police stations, with re-integration over the next two months as the primary focus.

The Cape Argus has learnt that the 2000 community volunteers to assist with safety and mediation include former members of uMkhonto weSizwe and the Azanian People's Liberation Army.

A source said the volunteers' military background in camps in Angola, Mozambique and other parts of Africa would help address not only security concerns but also language barriers.

Volunteers would earn about R80 a day as part of the extended public works programme, and would not be armed.

Although Zille welcomed the premier's move to declare disaster areas, she said the planned community safe sites would have to be up and running before the province withdrew its support for the city's camps, or people would suffer.

Conceding that the camps were not ideal, she said they were "always meant to provide only temporary accommodation, so we are pleased that the province is now assisting with an alternative".

- Cape Argus

Rain misery fuels tensions in Cape camps

Heavy rain that drenched temporary camps set up for victims of last week's xenophobic attacks could lead to raised tensions between factions of foreigners, the SA Human Rights Commission has warned.

Showers poured down across the Cape Town on Wednesday, leaving immigrants, many of whom have sought refuge at city-run camps across the Cape, soaked and disgruntled.

The downpour hit the Youngsfield Military Base in Ottery the hardest and rainwater had soaked the tents' groundsheets, said Judith Cohen, senior manager at the Western Cape division of the SAHRC.

'It's cold, it's wet and it's leaking'

She feared this could worsen tensions between immigrants of different nationalities, who have already split into factions.

At the Soetwater camp, the make-up of the residents in each tent was split along gender lines and nationality.

Zimbabwean men, for example, would not sleep in the same tent as Somali men.

"Everyone there is cold and wet, the tents just seem utterly inadequate for the weather we are having.

"The conditions at the camps are already worrying; rain is merely going to exacerbate the tensions," said Cohen.

'We initially thought that this was going to be a temporary thing'

Somali Tilo Ahmed, at the Soetwater camp, said the rain was only making their circumstances more difficult because they were sleeping on the ground.

"It is already cold here at night and we sleep in tents. We only get a few blankets, not enough to keep us warm.

"With this rain now, our problems are just becoming bigger and bigger," he said.

Some immigrants also complained that rainwater had seeped through a few of the tents.

At Youngsfield, displaced people pleaded for humanitarian aid.

Somali leader Sheik Hussein said residents had not slept last night because of the windy and wet conditions within the camps.

The tents had been leaking throughout the night and most people, including children, did not get any sleep.

Fellow Somali Abdul Guure said: "The conditions here are very bad, the tents are wet inside and out, the children are wet, we are wet and there's a lot of water in the tents.

"Please help us."

Congolese Assumani Kisale said that at the Youngsfield camp, they felt like animals.

"It's cold, it's wet and it's leaking! Really, we are like animals in here," he said.

The military base was not an ideal facility to house civilians, said Colonel Peter Kobbie, commanding officer of Youngsfield Military Base.

Soldiers were trained to live under those conditions, he said. He suggested that women and children be removed from the base because of the poor conditions.

"We don't have any other facilities to house them. We initially thought that this was going to be a temporary thing.

"We are trying our best to make them as comfortable as possible here. This is really not an ideal situation," Kobbie said.

Meanwhile, Cohen said they would monitor the situation at the camps, using a network of monitors, to ensure the foreigners' human rights were not infringed.

"The commission has been playing a big role behind the scenes engaging with the different groups. It is very clear that there is a need for an independent body to monitor the camps, which we have been asked to do by the refugees themselves," she said.

"This is because many of them already have a strong distrust of government officials from experience in their battles to get refugee status." - Cape Argus

Fire burns Cape settlement - report

More than 150 people have been displaced after a fire broke out in the Siteview informal settlement at Grabouw in the Western Cape, SABC news reported on Thursday.

At least ninety shacks were destroyed in the fire.

Democratic Alliance councillor in the area Mlulami Chaka said the victims were being temporarily accommodated in a local community hall.

No one was injured in the blaze, Chaka told SABC news.

The cause of the fire has not yet been established. - Sapa

Huge housing corruption exposed

Cape Town - The special investigations unit (SIU) has uncovered wide-scale corruption among government officials involved in the awarding of housing subsidies, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told MPs on Wednesday.

"The SIU embarked on a massive forensic data analytical investigation, and identified 31 259 potentially irregular housing subsidy transactions awarded to government employees," she said in the National Assembly at the start of the debate on her department's budget vote.

The unit had begun the process of prosecuting and finalising criminal cases against the corrupt officials in different provinces around the country.

"A total of 29 cases have already been finalised, with sentences including the payment of the value of the houses. The total amount of debt we expect to recover is R6 827 036. A cash amount of R1 103 772 has been paid back.

"The SIU will make recommendations to the department to curb future systematic or opportunistic abuse of the housing subsidy system. It is envisaged that 200 cases will be placed on the court roll in the new financial year," Sisulu said.

Regarding regulations and procedures governing the allocation of state-built houses, she said these would be tightened to ensure they were occupied by poor South African citizens. There was a perception such homes were being given to foreigners.

"Allow me to assert and clarify what our policy position is: Our allocations policy provides that houses are given to indigent South African citizens who meet the qualification criteria and are on our waiting lists."

'Our people have sold them'

Sisulu dismissed allegations of corrupt councillors diverting housing allocations to foreigners.

She said the A-G had not come across a single incident where a foreign national specifically was awarded a house.

"However, as we all know, it is true that some of our houses are occupied by foreign nationals.

This could mean only that our people - the beneficiaries of these houses - have either sold them before the period of limitation has elapsed, or are renting them out."

"Occupancy audits" would be conducted to establish if the original beneficiaries of the houses still lived in them.

"We have been very concerned about the incidence of the sale of our houses. Our laws prohibit this... as an urgent measure, we have decided to enlist the services of the SIU to take action against the practice," Sisulu said.

The department had introduced "compulsory adherence" to the national housing demand database, preventing any municipality from making allocations outside the database.

Wants R12bn injection

Sisulu told Parliament the government had provided 2.6 million houses since 1994, providing shelter for 13 million people.

She also noted that funding for housing delivery was "grossly inadequate" when it came to clearing the 2.1 million-unit housing backlog, and announced her department would be seeking further state funding.

"We will be asking for a once-off injection of resources estimated at about R12bn," she said. - NEWS24

Stabbing incident reported at W Cape refuge camp

There is still a flood of displaced people into Cape Town's six main campsites following the xenophobic attacks. However, the city says reintegrating most of the displaced foreigners, who want to stay in the country, could start within a month.

Meanwhile, foreign nationals who are temporarily housed at Zolani Centre in Nyanga on the Cape Flats say it is too soon for them to be reintegrated back into communities.

Even at some places of refuge, there lurks an element of danger. A Somali national was arrested for stabbing his compatriot at the Blanco Community Hall in George, after they reportedly fought over a blanket. The man was seriously injured and had to be rushed to hospital.

The Western Cape provincial government has applied to national government to have certain zones declared disaster areas. Over R13 million has been spent on relief efforts since the outbreak of violence. A proper registration process is underway to ensure that victims of the xenophobic attacks are the only ones who receive aid. - SABC

Call in the UN, says Zille

The City of Cape Town called on the government today to invite the UN to help with refugee relief efforts.

"We require practical assistance … in the form of the resources and expertise of (the UN) … which has a large department specifically re-sourced to deal with crises of international magnitude such as (this)," Mayor Helen Zille said in a statement.

This follows a meeting yesterday where Arvin Gupta, a UN High Commission for Refugees official, criticised the holding of the 18,000 displaced people in "safe zone" camps across the city.

Gupta said the UNHCR was willing to assist the government, but had not been asked for assistance.

South Africa had the option of asking for international help to deal with the crisis, but had so far chosen to rely on its own resources.

Zille said: "We welcome the critique of (Gupta) regarding the safe zones that the city has set up to provide immediate shelter and re-sources for thousands of displaced people.

"We fully agree that people should be reintegrated into their communities if this is what they want. We have called for a peace-keeping force of the SANDF in order to facilitate this …

"We cannot, however, force displaced people to return to their communities against their will."

Zille said no one was being forced to go to the safe sites, and nobody was being prevented from leaving.

"On the contrary, hundreds of people are demanding entry every day and many of the sites are now full to capacity," she said.

Zille called on the province and the Defence Department to make additional sites available to accommodate refugees.

She said the city had seconded 45 staff members to the Home Affairs Department to help deal with the processing of documentation relating to the displaced people.

She urged the UNHCR and embassies to "become involved in addressing the plight of thousands of displaced people who wish to re-turn to their countries of origin".

Emotions ran high at the hour-long meeting between Gupta, civil society representatives and refugees at UCT yesterday.

People of various nationalities were at loggerheads with Gupta.

Some surrounded Gupta, protesting that an hour was not enough and that their grievances had not been properly heard.

They accused the UNHCR of not assisting them adequately.

"All I want to do now is to return to my country … we are never going to be safe in this country," said Rosaline Mulongo from Uganda.

Gupta said that while the displaced people were the responsibility of the SA government, one of the UNHCR's mandates was to protect "externals" within a country.

Fatima Khan of the UCT Law Clinic, who chaired the meeting, said more than 500 displaced people had approached the Law Clinic with a list of grievances.

Some refugees had asked for South Africa be taken to an international court, saying the attacks in recent weeks were genocide.

- Cape Argus

‘Corruption the root cause of attacks’

TWO opposition parties in the Eastern Cape have joined hands to denounce the government over the xenophobia crisis.

United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa and provincial Democratic Alliance boss Athol Trollip sat side by side at a meeting in Mthatha, where they slammed the government on a number of issues.

But their main focus was on the xenophobic attacks that have swept the country.

Holomisa said corruption in the Department of Housing was the root cause of the recent brutality on South Africa’s streets.

“Many people have been queuing ... since 1994 for houses ... (and) the fact that those who arrive here illegally ... immediately get houses, ahead of the people who have been queuing for a long time, has actually triggered the violence,” Holomisa said.

He said the violence had been at its worst in places such as Alexandra, where the need for housing was greatest.

Trollip agreed with Holomisa’s statements and added that the Department of Home Affairs was equally to blame.

“They are responsible for the influx of people that are here illegally and that creates the kind of tension that we have seen,” Trollip said.

He said what angered South Africans was “the fact that illegal immigrants were given preference over locals”.

Both men said they were relieved that President Thabo Mbeki had deployed the army to assist the police in bringing the attacks to a halt.

After the meeting the two leaders drove off in the same vehicle.

Yesterday, Holomisa called on the government to appoint a commission of inquiry to probe the violence. He said a transparent probe would determine whether or not the attacks were “deliberate and orchestrated”.

“The key here would be to remove any kind of suspicion that this (violence) ... was unleashed deliberately.

“Ministers are already telling us there is a third force. Let them bring that evidence to the commission.”

There was a need for the inquiry to visit countries to which migrants had been repatriated and gather evidence and testimonies from the victims of the attacks.

Holomisa was addressing a gathering at the Twelve Apostles Church in Bloemfontein to mark Africa Day. He called on churches to constantly monitor political leaders and scrutinise the work they were doing. Religious leaders had played a crucial role in South Africa before 1994, but were shunned by politicians after the elections that year. - Daily Dispatch

Blame it on Lumka Yengeni

Cape Town - The xenophobic violence of the past two weeks should not be used for party political gain, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Tuesday.

Rather, the nation and leaders of different political parties should deal with this unfortunate development as a collective, he told the National Assembly.

Lekota was responding to Mark Lowe of the Democratic Alliance, who objected to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's accusation last week that Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille was "fanning the flames of (xenophobia-related) violence".

Manuel should be wary of throwing stones from glass houses, Lowe said.

While Zille and the DA-led council coalition had worked tirelessly in the city to bring the crisis under control since its inception, it would be fair to argue that the "flames which Zille is now forced to put out, were in fact sparked by the ANC's own Lumka Yengeni", he said.

Didn't arrive for meeting

"Yengeni's planned meeting with foreigners and locals in Du Noon, ostensibly 'to promote peace and community cohesion' following the attacks across Gauteng, was nothing short of a shambles," Lowe said.

"Members of the community waited a full two hours in a packed hall for her and other members of the ANC to show up (she never did).

"The aborted meeting - which was due to take place on the very same day that Hon. Manuel launched his disingenuous attack on the leader of the DA - is said to have caused the tension which sparked the subsequent flare up of violence in the Western Cape.

"Mr Manuel should apologise for his ill-conceived attack, and concede to the irony of the fact that it was members of his own caucus that really fanned the flames of the violence in the Western Cape," Lowe said.

SANDF housing refugees

Lekota said there was no foundation for Lowe's allegation that the Government had given no assistance to Zille's efforts.

More than 1,000 refugees who left their threatening communities were being housed in SA National Defence Force facilities at Youngsfield, at Zille's personal request to himself, Lekota said.

"And then of course there is further accommodation for these people elsewhere. Again, where we ourselves are involved... some of the provincial government people have also been involved."

Most important, there had been communication and collective efforts to deal with the matter, including church bodies.

"I think that all of us must insist on dealing with issues like this in the necessary dignified manner, that shows us to be a united people against something that clearly is an aberration in conflict with the provisions of our national Constitution," Lekota said.

- NEWS24

The father, the son and the holy golfer

Did Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool use his influence to drive through a dicey golf-estate development in an environmentally sensitive area?

"Is it green enough and black enough?" Pertinent question indeed. But which "green"is at issue? And do green and black enjoy equal weight in the proposed equation?

... NoseWeek

Cape to get 110 000 homes, service sites

The Western Cape government is to spend about R4,5-billion providing 110,000 homes and serviced sites over the next three years, says MEC for Local Government and Housing Richard Dyantyi.

This year his department's planned to launch and complete 30 housing projects in areas such as Blue Downs, Belhar and Steenberg, and provide about 12,000 houses and as many serviced sites in 27 townships regarded as vulnerable.

Also, 10,000 serviced sites would be provided as part of a programme to ease conditions in informal settlements, Dyantyi told the legislature in delivering his budget speech on Tuesday.

A programme enabling people in informal settlements to be moved from areas prone to natural disasters was also to be undertaken, he said.

926 volunteers had been trained as part of the efforts to make vulnerable communities more resilient

In De Doorns, for example, families living along the river bed would be moved as a matter of urgency.

"Issuing marquees to disaster management centres will be a major step (in helping to equip) municipalities to provide immediate temporary accommodation."

The projects to be launched included homes for rent and for people with disabilities.

Dyantyi said his department would consult communities and municipalities about developing a housing policy for people living in backyards.

"During 2008/09 we will finalise and implement the 'vulnerability index' to classify informal settlements with (regard) to health and disaster risks, in order to (decide) on interventions and allocations for emergency services and housing.

...municipalities were being encouraged to enforce by-laws against squatting

"With regard to disaster management, we will develop and co-ordinate sector-specific contingency planning in the provincial government.

"The newly established disaster management structures will be central in driving and supporting this process, as will the development of a generic disaster management software programme."

Natural disasters cost the province about R1-billion last year.

With the challenges arising from these, his department's focus was on planning to mitigate the risks to people, Dyantyi said.

"Given this reality, we must be pro-active," he said.

"For example, we are acting to mitigate such risks through a Development Bank of Southern Africa-funded initiative, which has established 11 training, education and awareness teams in high-risk areas.

"The project includes first aid training, fire prevention, home care, environmental health as well as disaster risk reduction."

About 926 volunteers had been trained as part of the efforts to make vulnerable communities more resilient.

"More than 2,000 learners and 50 teachers at primary schools in Masiphumelele, Kayamnandi, Phola Park and Khayelitsha will also be involved in an initiative to incorporate learning about risk management into the curriculum."

Asked earlier how the government would deal with informal settlements that mushroomed overnight and people who returned to living in a shack after being allocated a formal home, Dyantyi said legislation was being considered to curb this.

Also, municipalities were being encouraged to enforce by-laws against squatting.

"We are also working with the SA National Civics Organisation. Not all the growth in the number of informal settlements is driven by need.

"Some people live in formal areas, but build shacks in informal settlements to go and do business. "

Most people living in shacks were genuine cases, however.

Dyantyi said his department had delivered more than 18,000 serviced sites and 16,000 homes in 2007/08, exceeding its targets.

- Cape Times

Dyantyi delivers 'ambitious' housing budget

Despite the many challenges facing the housing department, Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi is expected to present an optimistic budget speech at the provincial legislature on Tuesday.

Dyantyi was due to announce how his department intended spending almost R4.5-billion on housing over the next three years.

He was also expected to describe the plan to implement the various human settlement programmes which make up his department's Isidima strategy.

Isidima is the provincial government's sustainable human settlement strategy to create "enabling and dignified communities".

Much anticipated, though, are the findings of the Occupancy Study which was piloted in Du Noon last week, with a representative sample of over 500 respondents.

The study was set up to assess the impact of the provision of government housing on the quality of life of beneficiaries and their households.

The provincial housing department embarked on a fact-finding mission to establish which owners have sold their houses and returned to living in shacks.

The study, to be done in other areas, is expected to be completed within the next six months.

Dyantyi was also expected to table his department's report and recommendations on the functions of libraries, museums and disaster management.

Unclear legislative definitions have led to tensions between the province and municipalities regarding the performance of particular functions.

With the approaching winter and the 2010 World Cup, in particular, another important announcement expected was with regards to the province's disaster management preparedness.

Last month, the disaster management centre launched its inter-governmental relations structures to ensure that the political and technical activities were aligned for proper implementation of the Disaster Management Act.

Dyantyi was expected to announce sector-specific contingency planning within the provincial government.

On catching up with the housing backlog, Dyantyi would also announce progress on some of the 30 human settlement projects his department was running this financial year.

These included:

The Nuwe Begin project in Blue Downs, which will showcase environmentally friendly, energy-efficient solutions and "green" systems, and was expected to begin in August. The Blueberry Hill gap housing project in Blue Downs, which was aimed at building houses for people in this market niche. Dyantyi was also expected to announce a revised business plan for the N2 Gateway project, which has been stalled because of court cases against the Housing Department and Thubelisha, the company implementing the project and which was facing closure. The plan should address institutional arrangements to support the project and other challenges which Thubelisha faces in project delivery.

- Cape Argus

Minister says it's not her job to house foreigners

Sisulu says government has barely enough resources to look after SA nationals

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says it is not her responsibility to provide shelter for foreign nationals displaced by xenophobic attacks. More than 30,000 foreigners have been displaced by the violence.

Sisulu says providing relief for refugees is the responsibility of Disaster Management Services. She has also raised concerns about reports that foreign nationals are receiving government housing. Sisulu there aren’t enough resources to even offer housing for all South Africans.

Meanwhile, police officials in Vredenburg on the Cape west coast say they have negotiated with various stakeholders to allow foreign nationals to return to their communities as soon as possible. Superintendent Jacobus Fortuin says over 600 foreigners were moved to a community hall in Vredenburg over the weekend as a precautionary measure after xenophobic attacks had erupted elsewhere in the province. Fortuin says councillors, community members as well as foreign leaders came to an agreement that foreigners wishing to return their homes will not be attacked.

Reintegration
The chairperson of the Western Cape Civil Society Coalition, Zackie Achmat, says safety sites for foreign nationals should be placed inside communities where reintegration can take place as soon as possible. Achmat was speaking at a mass rally against xenophobia in Cape Town.

Thousands of displaced foreigners are being accommodated at six sites in the Cape Peninsula. Achmat says the camps are heading for disaster.

Chief Justice Pius Langa says South Africans should not tolerate new forms of discrimination and inequality. Langa was speaking at the same mass rally. He says the Constitution clearly stipulates that human rights are guaranteed for all who live in South Africa.

Meanwhile, operations are said to be running smoothly at the Silverstroom Strand Resort on the Cape West Coast where just less than 300 foreign nationals are being accommodated after the spate of xenophobic attacks. A volunteer and priest, Richard Muller, says six marquee tents have been erected. He says there are sufficient toilet facilities.

- SABC

Not enough being spent on housing, says minister

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu complained bitterly on Tuesday that her department had not been given enough money to get rid of the backlog in housing.

In fact, she said at a media briefing in Parliament given before she addresses the National Assembly in Wednesday’s debate on her departmental budget, she has not enough even to keep up with the flow of rural migrants into the urban centres of the country.

She said that the backlog was at present 2.1 million units. More than 1.1 million households are living in informal settlements, and another million are in backyard houses.

But each year she estimated that another 1.2 million people leave the countryside to join the teeming throng in the city slums mainly in Gauteng mainly Johannesburg and the Western Cape.

In order to get rid of the backlog entirely by the year 2012, she would require a budget of 120 billion rand. "If we conclude the same backlog four years later," she said, "it will cost three times a much."

The housing budget will be 10.6 billion rand this year, up from 9 billion rand last year. The medium-term budget forecasts for 2009/10 and 2010/11 are 12.7 billion rand and 15.3 billion rand. She complained that the present budget would only allow her to build 266,000 houses.

However, she said, much was being done to tackle the backlog. She was particularly interested in modern building techniques, which her officials said would more than halve the cost of a 40 square metre house. The present traditional method of construction of such a house would cost 260,000 rand. The new tech house will cost only 110,000 rand.

She praised the banks for fulfilling their part of the financial services BEE charter which required them to spend 42 billion rand on housing. "They have already spent 38 billion," the minister said, "and they will have spent 48 billion by the end of the year." - The Times

'Only one foreigner owned an RDP house'

The chairperson of the Western Cape standing committee on governance, ANC MPL Patrick McKenzie, has called on the provincial government to provide houses for displaced foreigners whose homes were destroyed during the xenophobic attacks of the past week.

Responding to Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi's budget vote speech at the provincial legislature on Tuesday, McKenzie said this was the least the Western Cape government could do for the foreigners.

In his speech Dyantyi said that of the about 500 respondents in the Du Noon housing audit conducted recently, the department had found that only one foreigner "owned" an RDP house.

Donning a white T-shirt with "foreigner" printed on the front, McKenzie said the housing ministry needed to find out "how many of those people (the now displaced foreigners) have lost their homes and then ensure that they are put high up on our priority list for housing".

'the department had found that only one foreigner owned an RDP house'

"One of the saddest things is that these people came here with nothing and built their own houses. Those houses were smashed this week and burnt down with everything in them.

"We should hang our heads in shame if that's how we treat people."

McKenzie said the provincial government should have seen the signs of an impending crisis a long time ago.

"We wouldn't even allow the people to live outside Customs House."

He explained to the Cape Argus that it was the legal refugees he was referring to in getting priority on the housing list. The people who had obtained refugee status could not return to their countries.

'We should hang our heads in shame if that's how we treat people'

Asked whether he had considered that such action could result in a backlash from homeless locals, McKenzie replied: "Those people (the foreigners) lost their homes through no fault of their own.

"We should bend over backwards and help them."

In his reply to Mackenzie in the legislature, Dyantyi said the xenophobic attacks were a further vindication that "we need this 'Home for All', a vision we are pursuing".

- Cape Argus

Tense‘ respite in violence

TWO houses were burnt down in Smutsville near Sedgefield in the early hours of yesterday as religious and community leaders were helping the Garden Route to return to normality after a spate of xenophobic violence.

With police reinforcements on the way, no other incidents of violence against immigrants were reported in the Southern Cape yesterday.

Police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie said six people – one linked to the arson case – were arrested on charges of public violence.

More police, including crowd control specialists, will arrive today to be deployed in Thembalethu in George and KwaNonqaba in Mossel Bay.

Pojie said 22 people had been arrested in Knysna, 38 in George, eight in Sedgefield and 12 in Mossel Bay since violence erupted last Thursday.

“The number of arrests keeps climbing as people come in to the police stations with information.

“We even have people coming in to complain that they were injured when police fired rubber bullets into unruly crowds and we‘re arresting them on charges of public violence.”

Pojie said although the situation was quiet, it was “very, very tense” and rumour was rife.

“We are following up every bit of information we get from the community and via the intelligence agencies,” he added.

Eden district mayor Rudi Laws said plans were being made to return the more than 1000 displaced immigrants to their homes outside George, Mossel Bay and Knysna. Many are living in municipal and church halls, and even in temporary tent camps.

The violence first broke out in the Southern Cape in White Location outside Knysna last Thursday when five Somali-owned shops were looted.

Hundreds of immigrants fled the area to seek refuge at the Knysna police station. They were housed in the municipal hall and eventually moved to a tent encampment at the Loerie Park sports grounds.

On Saturday, Somali shops were looted in Thembalethu, Pacaltsdorp and Conville outside George, and in KwaNonqwaba outside Mossel Bay.

In Plettenberg Bay, one immigrant- owned shop was burnt down and another robbed, but police said this was more likely the work of criminal opportunists than xenophobia.

On Monday, a shack was burnt down in Sizamile outside Sedgefield but no one was injured.

Eden disaster management head Gerhard Otto said imams were working to calm emotions among Muslims, as were Somali community leaders.

He said groups of women and children had been prominent in the looting in Knysna and religious leaders were helping to control unruly locals.

Director Robbie Robertson, head of visible policing in the Western Cape, said many immigrants did not want to lay charges of assault, but he encouraged them to come forward and also asked the community to co-operate with police in identifying criminals responsible for the attacks.

Bitou ANC secretary Putco Mapitiza said in a statement: “We believe that through the recognition of the crucial role played by the international community in South Africa‘s liberation, all South Africans will work together to ensure that we build a better world where people of different nations and races co-exist and live in peace and harmony.”

Alan Winde, DA MPL for Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, said: “I wish to commend the police and authorities in the way that they have dealt with and brought calm to the possible explosion of xenophobic activity. I would also like to thank the individuals who have gone out of their way to protect, feed, house and take care of (immigrants) running for their lives.”

The majority of the community joined hands to help the more than 1000 displaced, donating food, blankets, toiletries and offering shelter. - The Herald

Refugee chaos grows

Without a co-ordinated intergovernmental strategy to manage the aftermath of the xenophobic violence, the city's safe centres, community halls and churches will continue to battle to accommodate the more than 20,000 displaced foreigners who need shelter, food and medical assistance.

And conditions at the various safe sites and military bases vary from adequate to inhumane, with thousands of Somalian refugees housed at Wynberg's Youngsfield military base complaining that the army is barring them from leaving the site.

Refugees here were issued with an armband and a number when they arrived, and body search before they could enter the main hall.

Many complained that they did not want to be housed in "camps" reminiscent of concentration camps.

The press was barred from entering the site where, according to the couple of hundred refugees outside, thousands of people were being housed.

At other facilities, there was overcrowding, lack of ablution facilities, and too few volunteers to feed the thousands of people.

Mayor Helen Zille said refugees had to go to safe sites where they could be registered and either reintegrated or given help to return home, rather than go to churches and halls throughout the city.

She said these venues needed to be left open for planned activities, such as weddings and other events.

A City of Cape Town electricity truck collected three families on Monday from a church in Wynberg to take them to a centre in Tokai. But nearby, the Wynberg Methodist Church was housing about 50 refugees without any instruction to take people to larger centres.

Craig Stewart, of the Warehouse Trust affiliated to St John's parish, said that while church groups, NGOs and community organisations were helping with relief work, the operation was being hampered by the lack of a co-ordinated strategy by the city and the provincial government.

He said there was an urgent need for a more comprehensive plan to be drafted for future situations such as this. But, until then, most of the relief was coming from the "people of Cape Town".

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, of the city disaster management centre, said yesterday that while the city sent the province regular updates, provincial representatives were not at the control centre.

Zille wrote to the provincial government on Monday, asking for more co-operation in relief and reintegration efforts.

Palesa Morudu, of Premier Ebrahim Rasool's office, said a joint operations centre managed by the province and the city had not yet been activated. The city was handling most of the relief work as the Western Cape had not yet been declared a disaster area.

She said the province was focusing on the reintegration of displaced people to their communities by ensuring visible policing at hot spots. "The community is also taking it upon itself to reintegrate people."

Morudu said many of the safe centres were far from the displaced people's homes and work, making reintegration more difficult.

Zille agreed to open community halls to refugees as a temporary measure, but most of the displaced people being housed by the city are in six safe sites, including Silverstream in Atlantis and Soetwater in Kommetjie.

She called yesterday for the "urgent deployment" of a peacekeeping force of the South African National Defence Force to help with the reintegration of people.

Conditions were dire at the makeshift Silverstream refugee camp on the West Coast yesterday, where there was a lack of food, bedding, electricity, sanitation, medical help, phones and staff.

About six volunteers were trying to help about 600 men, women and children, and appealed to the public and businesses to step in with supplies and assistance.

Spokespersons had been elected for each of the six nationalities, who relayed their needs to the volunteers.

Doctors were needed, as several HIV-positive people had skipped ARV dosages, a man was throwing up worms and another, whose eardrum burst when he was struck by a brick on Thursday night, had still not been attended to.

Several people complained that the rice and soup they were given for dinner on Sunday night had given them a stomach bug. They also complained that they were given only a few slices of dry bread for breakfast, without coffee or tea, and no lunch.

About 100 children and their parents slept on plastic sheets on the grass and without bedding in the "freezing" cold in three tents on Sunday night. Several were bitten by sand fleas.

Carpets were put down in the tents yesterday.

Many people were hoping to return to their home countries. A Zimbabwean man said if he had to die, he would rather die at home.

Many said they were afraid that the bucket toilet system would cause the spread of disease, and several complained that they had not been able to take a hot bath or shower.

Project manager Richard Muller, a pastor from the Du Noon area, said people at the camp needed bedding, food, baby food, soap, towels, sanitary towels, free telephones so that people could call their families, transport, and toys for the children.

At Youngsfield, mainly Somalian women complained that there was no food and that their babies were suffering from sleeping in the cold hall. They said the army had stopped them from leaving the camp.

Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesperson for Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, said he did not know about the problem, but he would investigate conditions at the base. The South African Human Rights Commission said it would send a task team to the base.

Dean Peacock, of the Sonke Gender Justice, called for the UN Human Rights Commission to manage the registration of refugees at camps, to eliminate the confusion of organisations putting people on different lists.

Paula Akugizibwe, from the Aids & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, said a study of the health conditions at 33 sites across the city has been conducted and the situation is beginning to look dire.

At the KTC hall in Nyanga, for example, 58 people are suffering from diarrhoea and one person is critically ill, according to civil society groups.

"There are a lot of reports of sick children and people with diarrhoea. There is poor infection control. People are living in overcrowded tents. Chronic medication is another issue," said Akugizibwe.

She said the HIV/Aids and TB stigma was rife at some of the sites, and people needing anti-retroviral treatment were reluctant to ask for chronic medication. This made it hard for them to establish how many people needed the treatment.

Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat said there was also a serious danger of a TB outbreak in the congested tents. There were about 100 people to every tent.

But the city's health department said it was working closely with the province and NGOs to monitor health conditions at the refugee sites.

Ivan Bromfield, the city's acting director of health, said the city had been divided into eight sections that can be more easily managed. "Environmental health (officials) and a nurse will visit the places daily to look at sanitation, water, waste and ventilation."

He said diarrhoea was the biggest concern and salt-sugar solutions were being distributed, particularly to the children to keep them hydrated.

Meanwhile, the Black Sash has praised the Masiphumelele community for re-integrating foreigners back into the area and bringing looters in the community to book.

Black Sash advocacy programme manager Nkosikhulule Nyembezi said most of the people arrested were youths of schoolgoing age. - Cape Times

No more bucket system for Cape

The department of water affairs and forestry in the Western Cape on Sunday announced that it had reached President Thabo Mbeki's target of eradicating the bucket toilet system in all formal areas.

This means none of the province's municipalities use the bucket system anymore. Bucket toilets pose serious health and environmental risks.

Department of water affairs and forestry regional director Rashid Khan said the department worked very hard to get rid of about 4 600 bucket toilets in the province and was pleased to be able to announce that it had reached its target at the beginning of National Sanitation Week, which ends on Saturday.

Other provinces were not able to reach their targets.

The department has to date spent R57-million in the Western Cape to eradicate the bucket system in formal areas and to get rid of its sanitation backlogs.

Communities that benefited include Genadendal, Wupperthal, George and Zoar in Kannaland, where 440 households will formally receive their new ablution facilities on Monday at an event jointly organised by the department and the Kannaland local municipality.

Khan said the achievement in Kannaland was a feat, because the area is very rocky and it was difficult to put in new toilets.

Departmental spokesperson Mamosedi Maleka said government was committed to "eradicating the sanitation backlog which is an international problem affecting all countries".

"One of the reasons for the backlog is that sanitation has not been regarded as a priority, thus the need to raise the profile of sanitation in order to change the mindsets of municipalities and communities through advocacy programmes and campaigns," she said.

Khan said the next target was to ensure that human waste did not flow to rivers. - Cape Times

Mbeki's rule in limbo as townships burn

President Thabo Mbeki faces an uphill battle to remain politically relevant in his last year in office after his failure to contain an eruption of violence that has killed dozens of foreign workers in South Africa.

Mbeki, who has seen his power and prestige shrink since losing the African National Congress (ANC) leadership to Jacob Zuma in 2007, was already under fire for failing to prevent a crippling power shortage when mobs went on the rampage this month.

At least 56 people have died -- some burnt alive -- and tens of thousands been displaced. But Mbeki was largely invisible as the xenophobic violence mounted, only addressing the nation on Sunday night, two weeks after the bloodshed began.

"It's unclear now who is running the country," said Frans Cronje, deputy chief executive of the South African Institute of Race Relations. "There needs to be a changing of the guard."

Mbeki's performance has further spooked investors, who fear Zuma and his labour allies will nudge the government to the left and loosen the fiscal restraint that many credit for a nearly decade-long expansion in Africa's largest economy.

South Africa's volatile currency fell sharply last week before Mbeki deployed the army to help quell the violence.

"The rand remains uncertain and the xenophobic violence could spark a political crisis and put into question the legacy of Mbeki's presidency," French bank BNP Paribas said in a recent research note.

There are growing calls for Mbeki to quit or be ousted before his final term ends after the general elections in 2009. Much of the pressure is coming from within the ANC and its leftist allies.

Zuma is the frontrunner to take over from Mbeki, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) also endorsed a move to abort Mbeki's final year. The SACP is in a coalition with the ANC and has seen its influence grow since it backed Zuma for the party leadership.

Mbeki legacy
Although he has signalled a desire to have a strong say over the direction of the government in the coming year, Zuma has resisted the urge to pluck the keys of the presidency from his rival.

Many analysts play down the likelihood of an internal putsch against Mbeki, noting that Zuma's own future remains murky in the face of a corruption case that could go to trial later this year.

Zuma has been charged with fraud, bribery, money-laundering and other wrongdoing in connection with an arms deal. The Zulu politician has denied the charges but said he will step down as ANC leader if convicted.

It is more likely, observers say, that the ANC will spend the next year working to ensure a smooth transition from the end of the Mbeki era, while continuing with a purge of pro-Mbeki officials from party positions and state-run firms.

"I believe this [the violence] will touch Mbeki's legacy as a particularly low point, but there is very little risk that Mbeki will not finish out his term," said Susan Booysen, an analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand.

But the degree to which Mbeki can steer government is uncertain amid growing attacks on his policies.

Critics say Mbeki's failure to improve the lot of the poor, especially in the seething townships around Johannesburg, and his refusal to take a hard line on Robert Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe, laid the foundation for the attacks African migrants.

An estimated three million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa, making them the largest immigrant group in a country of about 50-million. But they and other newcomers are accused of stealing scarce jobs and housing and fuelling violent crime.

Rising prices for food, fuel and other basic commodities have pushed tensions to breaking point.

"It would be hard to imagine a more depressing contrast with the leadership of Nelson Mandela," the New York Times wrote in a damning May 24 editorial that lambasted Mbeki for his response to the violence, Aids and the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mbeki and his senior officials deny that policy failures were behind the xenophobia and defend the government's economic accomplishments, pointing to the increased access to electricity and housing and expanded welfare grants for 12,5-million people.

'Under control'
Meanwhile, the xenophobic violence against foreign nationals has been brought under control, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said on Monday.

"I do believe the situation is under control ... the violence has subsided," he said at a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria following an inter-governmental task team meeting with Mbeki.

The team was established shortly after the attacks erupted in Johannesburg's Alexandra township.

Nqakula said the briefing with Mbeki was to discuss the progress made following the attacks as well as to deal with welfare issues and national security resulting from the attacks.

"To date, 1 384 suspects have been arrested. Many of them were involved in violence and robbery," he said.

He added that 342 shops belonging to foreign nationals across the country had been looted, while 213 had been burnt down. The death toll following the attacks stood at 56.

The minister said health issues had also surfaced as those seeking asylum (which included children and pregnant women) had to be housed at various city halls and police stations.

On whether the government had responded timeously following the attacks, Nqakula said government had done so.

"Nobody can say we didn't respond. At local level the leadership responded. There has been response from security services, provincial legislation; there has not been a void," he said. -- Reuters, Sapa

Under-fire Mbeki flies to Japan: ministry

South African President Thabo Mbeki was to leave for Japan on Monday to attend a two-day meeting on African development, the foreign ministry announced.

The South African leader has been under fire at home over his handling of a wave of anti-immigrant violence that has left 56 dead and 35,000 displaced.

He has yet to visit areas affected by the violence and faced a front-page demand from a national newspaper to step down at the weekend.

"South African President Thabo Mbeki ... will today depart for Yokohama, Japan," a statement from the foreign ministry said.

He is to attend the International Conference on African Development from Wednesday to Friday which has "Towards a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity" as its title.

Mbeki would use the opportunity "to consolidate relations with Japan with a view to strengthening North-South relations," the statement added. - AFP

Yes, it is a disgrace

IT WAS good to see President Thabo Mbeki addressing the nation on Sunday night. He was late, very late, but what he had to say was well said.

What has been happening in SA these past few weeks is, as Mbeki said, an absolute disgrace.

It will certainly bury, for most of the lives of citizens alive today, any notion of South African uniqueness or special modernity on the African continent.

In a way, that might make it easier for the people who will replace him and his government next year. They will not have to try to live up to the construct of SA as a modernising influence on the continent. They’ll be able to be themselves.

The outbreak of xenophobia may also help South Africans grow up and, maybe, even grow up together. For that to happen, though, they would have to draw the correct conclusions from the violence.

One would be that racism or xenophobia belong to both white and black South Africans and both are capable of being immensely cruel because of the prejudices they cling to. Another would be that we delude ourselves too easily here. The poverty in our townships is desperate and dangerous and no amount of advertising or holding hands or grand speeches about “rising” is going to make it go away. Only good policy correctly and determinedly executed will.

And let us end the doublespeak Mbeki and his ministers have brought to our public life.

Butchering other human beings is indeed a disgrace, as he called it on Sunday night. But not only here. In Zimbabwe too, surely, where Robert Mugabe’s followers have killed and beaten thousand of opponents over the past decade?

Why has Mbeki never called that a disgrace? Because it isn’t his country? What about the violence meted out daily in his own country by criminals on innocent citizens?

That was the weakness in his television address. It wasn’t the work of a moral leader. You couldn’t hear the word “disgrace” without wondering where it has been all his time in office. - Business Day - NEWS Worth Knowing

Shelters 'a danger waiting to happen'

Sites housing refugees from xenophobic attacks in Cape Town would soon turn into breeding zones for disease and crime, civil society groups warned on Monday.

The warning came as city mayor Helen Zille called for the army to be deployed as peacekeepers as foreigners returned to the communities from which they had fled.

Since the xenophobic attacks started last week, about 40 relief centres have been opened in the greater Cape Town area, including six special "safety sites" set up by the city administration.

The attacks have displaced some 20 000 people.

Speaking at a media briefing, former Treatment Action Campaign chairman Zachie Achmat said the situation in some of the camps was of serious concern.

He said 58 cases of diarrhoea had already been reported at one site in Nyanga township, where close to 400 foreigners had taken shelter.

Black Sash representative Alroys Paulos said the organisation had received reports of xenophobic attacks in the camps, where people of various nationalities were forced to stay under one roof. In one of the camps, a woman was raped, he said.

Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa representative Paula Akugizibwe said the government should immediately roll out a health service in the camps.

Those with HIV and TB were at high risk and needed urgent attention. Even those who were healthy were in serious danger of contracting contagious diseases because of overcrowding in the camps, Akugizibwe said.

Zille said that the city would support the reintegration of people who wanted to return to their homes.

It would also assist those displaced foreign nationals who wanted to go back to their home countries.

"In the current climate of unrest, the process of reintegrating displaced people into their communities will require a peacekeeping force to be deployed to the most sensitive hot-spots around our city," she said.

"I call on the Western Cape safety and security MEC to approach the Minister of Defence and request the urgent deployment of a peace-keeping force of the SANDF to act as an umbrella for the reintegration process."

Zille said the city was accommodating refugees at six "safety sites" around the metro, as well as in community halls.

Western Cape police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said no xenophobic violence was reported on Monday.

Police were patrolling what he called the "displacement centres", to maintain law and order there.

They were also policing rail and bus stations.

"They (foreigners) are leaving Cape Town on buses and trains for Johannesburg, to take further transport to their countries of origin," he said.

"We keep a tab of their movements to ensure they can exercise their right to leave if they want to."

He said a total of 371 people were arrested throughout the province over the weekend on charges of public violence.

Two foreign nationals died in Cape Town over the weekend, but one death - that of a Somali national - was in a traffic accident at the Dunoon informal settlement, and was not related to the violence.

The other was a 29-year-old Mozambican who was killed in Kuils River when he was hit in the face by a brick. - Sapa

Icy wake-up call from poor for new ANC leaders

National Congress (ANC) leaders who visited townships and informal settlements at the weekend reminded me of comments made to me by a friend during a discussion on how the legacy of President Thabo Mbeki now lies in tatters.

“If I were JZ I would tell the movement thank you but no thank you when it comes to the presidency of SA. I mean, who would want to take over the mess that has been created by Mbeki and his crowd?”

Of course Jacob Zuma is going to do no such thing, and is leading the ANC’s election campaign for next year. However, he must realise that he will have his hands full when he steps into Mbeki’s role next year. The latest violence in poor communities, this time directed at foreigners, is but another reflection of how the government has failed to address its citizens’ most basic needs.

While there can be no excuses for looting, burning and killing , it is clear that the allocation of basic resources such as housing, electricity and water are riddled with corruption and patronage involving local councillors and other state functionaries. Unless there is radical change in the sphere of local government, poor townships will continue to be places of violent conflict even if there are no foreigners there.

With elections less than a year away, the ruling party needs to take note that communities will continue to revolt against the tardy provision of services and the gross mismanagement of municipalities. Moreover, the consequences of these uprisings have the potential to unravel the social cohesion of our society. The poor, for so long the ANC’s voting fodder, will no longer tolerate excuses and empty promises made by politicians every time they come to plead for votes.

Should the ANC’s new leadership ignore the social crises in our townships, in much the same way as the Mbeki government has done, it will cost not only the ANC but also the country dearly.

As I have said before, the ANC’s problem is not power — the party will no doubt be returned through the ballot when South Africans vote next year. But the true test is the ANC’s continued credibility and legitimacy among the majority. Given SA’s huge developmental challenges, buy-in from communities is not a luxury, it is essential for long-term stability and development.

Party leaders no doubt received a huge wake-up call at the weekend when residents in Gauteng’s townships and informal settlements made it clear that the days of giving the ruling party a blank cheque at the polls are well and truly coming to an end. If you ask me, this couldn’t have come too soon.

“If you are a stumbling block, we are going to kick you away,” was how ANC presidential candidate Zuma was told off at a meeting near Springs when he tried to explain to poor communities that they had to be patient with the government.

The social distance between the people and the ANC — which professes to be a mass organisation — is growing by the day and continues to eat into what remains of the credibility the party enjoys among the majority.

The lacklustre response from communities to pleas for tolerance of foreign Africans by ANC leaders on the basis that other African countries made sacrifices for our freedom is instructive. It shows that the ANC’s reliance on its history alone is slowly lo sing its pulling power among younger people, many of whom are victims of state failure on jobs and education.

Interestingly, this same category has been instrumental in the vicious violence that has left 56 people dead and thousands displaced. Youngsters, some only 16, have been fingered as the culprits behind the deadly attacks. These are the so-called “born frees” who are supposed to be the ones benefiting from the government’s programmes, but are clearly not.

Increasingly, the ANC is having to learn that unless it delivers in concrete terms to the people who vote for it, the party will lose much, if not all, of its standing among those to whom it owes its power. - Business Day - NEWS Worth Knowing

Tension rises at Cape disaster management centre

Tension is rising between Somali and Malawian foreign nationals at the Soetwater disaster management centre in Cape Town. The centre is becoming overcrowded as it is the most central point for refugees from xenophobic attacks.

Between 10 000 and 18 000 refugees have been displaced in the Cape Town area since the attacks broke out last week.

The City's Robert MacDonald says it’s unclear whether the tension between the Somalis and Malawians are of a political nature. He says they are looking at the possibility of moving people to different locations.

Some foreign nationals are waiting outside Soetwater to hear if they can be accommodated at the centre. However, disaster management officials say the area is overcrowded. Officials would not let the media into the centre, fearing that their presence could incite violence.

Meanwhile, a Parliamentary multi party task team has visited Alexandra following the xenophobic attacks there. The task team was set up following a motion raised in the National Assembly for a delegation to be sent to speak to those affected by the attacks. They also met displaced foreigners to discuss their plight.

Their next stop will be Germiston and Tembisa where they will meet with all stakeholders. The team is expected to deliver a report to the National Assembly for the house to decide what interventions are necessary. - SABC

Fires leave 75 people homeless

Seventy-five residents of Masiphumelele were left homeless at the weekend after a fire swept through the Kommetjie informal settlement destroying their shacks.

Police are investigating the cause of the fire, which broke out on Saturday.

Also at the weekend, five Sea Point tenants were injured in a blaze in their flat.

In a third incident, police were investigating whether a fire in a building along Voortrekker Road in Parow was started intentionally on Sunday.

Firefighters had rushed to the scene and extinguished the blaze before it spread from a room.

On Sunday, Theo Layne, a station officer at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said firefighters had received a report about the Voortrekker Road building which was on fire.

He said arson was suspected and it appeared the fire had been intentionally started in a room which was destroyed by the flames. "The police also came to the scene to start investigating," he said.

An officer at the Parow police station confirmed arson was suspected, but did not have further details.

Layne was not sure for what purpose the room, in a building occupied by a number of businesses, had been used.

No one was injured.

Shortly before midnight though, five Sea Point residents suffered burn wounds when a blaze started in a flat.

Layne said firefighters had rushed out to Shoreham Building in Beach Road where a first-floor flat was burning in the eight-storey building.

Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames before they spread to other flats.

Layne said five people had been injured, one suffering second degree burns, and were taken to hospital.

He said police had also arranged for them to receive trauma counselling.

While other tenants had managed to evacuate the building, Layne said four people had been stuck on the fourth floor while the fire had been raging.

But firefighters managed to get them out uninjured.

Layne said the cause of the fire in the block of flats was being investigated. - Cape Times