Land invaders in face-off with cops

Cape Town - The loud bangs of stun grenades filled the air signalling the start of evictions outside the Nolungile train station in Khayelitsha on Wednesday morning.

While squatters threatened to stand their ground, waving tools they had used to erect 20 structures on the private property on Monday, they were quickly dispersed by a large police contingent.

Led by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), squatters said they had taken over the land because of overcrowding in the township’s Site C.

Major Mali, who built a shack on Monday, said the land had been vacant since 1985.

Police arrived on Wednesday morning brandishing what appeared to be an eviction notice. There was resistance from the protesters, many waving crowbars, spades, sticks and pangas as they shouted for the police to leave.

While some of the shacks had been completed, many were nothing but skeletal wooden frames jutting from the pockmarked earth in between tufts of yellow grass.

A group of protesters and land invaders holding crowbars, sticks and pangas gather in Khayelitsha on Wednesday morning. Picture: Cindy WaxaCAPE ARGUS

When police moved to dismantle the structures they acted swiftly, firing rubber bullets at a group of people camped in the bushes with rocks in their hands.

Protesters at first stood their ground, but the first of two stun grenades sent them screaming towards the property’s boundary line with the township.

Within 20 minutes the shacks had been brought down, demolition crews pulling them apart and hammering at the tinder buried in the ground.

Residents watched from the train station. But as the last structure fell, their interest waned and the enthusiastic crowd began to thin.

However, some minutes later a band of protesters set tyres, rubbish and debris alight on a road nearby.

The City of Cape Town has outlined plans to clamp down on any land invaders attempting to occupy the vacant field in Khayelitsha.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith vowed to take action against illegal occupants who erected shacks on privately owned land in the TR section on Tuesday morning.

“We will be laying charges against anyone who can be identified putting up shacks on the privately owned land. They have been warned about this on Monday,” said Smith.

He added that the land invasions weredrawing much-needed police resources away from gang flashpoints. “We had two very violent gang flare-ups in Manenberg and Ottery. There was machine gun fire. This land grab pulled resources away from that.”

Pockets of land across the city have been under threat from members of the EFF and Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement over the past two days. EFF Western Cape leader Nazir Paulsen said they supported residents’ invasion of the land.

“The EFF supports the residents as they deserve this land to build bigger housing. There is nothing wrong with what we are doing. The city can contact my lawyers if they have a problem,” said Paulsen

The DA condemned criminal acts of land invasion by the EFF and welcomed any charges against Paulsen. “As the ringleader of the EFF action and member of the Western Cape Parliament, Nazir Paulsen has encouraged and facilitated criminal conduct.

“The DA welcomes the City of Cape Town laying criminal charges against Nazir Paulsen, and urges the SAPS to investigate…”

- Cape Argus

Cape Town’s own Nkandla

Cape Town - Cape Town has its very own Nkandla. But unlike President Jacob Zuma’s multi-million rand homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, it has no “firepools”, cattle pens, tuck shops or other R246-million security features.

Instead residents of Nkandla in Mfuleni live on an open field without basic facilities such as running water or toilets, and now even without shelter.

Some of the almost 80 people live in makeshift tents, patched together from bits and pieces of used material.

Most of them sleep under the stars on old and broken mattresses, and food is cooked over bonfires.

The group were among over a thousand people who were evicted from Fountain Village in Blue Downs last year.

Yongama Folose of the Mfuleni Backyarders Organisation, says they first moved into a big tent, which they named Nkandla, on the open field.

“We clubbed together R1 each to hire the tent, and we paid R1 000 per week,” he said.

“But the number of people dropped and we couldn’t afford to rent the tent anymore.”

He said most of the people have left to move in with family and friends in other areas.

“Every time we build a structure, law enforcement comes and demolish it. But we are not moving from here because we have nowhere to go,” he adds.

Mama Yandisa Vika, 30, who lives with her two-year-old baby girl on the field says it’s been tough on them: “When the night comes it hurts me so much.

“Imagine I have to sleep with my daughter in the open under the moonlight. It was better when we had a tent, at least we had a roof over our heads.”

Folose also accused ward councillor Themba Honono of ignoring their plight.

But Honono says people were warned not to occupy the land, which he says belongs to the city council.

“But they were ordered by Ses’khona members to occupy the land,” says Hono.

Ses’khona spokesperson Sithembele Majova denied the allegations: “We are aware of the eviction, but we did not order the occupation of the land.

“As an organisation we believe people should be provided with an alternative place to stay when they are evicted.

“It is councillor Honono’s ward, and he is unable to manage it,” said Majova.

- Daily Voice

Human settlement panel answer questions

TNA in Sandton with the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, & Human Settlement Stakeholders as they unpack the Social Contract for development of Sustainable Human Settlements as signed at the National Indaba on 17th October Chamber of Mines SA, SA Affordable Residential Developers Association, Black Conveyancers Association, Banking Association of SA.

Mike Teke, President: Chamber of Mines South Africa Cas Coovadia, Managing Director of Banking Association of SA Zukiswa Ntlangula, President of Black Conveyancers Association Yusuf Patel, SAARDA spokesperson.

"I'd like to be able that I'd like to be able to confirm that perhaps in two years there will not be an indigent military veteran anywhere." 

- Lindiwe Sisulu prioritizing a select few military veterans over providing what the state is obligated to, set out in the Grootboom case

Minister Sisulu, politicking doesn't improve living conditions

Note to Editors: This is an extract of a speech delivered by the DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlements, Makashule Gana MP, during a sitting of the National Assembly in Parliament today. 

Honourable Speaker,

Honourable Members,

Now more than ever, we need a constructive debate on how to make our cities welcoming for all people moving there. We cannot deny that urbanisation is placing enormous pressure on our local governments. We must work together to make our cities work for everyone. 

Honourable Speaker, 

The City of Cape Town tried to engage with Sanral as early as 2010 to install services to the shacks on their land, resulting in several warnings from the City about the untenable living conditions. Sanral's inaction formed part of its plans to bring e-tolls to the Western Cape.

After the evictions took place the City of Cape Town made available community facilities to assist those affected by Sanral's legal action. 

The matter is currently handled by the Housing Development Agency (HDA) which coordinated the move of the residents back to Lwandle and assisted in the set-up of temporary structures. The City of Cape Town has provided all the material.

The City is prohibited by law from providing services on land owned by another sphere of government or private land owner. The City is awaiting permission from SANRAL to provide toilets. Eskom wants to install electricity but they too are waiting on SANRAL to approve.

But let us be clear, this is not a Cape Town issue, this is a nationwide issue, affecting many municipalities, especially metropolitan municipalities. 

Honourable Speaker, 

I am happy to hear that the Minister agrees with the DA that any illegal occupation of land should be discouraged. 

I am sure that she is also in agreement that we cannot incentivise illegal land invasion by providing alternative accommodation to the detriment of others who have been waiting on housing lists for almost 20 years. 

Perhaps one of the most disturbing elements of this whole situation is that fact that Ses'Khona - the network includes several ANC councillors and aspirant councillors - scored R330 000 from Lwandle plot-selling. Evidence suggests that a total of 660 sites were pegged out on SANRAL land for shacks to be built at a minimum price of R500 each. 

Taking advantage of vulnerable people is deplorable and should be condemned. I would call on the Minister to condemn Ses'Khona for these illegal activities. 

Honourable Speaker, 

Instead of confining the investigation to one DA-run province, the Minister should have launched a nationwide investigation into evictions, which occur all too often.

The Minister's spokesperson tried to justify to journalists why the Department did not investigate other evictions in the country: "When a Mayor and a Premier, on a cold winter day, abandon its citizens, the national department must intervene. In other provinces the mayors and premiers never abandon their people." 

This is an insult to South Africans.

The true story is that on a very cold winter's day in June this year more than 200 Zandspruit residents in Johannesburg were forcefully removed and on day two SAPS fired rubber bullets at protesting residents.

In the same month in the eThekwini Municipality, 100 shacks in Cato Crest's Marikana Land Occupation and Lamontville's Madlala Village were destroyed and left about 300 people homeless. 

What about the Uitenhage Demolitions in the Eastern Cape, Mogale City, Alexandra and Belgravia evictions in Gauteng and the Umzimkulu municipality demolitions in Kwa-Zulu Natal?

There is much work to be done to deliver adequate land and housing to our people. The Report tabled today should be scrutinised by the committee to see how we can move forward on the issue of evictions. 

In the meantime I would encourage the Minister to work harder to solve the underperformance of provincial departments and municipalities - including actually spending the Rural Infrastructure Grant Funding, upgrading informal settlements and providing recreational facilities in informal settlements so people can build communities. 

Honourable Speaker, 

Section 26 of the Bill of Rights states that "Everyone has the right to adequate housing" and further that the State must make the necessary arrangements to provide for citizens who cannot provide adequate housing for themselves.

Instead of focusing on preventing illegal evictions, land must be made available closer to urban centres - especially land owned by state entities that is sitting idle - for the development of human settlements. 

Minister let us not forget that Human Settlements plays an important role in redressing some of the imbalances of apartheid spatial development, and providing dignity and land ownership to many South African citizens must be a task we all take up without playing petting politics. 

Let's make our cities welcoming to all people.

- Ndza khensa. DA

- Politicsweb

MyCiTi demolitions a ‘done deal’

Cape Town - Plans by the City of Cape Town to demolish houses in a Plumstead road earmarked for the construction of a new MyCiTi bus route appear to be a done deal, according to a report submitted to the Protea Subcouncil.

Approval has already been given for the demolition of three vacant houses in Waterbury, Rotherfield and Lympleigh roads.

Part of the motivation for removing these “dilapidated houses” was that Transport for Cape Town, and specifically the Integrated Rapid Transit department, had “informed and requested the demolition of various houses within the proposed road reserve to enable the construction of Phase 2A of the IRT project”.

The project would start in 2015, said the report. “They are currently finalising the concept design and expect the detail design of Phase 2A to be completed in mid-2014.”

Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport, has said that the detailed route was still being finalised and that more information would be announced at a media briefing within two weeks.

The city has meanwhile confirmed that 26 occupied council-owned houses and six vacant houses would be demolished to make way for the MyCiTi trunk route that will come through Wynberg and Plumstead. Tenants have already been sent council notices terminating their leases, and have been given until January to leave their homes.

Members of the South Road Families’ Association, representing those facing eviction, say the MyCiTi plans had been “slapped” on to outdated road schemes dating back to the 1950s.

Herron said the properties in South Road were bought by the city after the initial planning of the South Road scheme in the 1960s. The detailed design for the road scheme was finalised early in 2000, but construction never took place.

The South Road reserve, as well as the Wynberg Couplet reserve, also approved in 2002, would form part of the second phase of the MyCiTi service between Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain and Wynberg.

But the Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers’ Association said the council had agreed in 2002 that the Brodie/Main Road couplet proposal would be a long-term plan and would be phased in only if there was an “extensive meaningful public participation process” and if “overwhelming support of the public is obtained”.

At a recent press conference about the Integrated Public Transport Plan, Herron said the Wynberg route would start at Wynberg Station and travel along the Main Road, the Brodie Road couplet and the new carriageway in South Road, Plumstead.

The Cape Flats District Plan of 2012 refers to a link from South Road to Constantia. This link, which would include an underpass under the railway, is part of the proclaimed road area. The Brodie Road couplet would create a two-lane public road through residential Wynberg.

After a public meeting to discuss the city’s plans, the Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers’ Association issued the following statement: “Wynberg residents do not support the South Road/Brodie Road couplet scheme, which has been disguised as a MyCiTi route.”

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

MyCiTi evictions are ‘like District 6

Cape Town - Mixed communities in Plumstead and Wynberg say the construction of a MyCiTi “freeway” through their peaceful suburbs will, like the Group Areas Act of apartheid, rip apart their neighbourhoods and their families.

More than 30 City of Cape Town tenants – including pensioners, single mothers and families with children at nearby schools – have been served with notices by the city’s property department, instructing them to move out of their council-owned homes by January next year.

“They’ve just thrown us out like dogs,” said Mogamat Bester, head of the South Road Families Association. “We are ratepayers and we pay rent.”

Others said the planned evictions harked back to the days of District Six, when families were scattered across the peninsula after the bulldozers moved in.

Bester, who was given his notice to vacate a few weeks ago, has vowed to fight the evictions. Legal advice has already been sought, and Bester is working on getting signed petitions of support from the area’s schools, churches and mosques.

He said it was understood that there were three phases to the city’s proposed MyCiTi route: the South Road demolition, the Brodie Road couplet in Wynberg and eventually the Constantia Road couplet.

Bester spoke to the Cape Argus on behalf of some of the residents who were shell-shocked after hearing at last week’s meeting of the Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers’ Association that the road was a “done deal”.

One resident, who has lived in her house since the late 1960s, was too ill to attend the meeting. Another spoke of the toll the uncertainty was having on her health.

But amid the anxiety and anger, there was also a strong sense of community and compassion. Recurring comments were “we’ll fight this together” and “we are not leaving”.

Ironically, the city’s intention to go ahead with a road scheme that was first mooted during apartheid to divide Wynberg along racial lines, has united residents of all races and religions in opposition.

For some, like Duncan Human, 76, this is not the first time they have stared eviction in the face.

Human, who has lived in Pluto Road, Plumstead, for more than 40 years, took the city to court in 2008 when he was first told to vacate his property.

He won his case.

“This is disturbing news for me. I’m 76 years old. Where am I going to go to? I’ve been through this before.”

The residents are adamant that they don’t want to leave.

“We don’t want alternatives, we want to stay here,” said John Abrahams. “We want public participation. There’s a highway coming through and it will bring noise and an influx of people to our area.”

One of the residents claimed he was told that if he did not like the city’s plans, he could live in Blikkiesdorp.

Lisa Miller’s house in Pluto Road will be flattened to make way for a MyCiTi bus stop. The planned road will have a devastating impact on her family.

“We can’t afford to buy a house, so I will have to take my daughter out of school and move to Pretoria where I can stay with family.”

Miller will have to leave her husband, a policeman, behind in Cape Town as he will be able to stay at the barracks.

Joanne Louw lives with her mother, a pensioner, and her 14-year-old son. She’s delighted that he has been accepted at a leading high school in the area. But, now she will have to find somewhere else to live.

“We will sit with our belongings in our gardens,” she said.

Another mother of three is concerned about schooling options. One of her daughters is at Vista Nova, and the school’s bus picks her up at their home.

“Where we are now, we are comfortable and safe. And now for council to tell us we have to move…”

The city has confirmed that tenants renting city-owned properties have been given four months’ notice to vacate their houses and to find alternative accommodation.

Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for Transport for Cape Town, said the bus lanes along South Road would “by and large” fall within the road reserve defined by the original scheme that was approved by the Protea Subcouncil in 2002.

He said the properties were acquired by the city over a period specifically for the purpose of the road scheme and “it was always the city’s intention that these properties would be demolished to make way for the construction of the proposed road”.

But Kristina Davidson, of the Wynberg Residents and Ratepayers’ Association, said a town planner had indicated earlier this year that the couplet road for a bus service made no sense as it would simply place a bus lane parallel to the existing railway line.

It was recommended that the bus rapid transit (BRT) should end at the Wynberg Transport Interchange where commuters could switch to a taxi or train.

Davidson said Wynberg was an area of high pedestrian activity and the proposed couplet would create a one-way “race track” with limited pedestrian access.

“The city regards the road scheme as part of the long-term ‘mobility solution’. Yet those same schemes were developed in the 1950s and 1960s, when the car was king and building roads was all the rage. The proposed couplet/South Road makes sense if the aim is to increase car mobility but does not make sense in terms of accessibility for passengers.”

It was also contrary to the national public transport strategy which called for integrated public transport networks.

“It would appear that the BRT concept is being misused to get funding for a road scheme that nobody wants,” she said.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Tycoon offers to settle Nkandla bill

Duban - KwaZulu-Natal tycoon Philani Mavundla has offered to raise funds and settle President Jacob Zuma's debt over the security upgrades at his private homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, the Sunday Times reported.

Mavundla, a former ANC mayor of Greytown, admitted that there have been behind-the-scene discussions among Zuma's backers for the president's debt.

“We have been talking about this. There has been a forum talking about this issue.”

“We've been asking questions about this issue and convincing one another that we need to put something together,” Mavundla was quoted as saying.

The group would raise money in the same way they did with the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust set up in 2005 to raise money for Zuma's defence against his fraud and corruption charges at the time. Mavundla was involved with the trust, the newspaper reported.

Mavundla, 46, slaughtered 20 cattle in 2008 to celebrate Zuma's rise to the ANC presidency after defeating former president Thabo Mbeki in Polokwane.

He lives with his three wives and their 18 children, his siblings and mother-in-law in a 28-bedroom mansion near Greytown, according to the report.

Mavundla owns a construction company, PG Mavundla Engineering. His property portfolio included five commercial farms, a luxury hotel and lodge and several other businesses, the newspaper reported.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela ordered that Zuma reimburse the state a portion of the R246 million spent on his private homestead.

- Sapa

Lwandle residents fear repeat of evictions

Cape Town - Holding back tears, while tightly clutching the shoulder of her 3-year-old son, Nomapheli Pupu says the trauma of the evictions that took place in Lwandle a few months ago is still real.

“There are nights when I just can’t sleep, worrying that maybe (the) government will change its mind and evict us again.”

In June, Pupu and 839 other families woke up to sounds of rubber bullets and stun grenades. Law enforcement officers and the police had come to evict illegal squatters living on SA National Road Agency (Sanral) land.

The two-day evictions followed an interim Western Cape High Court order that was granted to Sanral in January to remove the squatters from the land.

Some squatters burnt their shacks and 10 people were arrested for public violence.

For two months Pupu and the rest of the families squatted in a community hall and on August 26 they were allowed to temporarily move back to the Sanral-owned land.

“We do not know what will happen next. Life is not the same any more,” she said.

“We have lost so much of our own belongings; our children are living in constant fear questioning whether police will come again and chuck us out of our homes.”

Pupu lost her caravan – which she used for her takeaway business – her bed, furniture and clothes during the chaos.

She, her husband and seven children use crates as makeshift beds.

She had also collected old, abandoned furniture and is dependent on her husband’s wages for food and electricity.

“We still don’t have electricity here, so we hook our electric lines to nearby houses and rent electricity from them. I pay about R400 a month.”

The mother of seven added that her children’s education had also been affected by the evictions. She said her children normally did “fairly well” at school, but their recent report cards were not as impressive.

“I don’t blame them. Their books and school bags were thrown out; everything was a mess.”

Xoliswa Masakala, a community leader, lost her job as a police volunteer because of the evictions.

Masakala and her husband, Albert, testified at the Lwandle Inquiry set up by Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu after the evictions. The inquiry wrapped up its work last week.

On Wednesday, the 296-page report was handed to Sisulu, who aims to use the findings as a benchmark for the execution of eviction orders.

Sisulu is to present her recommendations at a human settlements portfolio committee meeting next week.

Masakala’s husband was one of the 10 people arrested during the evictions.

“We are still attending court hearings because of that,” she said.

Masakala showed the Cape Argus photos that had been downloaded on the internet. The photos showed police pepper-spraying her husband lying on the ground.

“How could police treat my husband like that? He did nothing wrong.”

Masakala said living conditions in Lwandle were still harsh – there were only 20 toilets for the people living in 485 homes.

zodidi.dano@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus and Political Bureau

Human Settlements Minister Receives Lwandle Report

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says she will study the findings and recommendations of the report of the Ministerial Commission of Inquiry that probed the inhumane evictions of families in Lwandle, Cape Town.

The Commission of Inquiry chairman, Advocate Denzil Potgieter, and other members of the commission handed over a 296-page report to the Minister during a media briefing at the Imbizo Centre in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The inquiry was concluded at the end of September after public hearings in mid-July.

During a cold winter night in June, 800 families in Lwandle were evicted from an illegally-occupied land.

"I intend to take time to study this report and thereafter I intend to ensure that it is given to the various Ministers who are affected and all those parties that are affected, including the Minister of Human Settlements in the Western Cape, the Cape Town Mayor and SANRAL CEO.

"It will take me one day to study 296 pages of the report. To apply my mind, it takes me one week.

"After one week, I will then forward the report to the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements," she said.

Advocate Denzil Potgieter said while the inquiry enjoyed great public support, the Western Cape Provincial Government and the City of Cape Town did not cooperate.

"... It is to be noted, however, that the refusal by the government of the Western Cape - the Provincial Department of Human Settlements and the City of Cape Town in particular - to participate in the public hearings has hampered the work of the inquiry.

"We are nevertheless more than convinced at this juncture that having had public hearings, where parties were allowed to make oral presentations and allowed meaningful engagement with the members, has enriched the work [of the inqiry]."

Some of the recommendations that Potgieter highlighted were that amendments needed to be made to legislation that dealt with evictions and illegally occupied land, and the role of all officials in the chain of evictions.

Potgieter also recommended that the Minister take a look at the housing waiting list and consider launching a forensic investigation to probe all the challenges and shortcomings that came with the list.

He said the affected parties, who were invited to make presentations at public hearings, included institutions like the SA National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), SAPS, The Sheriff of the Strand, Western Cape Human Settlements Department, City of Cape Town, the Lwandle and Nomzamo evictees and NGOs.

- AllAfrica

LETTER: Nkandla MPs enlighten

I WANT to thank the members of the African National Congress (ANC), especially those from Parliament’s ad hoc committee on the Nkandla saga. It took a week for ANC members on the committee to answer questions that have troubled me for years.

I asked myself: if Adolf Hitler was so evil, why did ordinary Germans keep on supporting him? If the apartheid system was criminal, why was it kept alive by some sections of the population?

I read books on Nazism and apartheid, but still could not get answers. I kept asking what kind of people would support such cruelty? The ANC representatives on the Nkandla committee were able to clear up my confusion.

Humans are the same, irrespective of their nationality, ethnicity, gender and religion. Our moral judgment is influenced by what we stand to benefit. If silence will guarantee our safety, then we will keep quiet.

If praise singing means extra rewards, we will make sure our voices shout the loudest. We will support what is wrong as we stand to benefit.

If Jacob Zuma’s presidency ensures my job, I will protect its existence with my life. I am no different from those who supported Hitler and apartheid.

I want to remind ANC representatives on the Nkandla committee that, as long as opposition parties are not part of the process, theirs is a hollow victory. Put the country first.

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane
Cresta

Report on Lwandle evictions completed

Cape Town - The ministerial inquiry's report into the Lwandle, Cape Town, evictions has been completed and will be handed over to Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, her office said on Thursday.

“The Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu has been informed by the chairperson of the ministerial (inquiry) on the eviction of Lwandle/Nomzamo residents advocate Denzil Potgieter SC, that the (inquiry) has completed its task,” spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya said in a statement.

The report would be handed over to Sisulu in Cape Town next Wednesday.

Sisulu set up the inquiry to probe the forced removals from the SA National Roads Agency Limited road reserve on June 2 and 3.

“At the time of the establishment of the (inquiry) the minister indicated that her main concern is that no citizens must ever be evicted without temporary accommodation,” Mabaya said.

- Sapa

Jacob Zuma still 'not safe' in Nkandla compound

The Special Investigating Unit report on Nkandla recommends that the police evaluate its security situation — and soon.

Fifteen years, well over R200-million and several investigations later, Nkandla is still not secure. President Jacob Zuma’s palatial homestead in rural KwaZulu-Natal is ringed by two fences, has bulletproof glass and a last-resort underground bunker. 

But even as state expenditure at the compound creeps towards a quarter of a billion rand, and even though efforts to secure it now have a history a decade-and-a-half long, Zuma and his family may still not be entirely safe.

Or, at least, they were probably not yet sufficiently safe as of July this year. In August the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) presented its report on Nkandla to Zuma; that report is now before Parliament and the public as a result. 

Buried near the end of the 245-page document is an intentionally cryptic warning based on a visit the unit made to Nkandla in July, after eventually gaining access.

During that visit, the SIU said, “the investigating team noted a number of matters of concern relating to the upgrades that have been effected”. For reasons of security, it said, the details were excluded from the report, but require urgent attention. Measuring the security features against initial threat assessments, the unit said, “a further evaluation of the security situation [by the SA Police Service] should be undertaken as soon as possible”.

The warning was issued even though the SIU said it did not have full and unfettered access to the compound during its one visit and had trouble verifying what had actually been constructed.

Fifth review

If the recommendation for a new review is followed it would be the fifth time since 1999 (when Zuma became deputy president) that the police give formal consideration to security at Nkandla. As deputy to Thabo Mbeki there was apparently little real concern about Zuma’s safety at Nkandla; a 2007 review by the police found that recommendations made in 2004 had seen little done beyond providing fire extinguishers and an intruder alarm.

In 2009, with Zuma installed as president, that changed dramatically. Paralleling the findings of the public protector, the SIU documented a host of government officials who suddenly, and with no clear explanation even under oath, started breaking rules with wild abandon or just made up rules on the spot in order to ram through improvements of “indefensible extravagance”.

The SIU had been tasked with investigating procurement processes, but went much further.

As it explained in its report to Zuma, the law requires it to act to the benefit of the state rather than just stick to the terms of reference it is given by the president — and it considered itself obliged to figure out why so many officials acted in so strange a manner. That took it all the way to the top, and to probe persistent allegations that bureaucrats were told they needed to meet Zuma’s expectations.

Having been so implicated, the SIU sent Zuma a list of 15 detailed questions, including whether he had signed off on landscaping or had been consulted on the colour of a fence. Zuma, the SIU said, responded with a three-page letter, denying he had any undue influence or had expressed any firm views. 

Criminal dockets

That was the end of that particular road for the SIU, which has no authority to cross-examine those in its cross-hairs — but not necessarily the end for the allegations themselves. The unit prepared criminal dockets on three former acting directors general of the department of public works and “disciplinary dockets” on 12 current department employees. Prosecuting those, the SIU said, may unearth the truth.

“In the absence of cross-examination in which the different versions can be tested, we are unable to accept or reject any of the versions [including Zuma’s],” the SIU said. “However, if the disciplinary inquiries or criminal trials are properly prosecuted, the different role players will be subjected to cross-examination and a determination will be made on whose version to accept.”

The courts, if the matter ever reaches them, could well find the job of determining the truth to be complex. One government official explained to the SIU that what may have been interpreted as orders from above had, in fact, been “requests” rather than “instructions”, but that requests from superiors had to be complied with by reason of their origin.

Claim of unjust enrichment could succeed against president

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said it could, technically, claim back money wasted on Nkandla from a number of parties — including President Jacob Zuma and his family.

The unit said the claims it has instituted make it obvious “that the value of the president’s, or the Zuma family’s, residential complex was enhanced”. 

On that basis, a claim of unjust enrichment could succeed against Zuma, as it could against the contractors who built Nkandla.

The SIU believes the most legally sound recovery strategy is to target just one person for all of the wasted money: Zuma’s architect Minenhle Makhanya. 

Hence its civil claim against Makhanya for R155-million, currently under way in the high court in Pietermaritzburg.

But its report leaves the door open for Makhanya to draw Zuma into the court case and also provides a basis for calculating the amount Zuma can hypothetically be held responsible for.

Although public protector Thuli Madonsela held that Zuma should pay a “reasonable percentage” of the Nkandla costs, she declined to calculate the actual amount. 

Zuma has made Police Minister Nathi Nhleko responsible for calculating the actual amount, if any. The SIU provides an accounting of “security” features the state paid for that benefit only Zuma and his family, and that the state had no business paying for. 

These exclude over-designed but genuine security features and the swimming pool, the cattle kraal, and other elements that benefit the Zuma family.

The total Zuma could, hypothetically, be held responsible for is R14.8-million.

• Although security improvements required only a perimeter road for patrolling, the state built six roads inside the compound. “It needs to be accepted that four of these were necessitated by the security upgrades,” the SIU said. “The other two roads are for the sole use of the private residents.” Cost: R3.6-million
• Police wanted an air-conditioned emergency bunker, but contractors ended up installing air conditioning in three private houses. Cost: R4-million
• Some of the security works required subsequent landscaping and rehabilitation of the grounds, but actual landscaping went far beyond that; some 44% of the work done benefited only the Zuma family. Cost: R3.3-million
• A visitors’ lounge built on the grounds was never requested as a security feature, and seems to serve no such purpose. Cost: R3.9-million

- M&G

Wrangling stymies Nkandla committee

THE special parliamentary ad hoc committee to look into the R246m spending on President Jacob Zuma’s private home in Nkandla has still not begun its work, with MPs wrangling over its constitutionality and operational details on Thursday.

Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota withdrew from the committee, saying it had no right to review the work of the public protector. Only a court of law could do that, he said.

"We are being co-opted into violating the constitution," said Mr Lekota.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that Mr Zuma had benefited improperly from the spending on Nkandla and should repay some of the money.

Mr Zuma has since forwarded his response on Ms Madonsela’s findings to Parliament.

The ad hoc committee, drawn from all the parties in Parliament, is expected to consider Mr Zuma’s response, the Special Investigative Unit report and the interministerial report on the issue.

The African National Congress has a majority of one in the committee, which is expected to make recommendations to the National Assembly on its findings by the end of next month.

Review of findings

MPs from other parties disagreed with Mr Lekota, saying there was no intention to review the work of the public protector. Rather, the committee would consider Mr Zuma’s response to Ms Madonsela’s findings.

Freedom Front Plus MP Corné Mulder said he would not be part of any committee that was unconstitutional, "but it is not for this committee to review the public protector’s report as that would be outside the law".

Mr Mulder added that the committee "had not been established for that purpose".

Committee chairman Cedric Frolick ruled that it was up to the various political parties to decide on their level of participation in the committee. He urged the members to move on and decide on its programme.

In a separate development, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters revealed, in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Democratic Alliance MP James Masango, that over the past three financial years R229.3m had been spent on roads around Nkandla.

She said the road from Kranskop to Komo Store, known as P15 section one and two, as well as the unsurfaced section of the road from Eshowe to Nkandla, known as P50 section two, had been rebuilt and resurfaced over the past three years.

Both were multiyear projects, Ms Peters said, and construction through the KwaZulu-Natal transport department started in 2003. The construction was complete except for a few "snags" that were being attended to, she said.

- BDLive

Zuma could face R155m Nkandla claim

President Jacob Zuma could be dragged into the R155-million damages claim against his Nkandla architect, Minenhle Makhanya, the Special Investigating Unit’s final report on the scandal reveals.

The SIU has also not cleared Zuma of alleged political interference in the course of the project.

While the SIU has chosen to go after Makhanya alone for the full amount in damages it believes the state suffered through his role in the project, “it would be for Makhanya to seek the joinder or intervention of third parties whom he may allege were unjustly enriched,” the report states, having already noted that Zuma or his family were enriched by increases in the value of the property thanks to the upgrades.

The report says implicit in the six claims the SIU has lodged against Makhanya in the Pietermaritzburg High Court is that “the value of the President’s, or the Zuma family’s, residential complex was enhanced.

“Clearly, to the extent that these claims are well founded, the president or his family were enriched,” the report says.

Explaining its decision to gun for Makhanya alone in its efforts to recoup losses to the state, the SIU says it could have chosen instead to institute separate claims against all of those who were enriched, relying on the principles of unjust enrichment.

But doing so would have allowed it to claim only the extent of the enrichment, as opposed to the full losses suffered by the state, and this could have been a lesser amount.

The route it has chosen puts the onus on Makhanya to identify and seek the joinder of third parties he might claim were unjustly enriched.

Rather than an unwieldy set of separate claims, this strategy would “ensure that there was one single action, before one judge, in which all the versions are set out and challenged”, the report says.

Tabled in Parliament yesterday after Zuma submitted it to Speaker Baleka Mbete on Thursday, the report also reveals that the SIU investigated the possibility of the president having interfered in the course of the project, on which a total R216 million has been spent to date.

This was after he was mentioned by various officials and in documents as having been involved in or having influenced some of the decision-making in the project, particularly in terms of the appointment of Makhanya and other consultants and contractors, as well as in the design and scope of some of the work.

Zuma was asked to respond to these allegations and denied, in a three-page letter to the SIU, that he had put any pressure on officials, other than expressing his frustration with the slow progress of the project and his distaste for the design of the bulletproof windows.

Zuma told the SIU if the officials had “laboured under the impression that the president was the origin of any undue pressure being brought to bear upon them in the discharge of their responsibilities, they were in a position to report such improper conduct”, according to the report.

“The president pointed out that he was not present at any of the meetings at which certain views, opinions and comments were ascribed to him,” the SIU report says.

Former public works minister Geoff Doidge and Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu were also alleged by two officials to have threatened them in trying to force them to appoint certain consultants and contractors, by suggesting they might lose their jobs if their failure to do so endangered Zuma’s life.

Both denied this.

But the SIU report said it was “unable to accept or reject any of the versions” because it didn’t have the power to test them under cross-examination.

This was likely to happen when criminal and disciplinary cases were prosecuted against officials.

It had forwarded evidence to the prosecuting authorities and Public Works Department relating to possible criminal and disciplinary proceedings, and the report says if these are “properly prosecuted, the different role players will be subjected to cross-examination and a determination will be made on whose versions to accept”.

The report has already been forwarded to members of Parliament’s Nkandla ad hoc committee, who will consider it, along with Zuma’s response, the public protector’s report and that of the joint standing committee on intelligence.

The public protector’s report called on Zuma to repay a portion of the costs of non-security aspects of the upgrade, but he said the police minister must decide.

- Saturday Star

Nkandla architect asks others to join forces

Embattled Nkandla architect Minenhle Makhanya, who is being sued for R155m by the state, has invited others implicated in the project to join legal forces.

On Tuesday his lawyers will file notice at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court demanding that all additional documents being used in the civil court action against him be handed over.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is suing Pinetown-based Makhanya - who netted R17m in architect fees for designing and driving the state-financed R246m splurge on President Jacob Zuma's private Nkandla home - to recover the funds he allegedly plundered from the department of public works (DPW).

Documents, minutes

However, according to a SIU report handed to Parliament last week that probed the multi-million-rand Nkandla upgrade, such were the perceived secrecy levels surrounding the development that key documents were “destroyed” while no minutes of any meetings exist.

SIU sleuths admitted senior officials, contractors and consultants delivered contradictory versions on key facts and state officials may have deliberately tried to delay their investigation and withhold evidence. By the SIU’s own admission, several key documents could not be found.

The report said no “serious” recordings of any meetings discussing Project Prestige A - the code name for the household and security upgrades - were “singularly helpful” to the SIU.

Makhanya’s lawyer Barnabas Xulu said before any court proceedings could begin, his client would still seek the “right to speak”.

“Makhanya was required to sign several non-disclosure documents concerning the Nkandla upgrade. First we need to locate these documents and have them waivered before [proceeding]. From what we understand he could face criminal prosecution otherwise,” said Xulu.

Join forces

Xulu, a prominent Western Cape lawyer who once administered The Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust and represented troubled Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe, said a notice would be served by Friday to allow others implicated in the report to join Makhanya in the defence.

“It will depend on the other parties and [where they find similarities]. We still have a long process ahead,” said Xulu.

Xulu’s Pietermaritzburg-based representatives Tomlinson Mnguni James Attorneys will on Tuesday file notice requesting all documents being used by the SIU in the civil claim against Makhanya.

The SIU provided several documents late last week but declined to provide others Makhanya had requested.

'No official record to speak of on Nkandla upgrade'

Government records on the Nkandla upgrade were so poor investigators had to use unofficial reports to conduct their investigation.

In the detailed 253-page SIU report handed to Parliament, investigators said the “main stumbling block” was there was “no official record to speak of” relating to the upgrade.

The report said DPW officials - Nkandla project manager Jean Rindel, former project manager Sam Mahadeo and Durban public works regional manager Kenneth Khanyile “vaguely suggested” they had been told not to keep documents or to destroy them.

When pressed on the instruction’s source, they did not provide details and their superiors denied issuing such an instruction.

There were also no audio recordings of any meetings in 2009, only four in 2010 and a handful in 2011 lasting seconds or “a few minutes” at a time while only one recording was dated and none had references.

Minutes obtained were not “relevant to this project” with investigators informed “special meetings” were called to take decisions on the “Nkandla matters”.

“Despite a diligent search... the minutes could not be located”.

They also discovered documents relating to the upgrade with no official status while others required for the investigation were delivered just weeks before the completion date.

“One cannot but conclude either officials had been withholding documents... or had suddenly ‘found them’”, the report said.

Documents without official status were relied on as well as interviews with role-players that were “different and ... contradictory versions of what happened”.

- The Witness

Nkandla: DGs take the fall

The Nkandla scandal is set to destroy three former directors-general in the Public Works Department, who face possible criminal charges, and ruin the careers of at least 12 officials beneath them, while the politicians alleged to have been involved have been cleared, for now.

This is revealed in the final report of the Special Investigating Unit on the matter, tabled in Parliament on Friday.

The report shows how senior officials surrendered control over planning, costing, implementation and oversight over the security upgrade project to the architect originally appointed by President Jacob Zuma to do extensive renovations to his private home, allowing the scope of the project to balloon and costs to run out of control.

As the accounting officers in the DPW, the former DGs – Solomon Malebye, Sam Vukela and Siviwe Dongwana – each at various stages of the project the department’s acting DG, face financial misconduct charges under the Public Finance Management Act for failing to protect the public purse in line with this responsibility.

Jean Rindel, the project manager and Sam Mahadeo, whom Rindel replaced, along with members of the KwaZulu-Natal regional bid adjudication committee, face disciplinary steps for deviating from procedure in the appointment of contractors and consultants.

Yet a forensic investigation conducted by the SIU into the finances of the officials shows none of them benefited financially from their deeds, raising the question of why they would have risked their careers, and in the case of the DG’s, possible imprisonment.

The SIU report offers a few possible explanations.

One is that, in many cases, officials were ignorant of the legal obligations they carried, while in others, “they simply failed to fulfil them because of, among other things, the absence of moral courage to do the right thing or simply the failure to apply their minds to the matter”, it says.

It also suggests some “deliberately ignored the applicable measures and used procedures they knew were not applicable, confident that their decisions or actions would not only not be challenged but in fact would be supported and endorsed”.

This brings in the question of political interference, with at least two of the officials claiming they were threatened with the loss of their jobs if they failed to comply with requests to make certain appointments in a hurry.

Former public works minister Geoff Doidge and former deputy minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu were named by the two, but there were also references in documents and oral testimony to the involvement of President Jacob Zuma.

All three denied the claims to the SIU.

There was also a common theme in the testimony of officials, who claimed that because the project involved the president and his safety, they felt they were not in a position to ask questions.

Mahadeo, for example, told the SIU it had been “a very special situation with a special client and therefore we acted specially”.

“To just follow up on that, what then happens to the rules of the game if you’re dealing with a special project and a special client? The rules stayed intact, possibly. The rules do not change but the way they played the game changed.”

Rindel said: “When the ministers and everybody got involved… Again they came, they are my bosses, I listen to them, that is number one.”

But Zuma’s response to these claims was that if the officials had “laboured under the impression that the president was the origin of any undue pressure being brought to bear upon them in the discharge of their responsibilities, they were in a position to report such improper conduct to the constitutional institutions which have been established to deal with such conduct”.

craig.dodds@inl.co.za

- Sunday Independent

Nkandla veggie packhouse not for Zuma family benefit

A vegetable packing warehouse built near President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home was for the benefit of the community, the KwaZulu-Natal department of co-operative governance said on Sunday.

"There is no gold, no coal there. Agriculture is one of strongest drivers of economic development [in the province]," spokesman Lennox Mabaso said.

"It is not for the benefit of one family [the Zumas]."

The Sunday Times reported that the department had built a vegetable packhouse for a women's co-operative started by Zuma's wife, Sizakele MaKhumalo Zuma, in 2010.

Mabaso said MaKhumalo was involved in agricultural causes in the community, but denied that her political connection was the reason for the packhouse, one of many in the province, being built.

"There is a model we apply that we follow in all those projects."

The potential for job creation and economic opportunities through farming in KwaZulu-Natal made it a key sector for development.

Mabaso said it appeared that some media latched on to any development near Nkandla, as the recent controversy surrounding security upgrades to Zuma's house made this newsworthy.

"There is a fishing expedition to make everything that is happening in Nkandla about one family, even if it has no link... It is wrong, the people of Nkandla have become outcasts."

"We have many [vegetable packhouses] that we have opened, we invited the same newspapers to them and they never came. Just the fact that this one is at Nkandla, this [is an] attempt to continue with the narrative..."

Mabaso could not immediately give the cost of the packing warehouse, but said the department would issue a statement about it in the next week.

- Timeslive

Beware Big Brother SA

Although "secrecy bill" has not yet been signed into law, South Africa is fast becoming a "security state" with information that ought to be freely available to the public being kept under wraps.

This is according to civil society movement Right2Know, which launched its annual "Secret State of the Nation Report" in Cape Town yesterday.

The report warns of what appear to be irregular interceptions of ordinary people's cellphone conversations by the government.

Lead author Murray Hunter and the Right2Know campaign cited Nkandla, "Guptagate" and the spy tapes controversies as examples of events that were in the public interest but in respect of which the government resisted calls for transparency.

Professor Jane Duncan, of Rhodes University, said secrecy in the intelligence, military and police services had "reached a peak during the Jacob Zuma administration".

The Right2Know report raises concerns about a recent ruling by the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the arms deals that restricted the release of information.

The Khampepe Report, which is believed to detail irregularities in Zimbabwe's 2002 elections, has yet to be made public.

Right2Know said the number of national key points rose from 118 between 2006 and 2007 to 197 in 2013-2014. This was evidence of the rise of the secret state, it said.

A national key point is described as any area or place about which information is restricted in the interests of national security.

The report raises the issue of applications for warrants authorising the monitoring of communications, and the use of the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act to authorise the interception of phone calls.

According to figures presented to parliament, the number of requests for "bugging warrants" increased by 170% between 2008 and 2011.

Right2Know said that in 2010 parliament heard that there had been about 3million communications interceptions over three years.

Government Communication and Information Systems CEO Phumla Williams could not be reached for comment.

- Timeslive

Zuma's name was used for Nkandla upgrades - SIU

In its final report, the SIU has noted several government officials named-dropped Zuma in an effort to have parts of the Nkandla project approved.

President Jacob Zuma’s name was used to push through the security upgrades to his Nkandla residence and influence decisions, according to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) who dubbed it “disturbing”. 

In its final 245-page report tabled in Parliament on Friday, the SIU noted several government officials named-dropped Zuma in an effort to have parts of the Nkandla project approved – albeit unlawfully. 

READ: The full SIU report.

The SIU investigation is the the third investigation into the R216-million upgrade to Zuma’s homes. 

“There appeared to be a disturbing tendency to invoke the name of the president to move the project along and to influence decisions,” the report stated. 

Zuma however denied that he interfered in the process. 

Interference in the project

The SIU report noted that public works officials claimed to be threatened by the then minister Geoffrey Doidge and his deputy Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu .

Doidge and Bogopane-Zulu denied any interference in the project. 

Bogopane-Zulu said she was providing “political leadership” and was concerned about the delays in the project. 

“For example, [Superintendent LF] Linde, in his written request for temporary accommodation for the SAPS [South African Police Service] officials stated that the president wished to use the hut that had previously been used by the SAPS officials. However, Linde later told the SIU that these were his own words and not that of the president,” the report reads.

The report was cautious in making a finding of political interference but, interestingly, noted that it may well be the subject of subsequent court cases. 

The SIU further warned against ministers who intervene in matters that are being dealt with by department officials. “They need to be conscious of the fact that such intervention should not be construed as interference.”

Ignorance of laws

The report pointed out that ignorance of laws and regulations on the part of senior officials was a critical factor which led to the overspend. 

“Second, however, even when officials were aware of what their obligations were, on a number of occasions they simply failed to fulfil them because of, among other reasons, the absence of moral courage to do the right thing or simply failure to apply their minds to the matter.”

The SIU raised concerns about some officials who “deliberately ignored” rules and regulations and were confident enough to think their decisions would be endorsed.

The Cabinet memo on security upgrades of the president’s homes was also ignored. “This is hardly surprising,” the SIU found. “If public officials are not aware of the regulatory scheme that governs their activities, the chances are high that they would be acting irregularly.” 

Other damning findings include:

• The scope of the project “bizarrely” changed constantly until the end; 
• The cost estimate for the project was never approved by the minister of safety and security Siyabonga Cwele now public works minister Geoffrey Doidge;
• Only two out of 15 contractors appointed through a valid procurement process; and 
• Most appointments did not follow an open tender process. 

The report noted that the appointment of Zuma’s personal architect, Minenhle Makhanya, to head the project was “most unfortunate”, “ill advised” and “invalid and unlawful”. 

The SIU is suing Makhanya for R155-million. It claims the projects would have not costs as much if he complied with the obligations and responsibilities which formed part of his contract with the department of public works. 

The SIU also wants three acting directors general – during the time of the upgrade – of the department criminally charged for financial misconduct.

They are Solomon Malebye,  Sam Vukela and Siviwe Dongwana.

The SIU has made at least 12 disciplinary referrals and alerted incidents of fraudulent tax certificates.

- M&G

‘Treat Lwandle evictees with respect’

Cape Town - The spotlight at the Lwandle ministerial commission of inquiry has fallen on the dignity of evictees, with NGOs and the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) calling for changes to the law.

Commissioner Mohamed Ameermia said: “Sheriffs of the court and assisting police should treat evictees with dignity and respect at all times.

There should also be no unreasonable damage to property. We have got to look at evictions in a humane way.”

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu set up the inquiry to probe the forced removals from a SA National Roads Agency Limited road reserve on June 2 and 3.

The road reserve has to be kept clear for the possible rerouting of the N2 national freeway.

NGOs and rights group have until Monday to make written submissions.

The SAHRC submitted a report with its recommendations to the inquiry. It said it was occupied with its own inquiry and reserved its rights.

Of the few recommendations screened at a presentation, the SAHRC said communities should be evicted only on the grounds of a court order that considered “all relevant” circumstances at the planned time of the eviction.

To the sheriffs, the SAHRC recommended:

- That they act within their code of conduct.

- Should at all times treat people with dignity and respect, and prevent causing damage to property.

- Be more accessible to the public.

Ameermia said evictions could only take place on the basis of a court order and had to abide by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act.

Evictees should be given the opportunity to be involved in the resolution of the dispute.

“Plans should be made for alternative accommodation,” he said.

Lwandle evictees were forced to find shelter in the Nomzamo community hall.

Just over 300 people were still living in the hall three months after the eviction, inquiry chairman Denzil Potgieter said on Wednesday.

The inquiry previously heard that people would be moved back to the land they were evicted from.

Sanitation and basic services were being provided.

After visiting the land recently, the inquiry found that 483 temporary structures had been erected and the majority were occupied.

Meanwhile, National Association of Democratic Law-yers chairman Joey Moses told the inquiry the court order that Sanral used to remove people and structures from its land was unconstitutional. He said the order obtained on January 24 was addressed to people intending to occupy the land, clearly excluding those who had already established their homes there.

jason.felix@inl.co.za

- Cape Times