Monday, November 30, 2009

Angry Cape residents barricade roads

Four people have been arrested on charges of public violence after a meeting with Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato turned violent, moments after he left the Overcome Heights informal settlement in Steenberg yesterday.

Police and metro police officers fired rubber bullets to disperse the angry mob who barricaded roads and set portable toilets alight.

Protesting residents prevented local ward councillor Demetri Qually from leaving the venue, accusing him and the mayor of lying to them.

Plato and Qually met with residents yesterday to inform them that the city council had on Thursday approved plans to electrify their shacks.

Qually said they were in the area to give the community positive feedback.

"I am very disappointed, it was good news for the bulk of the people but a few turned violent after the mayor left," he said.

He said he was busy packing up with one of his staff members when residents started demonstrating and blocking off the road.

"We told them that the process will start early next year but some of the demonstrators were determined to make a political issue out of the fact that council did not give a precise date," he added.

Qually said police and metro police reacted swiftly and brought the situation under control.

Police captain Stephen Knapp said last night that the four people had been charged with public violence and are due to appear in court soon.

- Cape Argus

Housing corruption at Department of Public Works

Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge has called in the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe the theft of furniture from government offices and ministers' houses, as well as officials colluding with contractors to overcharge the department.The department was billed millions for carpets and inflated prices for furniture in ministers' and other state houses. Doidge cited an example in which two residences together worth R3 million were refurbished and renovated at a total cost of R11 million.
"Even after the work was completed, the houses remain unsuitable. Workmanship was poor and the costs are deemed wasteful expenditure."
It is understood that some ministers and deputy ministers could not move into their houses because they were in bad shape, while contractors claimed their millions.

Hofmeyr said part of the investigation would be to determine why officials signed off the contracts when the "quality was poor". (from IOL)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Award-winning house system snubbed locally

AN Eastern Cape company has won a top African award for its super-fast house-building system and has just signed a deal with India. But its chief executive says despite exports to several developing countries, the provincial government has yet to recognise the value of this innovative system.

Indian-based property company Karle Group partner Sudarshan Karle was at Moladi this week to put in an order for the product. Karle said there was a demand for more than 100-million houses in India.

“In India we have 1, 2 billion people and about 60% of them will never own a house. Nobody is offering a product for the lower middle-class families. For nearly two years we did market research on how to develop low-cost housing and eventually zeroed in on Moladi,” Karle said.

“The need for low-cost affordable homes is a global demand,” Botes said.

Read more at The Weekend Post

Friday, November 27, 2009

Sisulu in blistering attack on Sexwale

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has launched a blistering attack on Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, accusing him of failing to come up with new programmes and for claiming credit for initiatives she introduced while she was still minister of housing.

In a blunt message delivered yesterday, Sisulu noted that Sexwale "has not launched a single project" since he took over the portfolio.

The extraordinary attack by one cabinet minister on another appears to have been triggered by revelations that the Department of Housing, since renamed, spent more than R22 million during Sisulu's tenure on a play, performances of which Sexwale has halted.
What sparked Sisulu's ire appears to have been comments by Sexwale on 702

What sparked Sisulu's ire appears to have been comments by Sexwale on Gauteng-based talk radio station 702, when he said that he had "no time for plays and theatre that have nothing to do with building houses".

The Cape Times reported yesterday that the industrial theatre production A re Ageng Mzanzi (Let's Build South Africa) netted R5,5m for a production company owned by former soapie actor Mpho Tsedu.

In a terse statement released yesterday, Sisulu told Sexwale, who was in Boksburg telling reporters that 40 000 RDP homes were so defective they would have to be demolished and rebuilt, to "spend some time in the office reading reports and cabinet memos from 2004".

She said these would inform him that the human settlements concept was not new, but had actually been approved in 2004, the year she took over as minister of housing

The name of the department was changed after the elections, as part of a broader reconfiguration of government under President Jacob Zuma.
Failed to respond to repeated calls and SMSs

Sisulu told Sexwale that housing developments such as Cosmo City in Gauteng, built during her tenure, were based on the very same human settlements model.

Sisulu, a national working committee member of the ANC, sees herself as politically senior to Sexwale, who only sits on the ruling party's national executive committee. Her length of experience as a cabinet minister is also much greater.

She defended the decision to commission the play, saying it was necessary to inform the public about new government plans for housing.

"He (Sexwale) will discover that when you implement a new plan and a housing project, you need to communicate with all stakeholders. Beneficiaries of government housing programmes must be educated on their responsibilities, how they can economically benefit from the project, how to report fraud and corruption and to ensure that contractors do not take advantage of them."

Sisulu said a number of projects Sexwale had claimed credit for, including plans to repair defective RDP houses at a cost of R1 billion, and bringing in the Special Investigating Unit to investigate low-cost housing fraud, had been initiated on her watch.

"Noting that since his appointment, the minister has not launched a single project, and we have not seen his plan for human settlements which differs from the one approved and launched in 2004, (and) based on five years' experience and delivery of over 1,5 million houses, we are convinced that when the minister starts building houses or finalising his priorities he will realise that community participation and consumer education is central to housing delivery," Sisulu said.

Sexwale's spokesperson Chris Vick failed to respond to repeated calls and SMSs.

Sisulu's lashing of Sexwale could lie in the distrust some senior ANC leaders have for the former business mogul, who harboured his own presidential ambitions before throwing in his lot with Zuma on the eve of the ANC's Polokwane conference in 2007. It is believed Sexwale has not abandoned his presidential ambitions and has his sights set on the ANC's next elective conference in Mangaung in 2012.

DA housing spokesperson Butch Steyn has written to auditor-general Terence Nombembe asking for a special investigation into the play.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Housing probe deepens - Rebuilding costs steepen

Negligent housing inspectors and engineers who approved some of the defective low-cost houses, which are now costing the province millions of rands to repair, are also being investigated and could face disciplinary action.

Human Settlements MEC Maggie Govender said yesterday that investigations being conducted by the Special Investigations Unit would also focus on the role of the inspectors and engineers who approved the defective housing units.

"We are not looking at contractors as the only guilty party. We are also looking at the role of other professionals and inspectors in this. All of this forms part of the ongoing investigations."

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has already described the scandal as a national shame.

"It is money that should have been spent on new houses," he told Alphendale residents in East London this month, where demolition started on 339 poorly constructed houses that have to be rebuilt.

KwaZulu-Natal has, so far, approved rectification of more than 9 000 houses in nine housing projects worth about R561-million.

The costs could be much higher because a further 31 200 houses have been identified as defective units in 48 housing projects across the province.
It is estimated that 50,000 of these sub-standard houses need to be rebuilt nationwide.
These houses are, however, still being assessed to ascertain what type of rectification needs to be done on them. Earlier this month, Govender said this could push the cost of fixing and rebuilding to at least R1-billion.

If this figure is accurate, it would push the national cost to rebuild badly constructed houses provided under the government's housing programme from R1,3bn to close to R2bn.

Govender admitted that strengthening of her department's quality monitoring unit was needed to prevent the recurrence of blunders which has led to thousands of defective low-cost houses having to be repaired or rebuilt.

There have been cases where contractors have been slipshod because of poor monitoring.

"In one case in Newcastle, we found that a contractor had been mixing one bag of cement to 26 wheelbarrows of sand."

She said to curb similar occurrences, her department had appointed 13 project managers who were expected to start work soon. She, however, admitted that more resources were needed in the quality assurance department.

"Yes this is not enough, but it's what we can do with the available resources. As more money becomes available we will look at employing more people to strengthen capacity in this area. For now, we will have to use them more creatively," she said.

She said her department would also play a hands-on role in housing development in the province.

"We no longer want to leave the delivery of human settlements to municipalities, but we want to play a more active role in it," she said.

While the rectification process is expected to run into hundreds of millions of rands, Govender said the department would try to ensure that most of the funds did not come out of the public purse.

The department will first try to recoup the funds from the concerned contractors by forcing them to foot the bill or by getting them to do the rectification.

However, this is not possible in some cases.

For example, in the case of one contractor, Effingham Housing, which had been contracted to build houses in Durban's Quarry Heights, the department has had to foot the R80m bill to rectify the houses because the company has since been liquidated.

As part of ensuring quality standards are met, the department will also include in its contracts a punitive or penalty clause for contractors.

Contractors who do not meet the standards can also be suspended by the department because the current framework does not allow for contractors to be blacklisted.

- Daily News

Residents protect 'illegal' orphanage

About 400 residents of Atlantis, near Cape Town, burnt tyres and barred police from evicting people from an orphanage in the area on Thursday, said a community member.

"Community members are standing at the gate refusing police entry into the orphanage home," said Fiona Ranck.

"They believe that the orphanage belongs to the community," she said.

Ranck said about 40 policemen were trying to remove a family and 60 children and their belongings from the property.

Matilda and Ronald Koopman, who head the Ebenezer church, lived in the house for years with their six children.

In 2005 they started taking in orphans and abused children.

With the aid of Swiss funding, obtained by the Atlantis Forum, a new, bigger house was built on the property to accommodate the children.

However, the orphanage was not registered and earlier this month the department of social services threatened to close it down because it was illegal.

It was when the Koopmans tried to get members of the community involved in the administration of the orphanage, that the forum claimed that the house was its property and took the matter to court, obtaining the eviction order, said Ranck.

Western Cape ANC organiser Mandla Nqwane said the standoff between police and the community started three days ago.

"The community is protesting [against] the removal of this family and they will not go away.

"They [community members] have been here for three days now, some of them go to their houses to eat and then return," he said

Lawyers for the Koopman family will lodge an urgent application to halt the eviction on Thursday afternoon. - Sapa

Fish Hoek residents to march

The Hillview Residents Association will march to the municipal offices in Fish Hoek on Thursday to demand electricity and tenure security.

Residents of the informal settlement, Overcome Heights, claim they were not given access to electricity.

"This despite written promises from the council that they would, in fact, be electrified," the Hillview Residents Association said in a statement.

"About a month ago, the council made it clear that they were backtracking on their promise, and thus residents will march to demand that electricity be delivered, immediately." - Sapa

Hundreds arrested for housing fraud

A total of 923 government officials at national and provincial level have been brought to book by the human settlements department's crackdown on corruption, Minister Tokyo Sexwale said.

"We are hot on the steps of other people in government," Sexwale said at a housing settlement meeting in Boksburg, Johannesburg.

"We cannot allow people to turn the poor into a business. This is morally reprehensible."

He said his department was not just "mouthing slogans", but "giving teeth" to its drive to root out corruption.

Five members of the legal fraternity had also been struck of the roll for housing corruption.

The meeting was held to build a partnerships between the government and private sector in the drive to build sustainable housing settlements in the country.

- Times Live

Sexwale cans R22m show

Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was housing minister when the housing department approved a R22.5-million theatre production - but she is not liable for the overspending.

Sisulu 'not required to explain production's cost'

Her spokesman, Ndivhuwo Mabaya, yesterday passed the buck to accounting officers, saying Sisulu would not comment on the show, A re Ageng Mzansi (Let's build South Africa).

The cost of the show led to the department of human settlements exceeding its marketing budget by 195%.

A reply to a question about the play posed in Parliament yesterday led to the revelation that R22.6-million had been spent on 58 performances of the show.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale yesterday canned the project, to which R4.4m was allocated in this year's budget.

But Mabaya said: "We are not going to comment because there is a communications department within human settlements that deals with such issues.

"I even think that the amount is incorrect. It may have cost R5-million. In our view, how can a minister be liable for overspending when there is a chief finance officer and accounting officer in the communication department who deal with this? The matter must go back to the human settlements department."

The DA is demanding that the auditor-general and public protector investigate the matter.

DA spokesman Butch Steyn said: "We need to identify who is responsible for sanctioning it. The former minister must have known about this expenditure. An investigation by the AG urgently needs to take place.

"That money could have been used to build 420 houses, which are really needed in the country. While the department's total budget for all marketing and advertising was R20.3-million last year, it ended up spending a total of 60-million.

"It is simply inconceivable to think that any government department would see it fit to spend such a huge amount of money on a theatre production."

Human Settlements spokesman Chris Vick said the department, under Tokyo Sexwale's watch, had stopped the production because it focused more on "housing than on human settlements".

Steyn said Sexwale could not be held accountable: "It wasn't during his time. I think that all he can do to redeem the matter is to make sure that it never happens again. I am sending him a letter out of courtesy to tell him that I am asking the AG to investigate the overexpenditure."

- Times Live

Sisulu 'not required to explain production's cost'

Former Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu does not need to explain how a R22 million Sarafina-style theatre production was arranged, her spokesman said.
"To call on the former Minister of housing to explain the costs and the play is sensational and politicking that is not necessary,"said Sisulu's spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya in a statement.

Sisulu was responding to a call by a Democratic Alliance MP for the expenditure over the theatre production to be investigated by the Auditor-General.

A parliamentary reply from Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale revealed on Tuesday that the theatre production, for the human settlements department in the 2008/09 financial year, cost R22,569,656 over three phases of production.

The DA's Butch Steyn said the R22m costs contributed significantly to the enormous 195 percent overspend of the department's advertising budget in 2008/09.

"The Auditor General also needs to look into the award of this tender, since we are dealing with such an enormous overspend ... We need to identify who was responsible for sanctioning it."

Sisulu, as former minister, must have known about the expenditure, he said.

In response Mabaya said that the DA's call for "Sisulu to explain the costs" could be seen as ignorant.

"It would be easy to dismiss this call as ignorance of the DA member of Parliament Mr Steyn on how government works. But we will provide him with free education to avoid the confusion," said Mabaya.

"Every Government Department has a communication section, this communication section has a budget and a programme approved and is their daily function to implement their programmes whether there is a Minister or not.

"It is not the responsibility of the Minister to implement communication campaigns and to approve budgets for those campaigns," he said.

Earlier current Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale's special advisor Chris Vick said the minister was not in a position to comment specifically on the expenditure.

Sexwale had however, promised his management and staff "not to allow expenditure of this sort".

"The production in question is no longer running, and the minister of human settlements has specifically stated to his management and staff: 'This sort of expenditure will not happen on my watch'," Vick said. - Times live

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

'R22m wasted on housing production'

A R22-million Sarafina-style theatre production, arranged under former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu, needs to be investigated by the Auditor-General, a Democratic Alliance MP said on Wednesday.

A parliamentary reply from Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale revealed on Tuesday that the theatre production, for the human settlements department in the 2008/09 financial year, cost R22 569 656 over three phases of production.

"The funds were spent on 58 performances of the play, along with the associated production, logistical, translation and DVD recording costs," Butch Steyn said.

"Also included were costs associated with scripting and 'public mobilisation'. Notably, the cost of R22,5-million is even more than the health department's Sarafina II play, which cost R14-million, or R19-million adjusted for inflation, back in 1996."

Steyn said the human settlements department faced an enormous backlog, including the more than R1-billion needed to fix poorly-built RDP houses.

"How could the ANC government possibly have seen this as appropriate expenditure?" he asked.

The R22m costs contributed significantly to the enormous 195 percent overspend of the department's advertising budget in 2008/09.

"While the department's total budget for all marketing and advertising was R20,3-million last year, it ended up spending a total of R60-million. The R22,5-million spent on the play alone, was enough to exceed the budget.

"This suggests that the play itself has gone significantly over budget, or was possibly not even budgeted for, and I will be submitting further parliamentary questions to further investigate this matter.

"The Auditor General also needs to look into the award of this tender, since we are dealing with such an enormous overspend."

It is "simply inconceivable" that any government department would see it fit to spend such a huge amount of money on a theatre production, Steyn said, adding that R22-million is enough to have built RDP houses for another 420 families on waiting lists.

"It is too little, too late, for the department to say that they've stopped the production. The R22-million has already been wasted. We need to identify who was responsible for sanctioning it."

Sisulu, as former minister, must have known about the expenditure, he said.

"An investigation by the Auditor General urgently needs to take place, and I will also forward this matter to the public protector, as we did in 1996 over the Sarafina II scandal."

Sexwale's special advisor Chris Vick said the minister was not in a position to comment specifically on the expenditure. Sexwale had however, promised his management and staff "not to allow expenditure of this sort".

"The production in question is no longer running, and the minister of human settlements has specifically stated to his management and staff: 'This sort of expenditure will not happen on my watch'," Vick said.

"In addition, the minister has issued a firm directive across all branches in the department for cost-cutting and to ensure, as he put it, that the department gets maximum value for every cent spent. Fiscal discipline is being applied, and applied rigorously."

Vick said expenditure on advertising and marketing in this financial year had been cut to an absolute minimum.

"Thanks to the measures already introduced, and a change in communications focus - making greater use of face-to-face meetings, and working to get editorial coverage rather than buying space - savings of approximately R8-million have already been achieved in this financial year. Further savings are expected.

"It is also a well-known fact that the minister has ensured savings for the public purse in a range of other areas - using his own car, for example, and flying economy class when travelling by air." - Sapa

WC aims to update housing data, admits problems

The Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing on Tuesday announced that they were embarking on a R2.5 million exercise to update their housing demand database.

Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said the province’s housing backlog was estimated at about 450 000, but there was a lack of information around people’s income levels, their access to basic services, whether they lived in an informal settlement, backyard or were overcrowded in a formal structure.

He said there was also a lack of information regarding disabled people who required housing.

He said the housing demand data support programme would essentially support support municipalities outside of the Cape Town Metropole and provide accurate and up-to-date information which would allow for “much better provincial level planning and policy making”.

The provision of such data would greatly assist municipalities in selecting beneficiaries for housing projects and would assist with forward planning and the formulation of strategy and policy.

“The quality of this information has been a concern for all three spheres of government for a number of years.”

He said “unhappiness” which surrounded some housing projects was a result of lack of communication between government and the beneficiary community and so part of the database exercise was to create a transparent housing list which everyone could have access to.

He said they intended to have a supplier in place by mid-December to “undertake this important work”.

The project would consist of two phases, the first of which would entail assessing the current data collection and management systems, while the second phase would be to design a strategy to support municipalities to improve their data collection and recording systems.

Department of Local Government and Housing Chief Director for Planning and Development Jacqui Samson said: “The first phase is estimated to cost around 2.5 million.” Samson said it was planned to be up and running within ten months. - West Cape News

Housing dept spends R60m on ads

Cape Town - The department of human settlements spent R60m on advertising during the 2008/09 financial year, despite its budget of just R20m.

The department said in reply to a Parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance that the R60m included the 52 performances of a face-to-face housing consumer campaign and a housing awards ceremony.

"The costs also include all advertising conceptualisation, production and procurement of media space for public broadcast or publication," the department said in its answer.

DA MP Butch Steyn said South Africa could not afford to continue spending massive amounts of money on advertising campaigns and events "which rarely have a direct impact upon rolling out of services".

"There is simply no excuse that funds are being wasted like this - money that should be spent eradicating the massive service delivery backlogs is instead being spent on self-congratulatory public relations campaigns and talk shops," Steyn said.

'Could have been spent on RDP houses'

A reply to a separate question revealed that the department spent R9.6m on conferences, imbizos and seminars for the period January 1 2006 to September 1 2009, and R883 000 on travel costs for the functions.

Particularly concerning is the fact that R23.4m was spent on one particular campaign which, according to the reply, was intended to "continue to profile the housing programmes, developments, achievements and challenges to beneficiaries and the general public," Steyn said.

"It is very difficult to see how R23m could be justified on this kind of self-indulgent marketing.

"This was not the only expenditure item of concern. One awards ceremony cost the department R1.8m to organise and host, another R600 000 for accommodation and transport, and another R930 000 to advertise.

"In other words, it set the public purse back R3.3m.

"This R9.6m, added to the R60m spent on advertising, could have built RDP houses for another 6 500 South Africans," Steyn said.

- SAPA

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Police angered by 'community justice'

Police fear "bundu courts" have been revived, claiming the lives of four suspected criminals at the hands of vigilantes in the community.

Over the weekend there were three incidences in Khayelitsha where young men were stoned to death and in Tygerdal, Goodwood, a man was beaten to death. In all the cases, members of the community are believed to have taken the law into their own hands.

Khayelitsha police station commander Aaron Mlenga decried the reappearance of the "bundu courts", first established in the struggle against apartheid to deal with collaborators: "The community is requested to come forward with information to assist the police in the apprehension of these groupings. We need to rid our area of vigilante groups and make our streets safe for our children again."

On Friday morning, the body of a man believed to be in his late 20s was discovered next to a container, used to store refuse, next to Lansdowne Road, adjacent to the RR-section in Site B, Khayelitsha.

When the Cape Times visited the area last night few people were willing to talk but one young woman said the man's crime was believed to have been attempted murder at the nearby BM-section.

"The man lived in Makhaza (Khayelitsha) and his crime was that he had set alight another man's wife. A group of residents from BM-Section, hearing about the incidence which happened on Thursday chased after him and assaulted him with all sorts of weapons," said the woman.

The man's limp body was dragged down Lansdowne Road to RR-Section, across the road from the Mew Hall and where he was struck with further blows to his head.

"I could see that he was still alive when the mob brought him here, he managed to open his eyes. But one man struck a heavy blow to his head and that's when he seemed dead. He was no longer breathing," said the woman.

Khayelitsha police spokesperson Mthokozisi Gama said: "We are still investigating but so far we have managed to arrest three suspects for the different incidents aged 52, 37 and 48. They will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's court soon,"

He added police would maintain a zero tolerance approach against the community members because all they were doing was contributing to crime. - Cape Times

Houses standing empty as bank admits some N2 Gateway units are difficult to sell

MONTHS after being completed, gap houses which form part of the N2 Gateway in Langa remain unsold as the bank financing the project admits affordability is a factor.

First National Bank spokesperson Busi Mngomezulu said some of the units priced at just under R600 000 had been hard to sell.

All 43 units at the show village are empty although Mngomezulu said 33 had been sold to approved buyers.

The bank had initially planned to build 300 units at the N2 Gateway even as critics claimed houses there would never be affordable to families who had previously lived at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, despite claims to the contrary from Thubelisha Homes and previous housing officials.

Further development at the site has been delayed by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale’s halting of all planned evictions of remaining shack dwellers in the area.

The first residents are expected to move into the area in January.

Mngomezulu said the delay was due to the bank’s awaiting the opening of the sectional title register.

Most of the units sold had been priced below R350 000, the cheapest at R’ 000.

To buy the remaining units, prospective owners have to earn between R11 700 and R20 000 a month as either part of a single or joint income, be creditworthy and have enough money left at the end of the month for living expenses.

One prominent critic of the housing project and the government’s handling of the Joe Slovo evictions and subsequent plans for the site, Emeritus Professor Martin Legassick, said people living there had been opposed to the development of gap houses.

“They should be knocked down and in their stead BNG (breaking new ground) houses would have to be built. They were built illegally while court action was under way to determine the legality of the N2 Gateway development.”

Admitting demolition would be extreme, Legassick said empty gap houses could be converted into medium-density units.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Joe Slovo Task Team, Sifiso Mapasa, said not a single family from the informal settlement, moved to make way for the N2 Gateway, had been accommodated at newly completed BNG houses.

“It was supposed to be a 70/30 split (the lesser coming from Joe Slovo) but the Housing Development Agency is repeating bad practices from the first phase of the N2 Gateway,” said Mapasa. - Cape Times

Monday, November 23, 2009

Visiting Blikkiesdorp risky for politicians

Politicians planning to visit Blikkiesdorp, the temporary relocation settlement in Delft, should first let the SAPS know for safety reasons, the area's police commissioner has warned.

Issuing the warning, Commissioner Basil Vellai said the area was "a housing time-bomb" that threatened to explode and criminals were preying on the impoverished residents of Blikkiesdorp.

He said the thousands of people living "in frustration" in the crime-ridden community were approaching boiling point.

'It's like a housing time-bomb. If housing isn't sorted out, there'll be big problems.'
But Mayor Dan Plato, who was slapped by an angry woman when he visited the area last week, says he is "happy" with Blikkiesdorp - to the extent that it may be extended and one or two "similar informal areas" created.

Tomorrow, at least 2 000 people are planning to march to the Cape Town Civic Centre to speak to him about their living conditions.

During his visit, angry residents also swore at Plato after he dismissed their complaints about inhuman conditions, saying the settlement was "among the best".

Although the wood-and-iron structures provided may be better than shacks, Vellai said Blikkiesdorp was "a housing time-bomb" and plagued by crime.

"Drug merchants from all over are coming into the area," he said.

"They're targeting the poor people living there saying, 'If you stash my drugs (in your home), I'll pay you'. Or they're forcing the people out (of the temporary homes).

"There's housebreaking, clothes are stolen straight off washing lines. Because there are no garages, cars are broken into. Strangers and criminal elements are moving in and benefiting from Blikkiesdorp. Gangsters are capitalising on it."

At weekends, alcohol and drug abuse became a problem in Blikkiesdorp, and this was when children were often left unattended, Vellai said.

Domestic violence was also common in Blikkiesdorp, and in eight months three murders had been reported there.

Vellai said the area was barren.

"People there are poor and living in frustration. It's getting to them. When it's 29 or 30 degrees Celsius outside, those homes are boiling inside."

People from other other parts of Cape Town were living there, as were people displaced by the xenophobic violence last year. Although issues related to xenophobia had cropped up, they had been sorted out before any violence occurred, Vellai said.

About 1 452 families are staying in Blikkiesdorp. There are 215 more who have yet to be accommodated.

The number of people in Blikkiesdorp was growing, Vellai said.

"It's like a housing time-bomb. If housing isn't sorted out, there'll be big problems."

Raids were frequently carried out and a patrol van was always in the vicinity.

A neighbourhood watch had been set up, but some of its members had been threatened for giving the police information, Vellai said.

Plato said yesterday there were no service delivery problems in Blikkiesdorp and that he was "happy" with the area.

He said the social problems experienced there were the same as in other areas.

"It's a case of because council has put (the residents) there, we must be responsible for the social problems."

Plato said the media were using Blikkiesdorp as "a stick to hit council".

"The dramatic story, the untold story of Blikkiesdorp, goes unnoticed. When a number of people come up and say 'Dan Plato, thank you'. When you look at where most of them are coming from, we give them at least something.

"Where were the media when I was knee-deep in water, walking in my suit in Mfuleni?"

People were waiting to move into temporary relocation areas. If people were unhappy in Blikkiesdorp they could "go find something better".

- Cape Times

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Housing policy isn't working

The Premier of the Western Cape says the current model has proved unsustainable

This week saw the completion of a housing quality audit conducted by the National Department of Human Settlements. It found that the quality of houses built by the state was so poor that R1.3 billion is needed for repairs.

To put this into perspective, this amount is a full 10% of this year's national housing adjustment budget - just shy of the R1,58 billion of housing funds allocated to the Western Cape.

Minister Tokyo Sexwale has expressed anger, and justifiably so: This R1.3 billion could have been used to build around 13,000 new houses for people in need. It means that beneficiaries who have already received their full R100,000 subsidy will receive an additional significant allocation to make their houses habitable.

Minister Sexwale's admission of what is ultimately a failure of his department is refreshing and we commend him for it. So too is his tough stance against the perpetrators and his commitment to rectify the situation. It is indeed a national shame - as he put it - that billions need to be spent on rectification at the expense of new housing opportunities.

But Minster Sexwale's candid approach should not stop at the quality of houses being built by the state. It is time for us all to take a long, hard look at the way the state delivers housing and ask: is it fair? Is it affordable? Is it sustainable? Is the current approach achieving (or undermining) the policy's objectives?

An honest assessment would show that national housing policy isn't working.
When former Housing Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, unveiled the ‘Breaking New Ground' policy in 2004, she announced that its aim was to eradicate shack settlements by 2014. In practice, however, the policy is leading to an increase in the number of unserviced shack settlements, across the country.

This is happening for three main reasons:

1) The demand for free, state-sponsored housing greatly outstrips the supply and this mismatch is growing. This is the result of natural population growth, escalating urbanisation, and the growing influx of asylum seekers. The assumption that a free house is a right has become entrenched -- and the number of people claiming this "right" is growing exponentially.

2) Stringent laws regulating planning and land use make it impossible to keep ahead of the demand for housing land. The 3-year long process required to release land for housing encourages land invasions. The result is that unserviced shack settlements mushroom, complicating the housing delivery process further, and setting up conflicts between shack dwellers and back-yard dwellers for access to housing opportunities.

3) Beneficiaries of free housing increasingly regard their house as a potential income source rather than a place to live. More and more are moving out of their houses, back into a shack, and letting (or selling) their house at a fraction of its value to a person who does not qualify for a free house. The result is that shack settlements continue to grow while state subsidies, intended to benefit the very poor, end up subsidising the emerging middle class. Even though this practice is illegal, it is very difficult to monitor. This practice further entrenches the notion that a "free" house is a "right" for everyone, not just the indigent.

Given this situation, it is not surprising that the backlog is growing. The Department of Human Settlements has said that in three years time, R102 billion will be required to clear the housing backlog, a figure which will more than double to R253 billion in 2016. (This is nearly 20 times the entire current annual housing budget)

This is clearly unsustainable. We have to re-think our approach to housing policy by asking a few fundamental questions, starting from the beginning.

1) How much of the national budget should South Africa spend on housing -- given all the competing priorities in a developing country?

South Africa's national budget for ‘housing and community amenities' is currentlyR73.2 billion (8.7% of the national budget, of which around R13 billion is distributed to provinces for housing subsidies). In a developing country, with only 5 million registered personal taxpayers, this is about as much as the state can spend on housing, given the pressing competing priorities.

2) Who should benefit from this money? Should we spread this amount as equitably as possible, thus doing a little for many people, or should we rather do a lot for a few?

Our current housing policy opts for the latter. Each RDP house costs about R100,000. This means, in the Western Cape for example, the R1.6-billion Rand allocated to housing provides around 16,000 RDP homes every year (if enough land can be made available).

This is a tiny fraction of the estimated backlog in the Western Cape of 500,000 houses. And this backlog is growing. It is estimated that, at the current rate of delivery, the backlog in 2040 will be at around 800,000. In other words, the waiting list in the province is growing by 10,000 families per annum, despite government spending all of its housing allocation each year.

So, under the current policy we are, in fact, going backwards. The policy of providing a lot for a few is making the backlog grow.
To be fair, national government policy has recognised these problems, and has diversified its strategy in an attempt to address them. There are now various policy options and instruments designed to widen the "choices" offered through national housing policy.

The alternatives include:

1.) Site and Service: The provision of a serviced site (with water, sewage, electricity and road access) requires the beneficiary to build a dwelling and improve it incrementally.

2.) In Situ upgrading, which focuses on upgrading informal settlements, where they are, providing services and enabling families incrementally to upgrade their shacks.

3) Social housing (often in the form of flats). These are state subsidised but require beneficiaries to pay rent in order make the economic model replicable and sustainable.

All of these steps seek to address the intractable problems of providing housing for the poor. They are still bedevilled by two factors.

The first is the amount of land required to implement the RDP, the site and service, and the in-situ upgrading options. They are premised on the notion of a single dwelling on a separate site. This leads to low-density urban sprawl with serious consequences ranging from the environment to the viability of public transport.

The second factor undermining the diversified approach to housing is the entrenched expectation that a free, formal house on a separate plot is a right. People resist the option of a "flat" (especially if they have to pay rent for it) when other people are getting a free house. It does not always help to explain to beneficiaries that it costs three times as much to construct a flat than to build an RDP house on a separate site. They reject these explanations because they experience what sociologists call "relative deprivation". They believe they are being deprived of a benefit that others are getting. And this often leads to refusal to pay rents, meaning that the building of flats grinds to a halt because the process is unsustainable.

"Relative deprivation" also often leads to "service delivery protests". Such protests are sometimes about demands and expectations that cannot be met. An extreme example of such a protest was the one where people "demanded" an extra room on their free RDP houses. Another was the protest of some shack-dwellers in Masiphumelele, who refuse to accept the offer of a highly subsidised flat (combining both the R100,000 state subsidy as well as generous donor funding). The protesters are deliberately blocking the development because they are demanding an individual house on a separate site.

While some continue to make unmeetable demands, many others live in absolute deprivation and do not even get the most basic services.

Figures released recently by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs show just how many people are still without access even to basic services, let alone a house: 2.5 million (19.3%) households do not have access to running water, 3.4 million (27.3%) households are without electricity and 4.2million (32.6%) households do not have access to basic sanitation.

Access to clean water, sanitation and electricity is the first step on the road to dignity. Government policy should increasingly focus on meeting these basic needs.

We must be honest that housing policy is notoriously complex terrain. There are no easy answers and there are no quick wins. We must start by getting some of the basics right, such as speeding up the release of land for housing, cutting the red tape that delays delivery, tackling corruption and ensuring that the houses built are of the requisite standard.

We must also recognise that the current model of a free house on a free-standing plot is unsustainable. Once we acknowledge this, it is possible to think of alternatives that are fairer, more equitable and more affordable. A combination of fresh thinking, bold policy decisions and good implementation is required to enable the state to play the appropriate role in providing opportunities for people to lift themselves out of poverty. We are committed to working together with all spheres of government and all political parties, to find appropriate solutions to this most complex of public policy challenges.

- Politicsweb

Friday, November 20, 2009

Mayor beefs up security detail for service delivery walkabout

A day after being smacked by an angry resident during a surprise visit to troubled Blikkiesdorp, Mayor Dan Plato was again meeting residents in an impoverished corner of Cape Town, but this time with a beefed-up security detail.

Instead of jeers, his visit to areas in Philippi was greeted with indifference.

And despite this reporter witnessing the physical assault on him on Wednesday, Plato denied on Thursday he was ever "klapped" and said instead it was one of his bodyguards who had been smacked by a woman.

To a complaint from community leaders at a Brown's Farm hall that water had been switched off to some residents in the developed area of Brown's Farm, Plato said: "The city council does not switch off water, once people get their pink slips their water is put on a trickle system."

- Cape Times

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Woman smacks mayor

On a surprise visit to the Blikkiesdorp transition camp in Delft, Mayor Dan Plato was smacked, cursed, sworn at and branded a liar by long-suffering, angry residents.

This after Plato angered them by dismissing their complaints of inhuman conditions by claiming it was "amongst the best" settlements.

He denounced some residents for "unfaithfulness and ungratefulness".

Attempting to enter a row of corrugated steel huts, Plato was stopped by a group of women who barricaded the entrance.

In an angry confrontation Plato was smacked by an incensed woman as his bodyguards intervened to get her off him.

The tussel lasted for a short while. Plato looked shocked and hurt but did not retaliate.

- Cape Argus, Times & IOL

Constitutional Court to make service delivery case judgement

The Constitutional Court will rule whether the government is obliged to provide sanitation and lighting to communities, even if they live in an informal settlement, when it sits in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The Harry Gwala informal settlement in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, believe it is entitled to the basics of taps and water, sanitation and lighting, in terms of the constitution.

The settlement is on the eastern edge of Wattville, Benoni, on the farm Rietfontein.

The settlers approached the High Court in Johannesburg for an order that the municipality install communal water taps, temporary sanitation facilities, refuse removal facilitation and high-mast lighting in key areas.

This, pending a decision by the local government and housing MEC on whether it should be upgraded to a formal township.

In August 2006, the municipality submitted a proposal for the township's upgrading to the MEC, but a decision has not yet been made.

The applicants argued in the High Court that the municipality was obliged, in terms of its statutory obligations, to provide the settlement with the basic services demanded.

The high court found that chapter 12 of the housing code did not apply because the emergency housing requirements, as defined in the chapter, were not present.

It furthermore held that chapter 13 of the housing code was only of application once a decision had been taken to upgrade an informal settlement.

The municipality accepted the obligation to provide communal water taps, which the court ordered.

The court dismissed the claim for sanitation services and high mast lighting.

The applicants contend that the high court failed to sufficiently recognise several constitutional and statutory provisions, but more specifically the right to adequate housing, provided for in section 26 of the constitution.

The MEC, the national minister of human settlements and the director-general of the national department of human settlements were joined in the matter.

The municipality contends that the constitutional and statutory provisions relied on by the applicants do not provide for an automatic right of every person, regardless of the circumstances, to receive the services demanded.

As far as sanitation is concerned, it states that it is able to provide one chemical toilet per 10 families.

In relation to high mast lighting, it submits that supply is dependent on permission being granted to connect to the Eskom grid, and that Eskom will not likely relax its policy that electricity not be provided to an area not proclaimed a formal township.

The MEC, the minister and director general said they would supplement the funds of the municipality in order to provide one chemical toilet per four households in the settlement.

They stress that this relief should not have general application and be restricted to the settlement only, as the respondents are not in a position to extend this solution to all similarly placed informal settlements.

They submit that this matter is unusual by reason of the inordinate delay in finalising the application for the upgrading of the settlement. - Business Report

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Delivery protests peak in 2009

There has been a peak in service delivery protests this year, with Gauteng, the Western Cape, the North West and Mpumalanga the worst affected, a municipal hotspot monitor has found.

"By the end of October 2009, 83 major protests have been recorded," said Municipal IQ which collects the monitoring data and intelligence.

"This accounts for 44% of major protests recorded between 2004 and the end of October 2009," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The monitor identified where service delivery protests took place since 2004, profiling the municipalities affected (down to the ward level) and their level of development compared to other municipalities, it said.

Expectations of work-seekers

The monitor found that almost half the protests occurred in metropolitan areas.

Protests took place in wards with higher unemployment rates than the both the municipal and national average, and those with worse access to services than municipal, but not national, average.

"These findings suggest that municipalities experiencing in-migration of work-seekers whose expectations are not met are the most susceptible to service delivery protests," it said.

This trend had probably been tipped by the recession and growing issues of inequality, especially where allegations of municipal maladministration and corruption fuelled community frustration.

"It is hoped that this assessment will highlight both successes and failures in the work of municipalities and in so doing, assist to improve local government delivery," Municipal IQ said. - SAPA

New digital system to improve service delivery - Zille

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday said corrupt and non-performing officials would be closely monitored in the province.

The premier launched an IT-based Dashboard Management System on Tuesday, which would allow her to keep tabs on progress made on development projects in the Western Cape.

Zille said she believed the new monitoring system would also help in identifying and tracking delays and problems on the projects.

She said the technology would also allow her and her MECs to monitor service delivery performance of various government departments.

The premier said she hoped to involve the community in future.

“Ultimately we’re hoping to open this to the public. Especially where we’ve got major public projects, such as... housing delivery projects. So the public can measure the progress of any project and see where we are in that process, and also give us feedback around what is working and what isn’t,” said Zille.

- Eyewitness News

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Bishopscourt land deal challenged

A prominent Cape Town attorney is challenging a land restitution deal in the upmarket suburb of Bishopscourt.

The deal followed claims by former residents and their descendants of Protea Village, a coloured neighbourhood on the edge of Kirstenbosch, that was cleared in the apartheid era.

Attorney William Booth, a Bishopscourt resident, has asked the Land Claims Court to nullify an agreement which has already been signed by the minister of land affairs.

Forty-six of the Protea Village claimants have opted for financial compensation, of R17 500 each, but the remaining 86 want to be allowed to go back to live in the area.

The Land Claims Commission plans to settle most of them on Erf 242, owned by the state.

The rest are to be housed on Erf 212, a public open space known as the arboretum, which the City of Cape Town has apparently promised to hand over to the commission free of charge.

Booth, who lives in Winchester Avenue bordering on Erf 212, is supported in his challenge by a trust and a company which have properties in Bishopscourt Drive.

He said in papers that there was no indication that any of the claimants seeking restoration had ever lived on Erf 212. There had been a host of irregularities in the way the deal was handled, he said.

The minister of land affairs and the Western Cape land claims commissioner had acted unreasonably and beyond their powers, failed to apply their minds properly, and erred in law.

Booth said he and his co-applicants did not oppose the Protea Village land claim in principle, and had no objection to the claimants being restored to the Bishopscourt/Fernwood area.

However, the arboretum was a valuable public open space and had long been used as a recreational area by residents.

"It should remain as such an area, for the benefit of all surrounding residents, including any Protea Village claimants restored to Erf 242," he said. Erf 212 was by any realistic estimate worth "well over R70-million".

Senior counsel for the minister and commissioner Michael Donen said in heads of argument that following a public participation process, that the local residents' associations had supported the claim and had no objection to housing on Erf 212.

Booth and the other applicants "therefore stand alone in obstructing a constitutionally endorsed resolution", he said.

Donen said Protea Village residents had drawn water from a spring on Erf 21.

Argument in the matter began in the Land Claims Court in Cape Town yesterday.

- Cape Times

R1.3bn needed to rebuild badly constructed houses

IT would cost R1.3bn to rebuild badly constructed houses provided under the government’s housing programme, according to Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

“It’s a national shame. This is money down the drain. It is money that should have been spent on new houses,” Sexwale said during a visit to the Alphendale community in East London, where 339 poorly constructed houses have to be rebuilt. He laid the blame for the poor service delivery on corruption by construction companies and government officials.

“Wrong things are being done in the name of government,” he said.

“These are people we have entrusted with government jobs and government contracts, they are supposed to serve the people, but they are thieves. If you are corrupt, get out,” he said.

“We want to know who built these houses. We need to ask serious questions and bring people to book. We are going to fix the problem, but we are also going to fix the people who caused the problem.” “Where we are given knowledge and information you can trust us, we will act.” Sexwale introduced a National Audit Task Team charged with investigating irregularities in the housing system. It is led by Special Investigations Unit (SIU) head Willie Hofmeyr and a senior representative of the Auditor General’s office.

“We are working with the SIU because they have the power to investigate, but they also have the power to institute criminal and civil action,” Sexwale explained.

“But they don’t work alone. They are also working with the office of the Auditor General, which is in charge of looking at all our books, to check how we spend money.” The team is already investigating 20 projects, 1 of which is Alphendale.

- BusinessDay - News Worth Knowing

Housing delivery won’t happen overnight - Madikizela

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela says his department has been trying to clean up the mess as left behind by Thubelisha Homes.

Thubelisha Homes were contracted by government to manage the N2 Gateway Project.

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, two months ago found glaring defects in the quality of the homes that were built by Thubelisha.

The provincial government, under the leadership of the Democratic Alliance, has since restarted the project which will be run by the Housing Development Agency.

Madikizela said residents would have to be patient because they were in a process of picking up the pieces Thubelisha left behind.

“In every community that I go to, it’s a message that I preach because I’m also not the kind of person who likes to make promises because I know that this will take a while. It’s not going to be solved overnight. We would really like to appeal to the community to be patient,” said Madikizela.

- Eyewitness News

Zille addressing housing concerns in Brooklyn

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille says social housing developments are crucial to addressing the province’s housing backlog.

She was speaking at the sod-turning ceremony for a new social housing initiative in Brooklyn.

The project will comprise of 219 housing units aimed at low income earners.

The R75m Social Housing Project in Brooklyn is a collaboration between all three spheres of government and social development partners.

Zille said the province could not continue to build low density housing units that took up a lot of land.

She said one of the potential downfalls of such schemes was the existing culture of entitlement to free housing with many beneficiaries unwilling to pay even a minimal rental.

- Eyewitness News

Cape Town gets R75m housing boost

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said on Monday the province needed to partner with private institutions more often in order to deliver cost effective housing.

The City of Cape Town, Communicare and the national and provincial housing departments launched a R75 million social housing project in Brooklyn on Monday.

The city and the province contributed R22 million to the project, while Communicare and a Dutch company also donated money.

Once the project is completed, 219 units would be rented out to low income earners.

Madikizela said social housing amounted to more than just building homes.

“Social housing also contributes to our goal of developing sustainable human settlements that are spatially, socially and economically integrated into our city,” said Madikizela - Eyewitness News

Monday, November 16, 2009

Blikkiesdorp residents selling homes for R300

The Western Cape Department of Housing on Sunday said it was investigating allegations that some Blikkiesdorp residents were selling their allocated structures to residents from other areas.

The allegations emerged last week while Premier Helen Zille was visiting the temporary relocation area.

Some residents claimed there was widespread corruption in the camp, with the buying and selling of government allocated houses taking place on a regular basis.

Blikkiesdorp community leader Bernadine de Kock said one woman, who was subsequently arrested, had sold her structure to another resident for R300.

De Kock confirmed the rumours of the illegal house sales residents were true.

Meanwhile, Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said his department was aware of the allegations.

“There is a list of those particular individuals that was sent to us," said Madikizela.

- Eyewitness News

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Masipumulele Fire


Lookout Hill - Mamela Minister

In the last few months, we have seen an increase in the number of service delivery protests across the country, including here in Cape Town. People are getting frustrated and this is understandable.

However, I dont believe that frustration arises only out of the pace of service delivery and when it comes to my portfolio, the provision of housing opportunities. I believe that a very significant factor in that frustration is the lack of information people have about what the government is doing to address this issue, as well as the challenges we face in doing so. We as government need to improve our communication and engagement with the people we serve.

If people were given more platforms to engage with the government, they may be less inclined to take to the streets and damage property. That is the rationale behind this programme. We need to pre-empt riots over housing and service delivery by giving people more channels with which to engage with me and my department.

Therefore, I will be undertaking a road show to visit communities across the province to share my vision and my goals for addressing the housing needs of the people of our province and to listen to some of the concerns that people have about the way we are addressing this challenge.

I will also be making myself available to participate in call-in shows on community radio stations across the province, where people will be able to call in and direct questions to me and senior officials in my department. My goal is to give as many people as possible the opportunity to engage with us, and to hear about our plans and programmes to meet their needs.

Enquiries: Zalisile Mbali Cell: 084 558 9989

Issued 12 November 2009 by:
Department of Local Government and Housing, Western Cape Provincial Government

Source: Western Cape Provincial Government

N2 Gateway to go ahead: Zille

Premier Helen Zille says the province is faced with an "extraordinary" housing waiting list, however government is committed to easing the 400 000 backlog in the Western Cape. Speaking to VOC on Friday, the Premier reassured that construction on the N2 Gateway project will resume in the next few months, after being marred by controversy of disorder and mismanagement during the previous provincial administration.

This comes after the Premier visited residents of Blikkiesdorp near Delft this week, where concerns were raised about housing in the area. Zille said whilst government understands the frustration of residents, the growing backlog has made it difficult for the province to keep up with the pace of housing delivery.

"There is no government that I am aware of, anywhere in the world that gives away so many free houses. And in South Africa, the notion that the state gives you a house has become entrenched, which is why more and more people turn government for housing. This has resulted in the current housing backlog of 400 000 in the province," she said.

"That is an extraordinary number and I do not know of any similar situation anywhere in the world. We are making good progress though in moving towards ensuring that everyone has a housing opportunity on a piece of land with proper services. However, it is impossible to keep up with the flow of people requiring housing."

Waiting list

Zille said the province worked on a "first come first serve" basis, in which those on the top of the housing waiting list would be prioritized. However, the ever-increasing list required a "change of ratio", she added. In her engagement with Blikkiesdorp residents, Zille said she had recorded names and details of those who claim they have been on the waiting list for years and these were verified. This has prompted her to move the process forward.

The provincial department of housing plan to build homes in The Hague near Delft which will commence in the next four to five months. Zille said the department would also be continuing construction on the N2 Gateway Project after rescuing private construction company Thubelisha Homes from bankruptcy, after "the mess created by the previous administration."

The Auditor General Report on the project found mismanagement and widespread deficiencies in the planning, accounting, design, construction, and execution of the housing development project. Western Cape Housing MEC, Bonginkosi Madikizela has admitted to serious defects in the N2 Gateway Phase 1 Flats. In September, the UN affiliated Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) published a significant report criticizing the N2 Gateway Project for its "housing rights violations" and for its "lack of consultation with poor residents" affected by the project.

"We are trying to get money paid that was owed to Thubelisha Homes. The company did not sign any contracts and the state could not pay it any money. We are sorting this out step by step and we should resume building in the next few months," she reassured. - VOC


The report - N2 Gateway Project: Housing Rights Violations as ‘Development’ in South Africa - can be Downloaded here

Friday, November 13, 2009

Human Settlements and Sea Kay lock horns

The national Department of Human Settlements has thrown down the gauntlet to listed mass affordable housing construction company Sea Kay Holdings over its multimillion-rand claim for work done at the N2 Gateway housing project in Cape Town.

The dispute is threatening to delay further stages of the project and increase costs.

Chris Vick, a special adviser to Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale, said yesterday the department was impervious to attempts by the Ibuyile Development Consortium to mobilise public pressure for its court action for work undertaken on the N2 Gateway project.

Vick would not comment further because the matter was sub judice, but confirmed instructing state attorneys to "vigorously defend the court action as there is clearly no grounds upon which the claim is based".

However, Gerry Holtzhausen, the executive director of Sea Kay, the controlling and managing member of Ibuyile, said a draft agreement from the Western Cape government proposing settling the dispute through mediation or arbitration had been received.

Holtzhausen said the draft agreement ceded the claim against Thubelisha Homes to the Western Cape provincial government.

The section 21 company, set up by the department to facilitate housing projects, was declared technically insolvent earlier this year following the National Treasury's refusal to approve its full funding requirements.

Earlier this week, Holtzhausen confirmed that a multimillion-rand claim for payment was lodged by Ibuyile in the Western Cape High Court against the government for work undertaken on the N2 Gateway project and a claim of R100 million related to 14 housing projects in Gauteng was being prepared.

Holtzhausen said Sea Kay still had a substantial insurance claim outstanding for almost two years for damage caused on the N2 Gateway project. He stressed that the company tried to avoid court action because it was expensive.

A settlement was important to the province because it could unlock 1 800 units that Ibuyile still had to build, he said.

- Business Report

Thursday, November 12, 2009

One of Tokyo's jets on standby

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale had put one of his private jets on standby for his hospitalised deputy, Zou Kota-Fredericks, his office said on Thursday.

Kota-Fredericks was seriously injured in a head-on collision 20km from Leeu-Gamka near Beaufort West on November 1.

Sexwale's special advisor Chris Vick said her condition had improved slightly since the accident, but she remains in the intensive care unit.

Sexwale, who would visit her later on Thursday, hoped she would soon be well enough to be moved to Cape Town, so she could be closer to her family.

Sexwale had put "one of his private jets" on standby should it be necessary to airlift her closer to home. - News24

Housing delivery won’t happen overnight - Zille

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has promised that construction on the N2 Gateway project will resume in the next few months.

She addressed residents of Blikkiesdorp, near Delft, on Wednesday after they had bombarded her with their housing concerns.

Zille accepted an invitation from the residents, under the impression that they wanted to address education issues.

Some residents complained they have been on the housing waiting list for more than 10 years.

Zille promised the province’s housing allocation process would be transparent.

Residents accused the mayor of being like her political counterparts, the ANC, and that she would not bring about any change in their lives.

Zille was adamant however that something would be done, but that it would take time.

“There are huge numbers of people waiting, and we have to do it in a proper way and in a sustainable way.” - Eyewitness News

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Zille ambushed with housing woes

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has assured Blikkiesdorp residents housing allocation in the province will be transparent.

She added people living in the temporary relocation area near Delft should not expect to get homes when they demanded.

Zille was under the impression her visit was to discuss education but residents ambushed her with questions on housing.

Residents said they felt they had been dumped and forgotten in Blikkiesdorp.

Zille assured them she would investigate the housing waiting list to provide the residents with answers. - Eyewitness News

Low cost housing company sues government over slow payments

Sea Kay Holdings has turned to the courts for assistance because of slow and delayed government payments. (from IOL)

A multimillion-rand claim for payment has already been lodged by the Sea Kay-led Ibuyile Development Consortium in the Western Cape High Court against the government for work undertaken in the N2 Gateway project.

Gerry Holtzhausen, an executive director of the listed affordable mass housing construction company, said yesterday that documents were also being prepared for a claim of up to R100 million related to 14 housing projects in Gauteng. It is expected to be lodged at the South Gauteng High Court by next week.

Holtzhausen said Sea Kay's board had to resort to court action in terms of its fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"It's a good business if only government paid," he said.

Sea Kay has also requested an urgent meeting with Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale in an attempt to resolve the disputes outside court.

Holtzhausen said an expert that it had appointed to assess its N2 Gateway project claim had arrived at an amount of just over R133m, including interest, that was claimable.

There had been a response to its Western Cape court action involving a proposed mediation process to prove its two-year-old claim. A settlement was the key to unlocking the door to it resuming work on the project.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Ministry of Human Settlements prefer Hotels

Tokyo Sexwale's ministry of human settlements spent an average of R72,000 a day over 103 days on wining, dining and hotels...
In the past seven months Sexwale, his deputy Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks, the director-general, Itumeleng Kotsoane, and his deputy spent more than R7.4-million on hotel accommodation, restaurants and travel.

Between April 2008 and October 20 this year, R59-million was spent by the department.

This emerged in a written parliamentary response to questions posed by the DA.

In the past seven months, Kotsoane splurged close to R30,000 in restaurants and more than R1-million on travel, while his deputy spent R800,000 on travel.

The department of public works spent R132-million in one financial year on travel, hotel accommodation and restaurants.

Spokesman Lucky Mochalibane said the department had "remained within the budget under goods and services".

Between April and October this year, more than R8-million was spent on hotel accommodation and restaurants, while R24-million was spent on travel. - Times Live

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Remember Remember the 5th of November



Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot...

Union backs Sexwale on housing call

The Northern Cape branch of the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Wednesday that it supported the demolition of poorly-built, low-cost government houses as suggested by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

"It is indeed a shame and an insult to our people to allow them to stay in brick shacks under the guise of service delivery," the Northern Cape Cosatu branch said in a statement.

"However, we want to take the call further and call for a forensic investigation of all the shoddy projects in the province so that the culprits, both in construction and in government, are brought to book."

It said that for "every corrupt government official there is a corrupt businessman and vice versa" so both must be harshly dealt with.

People did not just want shelter, they wanted decent houses and badly built houses should be removed from the statistics of service delivery as they did not belong there.

"In fact we need to have statistics of the low quality houses that they built for our people before they ran away to form the Congress of the People," it said, referring to an ANC breakaway group.

It said contractors should not be paid in full until projects were completed and thoroughly inspected.

Cosatu said it was during the term of former housing MEC Pakes Dikgetsi that the houses were built with below-standard bricks.

"When we made noise and raised concerns about the poor workmanship at that point, he was the one who jumped to the defence of those projects," Cosatu said of Dikgetsi, who joined COPE in January.

Sexwale said on Tuesday that in the Northern and Eastern Cape alone, 3,000 houses would have to be destroyed as a result of "shoddy" workmanship.
Dikgetsi told OFM radio that this was due to poor monitoring. - Sapa

Sexwale declares war on housing crooks & forgets N2 Gateway

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has declared war on crooked housing contractors and public servants, lawyers and estate agents responsible for corruption, fraud and backlogs in housing delivery.

Sexwale wants to sue shoddy contractors who have built substandard housing with government tenders and force others to finish housing projects they have abandoned.

He said in Pretoria yesterday that he would name and shame all the crooks involved in corrupt activities, whether they be in national, provincial or local government departments or in the private sector.

Sexwale announced an extensive national housing audit to investigate, among other things: nepotism in government departments; sloppy construction work that has left thousands of houses in ruins; and the continuous awarding of government contracts to the same shoddy contractors.

He noted that the government had built 2,8 million RDP houses since 1994, yet informal settlements still proliferated.

The audit will be led by Special Investigations Unit head Willie Hofmeyr, of the National Prosecuting Authority, and supported by the Auditor-General's office, all provincial government departments, Parliament's standing committee on public accounts and the portfolio committee on human settlements.

The audit would focus on obstacles that affected housing delivery, including fraud, corruption, absentee contractors, unfinished "ghost" houses, and corruption related to housing waiting lists, Sexwale said.

Public servants guilty of criminal activities would be sacked. The SIU had already recovered more than R20-million from 800 public servants who had illegally benefited from housing subsidies.

"We can assure those who are involved in dodgy deals that there will be no place to hide. We are dealing with public money. Heads are going to roll. There are rotten people who have taken advantage of the public sector, and that way public finances get squandered."

Sexwale said "800 government officials have benefited illegally from government houses which should have gone to the poor.

"They are not the right beneficiaries and they have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. At local government level there are 120 people who have been caught."

Although Sexwale is yet to complete his nationwide fact-finding mission on housing delivery, he said he had identified nearly 3,000 RDP houses - built in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal in the past 18 months - that had to be demolished because of inferior workmanship. At least R800m would be ploughed into rebuilding the houses.

"A sum of R300-million-plus has been budgeted just to rectify homes in the Eastern Cape, and in KZN close to R500-million.

"We have budgets for these things, but I'd rather have budgets to build new houses than close to a billion to rectify shoddy workmanship where people have been taking chances exploiting public money."

He said the audit would identify what actions to take.

"Crooks have seen a quick buck in this huge campaign of the government. You are talking about houses that are cracking within six months."

"Those who have done good work, we congratulate; we want to give them more work."

"But those people who are fingered, we want them behind bars, we want to shame them, we want to claim our money back from them, we want to bring civil action and criminal action as well."

Although the government had made it illegal for recipients to sell their RDP houses within eight years of receiving them, "fly-by-night" lawyers and estate agents were illegally selling them, he said.

"Right now the fly-by-nights come and they offer people anything - R3,000. Somebody sold a house the other day for R2,000 and these houses cost more than R60,000. We want to prevent that.

"The audit has got to deal with the illegal sale of houses to deal with these fly-by-night estate agents and teams of lawyers that are all over the poor to trick them."

- The Star

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Councillor angers opposition

Controversial DA councillor Frank Martin has raised the ire of his opposition colleagues by suggesting that the city should "not feed" the thousands of people who migrate here annually because doing so compromises housing delivery to locals.

"We can't stop migration to the city, but we can stop feeding them," Martin said during a debate of the planning and environment portfolio committee yesterday, after the city's housing backlog challenges were highlighted.

Researchers have estimated annual migration figures into the city of Cape Town at between 16, 000 and 18,000 people annually.
Many of the migrants who come from other parts of South Africa and other African countries are attracted by the quality of health and education services in the city, they say.

But Martin said that the city was "promoting migration" and that "real beneficiaries" were negatively affected as a result.

"Every time a migrant gets a (housing) opportunity it puts real beneficiaries 10 years back," he said.

Committee chairman Brian Watkyns hastily attempted to salvage the situation, by saying Martin had to either explain or withdraw the comment, as it could be misconstrued.

"You meant they should not go to the top of the housing list," he prompted, to which Martin replied in the affirmative.

Martin caused an outcry two years ago when he encouraged the illegal occupation of N2 Gateway homes in Delft by nearby residents.

Those who followed his prompting and were later evicted, last week moved to Blikkiesdorp in Delft after living on the pavement along Symphony Way following their eviction.

But despite Watkyns's attempt yesterday to smooth over Martin's comment, the ANC's Koos Bredenhand lashed out at Martin, saying people should "stop using that word" - referring to migration.

"In South Africa we are not migrating anymore," he said, adding that migrants were also not animals who needed to be fed.

"It was very bad the way he said that," Bredenhand said.

Bredenhand said everyone in the country who was previously denied housing was entitled to receive it now, regardless of whether they were from Mthatha or Joburg.

"They also spent decades waiting for homes," he said. - Cape Argus

City cannot intervene on N2 flats

N2 gateway residents are seeking for the intervention of the city on crime and fraud they claim is happening in the block of flats.

Residents say the flats are not safe, thought there are security guards.

When residents approached the security company they said the Housing Development Agency is only paying them for access control and not to keep the Flats safe.

Recently a resident was hijacked at gunpoint in his own parking area.

Over the weekend 19 year old boy was stabbed to death outside his own home while the security guards slept on.

Western Cape Housing Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela was informed about the situation and said there is not much the city can do.

The Minister says his department is tied up as far as the N2 Gateway Pilot Project is concerned. - Bush Radio

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Cape services meltdown looms

Power outages, poorer quality drinking water, fewer refuse collection routes and a lack of critical repairs to sewage systems will be a likely outcome of a R372-million cut to this year's utility services budget.

And the directorate has been warned that there is no guarantee that these funds will be back on the budget in the next financial year.

Concerned officials from water services, solid waste and electricity services have written to city manager Achmat Ebrahim about the risks of postponing projects on their respective budgets to future financial years.

The city's R6,2bn budget has been cut by R600m because of the global economic crisis and caution from the National Treasury that municipalities had to "align" their spending plans to their expected revenue in their adjustments budgets.

There has also been a "downward trend" in service payments, an important income-generator for the city.

The city council last week approved a recommendation to delay externally funded projects to future financial years. This will affect all the city's directorates.

According to reports submitted yesterday to the city's utility services portfolio committee, water and sanitation's capital budget will be slashed from R576m to R176m, which could affect the city's ability to refurbish or replace ageing infrastructure.

This could affect the quality of the city's drinking water.

An amount of R74m has been cut from the pump stations and outfall sewers.

"This will lead to increased bursts, blockages, spillages, possible collapses with a consequential increase in repairs and maintenance," noted the report.

There could also be environmental consequences if pollution gets into wetlands and rivers.

Housing developments in Bellville and Century City may have to be put on hold if wastewater treatment and other infrastructure projects have budget cuts.

The solid waste budget has been cut by R88,9m with funds deferred to the next financial year.

Nineteen refuse collection compactors have to be replaced in the current financial year to maintain current service levels.

If the orders of these vehicles have to be delayed because of budget deferments, "we will not have service delivery in certain areas", the report said.

The budget cut of R50,3m for electricity's network infrastructure could affect the city's ability to provide supply to new developments, such as at Century City, and consumers risk extended power outages.

A cut of R20m for the Loch Road substation upgrade would put electricity supply to the southern suburbs at "significant risk" with a failure affecting up to 80 000 residential, commercial and industrial consumers at a cost of R50m.

Utilities executive director Bulumko Msengana said the city was facing a "huge cash flow problem".

He said: "If we don't take measures, extreme measures, we'll find ourselves in a much worse situation."

But Amina Kariem of utility services said the budget deferments would have an impact on service delivery.

Mayoral committee member for utility services Clive Justus said the drop in payment collection ratios were a warning sign that the city had to be financially prudent.

A one percent collection drop meant R150m less for the city's coffers.

However, Justus said the current utility services budget, after deferments, was still higher than previous years.

- Cape Times