Humble locations with exotic names

Cape Town - Ever wondered how exotic locations such as Barcelona, France and Taiwan became the names of local informal settlements?

Residents offered some explanation about the names last week, pointing out that conditions in them did not quite match the famous names.

Barcelona informal settlement in Gugulethu was named after the Spanish city because some residents wanted to draw international attention to the plight of the people in the area situated adjacent to the N2, said resident Mongami Mbili.

“It was around 1993 when I arrived here and there were several shacks, not many of them. This place was occupied by people who were mostly backyard dwellers from various areas, and some who were living with their parents and looking for their own place,” said Mbili.

A stone’s throw from Barcelona is the Europe informal settlement in Nyanga. Resident Thanduxolo Temba said the name simply surfaced - then it stuck.

“Europe has existed since 1992. It was formed by people who were mainly from the township area called Lusaka. This place was a dumping site, and people cleaned it up and erected their structures. Committees were then formed. It has grown fast over the years,” said Temba.

In Khayelitsha, France informal settlement was named after residents from Site B were given the go-ahead to occupy the open ground near OR Tambo Hall in 1997.

“People were told they could build on the land the same weekend Bafana Bafana qualified for the World Cup in France for the first time. There was a national campaign Siyaya eFrance (We are going to France).

“Residents were overjoyed and decided to name this place as a reminder of that moment,” said Sithembele Nongauza.

He said residents were promised development, but 18 years down the line the place is still the same.

The city also has its own Marikana, which is situated in Philippi. Marikana was informally named after the Rustenburg township where striking miners were killed during a clash with police almost three years ago.

“There were few shacks in that land before people from various places came and occupied it. Most of the people who stay here were backyarders,” said community leader Xolani Joja. He said it was named Marikana because residents were evicted many times and their building material taken away.

“We clashed with the police. They used rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, but we never backed down. We kept fighting until the end. Now this place belongs to the people. This place is home to many people,” Joja said.

About a kilometre from France, backyarders from TR Section and Site C in Khayelitsha illegally occupied land and named it Azania.

Their occupation did not last long as the land owner, arms manufacturer Denel, obtained an eviction court order.

Xolani Jack, a former TR resident, said:

“I named the place Azania and other residents liked the name. We named it after Azania because this is our country. We are the people of Azania.”

Adjacent to Mitchells Plain is the Siqalo informal settlement, which is home to more than 1 200 families.

The settlement, on private land, has existed for less than five years.

“Siqalo means beginning. This place was a forest and people used to dump here.

“There were a few people from Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain living here too. People who were backyard dwellers could no longer afford rent and identified this land.

“It was named by residents. This land is not suitable for us to live on, but we have nowhere else to go,” said resident Sinazo Tempele.

siyavuya.mzantsi@inl.co.za

- Cape Times

SHACK FIRES: 150 CAPETONIANS SPEND CHRISTMAS WITHOUT SHELTER

Blazes gutted informal dwellings in the Cape last night & in the early hours of this morning.

CAPE TOWN - About 150 Capetonians are spending Christmas day without shelter after their informal dwellings were gutted by fires last night and in the early hours of Christmas morning.

A total of 39 shacks and a house has been gutted in areas including Philippi, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.

City of Cape Town disaster risk management's Wilfred Solomon’s-Johannes says, Disaster response teams have been deployed at first light this morning to provide the necessary aid to the victims that lost everything in the fires.”

He says an investigation into the cause of the fires is underway.

The city's Fire and Rescue Services says it has a full complement of fire fighters to deal with blazes across the peninsula.

Strong winds and faulty electrical equipment are some of the main causes of fires.

The city's Theo Lane says human error is to blame in many cases.

“We have seasonal firefighters about 120 of them. We have the recruits that have just finished training then we have the reserve firefighters, 19 of them, and they will be deployed to various fire stations.”

At the same time in the Eastern Cape, four boys have died after the hut they were sleeping in burnt down in Willow Vale.

They boys, aged between 14 and 17 apparently made a fire before falling asleep.

No foul play is suspected.

The Police's Jackson Manatha says, “At this point in time, the police are not suspecting any foul play and have opened an inquest docket for further investigation.”

- EWN

Aftermath of a Shack Fire

With summer heat and seasonal gale force southeaster winds, it is a time of high risk for shack fires. There were 123 fires in the past month in informal settlements in the Western Cape. This December, load shedding may well be adding to that risk. GroundUp visited a family in the aftermath of a recent shack fire to see how they are coping.

In a fire on the weekend of 29 November in Barcelona, Gugulethu, Sindiswa Swapi lost everything.

At about 4:30pm, Swapi said she was woken by three of her neighbors, shouting to her to open her door.

"I took my children out of the shack to safety and ran to see what was happening. I saw people throwing water at my neighbor's house and trying to kick a door open. By the time the door was opened, half of the house was burnt, affecting other houses," said Swapi.

A lady known as Nomampondo said that some people in the community believe the cause of the fire was a stove that was left switched on.

"We think that the owner of the shack where the fire started left his stove switched on or did not realize that the stove was on because there was load shedding in the area ... [Shortly] after the electricity came back on, the fire started."

"We do not blame Eskom, but I think that Eskom should give us notices about times of load shedding, because sometimes when the electricity just goes off, we get upset and forget about safety precautions," said Nomampondo.

Eskom does give notice of planned power cuts, but as GroundUp previously reported, some communities struggle to get the information.

Nomampondo says that the owner of the shack ran away after what happened and they haven't seen him since.

According to Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, acting head of the Disaster Operations Centre in the Western Cape, faulty electrical equipment was the suspected cause of the Barcelona fire.

Solomons-Johannes said the City's disaster response team assisted the fire victims with food parcels, clothing, blankets, toiletries and building materials.

Seven shacks were destroyed by the fire and 28 people left homeless.

Swapi, her three children and husband are now staying in a neighbour's one-bedroomed shack.

"My neighbour offered my family a place to stay even though she and her family of four are already staying in the shack. My family and I are sleeping on the floor. We eat food parcels that were given to us by disaster management."

"I am hurt because I not only lost everything, but my two two-week old puppies were burnt to death and we couldn't help them," says Swapi.

Her surviving dogs and puppies are now homeless.

Swapi said that she doesn't have anything to wear; her children's school books were burnt, including their school uniforms, clothes and birth certificates. She feels helpless; she had just bought her children summer clothes for the December holiday before the fire destroyed everything.

All that remains of the neighbour's house where the fire started. Photo by Pharie Sefali.

"My husband is the only one working at home ... He doesn't know how we are going to survive for the month because we have to buy beds and other furniture and still have to think of the children's school uniforms for next year amongst other things," says Swapi.

Sibulele Swapi, who is 13 and in grade six, says he is glad that none of his family members were burnt, but he is sad he is not going to enjoy his holiday like other children; there won't be any money to buy Christmas goodies.

Other families are also staying at their neighbours until they rebuild.

Charlotte Powell, portfolio Head of Public Awareness and Preparedness at the Disaster Risk Management Centre, says the fire season is normally the summer months ranging from early October to late March every year.

"This is a high risk time when the southeaster blows at gale force strength and temperatures are high. Once uncontrolled fire is started, the combination of strong winds and dry vegetation makes it extremely difficult to control, especially in mountainous areas where access is difficult", says Powell.

According to fire and rescue services in the Western Cape, between 1 November and 2 December, 2216 fire responses were recorded of which 397 were structures on fire; 123 of those were in informal settlements with nine fatalities and 406 informal dwelling units burned down.

According to Ian Schnetler Chief Fire Officer, the shack fires (123) and fatality (nine) figures for this year and last year were exactly the same, but 81 less homes were destroyed.

- allAfrica

‘Deadly’ E.coli levels found in Cape river

Cape Town - A river flowing into scenic Gordon’s Bay has been found to contain potentially deadly levels of E.coli bacteria. It has sparked calls from the ANC for City of Cape Town officials to take immediate action and prevent life-threatening infections, especially among people with low immune systems and those living with HIV.

The Sir Lowry’s Pass River was found on October 23 to have an E.coli count of 130 000 per 100ml at the point where it flows into Gordon’s Bay.

The test was confirmed by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS).

This count is four times that found by a DA health fact-finding mission into borehole water at the poor community of Mokopane in Limpopo, where the E.coli count was 40 000 per 100ml.

DA health spokesman Dr Wilmot James described a count this high as “highly pathogenic and unfit for human or animal consumption”.

But he pointed out that some of the water at Mokopane was for drinking, whereas the water in the Sir Lowry’s Pass River was not intended for human consumption.

The results on the Sir Lowry’s Pass River show the E.coli count increases dramatically as the river winds down to the ocean after passing through an informal settlement 6km upstream.

The information comes two weeks after a False Bay fish exporter revealed he found dangerously high levels of E.coli in harders (mullet) tested in July.

E.coli, or Escherichia coli, is normally found in the intestines of people and animals. Most E.coli is harmless, but its presence indicates the presence of pathogenic (illness-causing) compounds.

The young, elderly, pregnant and those with weakened immune systems, such as people with HIV, are particularly vulnerable.

“This could be devastating,” said the ANC’s acting spokesman Cobus Grobler. “An E.coli count that high is a potential killer, especially if you have TB or are HIV-positive, because you are then more prone to be infected.

“It can have severe, if not fatal, consequences. The city may not think it is serious but to the poor it is life-threatening,” said Grobler.

“The city seems to know there is a problem in that area, yet they are doing nothing. If this escalates they could find themselves legally liable.”

But mayoral committee member for health Benedicta Van Minnen said there was no need to be alarmed.

“The City of Cape Town cannot comment on these results as they were not analysed in the city’s laboratory and it is unclear how the samples were taken, stored and transported to the laboratory.”

She acknowledged that the count was over the limit for recreational water use as set by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry’s SA Water Quality Guidelines.

A single sample result should give an E.coli count of equal to or less than 1 000 per 100ml or it is unsafe for bathers and other water users. “However, the appropriate manner of testing is to weigh each single sample result against a number of fortnightly samples collected over three months.

“A single sample result does not really provide adequate information to draw any specific conclusions,” said Van Minnen.

Rivers passing through urbanised areas often had “background” pollution owing to contamination on hard surfaces that was washed into the river by rain. Blocked or overflowing sewers could also cause a problem.

“The water quality in the Sir Lowry’s River is therefore impacted to varying degrees at various locations. However, it does not impact on the overall water quality along the coastline. Bikini Beach is a Blue Flag-accredited beach and the water quality there is fine,” said Van Minnen.

“The water in the Sir Lowry’s River would be considered non-potable – it is not for consumption.”

The SABS report comes just three months after the DA embarked on a four-province water-testing tour in ANC municipalities.

The DA’s James, along with Kevin Mileham and Leon Basson, travelled across Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape investigating the quality of drinking water and water supplies.

This was sparked by an outbreak of diarrhoea in Brits in North West that affected more than 500 people and led to the deaths of at least three babies.

James described an E.coli count of 40 000 per 100ml in boreholes in the community of Mokopane in Limpopo as highly pathogenic and unfit for human or animal consumption. “That will kill you if you drink it.”

The count at Gordon’s Bay is more than three times higher than found at Mokopane.

The DA vowed to take legal action against the ANC-run municipalities where high E.coli counts were discovered.

But on Wednesday, James told the Cape Argus the Gordon’s Bay results needed to be tested over a period by the National Health Laboratory before confirmed as reliable.

“Our oversight visits to the provinces examined E.coli levels in drinking water. The Gordon Bay tests were of non-potable river water not intended for human consumption.

“It appears as if the river in question is polluted as a result of dumping and contamination practices of civilians and possibly businesses.”

He said the city ran educational programmes to promote public health.

“We can always do more – including post warnings – and I give you our assurance we will do whatever is appropriate under the circumstances.”

elliott.sylvester@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

One year old toddler killed in shack fire - SACP Cape Town

Party says incident occured against backdrop of DA govt failing to improve squalid living conditions of our people

SACP bemoans the passing on of a toddler due to a shack fire

The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Western Cape has learnt with shock about the fire that destroyed three shacks and the unfortunate death of a 1 year toddler. This incident took place at YAB Section Site B, Khayelitsha on Saturday night 15th November 2014.

It is incidents like these that continue to anger the SACP in the Western Cape more particularly against the backdrop of an uncaring and unresponsive "Democratic Alliance" (DA) led government failing to improve the squalid conditions of our people.

It is unforgivable that the same City of Cape Town, in the midst of such squalor, decides to invest public funds to the speculative financial sector such as the R2.7 million which went the drain after the collapse of African bank.

As the SACP we are calling on the government to speedily assist the three families that have lost shelter, more specifically the family that has lost a toddler.

- Statement issued by SACP Brian Bunting District (Cape Town), Western Cape

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

Misery for thousands in Cape Town

Cape Town - Hundreds of shacks were flooded and thousands of people displaced in townships as a storm hit Cape Town on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning.

With three cold fronts sweeping through the province, the city has been at the centre of the storm.

City Safety and Security director Richard Bosman said about 1 500 shacks had been flooded. The worst-hit area was Khayelitsha, where over 2 000 people were affected by the storm.

When a Cape Argus team visited the RR Section of the township’s Site B, it found many of the dirt roads were under water.

In the low-lying areas, the shacks were divided by a maze of mini rivers, which residents sloshed through in rubber boots.

Portia Franscois, 20, said on Thursday morning she was worried the water would not stop rising.

As rain pelted the township on Wednesday night, water had begun to trickle in through the gap underneath her door. By 6am, there was 10cm of water in the dwelling, turning the bed she shares with her mother and two children into an island.

She said the stormwater had made her 2-year-old child sick.

“He has a rash because the water is very dirty.”

Franscois is planning to stay with friends on the other side of the township until the floods subside.

Her neighbour Nombasa Mthusanto said her furniture had been damaged by the floods.

Relief efforts have started with the city and NGOs handing out baby and flood kits, Bosman said.

With the SA Weather Service warning heavy rainfall was set to persist today, there are fears flooding could, get worse, specially in Khayelitsha which is built on a floodplain.

Lavender Hill and Sir Lowry’s Pass were among the areas flooded today.

Bosman said about 5 000 people had been affected across the city.

However, the city said conditions were not severe enough to evacuate township residents.

This morning, there was minor flooding on roads in the southern suburbs but City Traffic Services spokesman Richard Coleman said there had been no reports of serious crashes.

Waves rose up to 6m on Wednesday and on Thursday morning, wreaking havoc at sea.

A teenage girl was admitted to hospital on Wednesday suffering from hypothermia and another with a leg injury, the National Sea Rescue Institute said.

“A 17-year-old female was transported to hospital suffering a leg injury and a 16-year-old female was transported to hospital suffering hypothermia,” spokesman Craig Lambinon said.

The girls were part of the Knysna sailing team taking part in the 2014 Lipton Cup Challenge in False Bay.

Lambinon said six boys from Bishops Diocesan College taking part in the challenge were rescued after their yacht was blown out to sea.

He said they had reported their mainsail had been damaged and wrapped around the forestay. The yacht had been towed into the harbour.

The storms are set to clear by Friday morning.

- Cape Argus

No metros have received the new housing grant yet - Lindiwe Sisulu

Minister says MINMEC has yet to grant the necessary level three accreditation to any of the six municipalities

No funds will be transferred to the City of Cape Town or any other metro

Following the unnecessary and misleading media statement issued by the Mayor of Cape Town Ms Patricia De Lille on Sunday, August 10, 2014 accusing the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu of withholding R50 Million due to the City, the Minister wishes to put the following on record.

1. The City of Cape Town and the other five Metros, ie Nelson Mandela, Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane and Ethekwini have submitted Business Plans to access a Municipal Human Settlements Capacity Grant. This is a new grant, the roll-out of which is starting in the currently financial year, for the coming three financial years.

2. The Grant is sliced from the national Human Settlement Development Grant to develop capacity for Municipalities and Metros that have received level 3 accreditation. Level 3 accreditation is approved by Provincial MECs of Human Settlements after Municipalities and Metros meet the criteria set out in the Human Settlement Code and other policies. In total the grant set aside for the six metros for this financial year is R300 000 000.00.

In total the grant set aside for the six metros for this financial year is about R300 000 000 and to be allocated as follows to the each metro:

Nelson Mandela Metro - R37 707 000

Ekurhuleni Metro - R52 374 000

City of Joburg - R59 573 000

City of Tshwane - R47 506 000

E Thekwini - R52 469 000

City of Cape Town - R50 370 000

3. The nine provincial MECs, who form the Human Settlements MINMEC, chaired by the Minister of Human Settlements, have indicated that none of the six Metros have qualified for level three accreditation and it is thus premature for them to be demanding that funds be transferred to them.

4. The respective MECs have requested the six Metros to re-submit Business Plans for a review of how they will use the funds. The MECs are concerned that some of these funds will be used to appoint consultants instead of creating permanent structures in Metros to support the fast tracking of housing delivery.

5. MINMEC has indicated a serious concern that low quality houses are still being built whereas municipalities with level 2 accreditation should have the capacity to monitor and ensure that houses are of the best quality. MINMEC also expressed its unhappiness with continued under-spending and the use of consultants and reminded Metros of importance of developing projects that are in line with the national policy of integrated human settlements.

In conclusion, no funds will be transferred to the six metros until they have received level three accreditation. This is in line with the Human Settlements Code. They are encouraged to meet with the provincial MECs to submit all required documents. The Minister and MECs have met with SALGA to explain their position and have asked for an urgent joint MINMEC with the Minister of Local Government and the relevant MECs.

We call on the City of Cape Town to go to Wale Street, just around the corner from their office to meet the Western Cape MEC of Human Settlements to discuss this matter. He is located on the 4th floor, first office on the right and his name is MEC Madikizela.

Statement issued by Ndivhuwo Mabaya, Ministry of Human Settlements spokesperson, August 13 2014

- Politicsweb

Rubble trouble for Siqalo residents

Cape Town - Shack dwellers on the fringe of Siqalo, off Vanguard Drive, say they live in constant fear of boulders and building rubble flattening their homes.

On the informal settlement’s southern boundary a mound of rubble, 8m high and about 100m long, has already caused dozens of people to abandon their shacks – with the remnants of these still visible among the dumped rubble.

But neighbouring landowner Faizel Jappie, who offered his plot for construction companies to dump on free of charge, says that these shacks were erected on his land and that the dumping is legal. Working in a digger for hours each day, Jappie has been shifting dumped rubble for more than a year to construct an L-shaped mound which he claims to be necessary for “protection” and “safety” from the shack dwellers.

Siqalo community chairman Thobile Dyantyi said it was he and his neighbours who needed protection from Jappie – who apparently refuses to meet the community to discuss the effects of the dumping.

Dyantyi further claimed that the growing mound of rubble extended well beyond the boundaries of Jappie’s plot, Dagbreek Farm.

Last week, Dyantyi took the Cape Argus on a tour of the area and households most affected by the dumping. One such household is the shack where 22-year-old Likhiwe Mqukuse lives with her two sons, aged 3 and 5. She showed the Cape Argus patched-up holes where boulders had come smashing through the wall facing the mound.

“It makes me very afraid, because if one of those rocks hits at the wrong place at the wrong time then it could kill one of the boys,” she said.

Yet, being unemployed and without access to land or money required to erect a shack elsewhere, she maintained there was no option but to stay on and hope for the best.

“This is a serious risk to people’s health and safety,” said Dyantyi.

“We feel that the council or government need to take this matter on. Surely it cannot be legal for trucks to dump rubble on people’s homes like this?”

Dyantyi also reminded that, although Siqalo was founded on private property, the future of the informal settlement (whether people are allowed to stay on) was subject to the outcome of a case currently before the Western Cape High Court.

“Therefore, the people who are living here now have a right to do so until the court rules,” he said.

The Cape Argus posted queries about the dumping to the City of Cape Town. Benedicta van Minnen, mayoral committee member for health, referred the queries to the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning. At the time of going to print, Environmental Affairs spokesman Rudolf van Jaarsveldt had confirmed that the department would be “conducting a site inspection to determine whether or not any legislation has been contravened”.

Meanwhile, Jappie remains convinced that the dumping is taking place above board and within the confines of his property. “This mound is the only way to protect my family and my business,” he said.

daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Housing nightmare in stark relief

THE brutal eviction of shack dwellers in Lwandle last week has highlighted the dire housing problem in Cape Town, a city that has experienced rapid population growth. Mayor Patricia de Lille has called again on the national government to speed up housing provision.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), tackled the topic in her weekly newsletter on Monday.

A shack dwellers’ movement says housing is a ticking time bomb, and land invasions — and therefore evictions — will become the order of the day until the government comes up with a lasting solution.

Hundreds of families were evicted last week from land owned by the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) in Lwandle, near Strand in the Western Cape. There were reports of petrol bombs and burning tyres as shack dwellers and the police clashed, and the eviction drew outrage as it took place in winter and left people out in the cold. The land was designated for the rerouting of the N2.

Vuyiswa Swentu, a community leader in the informal settlement, says most of the families evicted are from the Eastern Cape. "There are no jobs there so that is why we decided to come to Cape Town."

Most of the people rely on government grants and have struggled to find full-time employment, she says. "People cannot afford to pay rent as backyarders and we cannot wait to be allocated housing by the government. The only option is to build a shack on open land … families are desperate."

As evicted families counted their losses, a blame game erupted between Sanral, the DA-led City of Cape Town and Western Cape, and the national government.

Ms de Lille says national government needs to review the funding model and legislation to speed up housing provision. Given that the population of Cape Town has grown by 30% in the past 10 years, she has previously written to President Jacob Zuma requesting his intervention to release two sizeable pieces of land, Youngsfield and Wingfield, which are close to public transport, for public housing.

The city’s population has grown from 2.9-million in 2001 to 3.7-million in 2011. This includes tens of thousands of people arriving from other provinces in search of better opportunities. The housing shortage has led to the mushrooming of informal settlements on the outskirts of the city, some of which are built on privately owned land.

Ms de Lille says 276,000 people are on the city’s housing waiting list. "(National) government should be responsible for providing housing for people who earn less than R3,500 a month, and the private sector should provide assistance to those who earn more than that."

The government should build houses for rent, with an option to buy them later, she says. High-density developments would also help alleviate the housing crisis.

According to government data, the backlog of about 1.5-million houses in 1994 has risen to 2.1-million as SA’s population has grown by 13-million to 53-million.

It is not only poor communities that are affected by the housing crisis. Government statistics show 15% of SA’s 14.45-million households earn enough to qualify for a mortgage; the 60% who earn less than R3,500 qualify for state housing; and the remaining 25%, which includes nurses, police officers and teachers, qualify for neither.

In her newsletter yesterday, Ms Zille wrote that at a conservative estimate for the Western Cape alone, to provide the land, services and top structures for all those waiting to be accommodated would cost more than R70bn, almost double the province’s entire budget.

"Can we, as a society, sustain the expectation that the government must provide free housing for all who need it?" she asked.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights says the evictions were unconstitutional, and the Human Rights Commission is investigating why people were evicted without alternative accommodation being made available.

Shack dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has called it "strange" that these evictions are being given "so much attention".

"Evictions happen almost every day in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg … we have to ask, why now? One can only think it is politicking ahead of the local government elections," Abahlali president S’bu Zikode says.

Political analyst Prof Steven Friedman says homeless people usually do not have a voice.

Housing is likely to take centre stage ahead of the 2016 polls. "We saw something similar (in 2011) where the open-air toilets became a major issue. (The evictions) have put housing on the agenda."

- BDLive

Two housing protests in Cape

Cape Town - Tyres were burned, roads were closed and a motorist was stoned during two housing protests on Thursday.

About 2 000 residents of Illingelethu in Malmesbury went on a protest march to the Swartland municipal offices, demanding houses, land and better services.

They handed over a memorandum of grievances and gave the municipality seven days to respond. The group had marched down Darling Road singing Struggle songs while a police Nyala and traffic officers escorted them through the town.

A community leader, Thembile Mvovo, who handed the memorandum over to a municipal official, said: “We are demanding houses and better services for those who live in informal settlements. We want land to build homes and the municipality must service it.”

Illingelethu resident Thandi Dyanti, 60, has been living in the settlement for 22 years. She joined the protest because “there had been no municipal services since 1994”.

“You don’t see development in our area. The development of business and municipal buildings and services are mostly given to the white people and those with money. It is unfair. Our protest was peaceful, but we will increase the number of people here.

“The municipality must remember our frustrations will soon boil over,” she said.

Swartland municipality mayor Tijmen van Essen said the council would look at the residents’ grievances.

“They want land and houses. The land that is available within the municipality is either owned by us and earmarked for development. We cannot give them private land,” he said.

Van Essen said the municipality’s housing waiting list stands at 13 000.

“It would be unfair to just give protesting residents a house. If they are not registered, then they cannot get a house. It would also be unfair if we give houses on demand from protesters. There are people that have been waiting for homes since apartheid,” he said.

While the the march was peaceful and Public Order Police monitored the crowd, police spokesman Lorencial Johnson said an incident of malicious damage to property was reported after a motorist’s vehicle was damaged on the N7 freeway.

In a another protest, residents of Elsies River burned tyres and blocked streets with rubble. It was the second day in a row this had happened.

On Wednesday, a group of protesters, angry about the allocation of new houses in the area, had damaged a fence and burned tyres inside the Leonsdale Housing office in Elsies River.

Resident Isaac Esau said: “The houses were meant for us and now people from other areas are taking it from us. This is wrong. We are not done protesting. We want our leaders here and attending to our problems now.”

No one was arrested and police remained in the area to monitor the situation.

jason.felix@inl.co.za

- Cape Times

Housing a hot button issue in Cape

Cape Town - Housing is always a hotly contested election issue, but it is especially so in the Western Cape where protests about access to housing opportunities and the basic services that come with these have become widespread.

The ANC and the DA have reminded voters about their housing delivery statistics in the “good stories” they want to tell before the nation votes next Wednesday.

Independent organisation Africa Check analysed some of the figures supplied recently by the National Department of Human Settlements, and found that they did add up.

The department said that in the Western Cape, between 1994 and 1998, an average of 17 925 houses were provided each year. This dropped to an average of 13 518 houses each year since the DA took over the province in 2009. But the figures also showed that there was a similar drop in other provinces where the ANC was in power.

Africa Check noted that this was partly because provinces moved towards providing serviced sites, or pieces of land with access to basic services, rather than houses.

According to the State of Environment Outlook Report for the Western Cape, released last year, the number of houses built in the province had decreased from 12 000 in the City of Cape Town in 2005/2006 to almost 6 000 in the 2011/2012 financial year.

There was a drop in the number of houses built in other municipalities too. The report noted that the number of sites serviced had also declined since the period between 2004 and 2008. This was attributed to limited budget availability, delays in the planning processes and allocations of funds for top structures and infrastructure.

One of the outlooks highlighted was that the housing backlog was increasing, given the increase in population numbers. In 2001, 16 percent of households were in informal dwellings. In 2011, this had increased to just over 18 percent.

While there was no clear majority party in power before 2009, a period of floor-crossing in 2005 enabled the New National Party and the ANC to merge. The province was previously in the hands of the New National Party and the Democratic Party.

When Ebrahim Rasool became premier, he listed housing as one of the ANC administration’s key performance targets. He promised that his government would address the housing backlog “from the Joe Slovo settlement to the backyards of Mitchells Plain and Langa”.

The housing backlog was not a problem of the ANC’s making, Rasool contended. He said the province would spend R1.2 billion a year on housing from 2007 to 2009.

One of the biggest blots on his administration’s housing delivery record was the N2 Gateway project. Led by the national government, this intergovernmental initiative failed to provide the 22 000 housing units within the time frames promised.

During the ANC’s time in office, the DA accused it of failing to provide sufficient housing and put the backlog at 400 000 units.

But the ANC has managed to deliver 164 033 housing opportunities since 2004, compared with the DA/NNP government that over 10 years had delivered only 3 099 housing opportunities.

In 2009, the DA won the majority vote, enabling it to wrest control from the ANC. This meant that the city, led by the DA since 2006, and the province were both being run by the DA. The party said then that the ANC’s housing policy “which had focused almost entirely on formally constructed housing” would only ever reach a “handful of people in need”.

The DA said it would therefore move away from this approach to give more housing options to more people.

“Access to land first, and basic services second, are immediate priorities,” was the party’s approach to housing.

Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said during the annual budget speech last month that from April 2009 to March last year, 53 758 houses and 40 470 sites would have been provided in the province.

He said R166.3 million had been spent on individual subsidies since 2009, creating more than 2 300 new housing opportunities.

* N2 Gateway background

Unrealistic targets, mismanagement and shoddy workmanship are among the challenges that have dogged the N2 Gateway housing project. Launched in 2005, the flagship national government housing project promised to provide 22 000 houses in 12 months. It was supposed to be an example of intergovernmental co-operation, with all three spheres working together to provide fully subsidised, rental and bonded housing.

But by 2006, the national government had stripped the DA-led City of Cape Town of its involvement in the project and appointed the Housing Development Agency to take over its management. The city refused to take on the outstanding tab of R200m for overrun costs and claims by contractors for payment delays.

Three years later, a local non-profit organisation called for a full investigation of those involved in the project. It alleged that all three levels of government were guilty of poor planning and mismanagement. There were also concerns about the housing allocation, the selling of houses illegally and various housing committees vying for power in the community.

By 2009, only 11 800 housing units were complete. The numbers have not improved much since then, but the provincial Department of Human Settlements said in February that a target of 14 172 houses near the N2 would be ready by next year.

The provincial government has also hired mediators to resolve tension in the community so that construction can continue.

According to the Housing Development Agency website, 668 fully subsidised houses have been built in New Rest. The project is not yet complete. Delft Symphony is divided into various precincts with fully subsidised and bonded units. The project has delivered 4 228 fully subsidised houses and 351 bonded houses. In Delft Symphony 3 and 5, construction is under way on 1 911 houses. The 4 491 houses in Delft 7-9 were handed over last year. Work in Boystown was reportedly at a standstill in January, because of community discussions. But 503 of the 1 392 houses have been handed over. About 400 houses are expected to be delivered in Joe Slovo during this year.

* Blikkiesdorp background

In 2007, the DA-led City of Cape Town set up a temporary relocation area (TRA) near Delft for people displaced from Joe Slovo and other informal settlements. Families who invaded unfinished units at the N2 Gateway housing project were also relocated to Blikkiesdorp. It was supposed to be a short-term housing solution. But many of the people who were moved into the corrugated iron units that crisscross the sandy terrain of Delft have been living in this “camp” for eight years.

In 2011, the city’s director of housing said it would take three to five years to find permanent housing solutions for the 6 000-odd people living at the site. Tandeka Gqada, mayoral committee member for human settlements, told the Cape Argus this week that the site, with its 1 750 corrugated iron structures, would be maintained as a TRA for the time being.

So far, 33 families have been moved out of Blikkiesdorp to new housing opportunities, with a further 55 families being identified for a new housing project called Eindhofen.

“There are no plans to develop formal housing in Blikkiesdorp’s current location,” Gqada said.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Time to flush out evil legacy

Positive results will soon be felt by the people whose dignity has been assaulted by the bucket toilet system, says Human Settlements Minister Connie September.

On receiving the South African Human Rights Commission report on the state of water and sanitation, I promised deputy chairperson Pregs Govender that I would study and respond. I did so in the conviction that on assuming office I swore to uphold the constitution of this beloved country of ours and the SAHRC is an institution borne out of this constitution.

It gives me no joy to acknowledge the parlous state of sanitation in many of our communities, a fact brought home in my first meeting with the SAHRC on assuming office last year. I started a process in September to prioritise sanitation for the remainder of my tenure.

As we celebrate Human Rights Month it is apt to reflect on how far we have come in restoring human rights. That apartheid sought to destroy the dignity of black people is evident in the most degrading lack of basic sanitation services in general and the dehumanising bucket toilet system in particular.

In proactively responding to this evil inheritance, the Department of Human Settlements has implemented an intensive Bucket Eradication Programme (BEP) which will replace the bucket toilet system with water borne sanitation systems.

A partnership between the Departments of Human Settlements, Water Affairs and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, as well as the Department of Science and Technology, has been forged to ensure an integrated and sustainable approach to this complex legacy.

As government we have tirelessly worked in our quest to restore our people’s dignity, through, among other things, the BEP. As President Jacob Zuma pronounced in his State of the Nation address, phase one of BEP will see the eradication of buckets in formalised townships of the Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape. These provinces have the highest volume of bucket toilets. Phase two will ensure the eradication of buckets in each of South Africa’s nine provinces.

BEP is buttressed by a financial allocation as announced by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan in his budget speech. A total of R40 billion in infrastructure grants has been made available for among other things, sanitation services.

The bucket system is the unwanted legacy of deliberate neglect. Daily the users of this unhygienic sanitation system as well as workers responsible for the collection and disposal of human waste from bucket toilets are subjected to dehumanising and unhygienic conditions.

Twenty years into our democracy, this inhumane sanitation legacy still poses a challenge. We still have fatal incidents that remind us of the death traps that these toilets can be. Recently 6-year-old Michael Komape died in a pit latrine at his school. Our country mourned with his family.

The integrated planning approach as well as implementation across departments ensures that sanitation service delivery is not reduced simply to a toilet at the expense of other matters related to sustainable sanitation services.

Because of the united approach, particular attention is focused on issues pertaining to environmental sustainability, community involvement, affordability, hy- giene, education, user education, operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment works. Part of the challenge facing the programme is the development of bulk water and wastewater treatment infrastructure where none exist, and the increase in capacity where infrastructure does exist but has not held pace with the growth of water borne sanitation.

The Troika of Ministries plus one (Science and Technology) have integrated working, as well as pooled resources, financial and technical, to ensure that the constitutional promise of the right to water and a safe environment is incrementally materialised.

Importantly this approach also sees that dignity is restored to communities robbed of safe and basic sanitation services. This marked improvement in co-operation between government departments and the three tiers of government not only proactively accords with SAHRC’s recommendations for improved co-operation but also provides a mechanism for speedily unblocking delivery and implementation blockages that may arise from time to time.

State-owned entities and institutions have been appointed as BEP implementing agents, in particular the Water Boards providing bulk water services in the various provinces and institutions like the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Their involvement constitutes the public/private partnerships required to address the prevailing complex sanitation issues. These entities, which report to the Department of Human Settlements, have in an integrated manner implemented the intensive and extensive BEP and have provided effective project management.

The integrated nature of BEP also ensures that local municipalities are involved in the programme at every step of the way thus avoiding a top-down approach. This model of delivery has the added benefit of ensuring that the system is owned at a local government level. This augurs well for future maintenance and operations of the infrastructure being installed.

Contractors on the ground are also being closely monitored for timeous and quality delivery by the BEP implementing agents and in certain instances are being penalised financially for failure. The latter monitoring and evaluation role at ground level that is being played by the implementing agents proactively harmonises with the SAHRC’s recommendations regarding contractors and the need for monitoring their performance.

Throughout phase one of the BEP implementation we have learnt lessons from the past and have heeded the calls from communities to engage with beneficiaries before starting these programmes.

Community engagement has ensured participation in the pre-design stage and also in the pre-sanitation technology choice stage. It is through community participation processes that a one-size-fit-all approach has been avoided and we have now been able to identify families with special needs when it comes to sanitation. So for example in Makana District Municipality, Eastern Cape, we have been able to install toilets which were modified to accommodate disabled residents as a result of comprehensive engagement.

In addition, beneficiaries were consulted on the positioning of the waterborne toilet structures to be erected. All-embracing community engagement is an example of participatory democracy in action. We are further unwavering in improving on our community engagement and participation processes as directed by the SAHRC in its report.

We’ve committed ourselves to giving further effect to its recommendations. We will stand by this pledge.

In the priority provinces significant progress has been made in removing the apartheid scourge of the bucket system. Significantly, in the process we have also been party to job-creation and the empowerment of local contractors, including woman-owned and operated contracting firms.

The BEP in the Western Cape has also progressed. Improved delivery capacity has been added through the appointment of additional implementing agents.

The positive results will soon be seen and felt by the people whose dignity has been assaulted by the bucket toilet system.

A major challenge in the quest to eradicate buckets is the accessibility and presence of water and the accompanying water infrastructure. This is a challenge which, with partners like the Department of Water Affairs, the CSIR, and with the patience and fortitude of our communities with whom we have had ongoing engagement, we are confident of finding workable solutions.

In areas where capacity of water and water supply infrastructure and wastewater treatment capacity are lacking, or where bulk infrastructure is still being developed, or wastewater treatment plants are still in the process of being built, interim, alternative solutions are being implemented and explored.

Improved sanitation, represented by the BEP has reduced child diarrhoea and has contributed to improving overall child health. For women and girls the improved sanitation offers greater dignity, privacy and personal safety.

The bucket eradication programme has brought with it improved health benefits, improved, cleaner and safer environments and the restoration of human dignity to long-suffering communities and this progress is cause for celebration in Human Rights Month.

* Connie September is the Minister of Human Settlements.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

- Cape Times

Toilet tech fair tackles global sanitation woes

Who would have expected a toilet to one day filter water, charge a cellphone or create charcoal to combat climate change?

These are lofty ambitions beyond what most of the world's 2.5 billion people with no access to modern sanitation would expect.

Yet, scientists and toilet innovators around the world say these are exactly the sort of goals needed to improve global public health amid challenges such as poverty, water scarcity and urban growth.

Scientists who accepted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's challenge to reinvent the toilet showcased their inventions in the Indian capital Saturday.

The primary goal: to sanitize waste, use minimal water or electricity, and produce a usable product at low cost.

The World Bank estimates the annual global cost of poor sanitation at $260 billion, including loss of life, missed work, medical bills and other related factors.

India alone accounts for $54 billion - more than the entire GDP of Kenya or Costa Rica.

India is by far the worst culprit, with more than 640 million people defecating in the open and producing a stunning 72,000 tons of human waste each day - the equivalent weight of almost 10 Eiffel Towers or 1,800 humpback whales.

Pooping in public is so acceptable that many Indians will do it on sidewalks or in open fields.

Gaze out the window of any Indian train and face a line of bare bottoms doing their business on the tracks. Meanwhile, diarrheal diseases kill 700,000 children every year, most of which could have been prevented with better sanitation.

"In the West, such things are a nuisance, but people don't lose their lives," said Christopher Elias, president of global development at the Gates Foundation.

"People don't immediately realize the damage done by infections coming from human waste."

India has been encouraging rural communities to build toilets, and last year launched a $1.6 billion program to help.

But building sanitation systems in developing countries is not easy.

Flush toilets are not always an option.

Many poor communities live in water-stressed areas.

Others lack links to sewage pipes or treatment plants.

To be successful, scientists said, the designs being exhibited at Saturday's Toilet Fair had to go beyond treating urine and feces as undesirable waste, and recognize them as profit-generating resources for electricity, fertilizer or fuel.

"Traditionally, people have gone into communities and said, 'Let's dig you a pit.' That's seen as condescension, a token that isn't very helpful. After all, who is going to clean that pit?" said M. Sohail, professor of sustainable infrastructure at Loughborough University in the U.K.

All the designs are funded by Gates Foundation grants and in various stages of development.

Some toilets collapsed neatly for easy portability into music festivals, disaster zones or illegal slums.

One emptied into pits populated by waste-munching cockroaches and worms.

One Washington-based company, Janicki Industries, designed a power plant that could feed off the waste from a small city to produce 150 megawatts of electricity, enough to power thousands of homes.

The University of the West of England, Bristol, showcased a urine-powered fuel cell to charge cellphones overnight.

Another team from the University of Colorado, Boulder, brought a system concentrating solar power through fiber optic cables to heat waste to about 300 degrees Celsius.

Aside from killing pathogens, the process creates a charcoal-like product called biochar useful as cooking fuel or fertilizer.

"At the core are really interesting scientific principles, so translating this into scientific advances that people can relate to is really exciting," said one of the project leaders, Karl Linden, professor of environmental engineering in Boulder.

"Biochar is an important subject for scientists at the moment, since it can be used to sequester carbon in the soil for 1,000 years or more."

A team from Beijing Sunnybreeze Technologies Inc. also brought a solar-biochar system, but with the solar panels heating air that will dry sludgy human waste into nuggets that are then heated further under low-oxygen conditions to create biochar.

"We are trying to build a system simple enough to be fixed in the village," technical adviser John Keating said.

One company from the southern Indian state of Kerala was not as concerned with providing toilets as with cleaning them.

Toilets are more common in Kerala than they are in much of the country, but no one wants to clean them, said Bincy Baby of Eram Scientific Solutions.

"There is a stigma. The lowest of the low are the ones who clean the toilets," Baby said.

Eram's solution is a coin-operated eToilet with an electronic system that triggers an automated, self-cleaning mechanism.

With 450 prototypes now looped into sewage systems across India, electrical engineers are lining up for jobs as toilet technicians.

"Now, they're proud of their jobs."

- Sapa