Protesters ‘should not have been held’

The 21 people arrested on charges of public violence in Grassy Park appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court a few hours after they were arrested on Thursday. They were released from custody and warned to reappear in court on August 29.

Eric Balebamye, of the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in Phumlani Village, said he was unhappy with the way protesters had been treated by police.

“They should never have been arrested in the first place,” he said.

He said the protest, which was scheduled to start at 6am on Thursday, was legal “up until the last moment”, but the City of Cape Town sent an e-mail postponing the time allocated for their march to 9am. By then, it was too late.”

Early on Thursday, protesters from Phumlani Village burnt tyres and set alight traffic lights on Strandfontein Road, bringing morning traffic to a standstill. Police responded by firing smoke and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.

Much of the community anger was directed at local ward councillor Shaun August (DA), who they said had refused to meet them to discuss their grievances about electricity, street lighting, housing, water and sanitation.

But August wrote off the protest as “cheap politicking” by “an affiliate of the ANC” and blamed the community for the grievances, saying it was drug pedlars who had broken street lights to deal under the cover of darkness. He also reprimanded community members for illegal electricity connections and for trying to “jump the queue” in the housing programme.

August said the destruction of property, the burning of tyres and the fact that the protest started at 5am made it illegal.

He met Sanco representatives and community leaders afterwards to discuss a way forward.

- Cape Argus

Housing protest in Cape Town

About 200 people took part in a housing delivery protest in Grassy Park, Cape Town, on Thursday morning, police said.

Warrant Officer November Filander said residents gathered on the corner of 5th Avenue and Old Strandfontein Road around 5.30am because they were unhappy about the non-delivery of housing.

They damaged five traffic lights, burned tyres and blockaded the roads.

“Police had to use smoke and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. They arrested about 21 people for public violence,” he said.

The roads were re-opened by 9am.

Small groups of people were still on the scene by lunchtime. – Sapa

Sexwale receives report on corruption in housing projects

Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale, says the Special Investigative Unit has handed him a report regarding its investigation into fraud and corruption in housing projects around the country. 

Sexwale says hundreds of department officials and contractors are already being arrested. He says stringent measures have been put in place to monitor the unblocking of reconstructive development programme projects. Sexwale was speaking at Montheding Village in the Polokwane municipality in Limpopo, where he handed over 49 housing units.

 

“In each of the provinces, each MEC in the province must have focus in those blocked projects. We will never unblock a project until there is sufficient proof that there is capacity, there are funds and contractors who are found to be responsible are brought to book. Two days ago, I received a report from the SIU - it is sad to see that how many hundreds of people inside government are being arrested inside government,” says Sexwale.

 

Sexwale says the 49 houses are part of his department’s nation-wide plans. “The 49 houses that we are handing over today are part of close to 200,000 houses that we are building. So every year we deliver that; in each place we will have 8,000 house."

"We are here to hand over these houses, so do not look at the number 49 look at the number 200 000 - that is what I build per annum. When people protest they do that publicly to attract our attention it is important that people should see with their own eyes, it is important that they see what we do,” the Human Settlements minister added.

 

In 2008, the SIU identified 31,259 potentially irregular housing subsidy transactions awarded to government employees. Twenty-nine cases had been finalised with sentences including the payment of the value of the houses delivered. 

The total amount of debt the department expected to recover was R6,827,036 and a cash amount of R1,103,772 had been paid back. 

In 2009, the SIU  identified more than 50,000 government officials who fraudulently received the state’s low-cost houses. Five hundred and fifty four public servants were convicted of the crime out of the seven hundred and seventy two  who had been charged.

- SABC

Rain brings misery to Cape shack dwellers

Thousands of desperate people living in informal settlements have sought help from the City of Cape Town after heavy weekend rains swamped their homes.

By Saturday, disaster risk management teams had provided relief to 1,705 households and 6,730 people.

On Sunday, an additional 593 people in 257 households were hit by torrential rains.

Cold weather is set to persist on Monday with a low of 11°C and a high of 14°. Partly cloudy weather is expected on Tuesday, with clear skies on Wednesday.

Some light showers are predicted for Thursday night into Friday, according to the SA Weather Service.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, of the city’s disaster risk management unit, said 480 people were being housed in a community hall in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village.

Assessors were sent to Lwandle in Strand, Masiphumelele in Fish Hoek, Kosovo, Brown’s farm and Siyahlala in Philippi and YA and YB Sections in Khayelitsha.

Disaster risk teams also went to Blikkiesdorp, where about 500 people were illegally occupying units which had been flooded.

“We provided some sand bags for the units where there was standing water,” Solomons-Johannes said.

Once assessment has been done, disaster risk teams provide the necessary sand, plastic sheeting and sandbags, meals and blankets.

In Lwandle, residents of Wag ’n Bietjie Three settlement said on Sunday that they needed concrete, not sand, to keep out the rain.

Along soggy pathways near a marsh, disaster teams had spread out rocks and broken-up concrete to harden the ground, while residents spent the morning sweeping out water puddles that had collected in their shacks since Friday. Many piled their wet clothing in dry sections of their homes.

Resident Bongiwe Zayiya said she had found some wooden pallets to mount her bed on. She had three children and a grandchild and complained that conditions were not good for them.

“All the clothes are wet and the children have to go to school,” said Zayiya.

She said the sand the city provided was not helping because “it just washes away” when it rains.

Sithembiso Wedu, chairperson of the SA National Civics Organisation (Sanco) in Lwandle, said Wag ’n Bietjie Three was “one of the most challenging” parts of the area when it rained.

He said they had called in the city three times this weekend and the assessors had arrived yesterday.

“We want sand, we need (plastic) sails, but if they can get cement, it would be best,” he said.

Zwelethu Klaas trudged through mud in his home with work boots, a pair of Wellingtons, as she showed how water seeped in through the front door.

“There’s really nothing we can do about it,” Klaas said.

- Cape Argus

Building regulator’s chief axed for graft

National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) chief executive Sipho Mashinini has been dismissed after being found guilty on three charges, two of which relate to financial misconduct.

This was confirmed by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale in a parliamentary reply to a DA question about an investigation into allegations against Mashinini.

DA spokesman on human settlements Stevens Mokgalapa said yesterday that Mashinini had been found guilty on “three charges of corruption and financial misconduct”.

Sexwale’s parliamentary reply did not specify the nature of the third charge of which Mashinini was found guilty.

However, it was reported in July last year that a staff memorandum had said Mashinini had been put on special leave following allegations of corruption against him after a meeting with Sexwale and NHBRC chairman Vukile Mehana.

Mashinini was chief executive at the time the NHBRC offered Vanessa Somiah, who was investigating the organisation for corruption, a job with an annual salary of more than R1 million. The salary was allegedly nearly double her pay as leader of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) tasked with probing allegations of corruption in public housing.

Somiah resigned as an investigator and joined the council without telling the SIU. While in her new job, she testified at a disciplinary hearing against NHBRC employees who had alerted the SIU to the possible corruption. Sexwale removed Somiah from her post in July last year, according to the staff memorandum.

The NHBRC’s governing council appointed Jeffrey Mahachi as acting chief executive.

Attempts to obtain comment from the Department of Human Settlements were unsuccessful.

Sexwale said in the parliamentary reply that the investigation into the allegations against Mashinini had been finalised and that the disciplinary action had been concluded.

“NHBRC council considered the matter and resolved to summarily dismiss the official (Mashinini) on the strength of the charges of which he was found guilty,” Sexwale said.

The DA’s Mokgalapa said Mashinini faced nine charges of alleged misconduct, which among other things involved the contravention of procurement policies by awarding key contracts to inspect low-cost housing without putting the projects out to tender; signing contracts with service providers before concluding service level agreements; paying service providers for inspections that had not been completed; and recruiting the official from the SIU assigned to investigate him to a lucrative position in the NHBRC.

Mokgalapa said some important question relating to Mashinini’s “missteps” remained unanswered.

- Business Report

Heavy rains displace 480

Close to 500 people were displaced by the heavy rains on Saturday, according to the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said 480 people from Strand and surrounding informal settlements such as Uitkyk, Rasta Camp, Pinetown, Rooidakkies and Kanaal were being housed in a community hall. On Friday, the SA Weather Service warned of cold conditions, rain, galeforce winds and high seas for most of the weekend, prompting disaster management to put rescuers on high alert.

But, while the weather service has predicted a 30 percent chance of rain for today and a maximum temperature of 13ºC, wind speeds are expected to slow to 10km/h.

Solomons-Johannes said on Saturday that disaster teams had been deployed to 12 areas in the Western Cape, including Strand, Khayelitsha, Delft and Brown’s Farm. Officials would remain on high alert. He urged motorists to drive slowly and cautiously in the rain, and to be extra careful when driving through large puddles.

Provincial traffic chief Kenny Africa said a vehicle had driven off Sir Lowry’s Pass. “There were no injuries. It’s likely the driver lost control because of wet conditions.”

- Weekend Argus

DEA breaks ground on R8bn ‘green’ head office

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on Thursday broke ground on its new R8-billion head office in Pretoria, which will be South Africa’s first government-owned green building.

The building, which was designed to meet the green output specifications outlined in the Climate Change policy, would be energy and resource efficient, as well as environmentally responsible.

The building incorporated design, construction and operational practices that would significantly reduce or eliminate any negative impact on the environment and the buildings occupants, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said.

“When we occupy this building in two years, we will literary be walking the green talk,” Molewa said at the sod turning of the National Treasury-funded project, in Arcadia.

The R8-billion project included the design and construction of the building over the next two years, as well as facility management services and complementary support for the next 23 years.

The 34 143 m2 building would be set on 3.1309 ha and would accommodate 1 305 employees. It would also hold over 1 100 parking bays.

The facilities of a “resource” centre would include, besides others, training venues, a conference centre and catering facilities for prominent international events.

Overall energy consumption, 10% of which would be sourced from solar power, would equate to 115 kWh/m2 a year. It was expected that the building would result in a 30% drop in the use of municipal water, owing to the harvesting of rainwater.

Other features included sensor-monitored lighting, compact fluorescent lights, internal climate control, environment-friendly building materials, some of which would be locally made, and ergonomic and worker-friendly spaces.

The green building was designed to maximise natural light resources and enable efficient staff movement.

Further, the building’s strategic position allows for easy mass transport, commuting and cycling.

The DEA was aiming for five-star Green Star South Africa ratings for the building, but believed it would, at the very minimum, achieve four-star design and as-built ratings.

The construction, which was undertaken by a public-private partnership between the DEA and the Imvelo concession company, would be complete by June 1, 2014.

Imvelo partnered with construction group Aveng Grinaker LTA and construction company Keren Kula. The consortium also comprised broad-based black economic-empowerment partners Wiphold and Kagiso Tiso.

The consortium appointed Dijalo property management and Old Mutual Property Investments Group to manage the 23-year services contract.

The facilities management would include building, landscape and facility maintenance; facility cleaning; energy and utilities; as well as supply and waste management; furniture management; parking, pottering and churn management; pest control; internal plants; telephone equipment; fire and emergency services; and management of a help desk facility.

- engineeringnews

DEA breaks ground on R8bn ‘green’ head office

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) on Thursday broke ground on its new R8-billion head office in Pretoria, which will be South Africa’s first government-owned green building.

The building, which was designed to meet the green output specifications outlined in the Climate Change policy, would be energy and resource efficient, as well as environmentally responsible.

The building incorporated design, construction and operational practices that would significantly reduce or eliminate any negative impact on the environment and the buildings occupants, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said.

“When we occupy this building in two years, we will literary be walking the green talk,” Molewa said at the sod turning of the National Treasury-funded project, in Arcadia.

The R8-billion project included the design and construction of the building over the next two years, as well as facility management services and complementary support for the next 23 years.

The 34 143 m2 building would be set on 3.1309 ha and would accommodate 1 305 employees. It would also hold over 1 100 parking bays.

The facilities of a “resource” centre would include, besides others, training venues, a conference centre and catering facilities for prominent international events.

Overall energy consumption, 10% of which would be sourced from solar power, would equate to 115 kWh/m2 a year. It was expected that the building would result in a 30% drop in the use of municipal water, owing to the harvesting of rainwater.

Other features included sensor-monitored lighting, compact fluorescent lights, internal climate control, environment-friendly building materials, some of which would be locally made, and ergonomic and worker-friendly spaces.

The green building was designed to maximise natural light resources and enable efficient staff movement.

Further, the building’s strategic position allows for easy mass transport, commuting and cycling.

The DEA was aiming for five-star Green Star South Africa ratings for the building, but believed it would, at the very minimum, achieve four-star design and as-built ratings.

The construction, which was undertaken by a public-private partnership between the DEA and the Imvelo concession company, would be complete by June 1, 2014.

Imvelo partnered with construction group Aveng Grinaker LTA and construction company Keren Kula. The consortium also comprised broad-based black economic-empowerment partners Wiphold and Kagiso Tiso.

The consortium appointed Dijalo property management and Old Mutual Property Investments Group to manage the 23-year services contract.

The facilities management would include building, landscape and facility maintenance; facility cleaning; energy and utilities; as well as supply and waste management; furniture management; parking, pottering and churn management; pest control; internal plants; telephone equipment; fire and emergency services; and management of a help desk facility.

- engineering news

Cape Town looks to R2bn loan

The City of Cape Town wants to raise a R2 billion loan from a French development bank to finance a range of its capital projects, it was reported on Wednesday.

The Cape Times reported the loan, funded by L'Agence Française de Développement, could be taken on condition that it be repaid over 15 years and have an interest rate fixed at nine percent.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said the loan would be used over the next two financial years for a range of capital projects such as water services, roads, refuse collection, and sewerage.

The mayoral committee agreed on Tuesday to recommend to the city council that the loan be taken up. - Sapa

Cape Town target: 4 000 homes in a year

The City of Cape Town hopes to build 4,000 homes for Cape Town families over the next year.

There are more than 300,000 families on the city’s waiting list – some of them have been on the list for more than 30 years.

And another 10 housing projects are set to start this year, which will eventually provide housing for more than 6,000 families.

Ernest Sonnenberg, the city’s mayoral committee member for human settlements, outlined some of the biggest projects.

Sonnenberg visited one of the sites, Rondevlei, near Lavender Hill, this month. Construction is set to start soon and will provide two-bedroom homes for 145 families.

The families were living in the Cuba Heights informal settlement on the same site. One of the beneficiaries applied for a home in 1979.

In this project residents had a hand in appointing the contractor and in the design of the homes.

It is being funded by the city and the provincial Department of Human Settlements.

It’s also unique in that 40 of the beneficiaries will be employed to help with the construction.

Sonnenberg said other areas where houses will be completed this year include Philippi East, Scottsdene and Atlantis, and Happy Valley near Blackheath.

In Philippi East 405 houses will be completed this year. In Happy Valley 350 homes will be built.

Apart from the actual homes, Sonnenberg explained that 6,000 sites would also start receiving basic services.

This referred to “site and service” and not the actual top structures.

The rental upgrades will also continue. And this year, just more than 900 units will be renovated at the hostel in Langa.

Upgrades to 145 homes in Hangberg will also begin this year, while upgrades to about 7,000 council-owned properties are targeted for this year.

At the beginning of 2010 the city’s Human Settlements Department started the Community Residential Unit programme, a national government initiative.

The city intends to spend more than R1 billion over the next few years to repair council-owned homes. There are about 40,000.

Other housing projects that will begin this year:

* In Delft, a housing project building more than 2,000 homes will start in the next two weeks.

* More than 100 homes will be built on Edward Street in Grassy Park.

* A project in Heideveld will eventually deliver more than 700 homes.

- Cape Argus

Cape Town to assist Sir Lowry’s residents

Residents of Sir Lowry’s Pass Village have been told that the City of Cape Town will service their land and temporarily relocate 52 structures to higher ground.

At a public meeting on Sunday, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille assured residents that the city had secured the land, on which the Rasta Camp settlement was built, from the provincial government.

De Lille, city councillors, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and ANC caucus leader in council Tony Ehrenreich attended the meeting to address progress made since the last community meeting in May.

Ehrenreich saluted the community for raising the issues in the matter, saying they had “won a victory”.

Ehrenreich was cheered as he said: “What you deserve is the same as what everyone in the country wants… What you heard here (today) are not presents – they are your rights, they are your victories!”

He praised the community for taking a stand and told them they had made significant progress, but reminded them to continue to unite until all community members were served.

Ehrenreich said although they had got responses from the government, they should continue to be vigilant.

“And if there is no progress, then we must close the N2,” he said to applause.

The city has been engaging with residents since a service protest in the area turned violent in May.

During the protest, residents blockaded the main road, hurled petrol bombs at a satellite police station and damaged a police van. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Residents were protesting over poor sanitation and a lack of housing and other services.

De Lille requested the co-operation of residents living in 52 structures, built on a flood plain, to be moved to higher ground.

There are 220 structures in the Rasta Camp.

The 52 structures would be “temporarily relocated”, De Lille said, in order to provide space for engineers to service the land.

She said the city would assist with logistics in moving the structures during the temporary relocation by providing trucks, manual labour and starter packs.

But some residents objected, saying they were not “by the means” or financially able to move and get new materials to do so.

De Lille suggested that they do individual assessments of each household and proposed a meeting with the families of the 52 structures on Thursday.

The city plans to introduce “enough taps” and chemical toilets for everyone.

“When we prepare the land, it will be prepared for the 220 families, but we only need to move the 52 families.”

People complained that the government had made promises in the past and had not delivered on them. They questioned why the city was only focused on Rasta Camp and raised concerns about drugs and a lack of recreational facilities in the village.

Other concerns included having a school built in the village. Zille said there were 550 pupils, 450 Afrikaans-speaking and 100 English-speaking, which were insufficient numbers to justify building a school in the village.

- Cape Argus

Shack fire leaves hundreds homeless

Hundreds have been left homeless after a fire burnt down at least 50 shacks in the Mandela informal settlement in Hout Bay, disaster management said on Sunday.

"The fire occured just after 1 am. Fire crews are assessing the situation. The number of shacks burnt down could be more or less," said City of Cape Town disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

It was feared that an unidentified person could have died in the fire, said Solomons-Johannes.

"Police are on the scene to investigate, an inquest docket has been opened. The cause of the fire has not been established yet." Food parcels, blankets, clothing and building material were being provided to those affected.

- SAPA

Water danger for people with HIV

Scores of South Africans with HIV in informal settlements and rural areas lack clean, safe water and this is putting them at risk of contracting potentially lethal waterborne diseases, according to a new report.

“They are particularly vulnerable to opportunistic waterborne pathogens. Exposure to these should therefore be prevented at all costs,” cautioned the Water Research Commission study. “Additionally, the absence of a safe drinking water supply has particular implications for HIV-infected breastfeeding mothers unable to ensure safe infant-feeding through the alternative of formula feeding.”

The report, “How Does the HIV and Aids Epidemic in South Africa Impact on the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Sectors?”, said that drinking water of good microbial quality was essential for the health of people living with HIV and Aids, particularly in rural and informal settlements.

The report noted the irony “in providing people living with HIV and Aids with advanced antiretroviral agents while they are forced to wash them down with water that may contain life-threatening pathogens”.

Caregivers, it said, should be provided with a safe water supply to promote antiretroviral treatment. “Not only is diarrhoea one of the many side effects of these drugs, but people on antiretroviral drugs require greater amounts of water for drinking.

“Diarrhoea is a common symptom of HIV and Aids. Diarrhoea affects 90 percent of HIV and Aids-infected people and results in significant morbidity, mortality, limited uptake of medicines and malnutrition. Morbidity from diarrhoea in HIV and Aids child patients is much higher than in adults.

“People infected with the disease also have to deal with waterborne pathogens that are known to cause eye and skin infections. “Diarrhoeal disease in these patients will compromise the absorption of the drugs and can even contribute to antiretroviral resistant strains of the HIV virus.

“HIV and Aids are changing the structure of African societies, hampering development progress and worsening poverty levels. Social factors such as gender inequality, human rights violations, stigma and discrimination are social drivers of the disease.”

But the report found that beyond water quality, inadequate quantities of safe water were a recurrent issue, highlighting the “inadequacy” of the free basic water policy for people with HIV and Aids “This policy provides 6 000 litres of potable water supplied per formal connection per month per household in the case of yard or house connections. Current estimates of water requirements are highly variable (from 50 to 200 litres and more daily per person) but there are no tangible data to confirm this.”

Often the water supply system was not working. “Water interruptions are common in many of the smaller municipal areas and in townships. People have to store water or resort to using surface water if available, buy water, get water from sources far away from their home yards. Each of these scenarios poses some potential impact for their health.

“Storing water leads to in-house contamination and using surface water exposes people to waterborne pathogens,” said the report. -Saturday Star

Hundreds displaced as heavy rain hits Cape peninsula

Heavy rainfall in the Cape Peninsula displaced 560 people on Friday, the City of Cape Town's Disaster Risk Management Centre said.

Spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said Sir Lowry's Pass village, Red Hill informal settlement and Masiphumelele, in Fish Hoek, were the worst affected areas.

Four hundred people were displaced at River Park, Rasta Camp and Uitkyk informal settlements in Sir Lowry's Pass village. They were accommodated at the Sir Lowry's Pass community hall.

At Red Hill, the city's disaster response teams supplied 80 people with hot food and blankets.

In Masiphumelele, 30 structures were "waterlogged" and blankets and food were supplied to residents.

Solomons-Johannes said that the SA Weather Service (Saws) told disaster management authorities that conditions were likely to become "extreme" in parts of the western, northern and eastern Cape, the southern Free State and KwaZulu-Natal until Sunday.

On Thursday night, snow fell over the mountains in south-western parts of the Western Cape.

"The Saws indicates that snowfall will be widespread and can be expected in areas where it has not snowed in a long time or has not snowed at all," he said.

Residents of the north-eastern parts of the Western Cape, southern parts of the Northern Cape, northern parts of the Eastern Cape and Lesotho were warned to expect heavy snowfalls on Saturday.

A south-easterly swell was predicted along the Cape south coast, with seas reaching about six metres.

- Timeslive