Man burns to death behind chained door

The chain on the door which Cape Town resident Sivuyile Maglasana used to keep himself safe in his shack, cost him his life early on Monday.

Neighbours struggled in vain to loosen it to free him from an inferno when his Dunoon home caught fire.

His best friend Siyabonga Kepata was desperate to save him, but couldn’t get past the door, and landed in a city hospital on Monday with severe burns.

“I was sleeping next door when I heard people screaming that there was a fire. I jumped up and when I went to see, the fire was so hot.

“I ran around his shack to try and see what I could do to get him out but there was so much smoke,” said Kepata, 22, pointing to the charred shack in their front yard.

He sustained burn wounds on both of his forearms and both of his feet and had been treated and discharged from Somerset Hospital.

Neighbours of 27-year-old Maglasana said they heard noises early on Monday but, by the time they ran out, it was too late to save him.

Disaster Risk Management’s Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said fire and disaster services had responded to the incident at 3.15am on Monday and that Maglasana was declared dead on arrival.

“Police are investigating the incident as the cause of the fire has not been determined.”

Kepata was distraught during an interview with the Cape Times.

“He was like a brother to me. We used to do everything together because we both come from King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape and met here,” he said.

“One of the neighbours gave me a hosepipe and I started putting the fire out. People came to help, so I tried again to knock open the side and that’s when I saw him. His face was already so burned. I couldn’t believe it, I’m still shocked,” he said.

Several residents were standing around the charred wooden structure, where Maglasana had burned to death.

“We heard a funny noise, as if people were fighting outside – screams and banging. When I ran outside to go and see what was happening, all we saw was fire,” said a neighbour, Cynthia Noluthando Ludziya.

“He (Kepata) tried to kick the door down, but it was chained closed from the inside. He went around to the side of the shack, then something fell on his feet and burnt him.

“The neighbours used buckets of water and hosepipes to try and put the fire out but by then we knew he was gone,” Ludziya said.

“Two of his sisters came to fetch his clothes soon after the fire happened and they were crying so much. It was really sad to see something like that.

“He lived in the yard for the past three years. He was a very soft-spoken guy,” she said.

Ludziya said several neighbours had chosen not to go to work yesterday, as they were kept awake until the early hours of the morning.

“We were all awake late and haven’t slept yet.” - Cape Times

12 held for Cape protest

Twelve people were set to appear in the Caledon Magistrate's Court on Tuesday following a service delivery protest in Villiersdorp, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said the 12 faced charges of public violence and malicious damage to property.

About 800 people, largely from local township Goniwe Park, marched to the Theewaterskloof municipality offices on Monday to hand over a memorandum of demands.

They destroyed facilities along the way and refused to disperse. Police used water cannons and they retaliated by throwing stones and bricks.

Rubber bullets were fired at residents after a beer bottle was thrown. The crowd returned to the township and burned down the community hall.

According to municipal manager Stan Wallace on Monday, residents were unhappy that the municipality did not provide services to an informal settlement on a farm called Destiny.

He said the municipality could not legally provide the services because it did not own the land, but was in the process of trying to buy it.

Van Wyk told the SABC on Tuesday that it was quiet in Goniwe Park and police would maintain a strong presence there. - Sapa

Protests to ‘destabilise municipality’: mayor

A protest by Villiersdorp residents was an attempt to destabilise the Threewaters district municipality, its mayor said on Monday.

“Recent demonstrations in Grabouw and Villiersdorp leave me with no doubt that it attempts to destabilise the municipality that has been very peaceful and effective for the last six years,” Chris Punt said in a statement.

The poor would suffer as a result of the damage caused by protesters to two community halls and a fire engine.

Community members were unhappy that the municipality did not provide services to an informal settlement on a farm called Destiny, said municipal manager Stan Wallace.

The municipality could not legally provide the services because it did not own the land, but was in the process of trying to buy it, he said.

Earlier, Captain Frederick van Wyk said the trouble began around 5am when about 150 residents burned tyres on a street corner.

Some commuters were prevented from going to work.

A local leader, who usually led protest marches, was called to talk to the crowd without success.

Protesters insisted on speaking to Wallace and handing him a memorandum of demands.

About 800 people then marched to the municipal offices, destroying facilities along the way.

“The memorandum was handed over to Wallace but the crowd was still unruly. The protesters were warned to disperse without success,” Van Wyk said.

Wallace said the memorandum contained a request that the town council meet with representatives of the protesters within five days.

Later he was asked to meet with them the same day, but Wallace said was unable to reach their leader.

Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Residents retaliated by throwing stones and bricks, damaging the post office and municipal offices.

They also threw a beer bottle at someone, upon which police officers fired rubber bullets at them.

The protesters retreated to the local township Goniwe Park, where they burned down the community hall.

Van Wyk said a case of public violence and malicious damage to property had been opened. No arrests had been made and no injuries reported.

The situation was being monitored. - Sapa

Grootboom win a house of cards

Irene Grootboom died in her shack. She was penniless and houseless, in spite of her name being associated with a Constitutional Court judgment delivered eight years earlier that is still lauded around the world as a jurisprudential landmark. 

In 2000, the Constitutional Court declared that the state's housing policy was unreasonable and invalid because it did not cater for the homeless -- those in most urgent need of housing. 

The court also found that while Grootboom, who lived and died in the Wallacedene informal settlement in Kraaifontein, Cape Town, could not demand a house from the state, she could ask government to act reasonably in devising and implementing "a comprehensive and co-ordinated programme to realise the right to access to adequate housing".

The government was also compelled to provide alternative emergency accommodation for people when evictions occurred.

Precedent for the right to access treatment

The Grootboom judgment has since been cited in other applications to the Constitutional Court, including the Treatment Action Campaign's successful attempt in 2002 to ensure the right to access to HIV/Aids treatment.

But Grootboom remained on a housing waiting list and in her shack until her death.

This was something that Dumisa Ntsebeza, an advocate and member of the Judicial Service Commission, said one needed to be mindful of when considering Justice Minister Jeff Radebe's plan to evaluate the transformative impact of Constitutional Court judgments creating a "non-racial, non-sexist, equal and prosperous democratic society, founded on human rights".

Said Ntsebeza: "The Grootboom judgment asserted her right to adequate housing, but Irene Grootboom was never provided with a house by the government. So it cannot be the court that failed Grootboom, unless you are saying that the courts are delivering impractical judgments. In evaluating Constitutional Court judgments, we also have to evaluate the transformative role of government when it comes to implementing these judgments."

Judgments need to be implemented by government

The chairperson of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Mncedisi Twalo, reiterated that court judgments were still at the mercy of government implementation. "Grootboom was great in that the government had to provide emergency accommodation for people, but we now have a situation in which people are moved to temporary relocation areas with government-built shacks and in many cases, they are condemned to stay there for years with no information from the government about when they will be moved to proper housing."

Twalo used Blikkiesdorp, a temporary relocation area built by the Democratic Alliance-run Cape Town municipality in 2007, as an example of the "dumping ground" created for people evicted from informal settlements around the city. For the optimistic in Blikkiesdorp, many of whom have lived there for the past five years, moving to proper housing may happen only in 2016.

Stuart Wilson, litigation director at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute, which has brought several applications to the Constitutional Court, said that while local governments' use of temporary relocation areas appeared "the modish thing to do in Durban and Cape Town" and that "people can sit there for years" it does also "invite another development of jurisprudence".

"In instances where the state may have chosen to water down and narrow the scope of its Grootboom obligations, one has to litigate again. It allows for a progressive strategy to develop the nuances and inflections of our jurisprudence that would not have been possible without Grootboom," said Wilson. 

Government must engage with residents over evictions

The Constitutional Court also handed down other socio-economic rights judgments linked to housing. In the 2008 Olivia Road judgment, the court found that government had a duty to "meaningfully engage" with residents over possible steps to alleviate their homelessness before evictions could occur.

In 2009, it also struck down the notorious KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act that would have allowed both the government and private landowners untrammelled powers to evict unlawful occupiers of land and place them in temporary relocation areas.

Sbu Zikode, the president of shackdweller movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, which brought the Slums Act application to the Constitutional Court, said that without the court's decision "there is no doubt that informal settlements in Durban would have been bulldozed and shackdwellers in KZN would be living in government concentration camps". Zikode said that in spite of the Grootboom and Olivia Road judgments, there remained a "realisation gap between the level of the judgment and the reality on the ground" and that there remained a "need for second-level access to the courts following judgments".

Zikode said that in spite of Olivia Road calling for engagement between communities and government, this was often problematic.

"Engagement is usually a window-dressing exercise to show that government is listening to us but with no real results for the poor at the end of the day. Or it is a politicised process through ward councillors where if you are not an ANC member, your opinion will not be heard and you do not have access to jobs or services," said Zikode. He said that local municipalities still attempted to evict communities without proper consultation on their future.

Wilson said that judgments like Olivia Road were a "decent shield" to stave off or postpone evictions of communities. He pointed out that halting evictions also gave communities the opportunity to organise themselves politically: "The poor do not just face one eviction, sometimes there is a cycle of three or four evictions in a year. By taking away that insecurity, judgments have helped communities focus on their own mobilisation."

In 2009, the Constitutional Court delivered a structural order (and five different judgments) in the Joe Slovo settlement case -- which also allowed for the eviction of the 4 000 families -- setting out time frames for engagement between the community and provincial government for the provision of housing.

Subsequent engagement resolved that many of the families need not be relocated to Blikkiesdorp and according to Mzawanele Zulu of the Joe Slovo liberative residents movement, the community's input was recognised in the process in spite of "hiccups and challenges".

In evaluating the cases that come before the Constitutional Court and the judgments it subsequently delivers, Wilson said there was a need for public-interest law and grassroots organisations to "think more strategically and creatively about how the law can be used as a vehicle for change". He also said that public-interest law organisations needed to follow-up on judgments and provide aftercare to ensure implementation.

This was something that Irene Grootboom's legal representative, Ismail Jamie, conceded when talking to the M&G following her death: "I am sorry that we did not do enough follow-up after the judgment was given in her favour. I feel a deep regret today," he said at the time.

- M&G

Nearly R6bn for official offices and homes: report

New housing and offices for ministers, their deputies and members of Parliament will cost nearly R6 billion, it was reported on Monday.

The Star newspaper reported that last year's budget documents put the total cost of the Prestige Portfolio programme around R4bn.

This year's Budget documents said the rise to R5.74bn was related to housing for ministers and their deputies, particularly with regards to "Parliamentary villages" in Cape Town and Pretoria.

The department of public works had reportedly ignored attempts by the newspaper to explain the rise in spending. The portfolio currently falls under the department's budget allocation.

The Budget documents state that the main reason for the cost increase was Cabinet's expansion in 2009.

In two years from 2007/08 to 2009/10 -- when the planning for the expanded Cabinet came into effect -- the prestige budget doubled.

The breakdown of spending over the past seven years of the programme was listed in each year's budget, but did not include the full cost of the programme. The amount for only those years were listed.

- Timeslive

Lack of housing blamed for death of woman in shack fire

THE ANC in Western Cape says the long-term solution for fires in Cape Town informal settlements is to build decent houses for the people.

This comes after a woman in her 60s, Noluzile Ngcwana, died and about 350 houses were destroyed by a devastating fire in Langa on Monday night.

Many residents lost their possessions, including clothes and furniture.

Schoolchildren did not go to school because their books and uniforms were also burnt in the blaze.

Yesterday ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile said: "We believe the only way to stop regular fires in the informal settlements is to build decent houses for the people.

"We are calling for the speeding up of housing delivery in Western Cape to create security for our people."

Mjongile said winter was approaching and people's homes were likely to be flooded.

Though temporary measures have been put in place to solve people's immediate problems, in the long run these measures do not solve any problem.

"It is sad that some of the people in informal settlements have lived there for up to 30 years," Mjongile said.

Solly Malatsi, spokesman for mayor Patricia de Lille, said it was unfortunate that the country was facing a huge housing backlog, given that hundreds of thousands of people who needed houses were still waiting.

The situation was not unique to Cape Town, Malatsi said. The city was doing its best to build quality houses for people who qualified for them, he assured.

Malatsi said: "The ANC's claims are a complete misunderstanding of the housing challenges that the City is facing."

The national government is responsible for the allocation of funding for housing to municipalities.

"Based on the latest allocation from national government, the City was only able to build approximately 12,000 houses.

"This is a miniscule figure considering that there are over 400,000 people on the City's housing waiting list."

Malatsi also said if the national government gave municipalities more money for housing instead of squandering taxpayers' money on luxurious ministerial vehicles and unnecessary junkets, the country would make serious strides in eradicating the housing backlog.

Bonginkosi Madikizela of the provincial human settlements department said it was unrealistic to expect everyone to get a house under the current housing programmes.

"With the current resources, there is only capacity to deliver about 25,000 housing opportunities (including top structures and serviced sites) per year."

Madikizela said at the current rate, it would take about 28 years to clear the backlog.

It was true that many people have been waiting a long time (for houses), sometimes 30 years, which was an unfortunate reality.

More people were migrating to the Western Cape each year as it has a reputation for effective service delivery, good health systems, good education and job opportunities, Madikizela said.

- Sowetan

Tokyo focuses on toilets

Report from task team led by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will inform Sexwale's budget speech

HUMAN Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale will use a report compiled by the task team set to probe the open toilets saga to inform his budget speech in May.

Sexwale's spokesman, Xolani Xundu, yesterday said the minister was given the report in January.

The report was compiled by a task team led by ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela after Sexwale and the ruling party were exposed to the "inhuman state of sanitation facilities poor communities are faced with".

"The report is with the minister. It was handed to him in January and he is still going through it. He has not decided when he will make it public. He will also use the report to guide him in his budget speech," Xundu said.

The task team visited several provinces and Madikizela-Mandela expressed her shock at the "grave shortcomings in implementing the sanitation programme".

Madikizela-Mandela promised that the task team would not "spare anyone implicated in irregularities".

The Young Communist League (YCL) lambasted the minister when the task team visited Free State.

The league accused Sexwale of deploying Madikizela-Mandela to campaign on his behalf ahead of the ANC elective conference in Mangaung in December.

The league, at the time, said the probe was a wasteful expenditure which smacked of "populist tendency".

YCL spokeswoman Moeng Frankabena said investigations into the saga had been conducted before and information was readily available for Sexwale to act on.

She said the national oversight committee and the provincial human settlements departments had also conducted their own investigations.

"Instead of appointing another team to investigate the same problem, the minister is at liberty to request both committees to provide him with a report," she said.

- Sowetan

Fire rages through Langa settlement

Avid runner Sabelo Ngcwama, 39, is grieving for his mother, Nonozile, who died in a fire that swept through an informal settlement in Langa.

Ngcwama has also lost all his running gear – a blow that has come as he is preparing for the Two Oceans and Comrades marathons.

The fire broke out shortly before midnight on Monday, destroying about 350 shacks.

Fire and rescue services spokesman Theo Layne said more than 1 700 people were displaced.

Ngcwama said on Tuesday the tracksuit, sneakers and cap he was wearing had been given to him by neighbours.

“I ran out of the house with nothing except what I was wearing.”

Ngcwama said he had been sent to buy bread and eggs shortly after 11pm. After eating, his mother had lit a candle in her room and he had gone to his room to sleep.

“Two hours later I was woken up by people screaming outside,” he said.

“I smelled the fire and left my room, (and passed) through the kitchen to get to my mother’s room... but it was too late.

“I did not hear her scream or anything, and I ran out of the house.”

Ngcwama later found his brother, Malubeko, 26, outside.

Phumla Nomkhala, 60, lived behind the Ngcwama home with his two sons, two daughters and two grandchildren.

They survived the fire but, like most of their neighbours, they lost everything.

By the time they woke up, the fire was burning through their neighbour’s roof and flames were coming out of the windows.

Nomkhala said there was a strong wind and they watched helplessly as the fire raged through their homes and those of their neighbours.

There are no taps between the shacks in Section 17, where the fire started, and it swept through parts of Section 19 and 20.

Nomkhala explained that Section 20, just behind them, was where the hostels were and where they got water.

“The fire trucks came and tried to put out the fire, but they ran out of water and went back to fetch more,” said Mawethu Nomkhala, 23.

While the firefighters were away, residents had to go into people’s homes to try to find water to put out the fire, he said.

Linda Ndede, 32, runs a tuckshop in Section 17 and said he had just restocked for the new month.

“I lost all my stock and all the money that was in my store. I think I lost about R15 000 worth of stuff in the shop alone.”

Ndede’s home was also razed.

Lulama Nyangiwe, 34, who lives with her nine-year-old son, Aviwe, said she had lost everything, including her son’s schoolbooks and clothes.

The City of Cape Town’s disaster management team provided food, blankets and clothing.

The city human settlements department said insurers had been notified and would be assessing the damage.

It would start procedures to repair the hostels damaged in the fire.

- Cape Argus

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Cape Town seeks street renaming comment

Cape Town residents are urged to submit their comments on proposed street name changes, the city said on Wednesday.

“Our policy is to make sure that everyone that is affected by a proposed renaming be given a chance to have their voice heard,” roads and transport mayoral committee member Brett Herron said.

“This will include the distribution of pamphlets in affected areas and one-on-one surveys with members of the public.”

Officials wearing branded City of Cape Town bibs had already distributed pamphlets along Hendrik Verwoerd Drive, Jip de Jager Drive, Willie van Schoor Avenue, Vanguard Drive, and Lansdowne Road.

Surveys had been completed in Somerset West, Grassy Park, and Parklands.

On Friday, officials would visit Bonteheuwel and Observatory to conduct surveys.

Next Tuesday, surveys would be held in Sea Point, Strand, Woodstock, Stellenryk, and Langa.

Next Friday would be the turn of Mowbray, Scottsville, Parow industrial, Metro township, and Tamboerskloof.

The committee advised that between March 17 and the end of the month, officials would be in the vicinity of the Athlone and Wittebome civic centres. – Sapa

Shack-free Cape Town by 2040 – city

Cape Town will change drastically over the next 30 years, with shacks and landfill sites being completely eliminated from the metropolitan landscape – if ambitious targets in the city’s long-term plan now being formulated can be met.

The targets are among those set out in the city's Development Strategy for Cape Town 2040 which aims to provide a “collective vision” for the city for the next three decades.

In the next few months, residents from across Cape Town will be asked to give their views on how to shape this vision.

At its core are the reduction of poverty, responding to technological changes and adapting to a world with a changing climate. Crucial to achieving the vision will be ensuring sustainable water and power supplies for residents.

The strategy document was discussed at Tuesday’s mayco meeting,

Work on this long-term plan started in 2010, and there was feedback from academics and business leaders.

Late last year, a tender was issued for a service provider to assist the drawing up of the document, and the successful tenderer was appointed in January .

At a mayoral committee meeting on Tuesday, mayco member for environment, economic and spatial planning Belinda Walker said the city would be meeting “opinion formers” one-on-one to discuss the vision, and there were also focus groups planned across the city.

“The first results of these should be available in the next few months.”

The goals are to “expand employment and services” while improving how the city is managed, and the strategy will “drive Cape Town and its residents towards a prosperous future”.

It says this a tool used by other South African and overseas cities. Several cities have adopted 30-year plans, with Johannesberg also developing its strategy.

The document stresses that although a city is expected to lead the process, local ownership and inclusion is “essential”.

After the mayco meeting, Walker explained:

“We can’t forsee the future, but we can make long-term plans.”

The document notes that an increase in migration will have a big impact on plans, with Cape Town’s predicted urbanisation causing a major growth in the city’s population over the next three decades.

Demetri Qually, mayco member for corporate services, said figures showed that more people were living in cities than in rural areas.

A long-term plan meant not simply reacting, but “taking some control”.

One of the definite targets was the goal of completely eradicating shacks, she added.

“By 2040, there should be no more shacks. This is the target.”

There should also be no more landfill sites, with a city-wide move towards recycling.

Public spaces should also be transformed into hubs where people could gather and socialise.

Walker emphasised that the plan was not “rigid”.

- Cape Argus

Residents protest over housing

About 150 people blocked roads with burning tyres near Lansdowne in Cape Town on Monday morning, Western Cape police said.

“They were rioting about housing. The situation is still tense but under control. No rubber bullets have been fired,” Warrant Officer November Filander said.

The protest at the Vlei informal settlement started at 4am. Water cannons were used to disperse the crowd, as they had been throwing stones at police. – Sapa

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Two dead, 55 homeless in Cape Town fires

Two people, including a minor, were killed and 55 were left homeless after fires broke out in Du Noon and Khayelitsha early Saturday morning, the City of Cape Town said.

“In the first fire that broke out at 1.53am at Site five, Du Noon, near Table View, the blaze destroyed eight shacks leaving 30

people homeless,” spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said in a statement.

“The fire caused the death of a male minor.”

The second fire broke out at 4.20am. It gutted nine shacks and displaced 25 people at QQ Section, Mew Way, and Khayelitsha.

“One adult male was burnt beyond recognition. His identity is unknown.”

The City’s disaster response teams would assist those affected by the fires with food parcels, clothing, blankets and building material.

“The cause of these fires is unknown and the authorities will probe an investigation,” Solomons-Johannes said. - Sapa