Over 100 displaced in Cape fires

Cape Town - Hundreds of people were left displaced in a number of fires in Cape Town, the city's disaster risk management said on Saturday.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said four houses and about 61 shacks were destroyed in four different fires on Good Friday, leaving over a 100 people homeless.

A fire started in Elmaree street in Kalkfontein at 6.56pm destroying 21 shacks, he said.

“The firefighters managed to extinguish the inferno at 8.30pm and made the area safe.”

At 8.45pm a fire occurred at the Lusaka Informal Settlement in Gugulethu.

Firefighters brought the fire under control within 17 minutes of arriving, said Solomons-Johannes.

Four informal shacks in backyard houses were destroyed.

“Prior to the arrival of the emergency crews the occupants attempted to extinguish the blaze with buckets of water,” he said.

“It is suspected that the fire was started from a short circuit in electrical wiring insulation.”

The third fire was at the Fisantekraal Informal Settlement near Durbanville at 9.42pm.

Eleven shacks were destroyed and left 41 people, including 25 adults and 16 children, displaced.

“It is suspected that the fire was caused by a lighted paraffin stove that overturned and ignited,” said Solomons-Johannes.

About 60 people, including two babies, were left displaced when 25 shacks and three houses burnt down at the Masiphumelele Informal Settlement.

He said the fire happened just before midnight and was brought under control at around 1am on Saturday morning.

A woman suffered smoke inhalation and was treated by paramedics on the scene and a man that was standing on a roof top of a shack fell and hurt his leg. The man was taken to a hospital for further treatment.

“It is suspected that the cause of the fire was as a result of open flames overturning and igniting bedding.”

Solomons-Johannes urged people to be safe when working with open fires. 

- Sapa

Rat packs raid homes by night

Cape Town - Giant rats that attack in packs at night are terrorising residents.

Lundi Galanda, 47, of Dura Hostel in Langa, said residents heard rats scratching the front door at night: “Their eyes are lit up like the headlights of a car. They are like vampires because they only come out at night. They have eaten their way through the metal door… there is nothing they won’t get through.”

Galanda said the rats had nibbled their way through peanut butter lids and Tupperware.

Galanda shares the hostel with seven other families, and many of the residents are toddlers. The hostel is divided into eight small cubicles which are crammed with furniture, mostly a single bed, stove, pots and clothes.

Community leader and pensioner Eunice Phathiwe, 65, who has lived in the hostel for 40 years, said it formerly housed migrant workers.

She said: “The rat problem has got worse over the years and they are not scared of us. They attack around 8pm. When we sleep we cover ourselves with blankets, even in summer.

“Now and again there is a horrible stink and we will find a dead rat under the bed or cardboard. This place is so crowded that some people sleep on the floor, which makes them easy targets. They bite us in the face, head and feet… wherever they find exposed flesh,” said Phathiwe. “They know what they want and where they are going… they walk with a purpose like humans.”

When the Cape Argus visited the hostel, a decomposing rat lay on top of a wheelie bin.

Phathiwe added: “We can’t live like this; soon these rats will make us sick. The government has to intervene.”

Phathiwe’s plea comes after the city’s mayoral committee member for health, Lungiswa James, announced last week that the department had budgeted R530 843 for rat poisons.

This followed a tweet from Premier Helen Zille who told her Twitter followers that she had been bitten on the toe by a rat in the garden of her Leeuwenhof home.

James said food waste attracted rats and that in areas with high rat populations, it had been found that some residents dumped their rubbish next to collection bins rather than inside them, or left their rubbish out on days other than collection day.

Eileen Slabber, managing director at Ecofirst Pest Prevention and Hygiene said the rat problem was likely to spread to the inner city in winter: “During winter, when it is cold and wet, rats prefer warm houses and factories because the food source is less outside and it is easier for them to find food and water indoors.”

She said the most common rats found in the city were the Norway drain rat and roof rat.

“The Norway rat prefers meat and the roof rat prefers vegetables and fruit; however, both are omnivores. They always go where they can find food or meat, such as food factories, in roofs and cavity walls and even in cold rooms – rats can adapt to very cold conditions.”

Tips to avoid rat infestation

Eileen Slabber’s tips for preventing rat infestations:

* Remove all refuse and thoroughly clean refuse areas on a regular basis.

* Ensure that all refuse bins, toilets and drains are covered when not in use.

* Products need to be kept away from walls and off floors.

* Ensure that all doors to areas where food is prepared are kept closed.

* Immediately isolate a room suspected of an infestation.

- Cape Argus

432 families get houses for Easter

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will hand over new houses to beneficiaries in Philippi before the Easter weekend, the municipality said on Wednesday.

Member of the mayoral committee (MMC) responsible for human settlement, Tandeka Gqada, said the project was in its final stage and houses would be handed over on Thursday.

“Despite the hurdles faced during this housing project, the City is pleased to announce that some of the critical housing needs in Philippi East have been addressed by the provision of new homes to 432 deserving beneficiaries.”

She said project was initiated in 2003 and had experienced several obstacles which hampered the completion of the development and the handing over of houses to beneficiaries.

“The city faced a number of challenges, which included the facilitation of the community’s involvement and illegal operations being conducted on the site allocated for development.”

She said the problem was solved when the municipality engaged with the provincial department of human settlements to acquire additional vacant land adjacent to the site.

“This land would accommodate all beneficiaries from this area who had requested a house from the city,” she said.

Gqada said that in March this year, while the contractor was in the process of completing the remaining additional units allocated to the project, a group of people illegally entered the site, and started occupying and vandalising the newly built houses. 

- Sapa

Cape to use prime property for housing

Cape Town - Prime state land in the Cape Town’s city centre is to be cleared for mixed-income housing, in an initiative that could change the face of the city.

Among 65 parcels of land identified for the initiative is land on Hope, Buitenkant and Roeland streets currently housing government garages.

Speaking at a press conference before delivering his budget speech on Monday, Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle said the Western Cape government was to dispose of all unused state-owned property, including abandoned schools, to make way for mixed-income housing.

The properties earmarked for the regeneration project include vacant and developed land.

The government garages would be moved to Maitland, where the province had recently bought land.

It was now “ministerial policy” to dispose of all properties not required by the administration.

“Such disposals would be aimed at mixed-income housing proposals, and will include excess land at certain schools,” Carlisle said.

The first “regeneration income” of about R2.2 million, which came from the lease of a Sea Point school, marked an important milestone in the profitable management of the province’s property assets, Carlisle said.

The multibillion-rand regeneration project was first announced in 2011, and at the time Carlisle said the province’s property portfolio in the city would provide its initial financial leverage.

“Our aim is to use public sector assets to unleash investment by the private sector. This initiative will, by 2014, regenerate the Cape Town CBD as the catalyst to propel Cape Town forward as a great global city.”

On Monday, Carlisle said the intention was to “build a strong positive net cash inflow into the asset financing reserve by the sale or lease of provincial properties”.

“We are also pumping a lot of money into new schools,” he said. “From now to 2016, about 70 new schools will be built.”

Major developments are also planned for the Artscape/Founders Garden precinct and the CTICC.

Carlisle’s department has been allocated R4.6 billion for the 2013/14 financial year, of which R1.7bn will be spent on road construction and maintenance projects.

Carlisle said the provincial government had also taken back the Conradie hospital site near Thornton due to non-payment.

The property was sold under the previous ANC administration.

Carlisle said that, despite the residual court challenge, the Chapman’s Peak toll plaza was likely to be completed by June.

- Cape Argus

Informal settlements a problem: Sexwale

Port Elizabeth - The growth of informal settlements compounded the problem of meeting the demand for housing, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Tuesday.

He said informal settlements were essentially shanty towns and slums.

This resulted in undesirable urbanisation driven less by economic growth and more by rural-urban migration of the poor and jobless.

This meant South Africa was confronted with a crisis similar to an internal refugee situation, as there was a continuous flow of poor and jobless migrants into the cities.

“The number of informal settlements is growing uncontrollably. Likewise, the populations inside these ghettos is increasing rapidly,” Sexwale said in Port Elizabeth.

“This imposes increased service delivery pressure upon resources like electricity, water, sanitation, health services and housing, all of which were never budgeted for by the perceived affluent municipalities.”

Sexwale was speaking at the establishment of the chair for education in human settlements development management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.

He said growing discontent in informal settlements manifested itself in xenophobic incidents and service delivery protests, which were turning increasingly violent.

The solution was a comprehensive approach, represented by the National Development Plan and underpinned by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission's strategy on infrastructure.

“The NDP further highlights the need to professionalise the public service, including the creation of capacity and competency, particularly at local government level,” he said.

He said the developmental approach advocated in the NDP hinged upon an economy that was performing optimally as opposed to the current low economic growth rate and high unemployment, particularly among young people. 

- Sapa

Western Cape housing budget released

Cape Town - The Western Cape human settlements department has delivered over 94 000 sites and houses in the last three years, provincial MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said on Monday.

“From April 2009 to March 31, 2013... a total of 94,228 sites and houses, will have been delivered, at a cost of R5.12 billion,” he said at the provincial budget vote in Cape Town.

Around R2.1 billion had been budgeted for the new financial year, starting in April. This was made up of a grant allocation of R1.94bn and an operational budget of around R150 million.

Madikizela said the focus of the budget was on the poorest of citizens.

“The provision of housing solutions gives them a hand up so they can become part of the “whole-of-society”, becoming contributors to both their own success, and that of greater society,” he said.

One of the ways to help the poor was to formalise backyard shacks by upgrading existing informal settlements. Another was to provide affordable housing through market mechanisms and densifying suburbs.

Madikizela said an area which had long been overlooked was the issue of farmworker housing.

Many farmworkers had not registered to benefit from housing projects.

“The department is strongly encouraging municipalities to go on special registration drives in its farm areas,” he said.

He said there could be potential problems with the design of the national Farm Resident's Housing Programme subsidy, which allowed the department to use public money to subsidise rental accommodation.

“The new minimum wage for farmworkers will put many farmworker households over the R3500 income level limit for the subsidy,” Madikizela said.

The department would be working closely with various bodies in the sector to find a solution.

“The aim is to develop a set of viable and useful on or near-farm accommodation options for typical Western Cape rural situations.”

The MEC identified another challenge preventing housing delivery to the poor, namely community conflict.

He said major housing projects often had to be repeatedly stopped.

“Local leaders and steering committees often use the projects to try to force the department to accommodate their agendas, which range from political agendas, to the promotion of self-interest through accessing work or business opportunities, to local forms of nepotism through trying to influence housing lists.

“Unfortunately, it is the people who most need houses who suffer as they have to wait longer for their housing opportunities.”

The department had set up units to deal with potential conflict before it arose and to assign extra security where needed.

- Sapa

Cost of Nkandla renovations rises

Cape Town - The cost of the controversial upgrading of President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead has been revised upwards – from R206 million to R208m.

This was revealed by Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi when he and his deputy Jeremy Cronin, and the department’s top managers appeared before Parliament’s Standing Committee on public accounts (Scopa) this week.

DA MP Dion George asked how much was spent in 2011/12 on Nkandla. Nxesi admitted that the total spending had increased by R2m to R208m, but said he did not have a breakdown for the financial years. This could, however, be obtained.

The department asserted that there had been “serious inflation of the construction work” at Nkandla.

Cronin said: “There could well be problems of inflation of scope, in the name of security”. 

The department has insisted that the work done at the president’s private home was limited to security upgrades, although there have been reports of a tuck shop, lift and other upgrades.

Cronin said the department wanted to “get to the bottom of this issue”, but could not release information in a public meeting, since much of the detail involved presidential security.

“We know how much we spent, and what for. But we all read newspapers and some of it does seem strange. We want Parliament to interrogate this, but it is hard to complete the discovery in public.”

Nxesi said all projects in the department, including the presidential upgrade, had been affected by over-inflation, corruption and collusion.

“There is a trend that we’re seeing in Nkandla, that we see with all our projects, of collusion. It’s common knowledge that the Competition Commission is looking into collusion around the construction of the World Cup stadia. This is a trend we’re seeing in construction worldwide”.

He said the Nkandla issue had been politicised.

“Once the tone becomes political, it’s not on issues of compliance any more. Unfortunately we can’t play politics when it comes to the security of the head of state.”

Zuma answered questions about Nkandla in the National Assembly on Wednesday, when DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko accused him of “tap dancing” around the issue, and produced a copy of a letter about the upgrading of Nkandla purportedly addressed to him by then Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

The letter lists various “activities”, including a cattle culvert, tuck shop, excavation for a clinic, tunnel, and safe haven, but does not include the costs for these.

Zuma told Mazibuko: “No letter has ever been received by me”.

He refused to discuss further details as the report on a Public Works internal probe had been referred to Parliament, which is still to decide how it will deal with the document without compromising Zuma’s security.

Zuma did, however, explain that a tuck shop run by his wife

had stood in the centre of the family’s homestead, but had

been deemed a security threat. Officials had decided it should be moved to the gate.

Opposition parties have demanded that the Nkandla report be discussed publicly, and DA MP Anchen Dreyer has revealed the names of several companies involved in the upgrade to the National Assembly.

- Weekend Argus

Nkandla dodges are unconvincing

On the R206 million spent on his Nkandla homestead, he repeated the risible assertion that the upgrades were paid for by his family (how did they manage that?) and that the government contributed only to security arrangements.

He fobbed off questions about how Ma Khumalo Zuma’s tuck shop, a soccer field, and a lift were security matters, which they obviously are not.

Zuma’s denial about the presidency ever receiving a letter from former Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu Nkabinde about expenditure on Nkandla stretches credulity.

President Jacob Zuma’s performance in Parliament on Wednesday was a master class in evasiveness, obfuscation and self-satisfaction, indicating he doesn’t give a toss what critics think.

His attempt to question the authenticity of the letter, displayed in Parliament by the DA’s Lindiwe Mazibuko, is another weak effort to ridicule legitimate concerns about his probity.

The president told MPs they should wait for the outcome of a report by the Public Works Department before seeking answers on Nkandla.

Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi informed Parliament that the report will soon be tabled, asking that it be treated with sensitivity.

This is all part of a ruse because the ANC in Parliament has already said it does not want the report to be discussed in the open.

In other words, what Zuma is suggesting is that we should all keep quiet about Nkandla until the tabling of a report whose contents will not be divulged.

This doesn’t make sense. Nkandla is a scandal that won’t go away.

More than R200 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent in dubious ways, including the likely inflation of prices by dodgy contractors.

The truth will out, despite Zuma.

- The Citizen

R24.8bn reasons we are immune to state rot

Nearly 20 years into our democracy, South Africans are stalled by failure fatigue.

We just cannot muster another round of indignation about another report about another department, or institution, that has dropped the ball - or sold it for the price of a Chivas and a bowl of nuts.

When auditor-general Terence Nombembe gave us his annual reality check last week, we largely shrugged it off. So what if only one in five of the institutions he vetted could give a proper account of their spending? Does it really matter that the number of clean audits fell from 152 in the financial year to March 2010 to 132 a year later, and to 117 in the year to March 2012?

Nombembe's non-renewable contract comes to an end later this year. He has worked long, hard and well - he is definitely one of the good guys - so I am sad for him that he will go without having achieved the goal he set out when we spoke in September 2009.

He said in that interview that he hoped to instil a culture of clean governance across all departments, provinces and municipalities by the end of his term.

"The glaring need is the leadership commitment to put the right systems in place, to monitor those systems and to take action when things are moving in the wrong direction. [We] will be looking at the extent to which departments promise a house [and] a road and [when] we go and look, the road is not there," Nombembe said.

In fact, he is still getting these departments and institutions just to write down what they claim to have spent money on and how they decided who should get contracts to render services.

The one number from Nombembe's dismal litany of negatives that did seem to stick for a few days was the R24.8-billion wasted by provincial governments, which he characterised as the epicentre of "disintegration".

In fairness to the provinces, not all of that money evaporated into the clouds that shade the lives of our president's extended network of friends, relatives and party colleagues. There will have been a few classrooms built, a few pipes laid and a few intersections tarred.

Nombembe's point was that the provinces, and their subsidiary departments, could not explain what they did with the money, or what they got for it.

The South African Institute of Race Relations joined the game of calculating what could have been bought with the money:

• 400 new schools, 460000 basic houses or 24 specialist children's hospitals;
• 7.4 million child support grants, 1.7 million state pensions 
• or a year at university for 1.2 million students;
• or 550 new prisons, or 120 Nkandlas.

Certainly, that R24.8-billion - about R500 for every living South African - could have been better spent. But that is missing the point - it should never have been spent at all. That amount would have covered a third of the state debt cost of R76-billion in that financial year - it is almost equal to the amount that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan slashed from the contingency reserve in order to deliver a plausible national budget last month.

But we had to borrow the money so the provinces could waste it, and a future generation will have to pay it back.

Nombembe continued last week to blame the poor provincial report card on a lack of leadership from the top.

"It is evident from this year's results that audit outcomes only improved in areas where the leadership adopted a hands-on approach to addressing shortcomings in their respective portfolios," he said.

That points to the second area in which we, the tax-paying public, are being robbed.

A majority of leaders deployed by the ANC in many of our provinces are, as serial investigations confirm, also in business with the state. They receive a state pay cheque, but they also own, operate or direct private companies, many of which conduct business with the state and even with their own departments.

The research, calculations and networking that win tenders are not done at night when the children are in bed; that's all done during the day, when they should be planning the roads, pipelines and construction projects the people deserve.

So let's not only worry about what the lost money could have bought; let's also worry about the work that could have been done by those elected representatives, and state-employed officials, if they gave us the time, commitment and concentration they owe us.

- Timeslive

Zuma denies getting letter detailing Nkandla upgrade

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma on Wednesday denied receiving a letter from then public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde in 2010 detailing the nature of the R206m security upgrade to his private residence in Nkandla.

In the recent past, the incumbent Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi generated disbelief by declaring that Mr Zuma knew nothing about the scale of the building in and around his home.

Mr Nxesi said that a report by a public works task team, which identified irregularities in the security upgrade, would be tabled in Parliament. The African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament is planning for the report to be discussed behind closed doors.

Mr Zuma used the report and its discussion in Parliament to stonewall detailed questions on the upgrade, saying "wait for the report".

Replying to a question on the floor of the National Assembly from the Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, Mr Zuma again insisted that the renovations to his private home were paid for by the Zuma family.

He conceded that he had been informed that there would be a security upgrade. "Naturally, I was informed that improvements needed to be made at the family residence to enhance the security of the Head of State.

"The nature and form of the improvements was decided upon by the relevant officials through their departments. As already indicated such information would not include details on the specifics of what would be done, by whom and at what cost."

In a follow-up question, Ms Mazibuko waved a letter at Mr Zuma saying that it was from Ms Mahlangu-Nkabinde to the president and demanded: "Did the president receive this letter?"

Mr Zuma responded "I never received any letter" adding that he should not discuss the details of the Nkandla upgrade because that would be pre-empting both the parliamentary discussion of the report and the investigation of the Nkandla matter by Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

Congress of the People MP Papi Kganare again expressed disbelief asking Mr Zuma if the construction of the football field, the tuckshop, the clinic and the lifts were legitimate security considerations.

"The tuckshop was in the heart of the homestead which people were entering in order to buy. Security said that this was a security risk and had it moved to the gate," Mr Zuma said.

He urged Mr Kganare and DA MP Anchen Dreyer to wait for the discussion of the public works report.

- BDLive

Wait for Nkandla report, Zuma tells MPs

CAPE TOWN - President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday said Parliament and the country needs to wait for a governmental report into expenditure on security upgrades at his Nkandla home before drawing any conclusions on the issue.

He made the remarks in Parliament, Cape Town, after opposition parties once again raised the contentious issue.

Zuma could only laugh when a Congress of the People (Cope) MP tried to get a straightforward answer from him.

The president maintained his family paid for certain renovations.

“Nobody’s permission was necessary [because] it related to an upgrade of a private residence.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Lindiwe Mazibuko then asked Zuma if he was aware of a letter from former public works minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, in which she apparently informed him of the security upgrade costs.

Zuma stood his ground.

“The report is coming. It will clarify all of this.”

The ANC however does not want to report to be openly discussed in the National Assembly.

It is estimated the upgrade cost over R200 million.

The Public Protector is also investigating the upgrades, despite a report by the Public Works Ministry which found no evidence of any wrongdoing on Zuma’s part.

According to the report, R71 million was spent directly on security while a further R135 million was spent on operational costs incurred by state departments involved in the upgrade.

- Eyewitness News

Wescape will become a slum, say residents

Cape Town - Wescape, the multibillion-rand housing development set to be built near Melkbosstrand, will degenerate into nothing more than a low-cost housing slum, says an objector to the project.

The city called for comments after receiving an application in 2011 to extend the city’s north-western urban edge to develop a R140 billion “mini-city” comprising 200 000 houses, 415 educational facilities (schools, crèches and colleges), 370 “public service facilities” (such as libraries and clinics), and 15 sports complexes on a 3 100-hectare erf between the Cape Town CBD and Atlantis. The period for objections closed last March.

David and Cathy Butler, who live on a smallholding adjacent to where Wescape is to be built, said in their submission that a low-cost housing development would destroy everything they had worked for and negate the very reason they had decided to move there.

“This development will degenerate into nothing more than a low-cost housing, informal settlement slum, which will impact heavily on the value of property,” they said.

In response, Wescape developer communiTgrow said the Butlers were “speculating on the essence of what Wescape will be”.

“The low-income earners are as much part of our society as everybody else and although a significant portion of the housing units will be for that income group, they will be positioned during the detailed planning phases of the project to integrate with the higher income groups and have as little impact as possible, all within the framework of a fully integrated settlement.”

Wescape is mainly focused on lower income groups - those earning between R4 000 and R6 000 a month. The population is expected to reach 800 000 by 2036.

Other objections include the unlikelihood that residents would be able to be evacuated in time in the event of a nuclear accident at Koeberg, only a few kilometres away.

Objections were received from the National Nuclear Regulator, Eskom’s Koeberg power station and the city’s disaster risk management, fire and rescue, and parks departments.

They argued that the development would be within the 5km to 16km Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone and that any emergency evacuation of close to a million residents would fail.

But communiTgrow said: “Koeberg objected on the premise that the application is being made for development rights. The application is however only for the (extension of the city’s urban edge).

“If any objection, submitted as if development rights are being applied for, are considered valid, then the further processes of rezoning, environmental authorisation and subdivision will be obsolete and of no consequence.”

ComminiTgrow said it was “fully aware” that a nuclear regulatory evacuation model and assessment would be required before development rights could be granted.

The application to extend the city’s urban edge was discussed by the city council and has been forwarded to the provincial Environment and Development Planning Department for approval.

- Cape Argus

Informal settlements a problem: Sexwale

The growth of informal settlements compounded the problem of meeting the demand for housing, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Tuesday.

He said informal settlements were essentially shanty towns and slums.

This resulted in undesirable urbanisation driven less by economic growth and more by rural-urban migration of the poor and jobless.

This meant South Africa was confronted with a crisis similar to an internal refugee situation, as there was a continuous flow of poor and jobless migrants into the cities.

“The number of informal settlements is growing uncontrollably. Likewise, the populations inside these ghettos is increasing rapidly,” Sexwale said in Port Elizabeth.

“This imposes increased service delivery pressure upon resources like electricity, water, sanitation, health services and housing, all of which were never budgeted for by the perceived affluent municipalities.”

Sexwale was speaking at the establishment of the chair for education in human settlements development management at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.

He said growing discontent in informal settlements manifested itself in xenophobic incidents and service delivery protests, which were turning increasingly violent.

The solution was a comprehensive approach, represented by the National Development Plan and underpinned by the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission's strategy on infrastructure.

“The NDP further highlights the need to professionalise the public service, including the creation of capacity and competency, particularly at local government level,” he said.

He said the developmental approach advocated in the NDP hinged upon an economy that was performing optimally as opposed to the current low economic growth rate and high unemployment, particularly among young people. 

- Sapa

Cape’s mini city ‘will be in red zone’

Cape Town - Concerns have been raised about a R140 billion plan to develop Wescape, a city near Melkbosstrand with 200 000 homes.

Mayor Patricia de Lille has said the project would unlock opportunity and create jobs.

The main objectors include the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), Eskom’s Koeberg power station and the city’s disaster risk management centre, which say the development would be within the 5-16km Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone and any emergency evacuation of such a large number of residents would fail.

The area is subject to the Koeberg emergency plan, which requires that, in the event of a nuclear accident, it should be evacuated within 16 hours.

The NNR said: “Such a large addition to the population in this area (would be) unacceptable as it is inconceivable that such a large population could be evacuated and cared for in the event of an accident at Koeberg.”

The site is 29km from central Cape Town and outside the urban edge, but the city has asked the provincial government to extend the north-western urban edge to accommodate the development.

Other city departments and a number of provincial departmentshave objected to the development, which would occupy 3 150ha and have a possible population of 800 000. The concerns are given in a city report.

The city’s fire emergency services, disaster risk management, water and sanitation, and environmental resource management said the development would require a large sum from the city for bulk services This could detract from other development priorities.

Eskom said the major electrical infrastructure needed could take eight years to install.

Several private developers are involved and say the project would be privately funded.

It is not known who on the city’s housing waiting list of 400 000 would benefit.

De Lillesaid the proposal was subject to the approval of the MEC for local government and planning.

The city’s human settlements department says the development would ease the housing backlog and deal with the influx of people from other provinces. The city’s economic, environmental and spatial planning committee supports the plan, saying there is limited space for development.

The application to the province for the urban edge to be extended was approved by the council in December.

The province’s roads and transport department said the proposal was “sketchy” with regard to transport infrastructure. The Integrated Rapid Transit system would not be sufficient to serve a development of Wescape’s size and there was no indication a train service would be provided.

The Department of Economic Development and Tourism said the development would fall outside the city’s spatial planning policies.

“The scale of the proposed settlement needs to be considered against the housing demand in the western areas of the city. The economic implications for existing areas such as Atlantis and Mamre should also be considered.”

Other city officials said there was sufficient land inside the urban edge for housing and no need to amend the city’s spatial development framework, adopted last year after extensive consultation.

The province’s Department of Human Settlements is in favour of amending the urban edge.

Noeleen Murray-Cooke, an architect and senior lecturer at the centre for humanities research and geography at the University of the Western Cape, said: “There seems to be this private sector pressure on the city which displaces a lot of planning thinking, instead of thinking of what’s best for the city. Isolated places like Atlantis were a travesty.”

Many private sector proposals went against the city’s densification policy. “Sprawling goes against densification policies. We need to look at upgrading places on the Cape Flats.”

- Cape Times

Missing toilets found in Stellenbosch

Mobile toilets thought to have been stolen at the Kayamandi informal settlement have been found, the Stellenbosch municipality said on Sunday.

“We can gladly report that all the missing toilets were found in between other shacks in the area,” said mayor Conrad Sidego.

The municipality provided the mobile toilets on Friday after a fire ripped through the informal settlement, leaving about 3 000 people homeless.

Earlier, Sidego told the Weekend Argus that looters have made off with the mobile toilets meant for the homeless.

He told the newspaper that 30 mobile toilets were made available on Friday, but that only five remained by Saturday.

He called on locals to show responsibility, adding that the municipality was “not in the business of fostering a victim mentality”.

Two people were killed when the fire raged through the township.

The municipality said 1 357 shacks were destroyed by the fire and 4 500 people were displaced.

“The victims of the fire will need to be registered. This process concludes this afternoon (Sunday) and this information will be verified thereafter against the municipality's housing data.”

The verification process was expected to produce a final victim list which will in turn activate other social services including the re-issuing of IDs and social grant access cards.

Displaced people have been provided with food.

“Specific attention is given to babies, children, people with disabilities and the elderly in the municipality's relief efforts.”

School uniforms were also being purchased for children affected by the fire. 

- Sapa

Mobile toilets taken after fire

Stellenbosch - Looters have taken advantage of a fire that swept through a Stellenbosch informal settlement by making off with mobile toilets meant for the homeless, it was reported on Sunday.

Stellenbosch mayor Conrad Sidego told the Weekend Argus that 30 mobile toilets were made available on Friday, but that only five remained by Saturday.

He called on locals to show responsibility, adding that the municipality was “not in the business of fostering a victim mentality”.

Two people were killed when the fire raged through the township, gutting 1250 shacks. - Sapa

Destroyed shacks rises to 1357

The number of shacks destroyed by fire in Kayamandi, near Stellenbosch, totalled 1,357 on Saturday, the local municipality.

“At this stage the municipality registered 1,357 shacks that were demolished in the fire,” said spokesman Vernon Bowers.

“The registration process continues tomorrow morning (Sunday) while the outcome will be verified against the municipality's housing data and prepaid meter data.”

More than 3000 people were left homeless after the fire burnt down shacks.

It was reported that two people died in the fire.

The fire department said it suspected that a candle overturned and caused the fire.

Bowers said more mobile toilets would be provided.

“Specific attention is also being given to babies, children, people with disabilities and the elderly. 

- Sapa

Residents ‘channel anger’ to rebuild after fire

Stellenbosch, Western Cape - Kayamandi residents were putting out the last of the flames from the fire that raged through the informal settlement outside Stellenbosch on Friday, leaving thousands homeless, others were already putting up frames to rebuild new shacks.

“The time for crying was last night. This is a tragedy, but it is not the end of the world.

“People are very frustrated, because we have been promised decent housing by the government many times. They are channelling that anger and energy into rebuilding their homes,” said Eddie Diko, who lost everything in the fire.

“You must understand, this is humiliating for us. To have television cameras here pointing at us when the community is so vulnerable is not a good feeling.

“Look at me – I am dirty, I do not have a job, nor an ID, nor a spare change of clothes. Be honest, would you want to employ me if I showed up for a job interview?” he said as his eyes welled up.

His sister, Babalwa Diko, moved over to comfort him.

With the soles of his shoes melting on the hot concrete where his shack once stood, Nelson Mayezana was one of the first residents to erect the corner poles for a new shack.

His plot was abuzz with activity, with six friends from a gospel choir helping with the rebuilding.

“For me it’s touching that people in the community whose houses weren’t burned are willing to skip work to help us out. We owe them a lot, but we would do the same if the situation was reversed,” he said.

“I think we’ll have the roof up tonight. By tomorrow maybe we’ll have walls and then we’ll just about be finished.”

Christa Liebenberg, municipal manager in Stellenbosch, admitted that an aerial surveillance of the area suggested preliminary reports that 600 shacks had burned down were gross underestimations.

She would not put a figure on the extent of the damage, but opinions gleaned from residents suggest that between 2 000 and 4 000 households lost their homes.

Virtually all those affected by the fire worked through the night, salvaging their possessions and battling the blaze.

Sitting alongside a pile of furniture, Bulelwa Masanini said she would not sleep until she knew that her possessions would be safe.

She said she had been told at a meeting that the municipality had promised to provide R1 200, 15 zinc sheets and 10 poles to each of the affected households.

There have been three confirmed deaths – two adults and a baby.

His mother, Elishia Mdoda, sat in solemn silence near where her son’s charred body still lay as police secured the scene.

She said the fire had come up too quickly for her son to wake up and escape.

Near where Mdoda had lived, residents had inadvertently hampered the firefighting efforts by packing their possessions in one of the only streets in the area.

This provided a channel for the fire to spread to a section of formal housing, where three cars and six houses burnt to the ground.

The wall of furniture, along with the density of that section of Kayamandi, made it virtually impossible for the 12 fire engines and 50 firefighters to get hoses to many burning areas.

A relief station has been set up by the municipality’s disaster management at Strong Yard community hall, where people can register to receive aid, food, and blankets. The hall will also be available to house those who need it, said Liebenberg.

The Department of Home Affairs has started reissuing IDs to those who lost their documents in the fire

“There is urgent and immediate need and I appeal to the residents, students and businesses of Stellenbosch to open their hearts and give in abundance, to help alleviate the desperate need and desolation of fellow citizens,” said Stellenbosch mayor Conrad Sidego.

* If you can help by donating non-perishable food, blankets and clothing, contact Shezayd Siegels at the Stellenbosch Disaster Management Centre on 082 050 4834 or lucindas@stellenbosch.org.

- Weekend Argus

DA blamed for fatal Cape shack fire

Stellenbosch, Western Cape - The fire that left two people dead and over 4 000 people displaced in Kayamandi, Stellenbosch is the DA's fault, the ANC said on Saturday.

“The DA should take full responsibility for this disaster and its pathetic attempts to visit residents after the fire should be taken for what they are,” African National Congress Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman said.

He said if the Democratic Alliance's provincial government was committed to delivering services and homes to the poor, this tragedy could have been avoided.

“The reality is that this government of white privilege feels little if anything for these residents. It has consistently underspent its budget, especially on housing and infrastructure.”

The DA's spokesman Mmusi Maimane called Fransman's comments cheap politicking.

Residents survey the damage after a blaze swept through Khayamandi in Stellenbosch. Photo: Thomas Holder

CAPE ARGUS

“It is frankly disgusting that Mr Fransman would aim to politicise this tragedy. Playing politics with this tragedy is not the right way forward.”

He said the City of Cape Town, the Town Council in Stellenbosch and province's department of social development had provided extensive support already.

“Since Friday morning, 200 temporary structures have been built to house the fire victims.”

Stellenbosch Mayor, Conrad Sidego thanked all parties who had come to assist the displaced. He said the situation had stabilised.

“The situation is under control and the municipality is working hard to normalise the situation for those affected by the fire.”

The latest disaster management report showed that 1,250 shacks were affected and that the total number of displaced people was 4,500.

He said that the municipality had offered two halls to be used as accommodation for the victims, but that only 12 people took up the offer.

Thirty mobile toilets were set up on Friday evening, only five were found this morning.

“Theft under these conditions should be condemned. The community needs to work with the municipality in ensuring that they are in fact benefiting from the relief efforts. Theft cannot be tolerated,” said Sidego.

Food was being provided by the Provincial Department of Social Development and clean up efforts had also started.

The department of Home Affairs had registered victims and the process of re-issuing IDs and social grant access cards was underway, said Sidego.

School uniforms were being purchased for affected children.

It was reported that two people died in the fire. - Sapa

Khayamandi fire leaves thousands destitute

Cape Town - More than 3000 people were left homeless after about 800 shacks were destroyed by a fire in Khayamandi, near Stellenbosch on Friday, disaster management services said.

“Stellenbosch municipality is being assisted by the provincial government - the social development department - in providing food and disaster housing kits,” it said in a statement.

“One meal has already been dispensed and another will be provided towards evening.”

Destitute families were staying with family and friends, while others stayed at the community hall.

“From tomorrow onwards the social relief of distress unit will be in charge of food provision. Special attention is given to the needs of babies and children.

“Critical to the smooth running of the whole process is the registration and verification of the victims. This process has already started and will hopefully be concluded by Friday night or early Saturday morning.”

Earlier, international news agency Agence France-Presse reported that two people died in the fire.

“We had two fatalities,” Stellenbosch fire chief Leon Morta told the agency.

“We suspect that it was a candle that overturned but obviously there will be a proper investigation that will determine the cause of the fire.” - Sapa

Nkandla report to come before MPs, but behind closed doors

THE controversial report on the R206m security upgrade on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence is likely to be dealt with behind closed doors and not in a public forum.

This follows a letter from Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi to National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu that he would table the report in Parliament. Opposition parties have been clamouring for the report on the public works investigation into the security upgrade to be made public.

Earlier, Mr Nxesi announced that the investigation had found supply chain irregularities and overcharging in the work done on Mr Zuma’s home.

African National Congress chief whip in the National Assembly Mathole Motshekga said on Thursday that "the minister’s decision to subject the report to parliamentary scrutiny is demonstrative of his commendable respect for the authority of Parliament.

"The decision is also reflective of the seriousness with which the minister regards his obligations in relation to parliamentary accountability and oversight.

"We fully agree with the view that, in light of the sensitive nature of the report, a special parliamentary mechanism should be created to ensure that Parliament deals with the report without compromising the security of the head of state," Mr Motshekga said. "We will therefore prefer the report of the Department of Public Works task team be dealt with by a special committee and in camera."

Democratic Alliance (DA) public works spokeswoman Anchen Dreyer welcomed Mr Nxesi’s decision to table the report after the DA’s repeated calls for the report to be released.

"The DA has also tirelessly pushed for a debate on the Nkandla scandal to be held as soon as possible so that the people’s representatives can shine a light on this inexcusable abuse of public funds. This shows the DA’s relentless efforts have borne fruit."

Ms Dreyer said the DA would push for Mr Nxesi to table the full, unexpurgated report with no omissions or deletions, and when the report came before the committee, that the committee be open and that members of the public be able to attend.

She said the full report would need to be debated in the National Assembly after it had been scrutinised by the committee and there needed to be an undertaking by the minister that action would be taken against all those implicated in any wrongdoing.

"So long as the spending of R206m on President Jacob Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla is concealed under the dark cloud of secrecy, Nkandla will forever remain a symbol of government corruption under the presidency of Mr Zuma," she said.

- BDlive

Fire leaves two dead, 3000 homeless

Stellenbosch, Western Cape - Close to 3 000 people have been left homeless and two people killed when a devastating fire swept through a large informal settlement at Khayamandi, Stellenbosch, in the early hours of Friday morning.

About 600 homes were razed as strong winds fanned the flames, and firefighters found the remains of two people in destroyed shacks.

Acting Western Cape Premier Anton Bredell said Disaster Management experts had been dispatched to to Stellenbosch.

“Our information is that over 600 shacks were involved, so far. And if you multiply that by four or five people per home, that’s 2 000 to 3 000 people. So, it’s huge, and we are very worried about them.

“We are assisting with accommodation, blankets, food parcels and anything else to meet their immediate needs – especially as it is now raining. We are doing everything possible to ease their discomfort,” Bredell said.

Firefighting efforts were hampered by the maze of walkways between the shacks, furniture which had been piled into streets and strong wind.

“We have estimated that about 600 shacks were destroyed and 2 500 people had been left without a roof over their heads,” Stellenbosch fire chief Lizaan Morta said on Friday morning.

“We were called just after midnight and, when we arrived at the scene, about 50 shacks had already been burnt to the ground.

“We eventually had 12 firefighting units there. We had help from Cape Town, the Winelands Municipality and Drakenstein.

The people worked under very trying conditions.

“We could not gain proper access to the area and the fire was spread very quickly by the wind and the fact that heaps of furniture were lying in the little streets.

“By 5am, we had the fire contained and most of it was out by 6am.”

At 9am, firemen were still damping down the area to prevent smouldering rubble from causing further fires.

Morta said about 600 shacks burn. However, estimates from residents put the figure at between 4 000 and 6 000.

Local journalist Mcebisi Mgudu said several thousand shacks had been destroyed.

“I have lived here all my life. Looking at the extent of it, I would say that at least 6 000 shacks are gone,” said Mgudu.

The fire spread with “an incredible speed”, Mgudu said.

“That is why (one of the victims) could not get away. I suspect he was sleeping and he must have woken up surrounded by fire.”

After a hot, windless day, a strong breeze apparently picked up as the fire started. The cause of fire is not yet known.

Residents showed cellphone footage of flames towering high above silhouettes of people running from the flames.

Residents had carried clothes and furniture into the street. This and the density of the settlement hampered fire services from getting vehicles to scene. Pieces of destroyed heavy-duty hose lay among the burned-out shacks.

The furniture also provided a channel for the fire to spread to formal housing, adjacent to the shacks.

Metres from where one charred body lay behind police tape, residents worked to salvage what they could from the smouldering rubble.

Hammers were used to straighten corrugated iron sheets that had buckled in the heat. Rakes and shovels were used to clear plots, where shacks would be rebuilt.

“It is a terrible tragedy because he (the dead man) was a bright young man, and had a lot of potential.

“But we have to get going because our own futures are uncertain. This uniform is all I have left,” said Christoph Makhalima, who had returned from his night shift at a petrol station to find his home gone and his neighbour dead.

At least five brick houses were also burnt down and a car destroyed.

“When the fire broke out, we thought that we would be safe in a brick house.

“It was not to be; we could not save anything and now the house will have to be demolished and rebuilt,” said Xolsiwa Goqa as she dug through broken tiles and rubble in her mother’s house, searching for car keys.

Outside, Elishia Mdoda, Songezo’s mother, was sitting on a wooden chair weeping quietly.

Andre van der Walt, the councillor for the area, said R50 000 from an emergency fund would be made available to cover the initial costs of the relief effort.

Their initial priority was to provide people with clean drinking water, food and blankets.

“We are in the process of setting up three residents’ committees, which will represent the community in dialogues with a municipality task team,” said Van der Walt, adding that the meetings, monitoring and relief would need to be sustained over the next few weeks.

Church and community halls will be made available to house those who lost their homes.

- Cape Argus

Cape Town plans new ‘mini city’

Cape Town - A multibillion- rand “mini city” could soon spring up 32km from central Cape Town. Six years in the planning, Wescape, the city’s biggest urban development project yet, is set to be built near Melkbosstrand on the city’s north-western edge and will connect Atlantis to the city.

The project is the first mega-housing development since Mitchells Plain was established in the early 1970s.

The 3 100-hectare development is being driven by Cape Town-based private sector urban development company communiTgrow and will see 200 000 houses, 415 schools, 370 “public service facilities”, such as libraries and clinics, and 15 sports complexes being built over the next 10 to 15 years.

Wescape is mainly focused on lower income groups – those earning between R4 000 and R6 000 a month. The population is expected to reach 800 000 by 2036.

The development has been discussed by the City of Cape Town and in January was sent to the provincial Environment and Planning Department for zoning approval.

The drivers behind the R140 billion development include Bellandia, a property development company with a 46-year track record; ARG Design, the town planners and urban designers responsible for the integrated rapid transit (IRT) system and new Cape Town Station; Ariya and Target Projects, the project management companies behind the CTICC and the Cape Town International Airport upgrade; as well as Pact Developers.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the new development would “unlock opportunities”, create jobs and connect Atlantis to the CBD.

CommuniTgrow approached the city with the application for the multibillion rand development last year.

“We’ve had a lot of discussion and robust debate about this development since the application came in,” De Lille said.

“In November it was discussed by the council and sent to Local Government, Environment and Planning MEC Anton Bredell’s department for approval. That’s where the process is currently.”

De Lille said this was the city’s first major housing development and urban project since the establishment of Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

“We are definitely very excited about the opportunities it will bring,” she said.

“The development will move the city’s urban edge further north. Currently, everything is squeezed between the ocean and the mountain in Cape Town. There is simply no space. I’m very glad that developing is being planned for that area.

“Along with this comes jobs and a big injection for the city’s construction industry.”

CommuniTgrow chief executive Ruben Richards said construction would get under way as soon as the zoning was approved.

“We are in the hands of the local authorities. Once the zoning is approved, we can start with the bulk infrastructure and then the top structures,” Richards said.

CommuniTgrow has been working on the project for the past six years.

The development has been described as a “mini city” that will be populated with clinics, schools, libraries and all necessary services.

The Wescape community development model incorporated industry, technology, food security, infrastructure, waste processing and energy reduction in a holistic way, Richards said.

“This is going to be something different and unique. People who move into houses at Wescape will also be able to work there. The aim is to create an economic hub there as well. It will also be a green village, safe and accessible.”

Richards said the project was born out of the necessity to develop affordable housing for lower income earners within proximity to work opportunities as well as social and educational precincts.

“By creating a community that has access to opportunities from work to community facilities, the social challenges often faced in long-established cities can be mitigated. Households having to travel long distances to work and the subsequent environmental impact is also further reduced,” he said.

“Inner city development is undoubtedly important and will continue to be part of the city’s development.

“However, the barrier to the success of inner city housing to accommodate lower income earners is primarily the cost of land within the city parameters.

“Generally, the closer you are to work opportunities the more you pay for property,” he said.

The project will be rolled out in phases once final approval is granted.

The environmental and planning approval process will take at least two years. An environmental impact assessment is under way.

- Cape Times

Nkandla report may be withheld from public

Parliament, Cape Town - The government task team report on R206 million in security upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home is to be tabled in Parliament, but it is not clear whether it will be made public.

Speaker Max Sisulu made the announcement in the National Assembly yesterday that Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi had decided to table the report he commissioned last year, in the wake of public outrage over the reported cost of the work on Zuma’s private residence.

Details were to be published in Parliament’s announcements, tablings and committee reports document today.

Nxesi and a posse of ministers revealed some of the findings of the task team at a media briefing in January, including that R71m of the total had been for security measures and the remainder for “operational requirements” of government departments, such as housing for security staff.

The team had uncovered “irregularities” in the appointment of service providers and the procurement of goods and services that might have inflated the cost by millions.

A total of R48m had been paid to consultants.

The report would be sent to the Special Investigating Unit, the auditor-general and SAPS for them to investigate “any possible acts of criminality”, the ministers said.

But Nxesi has, until now, refused to divulge details of the work, saying this information was classified as it related to Zuma’s security and because Nkandla had been declared a national key point.

The National Key Points Act – a “dastardly” piece of apartheid-era security legislation that is probably unconstitutional, according to Nxesi’s deputy Jeremy Cronin – makes it an offence to publish information on a declared key point, even though the list of such places is also kept secret.

Yesterday, in written replies to parliamentary questions, Nxesi refused to divulge:

l Details of the bidding process for contracts for the Nkandla work.

l The procurement strategy document.

l The nature of the “operational costs” incurred.

l Whether other government departments, besides the police, had staff at Nkandla.

l The names and addresses of companies and consultants involved in the upgrade and the value and nature of each contract.

He said that “to protect the security of the president at his private residence, sensitive security information cannot be made public”, unless a “mechanism consistent with parliamentary rules” was found that would protect Zuma’s security.

Sisulu’s announcement yesterday may indicate such a “mechanism” had been decided on, but this might not involve making the report public.

The DA welcomed the announcement, but said it would push for the “full, unexpurgated report” to be tabled, with no omissions or deletions.

The party wanted it to be tabled in a committee that was open to the public and that members of the public should be able to attend.

Committees dealing with security matters, the joint standing committee on defence and the joint standing committee on intelligence, are closed to the public. The joint committee on ethics and members’ interests is also closed.

Speaker Sisulu can, in exceptional circumstances, give permission for a meeting of a committee to be held behind closed doors.

DA public works spokeswoman Anchen Dreyer said the party also wanted the full report to be debated in the National Assembly and for those implicated in wrongdoing to face the music.

“So long as the spending of R206m on President Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla is concealed under the dark cloud of secrecy, Nkandla will forever remain a symbol of government corruption under the presidency of Mr Jacob Zuma,” Dreyer said.

In another written reply yesterday, Nxesi agreed that the public works minister had oversight responsibility for security upgrades at the homes of members of the executive.

A joint cabinet memorandum of August 13, 2003, relating to these “does not exempt the minister from his oversight role”, nor did it exempt such projects from the requirements of the Public Finance Management Act, Nxesi said.

- Daily News