State mulls creation of own cement, brick factories

The Department of Housing's far-reaching plan to provide housing for all South Africans will not only affect issues such as service delivery and access to credit and subsidies, but will also have implications for developers and material suppliers, a senior government official revealed.

Saths Moodley, adviser to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, said yesterday that government would establish State-owned cement and brick factories as a response to the practice of 'hoarding' by many material suppliers.

Moodley argued that many suppliers hold back building materials, creating a shortage and inflating prices, before releasing them in tranches and exploiting high prices.

While government does not wish to pass legislation to discourage this practice, it is set to pursue a research programme through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), focusing on building and material technology. Moodley commented that it is envisaged that the CSIR would also be involved in the evaluation and monitoring of government's building-material production programme.

In regard to developers, he revealed that a recent agreement between the State and developers will facilitate a 30% black economic empowerment partnership with established developers.

Interestingly, as part of the agreement, developers will also be required to provide a minimum 20% of their profits from upmarket and lucrative developments for 'hardcore' housing - with 'hardcore poor' including pensioners and the indigent. This is similar to models found in countries such as the UK, and government will facilitate the enabling environment for this.

Meanwhile, Moodley reiterated government's aggressive and ambitious plan to eradicate informal settlements, and said the first results of this would be seen in Gauteng in two months.

He explained that government would immediately upgrade suitable land, and relocate people who live in informal settlements on unsuitable land.

Part of this plan also includes the provision of access to proper services, security, choice and formal top structures.

In addition, the State is set to provide access to subsidies of up to R28 500 to the hardcore poor, with no savings requirement; and access to a home for rental or ownership, valued R28 500, and a cash or 'sweat equity' contribution for the poor (those with access to some sort of employment).

For those earning between R3,500 and R7,000 a month, government will provide a contribution to the deposit required for mortgages.

In order to successfully implement government's overall housing plan, Moodley pointed out that the Department of Housing's role has been redefined - from being a department of 'low-cost housing' to being a department responsible and responsive to the entire residential market, which will strive to reverse apartheid spatial planning.

- Engineering NEWS

Don't Bank On Hemp

A hemp growing project which offers hope to small farmers in the poverty stricken Eastern Cape could be derailed because hemp is still an illegal substance.  

Department of Health rules which lump hemp together with dagga could scupper plans for the effective mass production and marketing of the fibrous hemp plant.  

"The status of the hemp plant is still ( in South Africa ) exactly the same as dagga, but the narcotic ingredient of the hemp plant is much less than the dagga plant," said Andreas Pluddemann, a scientist at the Medical Research Council.  

Pluddemann said it was time for a review of legislation, especially as special permits were being granted in the Eastern Cape.  

"There is no real reason not to revisit the legislation other than it might be technically difficult to administer," he said.  

Amendments to the 1965 Medicine and Related Substances Act, which would insert a section dealing with industrial hemp regulations, also have to be approved by the Medicines Control Council ( MCC ).  

The MCC currently authorises two special permits, one for importing seeds and the other for growing hemp, for the Eastern Cape pilot project.  

The provincial agriculture department said hemp cultivation in South Africa started in 1999 through collaboration between the Agricultural Research Council, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, government and the private sector.  

"Hemp is foreign to us and we were using hemp cultivars from Hungary, Yugoslavia, France, Hungary and Poland," said Monde Sotana, a provincial agriculture official.  

Sotana said the current phase began after initial trials showed hemp could be grown in local conditions.  

The latest phase includes large-scale hemp cultivation by pioneer farmers, training and development skills, co-operative agreements with hemp producing countries, commercialisation and marketing, and a "hemp seed multiplication scheme".  

Sotana said about 180 small-scale farmers are involved, an area of about 50ha is under cultivation, and farming equipment including tractors had been bought.  

"Hemp breeding has progressed to a level on which we can register a South African cultivar.  A multiplication scheme on local hemp seed can be done then, and seed will be affordable to the farmers," said Sontana, adding that 10 oil pressing machines and ten oil filters had been bought to help farmers produce hemp oil.  

The versatile hemp plant is grown mainly for fibre, and secondly for oil, and has a variety of other uses, including composite building materials, bio-fuel and textiles.  

DaimlerChrysler was mentioned by Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza last year as being interested in using local hemp to manufacture dashboards.  

Didiza said there would be no drive for "massive production" until the pilot project trials were finalised and unless the Department of Health removed hemp from the cannabis schedule of drugs.  

According to self-styled housing innovator Andre du Plessis, who has been on a one-man crusade for the past four years to get government to consider building cannabis homes for the poor, an "economic platform" was created when using these materials.  

"When building housing from an agricultural product, an economic platform is created in the rural areas, which in turn could impact on rural-to-urban migration," he said, adding that government should consider the agricultural benefits to be gained if the law on cannabis was changed.

- Business Day

Community Economic Sustainability Expo

Radical housing plan to go before parliament

"I did not know housing was such a crisis in the Western Cape."

This was the stark admission by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Wednesday during her one-day housing imbizo.

Grapevine SA Alumni - The University of York Autumn 2006
Lindiwe Sisulu (PhD Centre for Southern African Studies, 1989) has been South Africa’s Minister of Housing since 2004. The daughter of ANC veterans Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu is promoting a ten-year plan to eradicate the squatter camps that are home to 2.4 million families and instead to create non-racial communities nearer to where people work and play.

She also promised the government would "drastically reduce" informal settlements within the next 10 years.

Sisulu was accompanied by premier Ebrahim Rasool, Housing MEC Marius Fransman and mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, who addressed communities in Wallacedene, Paarl and Khayelitsha.

'I did not know housing was such a crisis in the Western Cape'

Sisulu announced to the media yesterday that her comprehensive plan on settlements - a housing plan requested by President Thabo Mbeki during his state of the nation address on May 21 - would be tabled before cabinet by next Wednesday. This includes plans for housing and upgrading the informal settlements along the N2 where about 12,000 people live.

Sisulu remained tight-lipped about the contents of the plan, but said it was an "extensive programme with business plans" that could be a blueprint for housing issues for the next 50 years.

"We had enough time to learn from our mistakes, as well as what we got right," she said.

Asked how long it would take to build formal housing and do away with informal settlements, Sisulu said: "Within the next 10 years, South Africa will have drastically reduced its informal settlements. Informal settlements are a health and safety hazard for the people living there.

"Every year we will go back to our business plans to check up on our delivery."

Sisulu said the visit to Wallacedene had shocked her.

"There was a woman from Wallacedene who really touched my heart. She said the floods deprived her of her home, and also affected her children's education.

"They could not attend school because their books were wet and their school clothes were wet. It has effects beyond what we can imagine."

Eight thousand homes are planned for Wallacedene within the next three years.

The recent flooding of informal settlements which affected 14,740 people in the City of Cape Town, provided the backdrop to Sisulu's visit.

"We are unfortunately faced with a situation where people will go to areas convenient for them to put up their shacks. Some areas along the N2 are former rubbish dumps that people have now settled on, and others have high water tables."

Meanwhile Mfeketo reiterated that the city council has moved into action with a short-term plan to deal with the flooding and will move about 300 families from the worse affected areas - Gxagxa, Kanana and New Rest informal settlements in Gugulethu - to land close to Nyanga Junction and elsewhere. Families in Wallacedene are also likely to be moved.

Relocation will be discussed with communities this week.

The province has 155 informal settlements with 92,000 shacks.

Fransman said yesterday the biggest challenge facing the province was the 310,000 housing backlog.

"This backlog is estimated to grow at a rate of 18,000 houses a year as a result of new families, rapid urbanisation and the migration of 48,000 people from other provinces to the Western Cape each year."

The Western Cape housing department came under the spotlight when it announced it had underspent its budget by R150-million last year.

Fransman said this financial year the province would build 14,542 houses and develop sites in the metropole, Boland, Overberg, Central Karoo and the Southern Cape.

"We have built 1,500 houses in the past three months. My department has been allocated R587-million for housing. This money is not enough for us to deal with the present housing backlog, but with smart planning, we will be able to make a dent," said Fransman. - Cape Times

Propaganja aims to clear up the haze about dagga

Despite the rain, May Day saw about 120 people make their way to the closed gates of Parliament in Cape Town.  This was South Africa's attempt at joining 160 other cities in the Global Marijuana March. 

The numbers were telling of the obscurity of the dagga debate but did not nearly represent South Africa's estimated 1-million smokers. 

The turn-up was nevertheless colourful: barefooted youth with little hope in their eyes rolled joints while soft-skinned beauties with dirty hair brandished "legalise it" posters.  Rasta brothers with bling-bling outfits zealously shared their views with a journalist from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Numerous self-styled gurus clutched research documents on dagga as an alternative energy resource, dagga as medicine, and dagga for building houses.  Joints, bottled water and ganja muffins were passed around while the police kept their pose. 

Rightly so, says organiser of the march, Andre du Plessis, because there is more to dagga than dope. 

The emphasis on the narcotic qualities of a herb that for centuries has been a matter-of-fact feature of life in southern Africa, has obscured its economic potential as a source of oil, paper, fabrics, the ingredient for soaps and wax and - mixed with lime - as a cheap, strong brick. 

This potential, Du Plessis and others argue, highlights the need to think differently about a substance that is the subject chiefly of criminal investigation, while taking too much blame for social ills.  At the end of last year 4,269 people found themselves in South African jails for the use or possession of cannabis, and 1,207 for the trade or cultivation of cannabis. 

Yet the focus is on waging what is arguably an apparently wasteful war on an "enemy" that just won't go away.  The sums involved are immense.  Just last year, the SA Police Service's organised crime unit seized about 5,038kg of dagga from individuals, 99,939kg from traders and 754,913kg from plantations.  This excluded cannabis confiscated by uniformed police. 

Cannabis, for the police, has the lure of a siren: Parliament was told last year how Philippi residents, having failed to get attention from the Nyanga police to report a rape case, fabricated a "tip-off" about a stash of dagga.  The police sent five cars.  But for all their bravado, police seem to be fighting a losing battle.  An estimated 1-million South Africans regularly break the law with impunity.  And raids fail to reduce the demand.  A decline in supply merely means consumers have to pay a bit more. 

And that bit more doesn't go to the rural growers, whose livelihood often depends on their crop, but to drug lords.  Some argue that more vigorous policing of the dagga trade, far from curbing its use, hikes profits and indirectly stimulates syndicate crime. 

Prohibition has created a black market.  Why, then, was dagga made illegal in the first place? 

Was it because it posed a health risk? 

Was it because it threatened the textile industry? 

Or because international conventions compelled South Africa to outlaw it? 

The answer is complex, and in many ways obscure.  Assumption-buster Du Plessis, a systems engineer in the IT industry, has been pursuing the answer since 1998.  He found that the initial reason for outlawing dagga had nothing to do with the plant's narcotic qualities, but with the threat it posed to cotton and other industries. 

Numerous laws on dagga in the 20th century were possibly racially discriminatory, and thus - or so Du Plessis thinks - unconstitutional.  When Minister of Information Connie Mulder introduced the Dagga Act in 1971, he described dagga as a national emergency, arguing that white army conscripts would be demotivated, and social interaction between black and white youth would occur, if dagga was not criminalised. 

Du Plessis also found out that, if legalised, cannabis could take its place as a competitive product in the petrochemical, construction, paper, pulp and textile industries.  Believing that dagga could significantly contribute to reducing the housing backlog, and generate jobs, he set out to share his findings, to spread, as he puts it, "propaganja".  He was not well received. 

In 2001, Du Plessis approached the Innovation Fund with a proposal as thick as a Bible.  In light of the housing shortfall, estimated to be 400,000 units per year, he pointed out that houses could be built using bricks made of shredded cannabis stalks - or hurd - and lime.  The Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, which then managed the fund, thought he was crazy. 

According to Du Plessis, it would be possible to build a hurd-brick house three times the size of a typical RDP house, for the same price.  Besides being cheaper, bricks made from cannabis are, he argued, stronger, more sound-proof and a better thermal insulator than clay bricks.  Du Plessis says his vision of a socially-uplifting cannabis industry was seen as nothing more than the pipedream of a dopehead.  Hoping to inspire dialogue around cannabis, Du Plessis led a similar march last year and handed over a petition of 800 signatures to Western Cape Public Protector Gary Pienaar urging the government to rethink their "fundamentalist" approach to dagga.  He has yet not heard from the authorities.  This year's march, he says, was to remind government that the sharing of information with the people was an essential part of democracy. 

Ten helium balloons filled with hundreds of dagga seeds were released into the air.  They were supposed to pop at altitude.  But with the help of the wind, they ended up unspectacularly in Parliament's gardens.  Du Plessis was not concerned.  For him it was a sign that, one way or another, dagga would get government's attention. 

Eastern Cape administration spokesman Manelisi Wolela says approval has been given for cultivating 2,000ha of hemp.  The Department of Trade and Industry has promised R55-million for a hemp-processing plant. 

The province's hemp specialist, Monde Fotana, hopes the research permit for the project will in time be extended to a commercial permit.  The department is also working with Mercedes-Benz in the hope of supplying the car manufacturer with hemp fibre for door panels and biodegradable dashboards.  Ultimately the department hopes to persuade the Department of Health to de-schedule "hemp" from the cannabis schedule of drugs and to introduce "industrial hemp regulations". 

Key laws are the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act of 1992 and the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act of 1965 which state that cannabis is illegal: the whole plant or any portion or product thereof, except dronabinol.  Dronabinol is the pharmaceutical name for the active compound THC ( tetrahydrocannabinol ), which has been patented and sold as Elevat and Marinol to combat nausea following chemotherapy and to boost appetite in anorexics and HIV-positive patients. 

Given that THC is the only legal part of the plant, it is odd that it is the level of THC that is decisive in seeds being permitted for research.  THC is indeed responsible for producing the "high" when cannabis is smoked, but the level of THC as a means of differentiating between cannabis grown for smoking ( dagga ) and cannabis grown for industrial purposes ( hemp ) is arbitrary and artificial. 

The seeds approved by the Medicines Control Council for the Eastern Cape research project have a THC content of less than 1% and are of European origin.  At 4 euro per kilogram and 50kg per ha, this will cost the government over R3-million a year, a price they say they will pay until farmers become established in the market, or until the Agriculture Research Council ( ARC ) develops a South African hybrid with a European level of THC. 

Because of the commercial considerations, and the patent and intellectual property rights involved, the development of new varieties is a secretive business.  Despite pressure from certain interest groups, including Du Plessis, the research council has not published any evidence of progress.  Fotana says such information is only shared with "responsible" farmers.  After applying for a research permit, the council supplied "responsible" farmer Russel de Beer with 750kg of European seeds which were planted in 2002 and 2003 on his farm in Northwest Province. 

It was a failure. 

De Beer says that "the ARC throws stars in your eyes".  He simulated rural farming and did everything by hand but found that, because the European cannabis needed to be fertilised and irrigated, it would not be commercially viable for rural farmers.  As the European seeds were acclimatised to 18 hours of sunlight in summer and the South African sun provided only 13, De Beer found they delivered poor-quality hemp. 

Local varieties, producing more THC because of the shorter exposure to daylight, are more resistant to boll-worms and stink-bugs, and can be harvested twice a year.  De Beer believes the best seed for cultivating hemp should have a South African origin. 

In the hope of "helping the rural farmer to have real power in the market", he began researching the creation of a native hybrid, which could meet industrial demands.  But he ran into trouble: unexpectedly, his permit failed to come through, and he was arrested, appearing in court on April 19. 

Samples of De Beer's "suspicious" crop are being analysed at a forensic sciences laboratory to determine the level of THC. 

The ARC is to give evidence in the case at the Brits Magistrate's Court on June 10.  Meanwhile the exploitation of this valuable and prevalent shrub remains the monopoly of druglords.  Many argue that more effective monitoring of any negative effects of dagga abuse will be possible if it is legalised, partly by destroying the allure of doing something forbidden. 

It will also free cannabis to take its place in the economy as a versatile commodity.  

- Pretoria News

'Dagga is not only about smoking'

A group of about 150 Capetonians, waving posters proclaiming "Cannabis can make petrol and paper", "Go Green" and "Grow with the flow", marched to the gates of parliament on Saturday, calling for the legalisation of dagga.

The marchers released about a dozen green balloons with alien faces drawn on them. They flew over the wall and into the grounds of the parliamentary complex and were gathered up by police.

The organisers said the march was intended to highlight "the many uses of the plant cannabis", including applications in the agricultural, building and health sectors.

Organiser André du Plessis said cannabis, or dagga, "is not only about smoking".

'There are more than a thousand other historically documented uses for this plant' 

"There are more than a thousand other historically documented uses for this plant, going back thousands of years. More applications are found daily."

"These go across the board, and if we tackle this issue wisely, we can help solve a lot of South Africa's social and health problems."

"We cannot any longer ignore this plant simply because of its historical association with the drug problem," he said.

Du Plessis, an IT engineer, said it was clear from television and newspaper reports there was a thriving rural agricultural cannabis market in South Africa.

"This market, although illegal, has been in existence for at least 15 years," he said.

Two marchers tried to hand a petition - titled "The Importance of cannabis as an industrial resource" - to the police but they refused to accept it, saying parliament was closed at weekends. "See, I told you we should have done this on Friday," one marcher said to the other.

The whole group dispersed soon after while police tried to fit the balloons into the back of a squad car. It was unclear what they planned to do with them. 

- Sapa

In defence of cannabis

Over 600 South Africans are marching in Cape Town to call for the legalisation of cannabis and highlight its potential use in low-cost housing and medicine, the main organiser said.

Andre du Plessis on Saturday said the aim was also to highlight the many uses of cannabis and stressed that the vast majority of the marchers were professionals and not beatniks or hippies.

Cannabis, or marijuana, is colloquially called "grass" in several countries.

  

"We will be discussing cannabis and its potential in South Africa's industrial sector, in agriculture and in health and from the criminal and police perspective."

  

Du Plessis, an information technology engineer, said he had undertaken a six-year study and found that it could be used in low-cost housing.

Great insulation

  

"My research shows that we can deliver a 82 sq metre house for 15,000 rand ($2,188) which is three times the size of a house which is being currently built using conventional methods.

  

"These houses can be built with bricks made out of the stalk of the hemp and mixed with lime and sand. The houses will be thermal with great insulation."

  

"But the most interesting information is that it can help in fighting cancer tumours ... and lead to remission in various parts of the body but most importantly in the brain."

  

"But the most interesting information is that it can help in fighting cancer tumours"

Du Plessis said there would be similar marches in other countries on Saturday, organised under the umbrella of three organisations - Million Marijuana March, Cannabis Culture and Cures Not Wars.

  

He deplored the fact that Cape Town was the only city in Africa participating in the event.

  

"It's important that Africa catches up to the rest of the world. Agriculture is a very important sector here - we have the land, we have the farmers, we have the sunshine and we have the rain."

  

He slammed South African laws on cannabis as being muddled and almost "defunct".

  

He stressed there were few convictions for cannabis use anyway due to "overcrowded prisons" and called for its decriminalisation.

  

But he underlined that nobody would be allowed to smoke at the march, saying: "I don't want to start a civil disobedience movement on the streets."

- Aljazeera

Balloons for dagga liberation

Cape Town - A group of about 150 Capetonians, waving posters proclaiming "Cannabis Can Make Petrol and Paper", "Go Green" and "Grow with the Flow" marched to the gates of Parliament on Saturday afternoon calling for the legalisation of dagga.

On their arrival, the marchers released a bunch of about a dozen green balloons with alien faces drawn on them; these flew over the wall and into the grounds of the parliamentary complex, where they were quickly gathered up by police.

According to the organisers, the march was intended to highlight "the many uses of the plant cannabis".

These included applications in the agricultural, building and health sectors.

In a statement earlier this week, organiser Andre du Plessis said cannabis, known locally as dagga, "is not only about smoking".

"There are more than a thousand other historically documented uses for this plant, going back thousands of years. More applications are found daily.

"These go across the board, and if we tackle this issue wisely, we can help solve a lot of South Africa's social and health problems.

"We cannot any longer ignore this plant, simply because of its historical association with the drug problem."

Du Plessis, an IT engineer, said it was clear from television and newspaper reports there was an existing and thriving rural agricultural cannabis market in South Africa.

"This market, although illegal, has been in existence for at least 15 years. I can vouch for that," he said.

Two of the participants in Saturday's march tried to hand a petition - titled "The Importance of Cannabis as an Industrial Resource" - to the police at Parliament, but they refused to accept the document, saying Parliament was closed at weekends.

"See, I told you we should have done this on Friday," one marcher said to the other.

The marchers, two of them waving green flags with the image of the characteristic "five-finger" dagga leaf, dispersed soon after.

Police were later seen trying to fit the green balloons into the back of a squad car, although it was not clear what they planned to do with them.

- news24

South Africans march to 'liberate' cannabis

Some 200 people Saturday marched on South Africa's parliament house in Cape Town to call for the legalisation of cannabis and released ten balloons containing cannabis seeds to drive home their message.

Andre du Plessis, the main organiser, was upbeat about the demonstration, despite the poor showing -- he had earlier said about 600 people would participate in the event.

"We were washed out by the rain," he said. "But I am sure that in my lifetime, cannabis will be legalised in South Africa."

Du Plessis said the ten balloons released by the demonstrators "landed in parliament," which he interpreted as a prophetic sign.

The demonstrators carried banners such as "Legalise cannabis," "Cannabis can Save the Planet and "Legalise cannabis for Petrol, Food and Fuel."

The marchers said cannabis had a variety of uses including improved medicines and even low-cost housing.

"These houses can be built with bricks made out of the stalk of the hemp mixed with lime and sand. The houses will be thermal with great insulation," Du Plessis said.

"My research shows that we can deliver a 82 square metre (882 square foot) house for 15,000 rand (2,188 dollars, 1,830 euros) which is three times the size of a house which is being currently built using conventional methods," he said.

"But the most interesting information is that it can help in fighting cancer tumours ... and lead to remission in various parts of the body but most importantly in the brain," he added.

Du Plessis said there would be similar marches in other countries Saturday, organised under the umbrella of three organisations – Million Marijuana March, Cannabis Culture and Cures Not Wars. 

– AFP - GMAX