Why ban bottled water, councillor?

Bottled water could soon be banished from council meetings and municipal buildings if one Cape Town city councillor has his way.

The councillor, Stuart Pringle, is set to table a motion at next week's meeting of the corporate services and human resources portfolio committee, that the purchase of bottled water by the city be prohibited.

In addition, he wants to stop the sale of bottled water at municipal buildings.

Pringle told the Cape Argus on Thursday that the motivation for the motion was to save money, to spare the environment and to put the city's money where its mouth was in terms of its assurances about water quality.

"We are still going through economically depressed times and, although the budget for bottled water is minuscule by comparison with the city's overall budget, we are encouraging residents to tighten their belts and ought to set an example by not spending their money on this luxury," he said.

While a 500ml bottle of water cost about R6, the same amount of tap water cost less than half a cent.

The motion claimed that the city spent more than R125 000 on bottled water during the 2008/2009 financial year.

This accounted for almost 21 000 bottles of water at an estimated environmental cost of 9 000kg of fossil fuels being depleted and 6 000kg of greenhouse gas being emitted.

Since bottled water had a negative impact on the environment, it was incumbent on the city, as a responsible administration, to act to limit its environmental impact, Pringle said.

"Bottled water is a form of consumer manipulation which contributes significantly to environmental degradation."

Pringle recommended that the city immediately stop all procurement of bottled water and that it be banned from all official city meetings. The sale of bottled water at municipal premises should be phased out by October, he added.

Pringle's motion echoes the moves in 2009 by Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, who ordered her department to stop using bottled water.

- Cape Argus

Grow Your Own Home

Affordable Housing becomes Green with hemp

Entering the housing market is not only a challenge for first time buyers, but also for conscious consumers wanting to take care of the environment without spending a fortune.

With now legal industrial hemp licenses available in many countries around the world, Growing Your Own Home has never been easier!

According to long-time industrial hemp expert Paul Benhaim, “just one acre of land is enough for you to grow a crop of hemp that can be converted to a regular looking building on that same piece of land”. He goes on to say “and we are not talking rustic homes, but regular looking solid council approved buildings”.

These new eco friendly buildings are built by regular builders, and don’t require specialist designs, though the developers recommend solar passive designs that take advantage of the thermal mass offered by the hemp walls. As well as residential and commercial projects, simple renovations are possible.

Until now you had to import materials to be sure of a standard building product. Previous versions of similar technologies commonly known as ‘hemcrete’ or ‘hempcrete’ have also required processing of hemp in large factories. Hence this technology has not been fully sustainable, until now.

This new technology developed over 10 years by Klara Marosszeky allows simple harvesting of hemp that makes use of the whole stalk to create a building material that has excellent rodents, fire and insulation properties. Although an option, no rendering or finishing is required (you can colour through the mix) and all local materials can be used in what is becoming the leader in the latest trend in environmentally friendly building techniques.

Klara is currently hoping for a project to see some genuine and direct outcomes for the Indigenous people of Australia in regards to Affordable 'home grown' housing. South Africa and Trinidad have also showed interest in this technology.

Klara Marosszeky and Paul Benhaim are about to launch their findings in a new book on Building with Hemp which includes a detailed construction manual. To support professional builders, self-builders, renovators and eco enthusiasts Klara and Paul will personally share this technique at workshops around the world in 2011. A one-off special preview workshop will be launched in Byron Bay, Australia on September 4th 2010.

Neighbours' loos for hire

Some Khayelitsha residents have to pay up to R10 each time they want to use the toilets at their neighbours' homes because they don't have their own ablution facilities.

Residents in QQ Section in Site B, who live in shacks, fork out between 50c and R10 to their neighbours who live in formal houses.

In another section of the city's sprawling township, Site C, residents have to relieve themselves on a stretch of grass in full view of passing cars on the N2.

There are toilets nearby in Site C, but some of these are locked by individual residents who hold the keys, while others are broken, damaged or overflowing with human waste.

Using the stretch of grass as a toilet is dangerous: residents say that they are mugged as they walk to the area. One man was stabbed in the face and robbed of his cellphone earlier this year.

When the Cape Argus visited the area this week, human faeces littered the grassy area and the stench was overpowering.

It is not only adults who use the field as a toilet. Parents fear that their children are risking their lives.

Residents who use the area regularly said they had few options because the closest toilets were too far from their homes.

Some said they walked to a neighbouring area in Site C to use toilets provided by the City of Cape Town.

Thokoza Thulumani, who accompanied her two young daughters when they needed to use the grassy patch, said she "did not feel right" about using the field.

"Sometimes these little children want to run into the street (the N2); it's not safe for them," she said.

Mzimasi Kese, 31, said "having to go" in the open made him "feel bad".

"I don't feel right because so many people driving past in their cars can see you going."

Kese said sometimes people brought toilet paper while others used newspaper which they softened by rubbing.

There are 12 concrete flush toilets in Site C.

About six of these are locked and others have been vandalised or are blocked and have plumbing defects.

Nomfusi Jezile, who uses these toilets, said the keys to the locked toilets were kept by some residents and could be obtained when requested.

"It's better when they keep the keys because the toilets are cleaner and the children can't play in them," she said.

Ward councillor Nontsomi Billie said the city had the toilets for the area, but that there was no land on which to erect them.

She said some people in the area used the portable toilet system.

"If the toilets are not enough, they (the residents) should tell the street committee members who report it to me and I contact the city and processes are put in place," she said.

Residents in Site B's QQ section, who have been paying their neighbours in Q Section to use their outdoor toilets, said there were no toilets in QQ Section. They said they had been paying anything from 50c to R10 for about the past three years.

Steven Mhaga, who lives in QQ Section, said he always used the same toilet and regularly had to fork out 50c.

He said he had been told that the reason for the fee was to contribute to water and electricity.

QQ Section's Dumisani Jack also pays 50c.

"It becomes a problem sometimes because I don't always have money, or I can't get a toilet," he said.

Others said they were charged R10. The city's director for the Water and Sanitation Department, Philemon Mashoko, said the city had a monitoring and evaluation team conducting regular checks at all informal
settlements.

He said he was not able to comment on the legality of people renting out toilets. But he added that the city's Water and Sanitation Department would assess the situation. Mashoka said residents in Q Section and QQ Section had refused to accept "porta-potties because they were promised houses".

"The Water and Sanitation Department will investigate the possibility of providing temporary access to sanitation where the units will be placed on the periphery of the area due to availability of space," Mashoka said. Gavin Silber, the co-ordinator of the Social Justice Coalition, said the root of the toilet problem was the housing backlog.

The coalition's research showed that 500 000 people in Cape Town do not have access to basic sanitation. It is estimated that 50 000 people from others parts of the country stream into Cape Town each year, placing an even greater strain on the city's services.

Last year a report commissioned by the city's housing department showed that the backlog increased by 18 000 units each year.

Silber said that in the interim the city should do more to maintain the toilets. "The city needs to recognise its short-comings with sanitation; there needs to be better maintenance and monitoring." He said one the coalition members had been stabbed in May while using a field to relieve himself.

Mayor Dan Plato said the city could not meet the demand for services in informal settlements, citing a problem of "supply and demand".

He explained that in high-density shack settlements there was little room for essential services like access routes or space for toilets.

- Cape Argus

Land battle continues for backyard dwellers

More than 100 backyard dwellers from various townships slept in the open on a patch of private land in Philippi for the past two nights after the illegal structure they had built was demolished by law enforcement officials for the fourth time.

The land is situated off Stock Road between the R300 and the Joe Gqabi railway station.

The people, who hail from Gugulethu, Philippi and Khayelitsha, among other areas, claim they are entitled to the land because they paid for it by way of a beneficiary trust that was established in 1999.

Margret Gacula, who was a backyard dweller in Gugulethu, said the 853 members of the Vusintshutsha Beneficiary Trust had paid between R25 and R30 a week between 1999 and 2001 into a savings account and that uTshani Fund had bought the land on behalf of the trust in 2002.

"I want to know where the houses are that uTshani said they would build for us with the money we paid them," said Gacula.

Patrick Maghebula, the president of the national Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor, said uTshani had bought the plot on behalf of the SA Homeless People's Federation, which he said had defrauded its members.

"After the land was purchased, the leadership of the SAHPF told its members that uTshani no longer existed and that the transaction had fallen through," said Maghebula.

Patricia Matolengwe, a director of the SAHPF, said she was not prepared to respond to the allegations against the organisation.

"We will only talk to them through our lawyers," she said.

Steve Hayward, the head of Housing and Anti Land Invasion for the City of Cape Town, said there was a deed of sale proving that the land had been bought by the uTshani Fund but uTshani had told the City that nobody was authorised to occupy the land.

"We have been watching the site carefully," he said. "By law nobody can erect any structure, be it in Constantia or in this case in Philippi, without submitting the necessary building plans."

- Cape Argus

Cut in electricity subsidy for poor targeted

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato is to meet Public Enterprises Minster Barbara Hogan to discuss the city's subsidy to Eskom to provide free basic electricity to households, a subsidy that costs the city more than R100-million.

Plato said that, to be fair to all indigent electricity users in Cape Town, the mayoral committee had recommended to the council that the city amend its policy of subsidising Eskom to provide free basic electricity to users in the Eskom supply area of the city.

About one-third of consumers in the metropole, mainly in rural areas, Table View, Khayelitsha and Parklands, buy electricity directly from Eskom, and the rest buy through the city council.

"It is recommended that the city reduce its subsidy to Eskom to provide free basic electricity to Eskom customers who use less than 250 kilowatt hours per month, and not to those who use less than 450kW hours, as it used to do," said Plato.

He said he would meet Hogan to discuss the issue.

"I've asked her to intervene for funding to fill the gap," Plato said.

In the meantime, the city will continue to provide free basic electricity to its own customers who use less than 450kW hours a month.

Plato said Eskom had changed its tariff structure so that domestic customers using more than 150kWh a month were paying significantly less than the equivalent City of Cape Town customers.

"The city therefore needed to review its free basic electricity subsidy to Eskom, so that the city's subsidy to Eskom did not result in Eskom's customers paying less than the city's own customers," he said.

Mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said that all municipalities in the country subsidised Eskom by about two cents per kilowatt.

"Those two cents might not seem like much, but it's around R120-million.

"And the city is one of Eskom's biggest customers and it should be subsidised," Neilson said.

The ANC's Raymond Mrawu said the city should charge a cheaper tariff for everyone.

"I don't know why the city doesn't change. Eskom is more sympathetic to the poorest of the poor.

"It's very important for the city to follow Eskom," Mrawu said.

Cynthia Clayton of the Independent Democrats said electricity had become so expensive that the meter boxes in homes in her area had become like televisions.

"People are watching their boxes more than TV. It's a total rip-off for the poor. We're actually going backwards," Clayton said.

The city's new system slots consumers into a tariff band according to the amount of electricity they buy.

The basic price of electricity increased by an average of 25 percent at the beginning of the month, but several consumers the Cape Times spoke to have found that their bills have increased by 60 to 70 percent.

A pensioner in Gordon's Bay found herself paying 93.31 cents per unit compared to 53.31 cents per unit before the tariff change.

"A unit is equal to 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh).

"I was told by the municipality that if you purchase more units than you normally use, you will be placed in a higher band," she said.

A man in Claremont found himself in a similar situation.

"I would urge all pre-paid users to check their new costs of power, mine increased from 61 cents per unit to 106 cents per unit, a far cry from the 25 to 35 percent announced," he said

"Energy has become more expensive than it used to be and people need to understand that the more they use, the more they will be charged.

"Free basic electricity is still there for lower users," Neilson said.

Neilson said people needed to change their lifestyles and make use of cost-saving measures.

Jolene Henn, Eskom's regional communication and stakeholder manager in the Western Cape, said that all those customers within its electricity supply areas consuming up to 450kWh per month did receive free basic electricity.

"Eskom's direct domestic customers pay less for electricity than the city's, depending on the tariff and consumption level," she said.

- Cape Times

Western Cape MEC slams housing waiting list

The Western Cape's provincial housing waiting list is as good as non-existent.

This is the view of Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela after the department finished assessing the housing data collection and management systems of 12 non-metro municipalities.

The investigation, which is part of the department's municipal housing demand data improvement programme, found that the systems used were so poor that duplication was common; information supplied by housing applicants could not be verified or checked for accuracy and completeness.

The assessment, the results of which have now been compiled in a report, also found that while municipal housing officials appeared to have adequate capacity to manage housing demand data and the related allocation of houses, municipalities used very basic systems and processes for handling housing registration data.

"This results in the integrity of data being dependent on the proper functioning of manual processes and controls," it said in the report.

These processes and controls had not been properly designed and there were few internal controls in place to ensure that, when selection occurred, the data could be relied on.

Key results for the 12 assessed local municipalities included that:

• Only five municipalities had a council-approved housing policy, another five were working according to a draft policy and two had no policy at all.
• Nine were using registration date to select beneficiaries; two were using a weighted point scale while one was using community profiling.
• In terms of Information Technology used, only two municipalities had an advanced system; three had a "progressed" system (able to control access to the data, but beneficiary selection is performed manually) and the remaining seven had basic systems (no access controls, all data related processes performed manually).
• The report also revealed that only one municipality had system-automated quality control to capture registration information; one other municipality used manual quality controls prior to capturing and the remaining 10 municipalities had no quality controls, meaning duplications and inaccuracies were captured.
• Only two municipalities stored and controlled access to their registration information; a further nine stored but did not control access to their registration data and one retained no documentation.
• Only the name, surname and ID number of applicants were consistently captured across all municipalities, while an address was captured against at least 80 percent of applicants in 11 out of 12 municipalities. The date was captured more than 80 percent of the time in nine out of 12 municipalities, while 50 to 80 percent in one and less than 50 percent in two.

"Considering that registration date is the most common basis for beneficiary selection, this is a concern," it said in the report.

The investigation also found that nearly 10 percent of records captured by the 12 municipalities were duplicates. Four municipalities had five percent or less duplicate records; three had 6-15 percent, four had 16-20 percent and one municipality had 25 percent of records duplicated.

Only six percent of applicants had an unknown application date; 20 percent were registered prior to 1998; 20 percent were registered between 1999 and 2002; while 54 percent have been registered since 2003.

Eighty percent of applicants' ID numbers were valid; two percent had no ID numbers; one percent were not South African residents and the rest had invalid ID numbers.

Madikizela said the findings confirmed the problems he had raised about housing allocation.

"It is fundamentally flawed."

He said loopholes allowed people to get houses when they should not.

- Cape Argus

W Cape improves housing demand

Cape Town - The Western Cape government is working on an improved system to ensure that the right people benefit from municipal housing, the province's human settlements department said on Thursday.

The department had completed an assessment of the first 12 non-metro municipalities' housing demand data collection and management systems and practices, it said.

While municipal housing officials were able to manage housing demand data and the allocation of houses, the biggest concern was the use of systems and processes for handling housing registration data.

This resulted in the "integrity" of the data being dependent on the proper functioning of manual processes and controls, it said.

Processes and controls

The assessment was part of the department's Municipal Housing Demand Data Improvement Programme.

"Currently, these processes and controls have not been properly designed, agreed and implemented.

"There are few internal controls in place in order to ensure that, when selection occurs, the data can be relied on."

It said that information collected from potential beneficiaries was not being checked for validity, accuracy and completeness.

This meant that there was insufficient information with which to select those who should benefit from municipal housing.

Out of the 12 municipalities assessed, five had a council approved housing beneficiary selection process, five were working according to a draft policy and two had no policies.

In terms of selecting beneficiaries nine municipalities were using registration date order, two were using a weighted point scale and one was using community profiling, it said.

Only name, surname and ID number of applicants were consistently captured across all municipalities, while an address was captured against at least 80% of applicants in 11 out of 12 municipalities.

A date was captured more than 80% of the time in nine out of 12 municipalities, 50 to 80% in one, and less than 50% in two, the department said.

Registration date

"Considering that registration date is the most common basis for beneficiary selection, this is a concern, it said.

"The same applied to other important fields, which may influence whether the applicant qualifies, such as number and details of dependants, marital status, spouse details and income."

A survey of only half of the non-metro municipalities showed that the department needed to develop a support strategy to improve the housing demand data management by municipalities, it said.

In addition, it would develop a standard job description for housing officials to assist municipalities to indicate roles and responsibilities.

Workshops would also be conducted to discuss and agree on the requirements for a standard municipal housing policy.

The department said an assessment of the remaining 12 municipalities outside the City of Cape Town would be completed by the end of next month.

- SAPA

Project to improve 230 RDP houses

A TOTAL of 230 RDP houses in the Mamre area will be retrofitted with ceilings to help residents cut down heating costs, the City of Cape Town said yesterday.

This would improve the quality of life and provide jobs for unemployed Mamre residents, mayoral committee member for housing Shehaam Sims said.

"There are thousands of houses in Cape Town which were built before the National Housing Subsidy allowed for the inclusion of ceilings. A house without a ceiling falls far short of the ideal thermal protection one would like to see in every house."

Retrofitting houses with insulated ceilings improved energy efficiency, health and livelihoods.

The project was being driven by the city's environmental resources management department as part of the Danish Development Aid-funded Urban Environmental Management Programme.

The city said 65percent of the 230 houses had already been retrofitted with insulated ceilings. By the end of the year all the identified houses would be completed. The project had also created jobs for 18 locals.

Western Cape finance and economic development MEC Alan Winde said he would investigate whether Expanded Public Works Programme funding could be made available so the programme may be extended in the province. - Sowetan

Acting housing CEO paid R4m

A government housing company has paid its acting chief executive officer a R2.1-million bonus on top of his R2.2m salary.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale revealed in a written parliamentary reply that Servcon Housing Solutions had, during the 2008/09 financial year, paid out more than R1m in a performance bonus and R1.1m as a retention bonus to acting CEO, Lindikhaya Mpambani.

Servcon is a Human Settlements Department entity that deals with the registration and verification of state property.

The Daily News was unable to reach Mpambani for comment.

Sexwale said all Servcon employees had received a retention bonus during the 2008/09 financial year, but all the payments were approved by the company's board remuneration committee.

The minister did not say how much the other employees received.

In May, former public works director-general, Manye Moroka, was grilled by Parliament's spending watchdog over a potential conflict of interest after he awarded Servcon and another state company, Intersite, a tender of R223m while he was a board member of Servcon.

Moroka disagreed with MPs that there was a conflict of interest in awarding the contract.

The standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) also questioned the R215 000 bonus Moroka got from Servcon even though he had left the company and started working as public works director-general.

Moroka said he had invested the bonus.

After joining the government, Moroka continued to serve on Servcon's board and chaired its remuneration committee.

He also told MPs that he had recommended to then public works minister, Thoko Didiza, and provincial MECs that Servcon be given the tender.

Former public works director-general, Sam Vukela, told Scopa that the department had paid Servcon R7.6m and Intersite R2.8m for work done so far.

The two companies were given contracts to audit all state assets across the country.

Moroka quit as public works director-general late last year after fighting with Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge over the R215 000 bonus.

Doidge accused Moroka of awarding the contract without following tender procedures. Moroka admitted to Scopa that there was no budget for the R223m tender.

- Daily News

W Cape government alarmed by townships’ growth

Some NGO’s and the Western Cape government have expressed concern over the rate at which some informal settlements are expanding.

The group Abahlali Basemjondolo said the steady growth in townships is fuelling the struggle for service delivery.

Some squatter camps are growing by ten percent every year.

Meanwhile, the provincial Human Settlements Department has admitted it is struggling to meet the rising demand for formal homes.

Residents of Zwelitsha Enkaznini informal settlement in Khayelitsha told Eyewitness News they notice new shacks almost weekly.

With more people moving into the area the struggle for already scarce services intensifies.

People are forced to queue for water as there are reportedly only five working taps in the township.

Housing activist, Mthobeli Qona showed Eyewitness News a dumping ground of sorts which is also used as impromptu toilet facilities.

But some have become entrepreneurs, selling corrugated iron to shack dwellers. Other homeowners bordering the settlement charge people to use their toilets.

- Eyewitness News

2000 subsidised houses in new development

Thousands of families who have been on the City of Cape Town's housing waiting list for years would get first pick if subsidised homes are built on a piece of land valued at R70-million near Zeekoevlei.

The city has proposed that about 2,000 subsidised houses be built on the land between the vlei and Pelican Park and that the development be integrated with that of 1,000 houses designed for the market and a strip of mixed-use properties.

Subsidies provided in line with the National Housing Subsidy Scheme would be used for the 2,000 homes, while a developer would fund the rest of the development.

The developer would also build the subsidised homes and be required to contribute funds for these to ensure they were of a quality that would not compromise the value of the homes built for the market.

The 80 hectares of land earmarked for phase one of the development lie between Strandfontein Road and Zeekoevlei, and between Pelican Park and Eagle Park.

During the environmental impact assessment phase, environmentalists expressed concern about the city's proposal to develop the eastern shore of Zeekoevlei, one of the most highly sensitive areas in Cape Town.

The land has been valued at R70 million or R825,000 a hectare. Most of it is covered in dense Port Jackson and gum trees.

Peter Oscroft, the project co-ordinator, said the plan had been a long time coming and the mayoral committee had agreed about two years ago that the subsidised homes be allocated to people living within the subcouncil's borders.

"(Mayco) agreed that 70 percent of opportunities would be offered to the people from that sub-council and who had been on the waiting list the longest, and 30 percent to people who qualified and were on the waiting list in other parts of the metro," Oscroft said.

The city would invite proposals for the development of the "total package" - the subsidised homes as well as those designed for the market and the mixed-use properties.

Prospective developers would be required to include in their tenders a price offer for the land to be used for the market components.

The developer whose tender was accepted would be required to buy from the city and take transfer of the section of land destined for the homes and properties to be marketed.

The land earmarked for subsidised homes would be transferred to people who qualified for subsidies.

Oscroft said the city had compiled a list of 3,000 people who had been on the housing waiting list longest.

To protect the value of the neighbouring properties, the city would require, as a condition of the development agreement, that the developer contribute funds for the subsidised homes to ensure they were of a better quality than the standard subsidy home.

Oscroft said a number of residents in neighbouring areas had expressed concern about the effect the development would have on the value of their homes.

"During the public participation process there was as strong message," Oscroft said.

"People were concerned about the value of their properties being lowered by the development.

"The developer can improve the quality and allay people's fears."

Because it was undeveloped and infested with invasive Port Jackson, the land was "extremely vulnerable to illegal occupation, use as a refuge and cover for criminal activity, illegal dumping and fires".

"All of these risks will be minimised as the land is developed and occupied," the city housing department has said.

- Cape Times

Ferraris for Mandiba thrills Sexwale

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Sunday it was an honour leading two laps for former president Nelson Mandela.

Sexwale was part of the annual Ferrari Owners Club event at the Kyalami race track on Saturday.

It was a treat and a half for lovers of fast cars when hundreds of Ferraris took to the tracks.

Nelson Mandela Foundation trustee Sexwale said the races were extra special.

”It’s not about the speed of the cars; it’s about the long journey that Mandela had to take. It was a slow one, but it came out well,” he said.

Sexwale led the lap of honour for Madiba while the fast and furious machines followed behind.

Owners of the vehicles also arrived with items to give to charity.

Mandela day events continue until the end of the month.

- Eyewitness News

Migration affects delivery! FACE IT!

HUNDREDS of thousands of people have left the Eastern Cape for greener pastures since 2006 in what is the country’s largest migration from a single province during this time.

And statistics show that between 2006 and 2011, the province will have lost a number of people equivalent to about twice the population of King William’s Town.

Poor job prospects and recessionary blues have been blamed for the recent flood of people leaving the Eastern Cape, although population figures released by Statistics SA this week show the province has been bleeding people at a steady rate for the last decade.

“Teachers, and health professionals, the skilled and professionally mobile, would not want to work in the old Transkei and Ciskei areas,” Rhodes University economist David Fryer said yesterday.

Although the actual population of the province has increased to just over 6.7 million, it’s the migration figures – with more people leaving than arriving – that are troubling.

Fryer said that while the private sector might not be hit as hard, parastatals like Telkom and Eskom, and small municipalities, were finding it hard to keep skilled workers.

“The brain drain is due to working conditions, especially in the areas that have fallen behind; the remote areas where services have collapsed,” he said.

Young professionals have also flowed from the province, in search of better job opportunities and what they perceive as better standards of living elsewhere.

The Western Cape is the most favoured destination for Eastern Cape migrants, followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Cape Town Woolworths logistics officer Sikelelwa Silwana said that when she moved from East London five years ago it had been because of a better financial offer.

“I chose this job over an offer in East London because it offered me a better salary,” she said.

Others said they had left the province in the last couple of years as the recession started to hit.

Zoleka Blayi, who works in a retail store in Pretoria, left a job in Mthatha. “I didn’t want to stick around until I got retrenched, so I ventured into Gauteng and landed myself a job within a month.”

According to Johannesburg statistician Lize Snyman, the trend is set to continue.

“Employment hasn’t been growing much, so the outward migration from rural provinces like the Eastern Cape is set to continue.”

National furniture removal companies also confirmed the province’s outward flow, saying Gauteng was the preferred destination, with the Western Cape and KwaZulu- Natal following closely .

Southernwood’s Brillen Business Solutions, which also offers furniture removal services, said professionals cited better job opportunities as the reason for leaving.

“I have moved doctors and engineers to KZN and Gauteng, and the numbers have only increased,” owner Allan Samaita said.

At Port Elizabeth’s Sinethemba Removals, sales manager Nokwanda Mbanqolo said their figures had climbed steadily over the past year, with a 20% increase in removal requests to other provinces from December last year to March.

“It’s more the professionals who are leaving, and they claim to have found better jobs, or are unemployed and are hoping for luck in other cities, like Cape Town,” she said.

Stuttafords Van Lines in East London said their customers moved in the direction of Cape Town, which, branch manager Anton Harris said, had always been the preferred destination. “We can only put it down to people chasing money,” he said.

According to Stats SA figures, only 13.5% of the country’s 49.99million people live in the Eastern Cape, down from 14.3 percent in 2001. Figures show that between 2006 and 2011, 211600 people overall would have migrated from the province, more than twice the estimated 100000 population website Wikipedia says King William’s Town has. — Daily Dispatch

South Africa's president launches shantytown plan

South Africa's government is launching an ambitious plan to build 400,000 homes for people living in shacks on the outskirts of the nation's cities, the president said Thursday.

President Jacob Zuma, addressing a media briefing in Pretoria, said the state aims to provide the new homes with "essential services" by 2014, paid for out of state budgets. He did not give further details on the cost of the project.

Cabinet ministers and top officials approved the program during a government retreat that is held twice a year, he said.

The South African Institute of Race Relations, a think tank, in recent research said about 14 percent of poor households in the country live in shacks and shantytowns outside cities. The remaining poor live in city, suburban and formal urban township houses.

Crime and unrest over inadequate housing and utilities is common in South Africa's burgeoning squatter camps known officially as "informal settlements."

"This will provide households with security of tenure as well as access to essential services in sites which are close to economic and other social amenities," President Zuma said.

South Africa's successful hosting of the recent World Cup has also lead the government to intensify infrastructure building, including power stations, solar, water, gas pipeline, rail and bus transit projects, he said.

Zuma said a special Cabinet meeting would also be held soon to focus on economic growth and creation of jobs.

- The Associated Press

Boy electrocuted by illegal cable

A three-year-old boy has been electrocuted after he stepped on an illegal electricity cable.

Little Simamkele Mfazwe was still clutching the packet of chips he had just bought after he stepped on the live wire in Oscar Mpetha informal settlement, Nyanga.

Nolakhe Mfazwe, 41, said she was sitting with a friend on Monday afternoon when one of her neighbours came to tell her about what had happened to her son.

"I was listening to my neighbours talking about poor service delivery and lack of electricity in our area," she said.

"Then someone came to tell me Simamkele was dead.

"I rushed out and found him lying there with his mouth open. He was still holding the packet of chips and his eyes were bluish."

Nolakhe said a nearby resident Philiswa Khondyo, 37, explained that Simamkele was electrocuted after he walked on the wires that were lying on the ground.

"She said she saw a bright flash and the child fell on his back," she said.

Simamkele died on arrival at the KTC Day Hospital.

"I still can't believe that I have to go to bed without my son next to me. I can't believe he is dead," said the mother.

Nyanga police spokeswoman Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said she was aware of the incident and cops have opened an inquest docket. - Daily Voice

Mystery fire kills mom

Police are investigating a suspicious shack fire that claimed the life of a mother.

Nospelo Gebe, 46, was found dead in her Wallacedene shack at midnight on Saturday after neighbours claim she was murdered and set alight.

Neighbours say Nospelo's face was covered with a black plastic bag and suspect paraffin was used to start the flames.

Itumileng Ndamane, 26, says she's puzzled by her friends death because nothing inside her tiny shack was damaged by the blaze.

"No one else in the shack was hurt," she says.

"Her brother was also sleeping in the house when the fire started and he was drunk. Even on her bed, only her side was affected by the fire and not the side her kids were lying on."

A neighbour says she thinks Nospelo was the victim of a muti murder.

"But now I'm not sure anymore. We don't know who killed her," she says.

Police spokesperson Captain Gerhard Niemand says cops are waiting for the post-mortem results.

"Because it is a fire, there is nothing we can say at face value, so we are waiting for the post-mortem results.

"We are investigating a murder and we will wait for the results of the postmortem to confirm," he says. - Daily Voice

No more open candles for light

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Fire tragedy now a political battle

A memorial service meant to honour the memories of nine people who burnt to death in a fire last week turned into a political battlefield.

The fire was caused by a candle that fell over and gutted a four-roomed shack in the TR Section of Lingelethu-West last Wednesday. Trapped inside were sisters Marche, 30, and Nomampondo Mdla, 26; Marche's boyfriend David Khoboka, 33; Nomampondo's boyfriend Bulelani Nqundwana, 38; and the sisters' five children. The children were Nomampondo's daughter Asimahle, 8, and Marche's sons Aviwe, 5, Luxolo, 4, and six-month-old Spumzo, as well as her daughter Andisiwe, aged 3.

Lingelethu-West resident Nomawethu Ndzulwana said the tragedy had brought the community closer together.

She said the incident highlighted the need for proper services in the area. "It's because there was no electricity that they used the candle. Something like this could have been prevented," she said.

Marche and Nomampondo's brother, 22-year-old Lufefe Mdla, said last week he believed the fire had been caused by candles his sisters were using to light their home after their prepaid electricity meter "exploded" about a month ago. Police and fire services later confirmed that a candle had caused the blaze.

Khayelitsha Development Forum member Michael Benu on Wednesday echoed Ndzulwana's sentiments: "There must be proper water, sanitation, housing and electricity," said Benu.

Mayor Dan Plato described the incident as tragic. He said the three spheres of government should work together to come up with a plan to eradicate shacks.

DA MP Masizole Mnqasela agreed there was an urgent need for proper housing.

Various ANC speakers derided Plato and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille in anti-DA tirades.

ANC provincial task team leader and Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said living standards had to be raised: "We will not win our battle if we just close our eyes and fold our arms. We all have a job to do to make sure our revolution succeeds."

ANC Youth League member Loyiso Nkohla said the incident would not have happened had the DA-led municipality done its job: "If there was a clear plan for that area, people wouldn't be burning to death because of a candle."

- Cape Argus

Dan Plato calls for end to hazardous shacks

Mayor Dan Plato has made an impassioned plea for an end to shacks, at a City of Cape Town-organised memorial service for nine members of one family who died in a fire.

"I appeal to the three spheres of government to look at the number of shacks in the Western Cape and Cape Town," Plato told a memorial service for the nine on Wednesday.

"They need to see what they can do to eliminate the shack structures. Only if we stand together as the government and as communities will we be able to overcome all the difficulties experienced in this form of living."

Khayelitsha's OR Tambo sports hall was packed for the memorial service.

Close relatives of those who died huddled together near the front of the hall, while about 300 residents sang and danced. A choir also sang.

The fire broke out early last Wednesday, engulfing two large wood-and-iron structures in Lingelethu West, Khayelitsha.

A candle had been left burning on a plastic chair.

Sisters Marche, 30, and Nomampondo Mdla, 26, died with their boyfriends, Bulelani Nqundwana, 38, and David Khoboka, 33, and their five children.

The children were Nomampondo's eight-year-old daughter, Asimahle, and Marche's three sons - Aviwe, 5, Luxolo, 4, and six-month-old Spumzo - and daughter, Andisiwe, 3.

They were locked inside their homes and emergency officials were unable to get in to fight the flames.

Plato extended his "deepest condolences" to the family.

Grandmothers Eunice Ndibi and Rosalina Ndibi and a cousin, Patience Gwa, were among the close relatives at the service.

"This incident was really very tragic," Plato said.

"I just want to say to the family, may God give you the strength to go through this difficult time."

Plato wished the family a safe trip to the Eastern Cape for the funerals.

ANC provincial task team leader and Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana also attended the service.

- Cape Times

Foreigners are 'scapegoats'

A failure of leadership and local government structures has created a fertile ground for the breeding of xenophobic violence in the Cape's informal settlements.

While a prompt show of force by law enforcement authorities - with the hardcore back-up of military armoured vehicles in risk areas such as Du Noon, Khayelitsha and Masiphumelele - appears to have headed off a threatened cycle of violence that erupted at the weekend, few think the problem is going to go away.

At the conclusion of the World Cup on Sunday, a sudden spike in attacks on foreigners in informal settlements around the Cape peninsula raised fears that a new cycle of xenophobic violence - like the conflagration that raged in 2008, when more than 60 people were killed - was about to be unleashed.

Nearly a dozen incidents of violence against foreigners - most of them Somali shopkeepers - were recorded between Sunday, the day of the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, and yesterday morning.

After the weekend's attacks, scores of Somalis have taken refuge in police stations and community halls around the Cape.

Zimbabweans continued to flee for their lives from informal settlements to congregate at makeshift places of refuge around highway truckstops and filling stations on the N1, seeking transport back to their country.

In their official responses, police dismissed the sudden spike in xenophobic violence as unconnected crimes.

However, the attacks have come in the midst of a whispering campaign in townships and informal settlements around the country, warning foreigners to leave South Africa before the end of the World Cup - or face the consequences.

In at least one instance, in Blikkiesdorp, this threat was conveyed via a meeting of the local community apparently convened by local leaders.

But in most cases the threat of violence has been voiced anonymously in the impersonal environment of taxis, trains and shebeens.

According to social conflict analyst Stef Snel, the tension can be traced back to basic economic circumstances and to a competition by communities for scarce resources.

"There isn't enough to go around, it is that simple - not enough housing, not enough jobs, not enough food," Snel said.

"And most of what there is comes in the form of government handouts, to be administered by often corrupt and unaccountable councillors and civic officials.

"Control over these resources is not only power, it is also profit. And the problem is that everything - from positions on housing lists to job creation programmes to food distribution initiatives - gets sold, and rather than alleviating the social problems, often exacerbates them.

"Then, when the community loses patience, the foreigners get blamed. They are the convenient scapegoats," he said.

The problem is not new. After the 2008 xenophobic attacks, the focus fell particularly on two elements in the social dynamic as breeding grounds for xenophobic violence: migrant workers at informal settlements; and a largely opportunistic leadership that had established itself in the ANC's onetime struggle alliance partner, the SA National Civics Organisation (Sanco).

In 2008, several Sanco leaders overtly supported the drive to expel foreigners from the country, and, in some cases were suspected of being behind the violence directed against them.

Chris Stali, Sanco provincial secretary, said threats against foreigners reflected "political immaturity and a lack of understanding of the issues".

"We have a new leadership now. The old leadership stole services and projects and when the community asked about jobs, they said they must ask the foreigners. Our leadership is different, we don't have our own political and financial interests."

But the new Sanco leadership is not having it all its own way.

In areas such as Du Noon, the former Sanco leadership - though suspended by Sanco nationally, and though last elected in 1997 (ostensibly for a single year term) - is refusing to stand down.

The chairperson of the "other" Sanco - who has also been named as fomenting xenophobic violence in the area - continues to administer a feeding programme in the area, which one youth league leader in the area said had never fed the hungry of Du Noon.

The youth leader, wanting to remain anonymous for fear of her safety, said the suspended Sanco leadership also continued to control the provision of RDP housing in the area.

- Cape Argus

Heavy police presence in Cape townships

A heavy police and military presence has been deployed in Western Cape townships following sporadic xenophobic violence, police said on Monday.

Provincial authorities said scores of foreigners had sought refuge at police stations in the region.

Police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said that on Sunday night there were "sporadic incidents of looting" at shops belonging to foreigners.

Areas where this occurred included Nyanga, Philippi East and Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats, Wellington, Paarl East, Mbekweni (a Paarl township), Franschhoek and Klapmuts.

"Police responded and a heavy police contingency was deployed in conjunction with Metro Police and SANDF [the defence force] in all these areas," Van Wyk said.

He said seven men, aged between 19 and 30, had been arrested in the Nyanga area.

They were charged with public violence and would appear in the Phillipi Magistrates' Court on Monday.

"SAPS [the police] will continue to deploy in high numbers to maintain law and order in the mentioned areas," he said.

"Tranquillity has been restored and no further reports of violence have been reported."

Spokesperson for provincial disaster management Daniella Ebenezer said earlier that 70 foreigners had sought refuge overnight at Mbekweni police station in Paarl and 22 at Wellington.

There were smaller numbers at police stations in Franschhoek, and Langa and Harare on the Cape Flats.

They had gone to the stations "mainly because they were fearful", but in some instances following attacks on shops.

Ebenezer said there were "sporadic" attacks on shops on Saturday in the region, and "some incidents of looting" on Sunday.

No-one had been seriously injured.

She said that according to reports from police, on Sunday spaza shops and containers also used as shops were "damaged" in Mbekweni, Paarl East, Wellington and Nyanga.

The province and municipalities were ready with contingency plans, she said.

Die Burger newspaper reported on Monday that shortly before midnight on Sunday, police advised foreigners, mainly Somalis, to leave the Cape Flats township of Nyanga, and escorted numbers of them out of the area.

The newspaper carried a photograph of Somali spaza shops in flames in Philippi, also on the Cape Flats. - Sapa

Cops move to protect foreign nationals

Police have been deployed in several townships on the Western Cape province of South Africa to protect foreign nationals after escalating threats of violence against them, a police spokesperson said on Monday.

Signs of social instability could potentially harm South Africa's image and investor sentiment, undoing the gains of hosting a successful soccer World Cup tournament that ended on Sunday.

Police said the situation in the Western Cape province was tense but there have not been injuries so far.

"There were two shacks that were burned in separate areas and there's been sporadic incidents of looting and threats have been made on foreign nationals," said Western Cape police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk.

"Police have responded. At this moment there is a heavy police contingent (in several areas) which also includes Metro police and SANDF (South African National Defence Force)," he added.

The biggest economy in Africa has attracted millions of workers from across the continent and further afield, but their presence is not always welcomed by those locals who compete with them for scarce jobs and resources.

Two years ago more than 60 people were killed during anti-foreigner attacks.

Police in Gauteng said there had not been incidents against foreigners in the economic hub of South Africa.

- Reuters

'There was no flooding'

Two hundred shacks were waterlogged and 500 residents were affected by heavy rains in Cape Town, the city's disaster management said on Sunday.

"We need to clarify that there was no flooding," said spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

"Informal settlements in Kanana, Gugulethu and the Cape Flats were waterlogged after the heavy rains hit the area yesterday [Saturday]," he said.

He said the problem was that people had dumped rubble in storm-water drains.

Disaster management cleared the drainage system and residents were back in their shacks on Sunday.

While no more rain was expected in Cape Town, there had been snowfalls on the Matroosberg Mountains in the Boland and cold weather was expected. - Sapa

Bad weather warning for the Cape

The SA Weather Service has warned of heavy rain, a possible snow and very cold conditions over some parts of the Western and Southern Cape, the Cape Town Disaster Risk Management team said on Saturday.

Heavy falls of rain were expected along the Overberg mountains, spreading to the mountains of the south coast on Sunday, a statement released by the team said.

Snowfalls were also possible on the high ground of the Western Cape and the south-western high ground of the Northern Cape.

Although no rain was being forecast for the Cape Peninsula, bitterly cold conditions would prevail which could possibly risk the lives of particularly the homeless, the warning statement said.

Disaster management's spokesman, Wilfred Solomons-Jones, said Cape Town's disaster response team was on high alert for any possibly life-threatening situations.

- Sapa

Challenge begins for stadium owners

...The stadiums symbolise the benefits and pitfalls of staging the World Cup. The government spent R12bn ($1.6bn, €1.3bn, £1bn) on them, but for all the acclaim the World Cup has brought to South Africa, it remains to some people a scandalous waste of money.

“One should question a government’s willingness to deliver housing for the poor when it builds a white elephant for the rich,” says Andre du Plessis of Cape Town-based InternAfrica, which campaigns for sustainable housing.

The Institute for Security Studies, in an April report highlighting failings in stadium procurement, said: “The building and future maintenance of stadia in various cities are likely to impact on their respective municipalities’ capacity to prioritise pro-poor spending and deliver services and infrastructure.

“In addition, the longer-term financial viability of several stadia remains questionable.” According to Ian Neilson, Cape Town’s deputy mayor and finance minister, the city had a simple choice. “The city had an option – be a part of the World Cup, and build a stadium to suit Fifa’s needs, or don’t be a part of the World Cup.”

The risks were on the low side. The national government stumped up the bulk of the R4.3bn cost – the city’s net contribution was no more than R800m. It also paid for Cape Town’s airport upgrade and transport.

As Mr Neilson argues, had Cape Town said No to the World Cup, “that money would have been spent somewhere else”. With more time, the municipal government would have planned a stadium located to suit the city’s disadvantaged population and its transport links, Mr Neilson adds.

They are left with a beautiful stadium in a stunning setting, but one that no one really knows how to make viable. At least there is some protection for taxpayers from excess costs – the consortium’s capital spending is capped at R5m a year and the city gets 30 per cent of revenues.

“There is always that white elephant risk,” Mr Neilson says. “But it depends on how you manage the asset. For Cape Town, there are positives around this stadium and its location that act to our advantage. If we can’t make it work, others won’t either.”

- Financial Times

No water to save her

An elderly woman died in a fire residents were unable to douse because the water had been turned off in the area.

Cape Town police say the 84-year-old pensioner was stuck inside her relatives' Athlone house after a suspected electrical fault caused the blaze.

Residents said the grandmother could have been saved if the hydrants were supplied with water.

A neighbour said the hydrants had been shut down on Sunday after a leak was reported at Garlandale Primary School.

John Stevens, 68, said the area has been without water since the weekend.

He said he saw city officials turn off the hydrants on Sunday after 11am.

"They came to turn off the water at the school because of a leak at the school, and the hydrants have been off ever since," he said.

The owner of the house in Renfrew Street, Warren Page, 46, was about to watch a World Cup match on Tuesday night when his TV set suddenly caught fire.

Page told police that he had turned off the TV in his living room to watch the match in his bedroom.

"I heard something in the living room and I went inside and found it on fire," he said.

In an attempt to douse the flames, Warren ran for a hosepipe in his yard.

Firefighter Mark Bosch said their fire trucks ran out of water while trying to put out the fire.

"On our way we heard that there was a woman trapped in the house. She was already dead before our trucks ran out of water," he said.

Police spokesman Ian Bennett said they suspect no foul play.

"The woman was trapped in the house after the fire started," he said.

"The owner suspects that it was an electrical fault but we are still investigating."

Basadien Benjamin says residents were helpless.
"Warren tried to get her out of the house but he couldn't because he started burning as well.

"If there was running water, I'm sure we would have been able to save her," he said.

But the city's Charles Cooper blames vandalism for the dry hydrants.

"Our response team inspected and found private pipes damaged and stolen and proceeded to shut the school's dedicated water supply. Since no one was on site, the supply was left off," he said. - Daily Voice

Happy Valley backyarders burn tyres in road

Violence erupted in Happy Valley on Wednesday when backyard dwellers erected burning barricades across a main road after Cape Town law enforcement officers fired rubber bullets at them.

Angry about their long wait for houses and about news that others would get preference, the backyarders invaded a piece of land in their area near Blue Downs on Monday.

They have since been involved in a stand-off with officers who crushed the invasion.

On Wednesday the officers opened fire after the backyarders had again invaded the land.

Residents responded by heading towards Wimbledon Road where they burnt tyres and barricaded the road.

- Cape Times

Bodies found among ashes

Nine people, including five children, died in a shack fire in Khayelitsha on the Cape Peninsula on Wednesday, police said.

Lingelethu West station commander Colonel Mike Reitz said police were alerted to the blaze in the early hours of the morning.

When they arrived on the scene they found the tin-and-wood dwelling enveloped in flames.

"Police members and neighbours however tried to gain entrance to the house but the flames were overpowering them at the time," he said.

"The fire brigade also tried their utmost to contain the fire but only managed to do just that after the three-roomed house had been destroyed inside."

Reitz said the victims were found among the ashes inside.

They were two sisters, aged 30 and 25, their male friends, aged 38 and 33, and five children.

The children were three boys aged 4, 5 and 7, and two girls aged six months and 3 years.

The cause of the fire was unknown at this stage but would be investigated.

No other structures were damaged by the fire. - Sapa

Firy prison claims 9 family members

Five young children - one of them a six-month-old baby - and four adults have died after their home caught alight in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Two sisters, their boyfriends and their children were trapped in their Lingelethu-West home when the fire started at about 2am - and frantic relatives and neighbours were unable to rescue them as the door was bolted shut on the inside.

Sisters Marche, 30, and Nomampondo Mdla, 26; Marche's boyfriend, Bulelani Nqundwana, 38, and Nomampondo's boyfriend, David Khoboka, 33, and the sisters' five children died in the fire.

Nomampondo's eight-year-old daughter Asimahle Mdla, and Marche's sons - Aviwe, 5, Luxolo, 4, and Spumzo, who was six months old - and daughter Andisiwe, 3, also did not survive the blaze.

Marche and Nomampondo's brother, 22-year-old Lufefe Mdla, said he believed the fire had been caused by candles which his sisters were using to light their home after their prepaid electricity meter "exploded" about a month ago.

Mdla, who lives in a house in front of his sisters' home, said he had been woken in the early hours by neighbours who told him the house was on fire.

He knocked on the door of his sisters' house and looked through the window and seen flames.

He told the Cape Argus he had tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. "I couldn't do anything."

Mdla then phoned his mother, who called police and fire services to the scene.

Neighbours were unable to open any of the house's doors, because one was chained shut and a crowbar was keeping the other closed. Firefighters had to break the door down.

Lingelethu-West police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Siphokazi Mawisa said police had been contacted at about 2.30am.

Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services' Theo Lane said two fire tenders, two water tenders, one rescue vehicle and about 18 firefighters and rescue personnel had been dispatched to the scene.

The fire was extinguished quickly, with the last vehicle leaving just before 3.40am. Police were still on the scene at about 8am, carrying out a final check inside the structure, which was still standing.

Mdla said his sisters were "always together". He said they were very close, and had been good friends. He had visited them every day after work and the siblings had eaten meals together.

He was going to move in with his mother for a few days, Lufefe said.

David Khoboka's sister, Boniswa, said her mother, who lives in the Eastern Cape, had been taken to hospital after hearing the news of her son's death. "We don't know yet what we are going to do. We waited from 3am to make sure whether they were dead or still alive."

City of Cape Town Disaster Risk Management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the fire had started when a candle fell on to a plastic chair. "We encourage people to put out their candles, open flames and lamps at night before going to sleep," he said.

- Cape Argus

I believed a lie - Zille

The repeated allegation that "for two years, 55 families in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, were forced to relieve themselves in full public view" is untrue, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Monday.

Writing in her weekly newsletter, the Western Cape Premier also slammed the ANC Youth League and SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for their roles in the saga.

There were too many contradictions and unanswered questions. And too few facts, about the open toilets saga, she said.

The media had repeatedly reported that 55 families in Makhaza were forced to relieve themselves in full public view for over two years.

"This has been repeated so often, in various ways, that I believed it was true. I apologised in Parliament.

"And I asked myself: how was it possible for this to happen under a DA administration, and on my watch as mayor?

"But the more I thought about it, the less the story hung together: If this project started in 2007, why did I only hear about it in January 2010? Why did no-one protest sooner?

"Even more mystifying was why the ANC didn't use the 'open toilets' against me in the run-up to the 2009 election?

"And most puzzling of all: why did Andile Lili, the project's paid facilitator since 2008 (as well as a local ANCYL leader), only start to protest against the project when it was 96 percent complete?

"Indeed, given that he was the project facilitator, why was he protesting at all?," Zille asked.

"The answer is simply this: there were, in fact, no open toilets in 2007 or 2008 or indeed until the end of 2009.

"The 55 toilets that remained open were those installed in the very final stage of the upgrading project - in November 2009 - when 96 percent of the 1316 toilets provided for each family had already been enclosed.

"For some reason, the last 55 were not."

Following a newspaper photograph of an open toilet in January 2010, Mayor Dan Plato immediately ordered them to be covered, despite the objections of the 1261 families who had enclosed their own toilets.

But on January 25, when the city arrived to enclose the toilets, they were prevented from doing so by a small group of people claiming to represent "the community".

Two subsequent attempts by the city to erect enclosures, were thwarted when the ANCYL tore them down, despite almost all the individual families requesting, in writing, that the city enclose their toilets, she said.

During the time that the 55 toilets remained open, no person was "forced" to use them.

The community was well serviced with an alternative option - one enclosed toilet for every five households which was the national norm for incremental upgrading projects.

Given that 96 percent of the families in the project now had their own toilets, the communal toilets were free most of the time.

"In other words, the repeated allegation that 'for two years, 55 families in Makhaza were forced to relieve themselves in full public view' is entirely without foundation," Zille said.

Furthermore, as soon as the city learnt about the open toilets, they attempted to enclose them.

But the ANCYL wanted them open, because it suited their agenda. The 55 open toilets happened to be located in the precise area where the ANCYL's leading "thugocrats", Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla, conducted their "reign of terror".

"Given the contradiction between the community's wishes and the ANCYL's actions, there is only one conclusion: the open toilets were a direct result of the ANCYL's intimidation in order to drive their political agenda.

"I experienced this first-hand when I visited the area to speak to members of the community.

"I was informed that the last person to openly express opposition to the ANCYL, had to live with the consequences.

"So why can't we erect concrete enclosures for the 55 families? And why did the 1261 families who enclosed their own toilets, not demand concrete enclosures as well?

"I put this to the officials working on the project. And I found the answer instructive," Zille said.

Upgrading informal settlements had two phases - providing infrastructure services, such as roads, stormwater, water, and sewage, and secondly erecting the house.

The two phases had to be aligned, because if concrete toilet enclosures were provided on each erf during phase one, they had to be removed in phase two to incorporate the toilet into the house.

This meant an additional cost of R4 000 per erf, deducted from the R75 000 subsidy for each family's top structure.

This meant, in practical terms, that a concrete enclosure in phase one, would result in a house in phase two that was two square metres smaller than it would otherwise have been.

"If you enclose your own toilet in phase one, it can be incorporated into your house in phase two, and you will reap the benefit of a bigger house.

"This is why families choose to enclose their own toilets in phase one.

"It is an empowering and logical choice. That is, until the ANCYL decides otherwise," Zille said.

The saddest aspect of the saga was the "pitiful report" of the SAHRC, which "is full of the factual inaccuracies required to reach the conclusion that the council violated the human rights of the residents of Makhaza".

"It is the clearest possible demonstration of what happens when the ANC deploys its parliamentary cadres into institutions that are supposed to be independent of the ruling party.

"They become extensions of its power abuse instead of limits on its power.

"Some Chapter Nine institutions allow themselves to be abused and, unfortunately, the SA Human Rights Commission is one of them," Zille said.

- Sapa

SA to use WCup experience to improve housing delivery

The department of human settlements will use the experience gained during construction of World Cup stadiums to improve the delivery of houses by 2030, Housing Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday.

“I have declared that by 2030 children who are born this year should be able to access houses and flats,” Sexwale said at press conference at Soccer City outside Johannesburg.

Instead of building stadiums and airports, his department would intensify its delivery of houses.

Sexwale said his businesses had benefited from the construction of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. In return, the businesses would build more than 50,000 houses as a social investment.

“We are changing our stadiums to houses, we take advantage of Fifa project management skills and use it for our people.”

Sexwale, who is also on Fifa’s committee against racism, said South Africa was one of the best examples of the fight against racism in soccer as the country had defeated discrimination.

He applauded the fact that there had been no reported racism related incidents during the World Cup.

“Although there have been no incidents, this campaign reminds us that we shouldn’t discriminate against each other because of the different shapes of nose, hair and shades of skin,” Sexwale said.

“This country was expelled from Fifa for racism and now we are making this declaration against racism while the country is hosting the Fifa World Cup.”

Federico Addiecho, the head of corporate social responsibility for Fifa, said team captains would read messages against racism before the start of all quarterfinal matches.

“The captains will be reading the message out of the rainbow nation to the world,” he said.

Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said it had not taken any disciplinary steps against Nigeria and France for political interference in football.

He said it was too early to make any announcements about the two teams situations.

Fifa received a letter from the Nigerian government on Wednesday night saying that the national team would be suspended from participating in football competitions for two years.

“We only received formal notification from Nigeria last night, we are still not sure about the French situation,” Maingot said.

Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the team on Wednesday to sit out international competition for two years as punishment for its poor showing.

On Wednesday, French lawmakers summoned coach Raymond Domenech and football federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes to answer questions on how the country’s World Cup campaign went wrong.

France, winner of the 1998 World Cup and runner-up in 2006, failed to qualify for the second round of the tournament and suffered a humiliating 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the opening round.

- Sapa

Cape streets to be renamed

Cape Town could finally have new street names by next June following a decision to revisit the controversial issue.

But Premier Helen Zille has warned the renaming process could "blow the city apart" and would have to be managed carefully.

An old report on the controversial street renaming, that has been "gathering dust in the mayor's office" for about three years, recommends that 31 streets should be renamed, from the "divisive" Hans Strydom Avenue in Cape Town to Hendrik Verwoerd Drive in Panorama.

The report also recommends that the NY names, which stand for Native Yard, in some of the city's townships be changed, but through a separate process...

The report, by an independent panel of experts headed by former political activist Rhoda Kadalie, was withdrawn from council in 2008. The city had already finalised the process in which the public had been asked to submit name proposals. A total of 238 submissions were received over 22 days before the process closed on May 11, 2007.

Some of the street name changes recommended by the panel are:

# Hendrik Verwoerd Drive (Panorama) to Beyers Naude Drive.

# Hertzog Boulevard (Cape Town) to Nelson Mandela Boulevard.

# Jan Smuts Drive to Dullah Omar Drive, but only from Athlone to Strandfontein Road.

# Jip de Jager Street to Dulcie September Drive.

# Hans Strydom Avenue (Cape Town) to Albert Luthuli Avenue.

# Coen Steytler Avenue (Cape Town) to Walter Sisulu Avenue,

# Oswald Pirow Street (Foreshore) to Christiaan Barnard Drive.

The report noted that there were other streets honouring Hendrik Verwoerd in the city and that in Joburg the same name change had taken place "with little opposition".

"Oswald Pirow's position during the former government was not acceptable to the underprivileged coloureds and blacks, similar to that of Hendrik Verwoerd. The sensitivity of Oswald Pirow's name in the Jewish community was also noted. Hans Strydom was a key architect of the apartheid system, thus a divisive symbol," read the report.

ANC chief whip Peter Gabriel said this week the council had withdrawn the item because the Democratic Alliance had not wanted to make its constituency unhappy before last year's national and provincial elections.

"We challenged even the manner in which the committee was constituted. We never got a comprehensive report. This report made the necessary recommendations to council, but the DA decided not to pursue the matter and it has been gathering dust in the mayor's office ever since. They were scared of the backlash from their own supporters who are not in support of change," Gabriel said.

He said there were also a number of issues the ANC was not happy about in the final report. He said the recommendation that Jan Smuts Drive be changed to Dullah Omar Drive only when it reached Klipfontein Road in Athlone, a coloured area, smacked of racism and had offended some people.

But Zille, who was mayor at the time, said the matter had been withdrawn because it had the potential to polarise city residents.

She said the process of "inclusive street and place naming is very much alive and on the front burner".

"As soon as council resumes after the recess, I have been informed that a task team will meet to refine the criteria. Over the past five months I have regularly contacted councillor Owen Kinahan, who has been tasked with driving this project, for progress reports, because this originated during my tenure as mayor and I wanted to see it drawn to a successful conclusion," Zille said.

She said the matter would be far advanced by next year's elections, and she hoped the process would bring people together rather than drive them apart.

"The problem with the past process was that it was creating polarisation and conflict instead of unity. I would have recast such a process whenever it occurred, before or after an election. It had to be reconceptualised. The need to restart the process was not the fault of the committee that was investigating name changes. It was a result of the fact that the criteria were not sufficiently clear, and therefore resulted in unintended consequences," said Zille.

She said street renaming had the potential to "blow the city apart", as in Durban.

This month, Durban High Court Judge David Ntshangase ruled against an attempt by the DA and IFP to overturn the city's street renaming process. The parties had sought to set aside the council's decision to rename 100 streets, roads and highways, and two buildings.

"We need to create a process of unity. We should focus on naming rather than renaming," said Zille.

- Cape Times

City tells toilet man to provide details

Jeff Franciscus, the businessman who offered to help solve the open toilets controversy in Khayelitsha, met city council officials on regarding his plans to establish a pre-cast concrete factory.

For months 55 families of Makhaza in Khayelitsha had to relieve themselves in full view of the public because their toilets had no enclosures.

The issue turned into a political hot potato with the ANC Youth League filing a complaint against the city with the Human Rights Commission, violent protests and a clash between the ANCYL and Premier Helen Zille.

Franciscus, the owner of Darrow Pre-Cast, had proposed to the SA National Civics Organisation to train unemployed people to build concrete toilets, and offered to donate the first 100 manufactured during training.

But for Franciscus' offer to materialise, land has to be acquired to set up the factory.

"Yes we met. It was just a preliminary meeting. He (Franciscus) must provide technical information. He did not bring any documents with him," city council manager for new housing, Herman Steyn said yesterday.

Steyn said another meeting would be held as soon as Franciscus submitted more information.

Franciscus said he was pleased city officials were accommodating and willing to listen to his idea.

"They informed me that land is put out to tender and so I asked what about a temporary use so we could at least try and help solve the problem those people are facing. It looks positive," he said.

- Cape Times