'Apartheid tactics used against protesters'

Old apartheid-era tactics are still being used to victimise and threaten communities who take part in civil protests, the Freedom of Expression Network said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Magwaza Setshedi said the Regulation of Gatherings Act was used to silence poor and other marginalised groups.

"It is sad and unbelievable," she said.

A large group of people supporting the Network handed over a memorandum to a representative of Gauteng community safety MEC Firoz Cachalia at the provincial legislature building in Johannesburg.

'If you continue arranging this protest something bad is going to happen to you'

"As we speak now, there are members of community organisations around the country who are always victimised and targeted for taking part in protests," said Setshedi.

For protesters it was not uncommon to hear threats such as: "If you continue arranging this protest something bad is going to happen to you".

Setshedi said the day's action in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Harrismith in the Free State was to speak out against attempts to intimidate, harass, victimise, unlawfully arrest or torture protesters.

While Mbeki addressed the national assembly where he claimed there is no service delivery crisis, a group picketed in front of Parliament Cape Town.

In Harrismith a group met to commemorate the death of Teboho Mkhonza, a local school boy, who was shot dead in a service delivery protest in 2004.

Network representatives met Mkhonza's family before visiting the site of the shooting and his grave. - Sapa

Mbeki has his head in the sand

No service delivery crisis: Mbeki

There is no service delivery crisis in South Africa, president Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

Responding to a question on service delivery protests in the National Assembly, he acknowledged the provision of basic services to all was far from complete.

"The fact that 15 percent of our households do not have access to potable water, and 30 percent do not have access to sanitation, and 26 percent do not have access to electricity, means that we have some way to go before we attain our objectives," he told MPs.

Government continued to work hard further to improve service delivery.

'for anyone to posit a notion of a crisis of service delivery in the country would be incorrect'

"The work of providing services to all citizens is... continuing apace, and therefore for anyone to posit a notion of a crisis of service delivery in the country would be incorrect," he said.

Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Sandra Botha disagreed with his assessment.

"Despite your assurances, there were 5,000 service delivery protests in the last year - the highest in the world. To me that sounds like a crisis."

She said the DA was convinced the African National Congress policy of "cadre deployment" to managerial positions in preference to appointment on the basis of competency was at the heart of the problem. - Sapa

FXI launches National Day of Action

The Freedom of Expression Network (FXN) will be hosting its first National Day of Action with events across four provinces this Thursday, 30 August 2007, to raise awareness and build solidarity against repression and how the Regulation of Gatherings Act has been manipulated in an attempt to silence poor and other marginalised groups.

Scores of organisations will join hands in solidarity on Thursday against attempts to intimidate, harass, victimise, unlawfully arrest and torture protesters. These actions by the state are unacceptable violations of our human rights, enshrined in our nation's constitution, says the FXI.

The Network, facilitated by the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), is a nationwide collective of social movements, residents associations, NGOs, and other civil society organisations that seeks to unite social movements and other organisations around issues of state repression and criminalisation of dissent.

According to the FXI, the date has been chosen as Anti-Repression Day in commemoration of the late Teboho Mkhonza who was shot dead at age 17 during police violence at a protest in Harrismith, Ntabazwe in 2004: “Yet whether it is in Sebokeng or Soweto, Mamelodi or Middleburg, Kennedy Road (Durban) or Khayelitsha, people of South Africa are facing greater and greater threats as they attempt to exercise their basic right to speak out.”

The events in the four provinces are as follows:

• Gauteng: Participants from communities all over Johannesburg will be marching from the FXI Offices in Braamfontein to the Gauteng Legislature building in the city centre to deliver a memorandum to MEC for Community Safety Firoz Cachalia to express their concerns over increasing police repression in the face of service-delivery protests and other civil society action. Marchers will convene at 11am at the corner of Station and De Korte Streets, Braamfontein before proceeding to the Legislature for delivery of the memorandum at 1pm.
  
  
• Western Cape: Participants from various Cape Town communities will stage a march to Parliament to hand a memorandum to Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula expressing their concerns over similar acts of police repression there. Marchers will convene at 11am at Keizergracht before proceeding to the Parliament for delivery of the memorandum at 1pm.
  
  
• KwaZulu-Natal: Participants from the Durban area will be convening to hold a press conference on police repression before delivering a memorandum to a local police station outlining grievances concerning recent police brutality, particularly against shack-dwellers.
  
  
• Free State: Participants from various parts of the Free State will convene in Harrismith to commemorate the death of Teboho Mkhonza and stand together against continuing harassment and intimidation of civil society in that region.

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Deadly fires and flooding hit South Africa

Fires killed several people in eastern South Africa while at the other end of the country, tourist spot Cape Town struggled on Monday to cope with floods affecting thousands of residents.

The KwaZulu-Natal Fire Protection Association said it had controlled but not extinguished fires spread by heavy winds in unusually dry conditions, and winds were due to intensify.

"If this goes on until Wednesday, when we are expecting the wind to get worse, then the damage could definitely get worse," said operations manager, Simon Thomas.

Several people were killed over the weekend but authorities were still trying to determine details on casualties.

Raging fires fanned by windstorms also hit neighbouring Swaziland, killing at least two people and driving thousands from their homes, said police in the tiny kingdom.

In Cape Town, home to South Africa's parliament, thousands of shantytown residents used buckets to bail out flood water.

Relief officials said some 38,000 people had been affected since heavy rain began lashing the city a week ago, with damage estimated to run into millions of rand.

City disaster management spokesman Johan Minnie said it was the highest number of people hit by flooding in five years.

"We are stretched, especially in terms of supplying disaster relief. We are at capacity at the moment," Minnie said.

Heavy rains have stopped but forecasters expect them to resume mid-week.

Many residents of tin shacks on the edge of Cape Town refused to move to emergency shelters, fearing their meagre possessions would be lost, he said. Officials provided 25,000 meals to flood victims on Sunday.

Minnie said clean up operations would focus on clearing debris from storm water drains which have blocked roads. - Reuters

WC 'inconvenient truths'

Ageing, under-resourced and failing sanitation systems are having a devastating impact on the health of people and river systems in the Western Cape and it's only a matter of time before there's a typhoid outbreak, a Stellenbosch University epidemiologist has warned.

Dr Jo Barnes, of the university's division of community health, told a recent Medical School symposium at Tygerberg Hospital that two "non-imported" typhoid cases had occurred in Wellington late last year, and it was not clear whether the health authorities had been notified, a step that was legally required.

Also, an as-yet unidentified microscopic creature had "poured" out of the taps of a Peninsula hospital for 14 days. This species had been shedding its outer skin and carried the risk of contaminating the water.

Because it was unknown, authorities did not know what dangers it posed.

Previously, "virtually indestructible" rat-tailed maggots - the Syrphid fly larvae that are an indication of polluted water because the species feeds on faecal remains - had been found, she said.

"I am addressing you on one of South Africa's own 'inconvenient truths'. This lecture comes with a health warning," Barnes told her audience. - Cape Argus

Angry residents threaten to boycott polls

The Anti-Eviction Campaign has threatened to encourage poorer communities in the Western Cape to abstain from voting during election time, saying they are not afforded decent service delivery, especially houses.

Incensed at having to vent their frustrations about the shoddy workmanship of their homes in front of an exit to a parking garage at the Civic Centre, representatives from nine communities on Tuesday called on the city to scrap the arrears owed on their houses and demanded all defects at their houses be fixed immediately.

Gary Hartzenberg said the city was being disrespectful by meeting them at the back of the building, away from the main entrances.

'Residents complained that rain water streamed through their roofs'

More than 2 400 houses were built by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) in 2000, of which the city council is a 50 percent shareholder.

But irate residents complained that rain water streamed through their roofs, the walls of their homes were cracked and they had to use bleach to wash the mould from their walls.

They want CTCHC chief executive Fungai Mudimu to resign and the city council to shut down the company, saying it was "privatising" housing delivery.

Protesters who marched through the city to the Civic Centre warned mayor Helen Zille and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi that they would not stop protesting until their demands had been met.

Campaign co-ordinator Mncedisi Twalo said the organisation would encourage its sympathisers to boycott government elections.

'They would not stop protesting until their demands had been met'

"No land, no house, no vote," said Twalo.

He said it was not only city shack dwellers who were having a tough time during the rainy season and periods of flooding but also those living in CTCHC houses.

The houses are in Newfields Village, Hanover Park, Luyoloville, Philippi, Heideveld, Westridge, Eastridge and Manenberg.

He said Zille and premier Ebrahim Rasool should visit their areas "without their gumboots" to see the effects of their badly built houses.

Another AEC co-ordinator, Mzonke Poni, said the city had to allow poor people to live in unused buildings in the city centre so that they could be nearer their workplaces.

Mayoral committee member for housing, Dan Plato, received a memorandum questioning their rates charges and monthly rentals on behalf of the city.

"Our doors have always been open to you," said Plato to disapproving shouts from protesters.

They were enraged that no representatives from the CTCHC or the provincial government were present to hear their complaints.

Plato said R35-million had already been earmarked for remedial work on the houses and that he and Dyantyi would continue to meet the affected communities regularly as they had done over the past few months. They are scheduled to meet the community of Eastridge this weekend.

The CTCHC said it had already appointed contractors to fix the defects in the homes of complainants and said repairs would start by the end of the month. - Cape Argus

A Brief InternAfrica CTCHC History

• 20 September 2004

The 3 ha site off Royal Road, Maitland is situated 10 km from the Cape Town CBD, within walking distance from school and public transport and on the doorstep of Maitland, Epping and Paarden Eiland. The property was identified by the City of Cape Town as strategically and ideally suited for housing. Following previous unsuccessful attempts to dispose of the site for this purpose on the open market the City approached the CTCHC with the challenge to investigate the site as a possible affordable or “gap” housing pilot project.

Following a consultative process, the City of Cape Town agreed to the direct sale of the land to CTCHC at a price of R482 240. The CTCHC took transfer in January 2003 and commenced development soon afterwards.

Alderman Mfeketo said: “As we are all aware, the City is experiencing a major back-log of affordable housing and I am delighted with the success of this proejct. It affords residents wishing to move closer to the inner City the opportunity to do so. The City has the ability to develop similar projects at a range of open or under-utilised Council and State owned land parcels in areas such as Salt River, Woodstock and Maitland. I thank our partners CTCHC and the National Housing Finance Corporation for making this project a reality”. - City of Cape Town

• 6 March 2007

Mudimu had told the committee the steps taken to consult residents about the audit. He said community leaders, Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi and Premier Ebrahim Rasool's office had been informed about the defects...

Committee members expressed concern about the R35m repair bill, with some saying this was more than it had cost to build the houses and that the City had forked out R10m for repairs six years ago. - Cape Times

Google Time-Lines Cape Town Community Housing Company - CTCHC

Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) - slams protest against rent

A decision by communities to protest on Tuesday against their structurally defective houses built by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC) is "ludicrous" and "bordering on the incomprehensible", the company says.

CTCHC communications manager Michael Ralo said on Monday he was baffled by the decision to protest, given that the CTCHC had appointed contractors last week to fix the defects, for which provincial government has pledged to fork out R35-million.

The communities living in more than 2 000 houses in Newfields Village, Hanover Park, Luyoloville, Philippi, Heideveld, Woodridge, Eastridge and Manenberg were to march to the civic centre on Tuesday to request the city to write off arrears for the non-payment of rent and to force the CTCHC to start fixing their houses immediately.

The City of Cape Town is 50 percent shareholder in the CTCHC.

Gary Hartzenberg, the chairperson of the Newfields Community Representative Committee, said the tenants were simply too poor to pay rent far in excess of what they had expected when the houses were built in 2000.

But Ralo said the company could not condone the non-payment of rent, saying communities owed the CTCHC at least R60 million in arrears.

In March, the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) presented the findings of a forensic engineering audit report of more than about 2400 houses built by the CTCHC on the Cape Flats since 2000 which revealed that at least 2 percent had major defects.

Minor defects were a result of poor workmanship.

The houses in Railway and Pylon were found to be of the poorest quality while those in Woodbridge, Newfields and Philippi were found to be "fairly acceptable".

Vusi Tshose, spokesperson for Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi, said the provincial government was committed to solving the tenants' problems. Dyantyi was keeping communities abreast of developments.

He is due to meet the Eastridge community on Sunday and the Newfields community in September.

The housing department had been assured by the CTCHC that contractors would begin fixing the defects before the end of August, Tshose said.

Hartzenberg accused the CTCHC of threatening to evict tenants who did not pay their rent, saying the R700 to R900 monthly rental was unaffordable to single mothers, pensioners and those who had no work.

He said some who were paying off houses that cost R44 000, now owed in excess of R50 000.

Ralo said tenants could not expect free housing.

The R150 to R200 that tenants paid as a savings measure before they moved into their houses was a test to determine whether they were able to pay towards their rent and was not an agreement as to how much their rent would be set at. - Cape Argus

Cape residents march over poor quality houses

Defects such as cracks on walls, poor plumbing and houses built on wetlands are among several reasons behind the march by nine Cape Town communities this morning. They are complaining about the quality of more than 200 houses built by the Cape Town Community Housing Company in 2000.

The houses are in areas such as Hanover Park, Phillippi, Heideveld, and Manenberg all on the Cape Flats. Home owners say a meeting has been scheduled between them and the Western Cape housing department next month, to discuss proposed payment options. All beneficiaries and their supporters will be marching to the Civic Centre to highlight their demands.

During President Thabo Mbeki's imbizo in the Eastern Cape, concerns over poor quality of houses built, were brought to the minister of housing's attention. Lindiwe Sisulu vowed that contractors who deliver poor service would be blacklisted and not used by government to build houses. She said the contractors were compelled to fix the defects before being booted out. - SABC

Cape council faces critical land shortage

The City of Cape Town is running out of council-owned land to sell and release and could soon be unable to generate income from land sales, meet the demand for social responsibility projects or provide basic services.

The situation is so critical that a moratorium on the processing of transactions involving council-owned land could be on the cards.

"It is obvious that at the rate the city has been disposing of its assets over the past few years and not acquiring at the same rate, the city faces a predicament (with) a declining asset base (and) no strategy on how to grow its portfolio of assets," Ruby Gelderbloem, of the city's property management department, said in a report to the mayoral committee.

Staff shortages and organisational changes in the property management department have been blamed for the poor management of the city's property portfolio.

Simon Grindrod, mayoral committee member for economic development, said the matter was "critical".

"The day may come when we have sold all our assets and not acquired any new ones."

Gelderbloem said that with the changes in the city's political leadership, the department's executive leadership had changed four times in three years.

"(This) environment compelled the department to stay in 'a mode of continuous adaptation', hampering the formulation of a clear strategic plan that would pave the way for the effective management of council's immovable assets."

This led to unreasonable demands, poor performance and confusion about roles and responsibilities. An "exodus of staff who performed key functions" had made it more difficult for the department to perform.

The city had allocated funds to fill some critical vacancies, but a "new dilemma" had arisen as staff were applying for these posts, creating other vacancies.

"The shortage of skilled personnel... severely limits the ability of the department to improve on its turnaround time in the processing of applications for land and rights in land."

The department was to develop a strategic plan that would need "bold thinking and decisions on the reservation and use of council-owned land".

Gelderbloem said two of the biggest metros had placed a moratorium on the processing of property transactions.

"The question should be asked... whether the city should be cautious in deciding about property transactions while formulating a strategy and assessing (its) property portfolio." - Cape Times

Delivery Highway to Hell

Time and again, poor communities have blockaded highway lanes with rubble and burning tyres.

This may seem like what has over the past three years become a familiar scene of South African-style service-delivery revolt. But look closer, and there is something new afoot: this time it is organised.

Social protest almost disappeared from the landscape after the ANC's landslide victory in 1994 under the impetus of the social compact it was able to enforce through both its strategic alliances with the likes of Cosatu and the sheer weight of the prestige of its national democratic revolution.

But by 2000 dormant old concerned residents associations in the formal townships of Joburg, Cape Town and Durban were on the move again, now joined by new formations in challenging that revolution's tardy delivery on its promise of "a better life for all"...

But in September 2004, with violent protests in the Free State town of Harrismith, the pattern shifted towards those who had nothing, with the outbreak of service-delivery revolts in rural areas and in the shantytowns abutting small platteland towns.

Since then, a study by the University of the Free State has shown, the smoke of burning tyres again marred the horizon, with something like 6 000 service-delivery revolts across the country, at least 30 of them described as serious.

These were different to the social-movement protests: spontaneous, driven by local petty politics and jealousy, they were mostly not planned.

The protesters were also different: often young, newly impressed into the peri-urban poor, they were mostly bywoners, renting from shack-dweller landlords.

Their demands were for houses, jobs and services, none of which they had.

But the revolts of the past month along the highway have seen a new dynamic emerge, according to Radebe: the merging of the organisational forces of the formal social movements and of the spontaneous mobilisations of the shackland underclass.

"It's a mixture of people who are taking to the streets. You have those who were involved in the struggle against apartheid - but the youth are quite active also.

"You have quite a few Indians and coloureds, not just blacks, supporting the action."

"You have people who have been living in proper houses for 50 years, and others who come from very disadvantaged areas. There is this new commonality between people fighting against prepaid water meters and those who have nothing." ...

Protesters complain that they have seen more of police rubber bullets than any concrete government plans.

Part of the problem appears to be that police are illegally assuming magisterial powers to ban protest - and even assembly - outright: APF chair Brickes Mokolo and eight APF leaders were arrested on Tuesday simply for addressing a crowd.

This is despite two landmark court rulings in March 2006 in favour of the shack dwellers' movement: anyone has the absolute right to gather and demonstrate without police permission; police must merely be informed so that traffic arrangements can be worked out. They have no right to ban any gathering or demonstration, unless it turns riotous...

Local government specialist Professor Greg Ruiters, of Rhodes University, said in 2005 that the yawning chasm between the promises of the developmental state and the grinding poverty of SA's sprawling shackland would increasingly see people take to direct action.

One of the main reasons for this, Radebe says, is that the poor distrust their councillors: "Wards are run as ANC party branches and there is no representation of the broader community at meetings," he notes.

"In addition, people have come to suspect that their councillors do not have real power because whenever they deliver petitions to them, they are told the councillors don't have the power to implement their needs and demands."

Professor Sheila Meintjes of Wits University's political studies department has warned: "There is a growing sense the councillors don't necessarily hold all the power, that the municipal officials are really, if anything, to blame for a lack of service delivery." ...

"The key problem for all parties," according to Ruiters, "is that citizens have discovered another, more direct, channel for giving voice to their needs: 'collective bargaining by riot' may become more common than waiting to vote." - THE STAR

DOH - Where is Masiphumele?

- - -> Masiphumele

Squatter service delivery protest becomes fiery riot

Tensions were still running high in Malawi squatter camp in Bishop Lavis last night after police used rubber bullets to regain control of a housing and service-delivery protest that turned into a fiery riot. [Cape Argus - Premium Content]

'No land, no house, no vote'

Residents from Khayelitsha's QQ-Section declared: "No land, no house, no vote" as they stood at the steps of the provincial legislature in Wale Street on Wednesday.

About 100 protesters called on Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi to accept their memorandum of demands which included a call for immediate relocation.

The group said they were forced to share eight taps between 620 residents.

'They were forced to share eight taps between 620 residents'

Among the marchers was Unique Selman, a QQ-Section resident for the past 10 years, who said she was confident that yesterday's march would send a serious message to the government.

"My house is flooded. There are no toilets. I need to get a house," she said.

Protesters brandished placards that read, "1 300 homes in QQ-Section have no toilets", "The city is only accountable to the rich" and "We are tired of the mayor's empty promises".

Supporting the protesters, who handed over the memorandum to Dyantyi's spokesperson Vusi Tshose, were the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and Development Action Group.

Mzonke Poni, a community worker in the area, said residents were "really fed up" and it was time for the government to help them.

'My house is flooded'

"We don't even have a bucket system which means we are living below the lowest standards," said Poni.

He said the area was formed in 1987.

Tshose arrived, signed the memorandum and promised to deliver it to Dyantyi.

The march ended with heated arguments between Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinators and police officers about last-minute changes the protesters had made to the route which would have allowed them to march to the Civic Centre.

In the end, the police prevailed and the protest fizzled out. - Cape Argus

Housing hopes run high

THE air over Masiphumelele is fraught with tension today as school site residents await the formal outcome of a round of talks between their Amakhaya ngoku! (Homes now!) Housing Committee and members of MEC Richard Dyantyi's Department of Housing (DOH).

The talks, held in the Hokisa Peace House, have the potential to make or break the community's proposal to build, for the first time in South African history, decent homes for 380 families in partnership with government.

Speaking on behalf of Amakhaya chairperson Thembinkozi Kitchen, committee member Melvin Begala explains that residents have been dumbfounded by the DOH's new stance, which seems set to refuse residents the right to eventually buy the very property they are helping to build.

"It has been terrible. Government seems to have been working things backwards instead of forwards with subsidy proposals that will not work," Begala says.

"One proposal was that residents buy the houses by signing up for the Community Residential Units programme. This programme is designed for people who earn salaries of less than R3,500 per month, but almost nobody in the school site even has a job," Begala says.

The Community Residential Units programme will see residents receiving a partial housing subsidy, and having to obtain loans for the remainder of the cost of their homes.

"The other proposal was that the residents continue renting the properties from government for the rest of their life.

"In effect this means we will never own our own homes, which was why we started this project in the first place.""

The project came about when school site residents, unwilling to live at the mercy of devastating fire and floods any longer, decided to help government deliver on their seemingly long-forgotten promise of building proper homes. With the help of the likes of Dr Lutz van Dijk and Dr Peter Jacka of Hokisa, Fish Hoek architect John Shaw and lawyer Frank Guthrie, residents successfully registered all 380 households,handed government a complete set of architectural plans and infrastructure studies and started the process of gaining planning approval from the City of Cape Town.

More than that, however, residents promised to subsidise governmen's building work, which would have cost around R40 million, by R11 million.

The proposal saw a fresh breeze of optimism and hope flutter through the stale halls of power. Arch rivals Dyantyi and Mayor Helen Zille took hands and sincerely pledged their full support to the "worthy" and "historic" initiative earlier this year. Dyantyi took it a step further and promised "all the assistance and support his department could offer in all the committee's initiatives."

In June Van Dijk returned from a triumphant fund-raising tour of Europe with R10 million in donor funding. And as July rolled past the city fulfilled its promise and announced the process to rezone the former school site from educational use to common residential use had formally begun.

The way seemed clear for residents to start their move in December to a pre-approved site adjacent to Masiphumelele, where they would live temporarily as building work on their new homes, and new lives, began in January 2008...

"If the DOH can't agree to a workable rent-to-buy subsidy option, better than the two they currently have tabled, the project will lose all its hard won donor funding," says Dr Van Dijk. "We hope that these talks will solve things. There is no other option. Government needs to give us better answers," Begala concluded.

Spokesperson for Dyantyi, Vusi Tshose, had not responded to People's Post's questions at the time of going to press, which were:

1. Are Department of Housing officials mandated to negotiate a rent-to-buy option?

2. Why were the two subsidy proposals, clearly unacceptable to residents, tabled in the first place?

3. Will the MEC get involved if unhappiness over this matter is not resolved on Tuesday?

- Peoples Post

Home Affairs faces refugee threat

UCT's legal aid clinic is preparing to ask the Public Protector to investigate the department of home affairs over the situation at its Cape Town offices.

This comes as an overwhelming number of asylum-seekers at the refugee centre on the Foreshore fail to get refugee status...

... Kerfoot said the Legal Resources Centre was helping more than 250 asylum seekers every day.

"The situation is getting worse with the Zimbabwean and Congolese refugees," he added. - Cape Argus

Value of Soaring Property Market

The South African economy has seen impressive growth over the past decade.

The Department of Trade and Industry reports that between September 1999 and June 2005, there was an average annual economic growth rate of 3.5%.

This is considerably higher than the decade preceding 1994, when there was average annual growth of 1%.

The rewards of economic growth and increased foreign investment have, however, not been equally enjoyed by all South Africans.

In fact, this growth in the economy has failed to significantly alter South Africa's socio-economic landscape.

Big business continues to be the main beneficiary. The only noticeable difference is the inclusion of a minority of black business elites.

Twelve years after the advent of democracy and 10 years since the birth of the Constitution, South Africa continues to face enormous developmental challenges.

The rates of poverty, inequality, homelessness and landlessness remain unacceptably high. Economic growth and a booming land and property market have failed to realise any tangible benefits for the poorest sector of the country.

Instead they have produced further inequality, marginalisation and exclusion of the poor. The number of poor people living on less than $1 a day (the international poverty line) rose from 9.4% of the national population in 1995 to 10.5% in 2002.

The scale of poverty and inequality in South Africa is evident in the number of people living in inadequate shelter, despite the fact that the right to adequate shelter is a basic human right contained in the Constitution.

According to the most recent estimates there are 2.4 million households living in informal settlements.

In an environment characterised by poverty, exclusion and unfulfilled want, social ills like abuse of women and children, substance abuse and domestic violence thrive.

Delft, one of the biggest housing settlements located on the outskirts of Cape Town, was recently identified by the Provincial Department of Social Services as one of the top three sites in terms of the incidence of child sexual abuse in the province.

Scores of people on government's waiting list have been relocated to Delft from informal settlements in other parts of the city and are being housed in temporary structures.

Unabated poverty, inequality and the slow pace of delivery of infrastructure, services and the land redistribution programme have created a mood of discontent and growing tension at grassroots level.

While the government has introduced several policies and other initiatives to address the enormous development challenges, it is clear that the government will need to access considerable resources to effectively address the manifold needs of the poor.

At the same time, the boom in the land and property market has seen house prices increase by an average of 20% a year between 2000 and 2006.

This has put home ownership out of reach of the majority of South Africans. Land and property speculation has been highlighted as one factor accounting for the significant increase in land and house prices.

What can be done?

It is clear that a market-orientated, trickle-down approach will not address the urban development and housing crisis.

The scale of this crisis calls for bold, decisive initiatives and strategic interventions in the market to make it work better for the poor.

These interventions should be aimed at redistributing the value derived from a soaring property and land market more equally (what is referred to as value capture), and simultaneously strive to protect and secure the right of the poor living in the city.

Value capture is a process by which the government recoups the surplus land value brought about by government interventions for redistribution to the poor. This increased value can arise from three sources:

Changes in land use regulations through the use of planning and regulatory instruments, like zoning.

Provision of infrastructure to a parcel of land.

Growth of the population, which would create a demand for land, thereby increasing its price.

The rationale for value capture is the fact that the increase in land value often results not from the efforts of individual land owners, but from government interventions.

It is thus only fair that the increases in land value attributed to public resources be used for the greater public good.

These increases in land value can be recouped through instruments like development and zoning levies, land value increment taxation, land leasing and a land value tax, for example.

These instruments are being used in many countries to boost local revenue for the provision of infrastructure and services and to deter land speculation.

Disturbing issues in the Western Cape's land and property market certainly warrant a closer examination of the value capture concept.

These include the imprudent sale of prime government land and property to private developers and foreigners.

Another issue is rampant speculation in the Western Cape, where it has been reported that on the West Coast, buyers of "raw" land have realised profits of up to 1 000% after holding on to it for as little as six to 18 months.

Cape Town's property rating system also needs closer scrutiny. Attempts to update the valuation rolls in 1996 were abandoned after rich land and property owners objected.

Even though the city had a strong case and would probably have won a court challenge, rather than showing the necessary political will, the city acceded to the demands of the very wealthy.

Despite the recent update of valuation rolls in Cape Town, the property tax system is still characterised by inefficiencies and inequities.

Peter Meakin, a registered professional valuer, points out in a recent article ( "Banding systems provide better rates valuations", Cape Times, January 9) that the rating system in Cape Town, which is based on an individual property rates system, means that owners of vacant land are taxed significantly less than home owners.

It is clear that such a system not only encourages speculation, but actually rewards those who engage in this unfair practice. Meakin estimates that the city is currently losing out on about R7.2 billion in vacant land value.

Besides the loss in revenue (revenue which can be used for the provision of housing and infrastructure for the poor), speculation also hinders economic activity in the city and impedes job creation.

It is clear that an urgent investigation is needed to quantify the revenue which has been lost to the city as a result of undervaluation due to the use of outdated valuation rolls as well as weaknesses in the current property rates system which actually encourage practices like speculation. Value capture mechanisms such as a land value tax should also be investigated.

This is a critical exercise in a city plagued by a huge housing backlog, a critical need for service delivery to poor and marginalised communities and a population who are increasingly voicing their frustration and impatience with the appalling and inhumane conditions in which they are forced to live.

Rich property owners in the city cannot carry on thinking that high property prices and equally high walls will continue to insulate them from the harsh realities of life in Cape Town's numerous and sprawling informal settlements.

If present housing delivery practice persists in indulging Nimby-ism (Not In My Backyard) then the rich should be forced to pay in other ways for the undoubted privilege of holding on to huge, well-located plots of land and sprawling gardens, while the poor are huddled in overcrowded, unserviced informal settlements sited bleakly on the margins of the city.

The creative utilisation of value capture mechanisms can ensure a more equal distribution of the benefits of a growing economy and can assist the state in meeting its constitutional obligation in terms of the progressive realisation of the socio-economic rights of all its citizens.

Mercy Brown-Luthango is the co-ordinator of the value capture programme at the Development Action Group (DAG).

The programme advocates mechanisms that allow greater value to be realised from the land and property market in order to fund urban development in the interests of the poor. - Cape Argus

Cape Town council plans to relocate homeless

The city council plans to relocate people from three different informal settlements, mainly homeless people who have been living under bridges, to a vacant piece of land next to the Maitland cemetery.

The city's executive director for housing, Hans Smit, said the city had been making "good progress" with its plans to do away with the informal settlement under the Vanguard Drive bridge in Goodwood.

Smit said residents of this informal settlement would be moved to the vacant land which is being leased from Intersite, a division of Spoornet.

'Residents had suffered severely as a result of the heavy rains'

Smit said shack dwellers in Acacia Park were also going to be moved there.

He explained there had been an informal settlement at the far end of the graveyard, and those residents had suffered severely as a result of the heavy rains.

"They will be moving to the vacant land as well," he said.

On Sunday a group of about 40 people who have been living under the Vanguard Drive bridge met on the earmarked land, sandwiched between the railway line and the Maitland cemetery, to prepare for their move.

There is some confusion about who is to be accommodated on the site.

'They will be moving to the vacant land as well'

Vincent Alexander, who claimed to represent an organisation called the Housing Project Committee, said many of the residents who attended Sunday's meeting would not be moved on to the land.

He said people living in the graveyard, residents who were living in three shacks along Voortrekker Road and only those Acacia Park residents staying in the Factreton Hall are to be housed on the land.

This claim was disputed and Alexander was ejected from the meeting.

Phindile Xalipi, a spokesperson for the Acacia Park settlement, who hosted Sunday's meeting, said all Acacia Park residents would be housed on the land.

"I will not leave any one of you behind, the people inside the graveyard were also promised land here. We are not against them but we must get the land first," he said.

Deshi Mqwena, who has been living beneath the bridge in Acacia Park for five years, said he was "very excited" to be moving to the new land.

"It's much better living here on the Intersite land than under the bridge."

Nomceba Ndeyi lived beneath the bridge for four years but moved to Happy Valley in Delft recently. She said she was pleased about receiving the land because she did not want to live in Happy Valley. - Cape Argus

Azapo has threatened to intensify service delivery protests in townships

Azapo has threatened to intensify service delivery protests in townships

The Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) says it will intensify public protests against poor service delivery in townships if government does not respond to demands.

...Although this happened in PTA - the N2 Gateway residents and shack dwellers of Joe Slovo are also in a wait state as they wait for a response from the ministry of housing western cape...

Herbstein said: “Our people have been living without any improvement of their living conditions since 1994. We also want to expose the paralysis in provincial government, which has repeatedly failed to address the concerns of the community despite promising at every election to improve living standards."

The country has seen an increase in service delivery protests, growing more violent in nature, of late. - SABC

We are to blame - ANC

The ANC in Gauteng has partly blamed itself for the recent service delivery protests that have taken place in various informal settlements in the province.

According to ANC provincial secretary David Makhura, "poor government communication and irregular interaction with affected communities about the progress on housing delivery have often served as a detonator of protests".

He was speaking out for the first time since Gauteng experienced a series of violent protests in major areas such as Mamelodi and Atteridgeville and some of the southern areas of Joburg in recent weeks.

"The service delivery issues raised by communities are real. Most of these issues revolve around housing delivery, provision of electricity to new houses, access to water and sanitation. Most of the protests are taking place in informal settlements, where significant development is under way."

Makhura also attributed these protests to infighting among ANC branches in various parts of the province, saying they were fuelled by their own members, who harboured ambitions of becoming councillors during the 2005 local government elections.

"Infighting within ANC branches and conflict with the newly elected councillors has often served as a catalytic factor in some of the protests."

Makhura promised that the ANC would intervene to address conflicts in branches. - The Star

InternAfrica believe the same could be said about service delivery and housing in the Western and Eastern Cape as well.

Plett residents run amok after losing Memory...

UNREST broke out in KwaNokuthula outside Plettenberg Bay yesterday when about 1 000 residents set up burning barricades in the main street, protesting against the expulsion of ANC councillor Memory Booysen.

The protesters burnt tyres and grass at three intersections in Sishuba Street, which leads to the N2 highway, around 4am, leaving hundreds of people with no way to get to work and school. They also tipped over dustbins and bus shelters.

Police Captain Frans van Rooyen said they were deployed around 6am and called in reinforcements from the crime combating unit in George, bolstering their numbers to about 70.

He said the protesters stoned vehicles and attacked the police, who fired rubber bullets and stun grenades.

Two women told The Herald their babies, whom they were carrying on their backs, had been hit by rubber bullets... The Herald

Fraud dug up in housing

The DA says it has discovered that R2,363billion has been spent on incomplete housing schemes.

“There are many elements to this. We primarily suspect corruption and collusion between national department of housing officials and developers,” said the DA’s Butch Steyn.

He said the projects date as far back as September 1995 and up to September 2005. The figures reveal that millions have been squandered on incomplete projects in every province, except Gauteng.

Topping the list is Limpopo with 193 projects at a cost of R1,684billion, followed by Eastern Cape with 64 blocked projects at a cost of R268,4million.

Mpumalanga has four unfinished projects that cost R174million, Northern Cape has 12 out- standing projects that cost R68,6million, Western Cape has eight projects that cost R55,7million, Northern Cape has 14 projects costing R49,7million and Free State has 31 projects costing R48,8million. - The Sowetan

Philippi clean-up to begin

The emergency clean-up of Kosovo in Philippi, which was heavily affected by the recent floods and has had no rubbish collected for six months, is set to begin.

More than 300 residents of Kosovo, in Philippi, turned out for a community meeting at the Colorado Hall on Monday night to discuss the emergency clean-up, to start on Thursday, ordered by mayor Helen Zille after she discovered that had been no rubbish collection in the area for six months.

On Tuesday morning acting executive director of city health, Soraya Elloker, said it was important to get community buy in.

'It was important to get community buy in'

Elloker has been tasked by Zille to do "whatever is necessary to protect the health of the people in the area by ordering emergency cleansing programmes", including getting police assistance.

Elloker confirmed that the emergency clean-up would start on Thursday and that the City's health department would be monitoring the process.

Anwar Isaacs, the City's manager of community participation, said before Monday night's meeting that the City was trying to reach an "amicable solution" and that police escorts would only be used "if people start being affected in terms of the law".

Ward Councillor Monwabisi Mbaliswana said he had secured an agreement with Mayco members to employ 80 Kosovo residents in the project.

The residents had debated the manner of selection before deciding on putting names of those wanting jobs in a bucket and picking 80 people at random.

'Zille visited Kosovo and other informal settlements last week'

The selection process was due to start at 9am on Tuesday, he said.

Zille ordered emergency cleansing programmes to be introduced in the informal settlement after discovering that community conflicts had disrupted the rubbish collection process.

The plight of the residents was brought to the fore after protests over a lack of housing and service delivery erupted in the city last week, prompted by recent widespread flooding.

Zille visited Kosovo and other informal settlements last week after the protests and said she was shocked to the core by the situation in Kosovo where people were "drowning in rubbish".

"Failure to clean up will inevitably lead to disease and possible death in the near future," said Zille at the time.

Zille had said clogged drains were "intimately linked to flooding".

"The situation has now reached crisis proportions and is totally untenable," she said. - Cape Argus

Housing Minister proves she does not give a shit

In an extraordinary and heartless outburst on SABC housing minister Lindiwe lost her cool with protesting "unco-operative" shack dwellers.

Lindiwe Sisulu, the housing minister, has lashed out a people pursuing what she terms, exclusionary housing practices.

A statement issued by the minister after a march to Parliament by a small group of residents from Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, has warned that the group was against the development of integrated human settlements.

In their memorandum, residents are demanding RDP houses in their areas instead of being moved to Delft to pave way for the second phase of the N2 Gateway Housing project.

Sisulu says those who marched appear to be unwilling to accept that communities of the future will cut across class and race.

(Perhaps those protesting were against being moved repeatedly without ever having the opportunity to get adequate housing themselves? Either you are with us or you are against us! If you are against us then you have a class/race problem. We must thank the minister for clearing that up - it has nothing to do with the lack of a plan of how to provide of affordable homes or the snail's pace the ad hoc developments are taking place at)

Time to Think Outside the Box On Developing Land

Matthew Louw is not the only developer struggling to acquire state land ("We're struggling in vain to acquire land for housing", Cape Points July 30). Last year, the city put tenders out for various "affordable housing" developments in Southfield, Woodstock, Westlake, etc.

So far, almost a year later, nothing has come of it.

In November, the local government put out a tender in Plumstead, and although awarded, the developer concerned is still awaiting the official documents that show it was indeed awarded the tender.

The local government is sitting on vast amounts of land that previously belonged to the now defunct National Housing Board. There is enough land to give each and every developer a piece of the pie, whether for low-cost, affordable or middle-income housing.

MEC for Local Government and Housing Richard Dyantyi, Premier Ebrahim Rasool and MEC for Transport Marius Fransman seem to be so preoccupied with fighting the DA council and the Skwatsha faction that there seems to be no time to address the acute housing shortage.

There are many developers that are financially capable of helping to alleviate the housing problem, but the government needs to make land available as it is too expensive to obtain private land from landowners.

Landowners are looking for up to R3 million per hectare for undone land in the affordable market areas.

With zoning taking anything from 18 to 24 months and the prohibitive cost of the various studies that need to be undertaken before getting the required zoning, it becomes unsustainable and unprofitable. The City also needs to come to the party as it is unacceptable to wait up to 24 months for zoning to be approved. Their policy is to fast-track such zoning (six months), but this is just a pipe dream.

The local and provincial governments need to start working together, start sharing the land and start fast-tracking the awarding of land for development, as the tendering system is just another stumbling block.

Most developers are keen to form joint ventures with one another and to share the pot. It is time to start thinking outside the box. - Cape Argus

Rubbish, human faeces float around in Cape

Pools of stagnant water carpeted with rotting rubbish and rimmed by human faeces greeted Cape Town city council officials on Thursday during an inspection of the Kosovo informal settlement on the Cape Flats.

The inspection followed a visit on Wednesday by city mayor Helen Zille, who said afterwards that the situation there had reached crisis proportions and that she had ordered an emergency clean-up.

The non-removal of refuse in the closely-packed settlement stems from conflict between residents of Kosovo and neighbouring settlements over who should get jobs on a cleanup contract.

Mayoral committee member for utility services Lionel Roelf said during Thursday's visit that a contractor had already been hired and was being paid, but was unable to start work because of the feuding.

'We've got to step in'
At the weekend a council refuse removal team that was sent in was stoned and chased away.

"We as the city council cannot allow that this situation carries on," Roelf said. "We've got to step in."

He said he was setting up a meeting with political leaders, including ward councillors, which would probably take place on Friday, and which he hoped would lead to an amicable solution.

"I haven't seen worse than what I've seen today... this definitely needs to be addressed because it's a health risk," he said.

Pools of water left by the recent heavy rains in the city lapped only metres away from shacks.

Plastic bags full of rubbish floated on top of the water, some spilling their rotting contents into it, while human faeces and a dead rat lay on the bank of the largest pool.

In other places, piles of rubbish simply lay rotting in heaps.

Shack dweller Cynthia Ntsele said she was not very happy with the rubbish, and would like to see it cleared up.

However that would not solve her biggest problem, the wetness of the land on which her shack was built, and the fact that it filled with water during heavy rains.

The city's acting director of health Dr Soraya Elloker said her department was going to test the stagnant water for diseases such as cholera or typhoid. - Sapa

Family dies in Cape shack fire

A three-year-old girl and her parents died in a shack fire in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Thursday, police said.

Spokesperson Captain Randall Soffels said the shack caught fire around 1.30am.

The little girl, her parents and three siblings were asleep inside the shack at the time.

Stoffels said a paraffin stove might have fallen over, causing the fire in which the girl and her parents, aged 32 and 33, burnt to death.

Two children aged nine and 11 managed to escape, taking their nine month old sibling with them.

They ran to a neighbour for help, but when the fire was extinguished their parents and sister had already burnt to death.

The three children were taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

They were then taken to a relative's house. - Sapa

South Africa: Delivery Protests Rock City

Mayor Helen Zille has held urgent discussions with community leaders in informal settlements after last night's violent protests in Khayelitsha, sparked by frustrations over housing and service delivery after widespread floods.

Residents, angry over lack of housing and aid in the wake of heavy flooding caused by winter storms, ran amok yesterday, burning tyres and garbage on the N2 and Lansdowne Road and pelting passing vehicles with rocks.

Residents accused the area's ward councillor, Elsie Kwayinto, of failing to deliver on promises of a better place to stay.

Today Zille ditched a Mayco meeting to visit residents and survey damage in the rain-ravaged Europe and Barcelona informal settlements in Khayelitsha.

AN “emergency signal” created with burning tyres was sent out by residents of Philippi

This was after she visited waterlogged informal settlements last night in response to the rioting.

Today Zille described the lack of proper housing and services as a "terrible situation".

"We have a housing backlog of 400 000 and there are 228 completely unserviced informal settlements around Cape Town," she said.

Ward councillors and city officials had to respond to sharp questioning from the mayor on issues other than just the recent flooding.

Zille demanded an explanation for the rivers of rubbish flowing from modified shipping containers. She said community contractors were getting contracts but not doing the work.

Shortly before noon, a group of angry protesters met the mayor on her walkabout, saying they wanted houses, not food. Barcelona residents were scheduled to be moved to the N2 Gateway.

Last night police officers closed Lansdowne Road after protests there got out of hand. Protestors also ran amok on the N2.

At about 6.15pm yesterday, a large group of residents gathered at the N2 roadside near the airport approach road and hurled rubbish at passing cars, creating a large pile that blocked two lanes.

With traffic forced into one lane, protesters flooded on to the highway and set fire to the mounds of rubbish scattered across the road.

When the police arrived at 6.30pm, the crowd was dancing on the N2 and threatening motorists in stalled cars. Trash was thrown on to vehicles coming from the other direction.

When the crowd would not allow the first police vehicle to pass through, it sped through the throng of people and was buffeted by bursting rubbish bags flung its way.

As seven police cars descended on the chaos, police officers wielding shotguns chased the fleeing crowd to the roadside, where they continued to dance and sing.

Police officers then kicked the rubbish to the roadside and put out the flames, allowing traffic to resume. Police said no injuries had been reported and no arrests had been made.

Yesterday's protest in Site B started on Lansdowne Road near Bonga Drive about 4pm when about 10 women lined the road, holding tyres and cans of petrol.

As the tyres were laid across the road and set alight, more people emerged and added rubbish and debris to the growing inferno, forcing cars to turn back.

Protesters gathered in groups chanting slogans demanding service delivery and singing "Elilizwe lokhokho bethu", Xhosa for "We are fighting for our ancestors' land".

Two Golden Arrow buses were stoned

Two Golden Arrow buses were stoned and hit with planks and pieces of wood as they tried to pass the barricade by driving up on to the pavement. No one was injured.

Protesters also barricaded Siya-mthanda Street, which runs parallel to Lansdowne Road and is a slipway road to Bonga Drive.

At 6.30pm, police officers arrived with shotguns and rifles drawn. They escorted a fire truck down Lansdowne Road to extinguish the numerous flaming piles of rubbish.

"We are burning this here because our houses are still flooded and no one has come to help," said Nombumelelo Gcwape, a 42-year-old Khayelitsha resident.

"We don't want food and blankets. We want houses, we want to move out of here."

Mbuyiselo Dyasi, who has lived in Khayelitsha for 10 years, said he was fed up with the city and councillor Kwayinto, who had made "empty promises" such as providing high-lying land for settlement.

"Today we protest so that something can be done."

Kwayinto said she had made no promises about placing the people in new settlements as there simply was not enough land to accommodate them. "All places are flooded and no solution will happen today," she said.

In recent weeks, protests over the slow pace of delivery have erupted around the country, including in Alexandra and Kliptown in Soweto.

Yesterday Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi released a list of 65 questions for public comment on what steps should be taken to improve local governance and service delivery.

Originally published in the Cape Times 1 August 2007

Storm wreaks havoc in H'berg

..the Mhlaba family of seven living in an informal dwelling around the corner was not so lucky and Nomonde and Andries Mhlaba had to spend the night guarding their belongings with one side of their shack missing.

Residents in Rubens Way in Macassar had sleepless nights trying to divert water that flooded their properties, gushing through their homes from back to front.

After numerous calls to the authorities for help went unanswered, residents hacked the pavement in Zandvliet Avenue open to let water run from their homes and erven.

Homes were flooded for a second time on Saturday night... - Helderberg

Woman dies in shack fire

A 62-year-old woman died and a 38-year-old man was seriously injured in a fire that destroyed 60 shacks at an informal settlement near Butterworth on Wednesday, police said.

Captain Ling'sile Magama said the fire started at lunch time at Skiti informal settlement near Butterworth in the Eastern Cape.

He said a woman who sells sheep heads (also known as skop or smiley) was burning the hair on the sheep heads near her shack when strong winds fanned the flames.

The fire went out of control and spread to the shacks.

A 62-year-old woman died and a 38-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious burn wounds.

He said the woman who sells sheep heads fled when the fire ravage through the informal settlement.

A case of arson has been opened against the woman, he said. - Sapa

Flood-ravaged Cape residents take to the streets

The situation is reportedly getting desperate in areas affected by flooding at a number of informal settlements in the Cape Peninsula. The police and traffic officials are patrolling Lansdowne road between Site B and Site C in Khayelitsha. This follows separate protests by residents.

They took their frustrations to the streets by burning tyres and dumping refuge bins on the road. The extent of the damage is among issues being discussed at a Western Cape cabinet lekgotla under way in Riversdale. Richard Dyantyi, the provincial government and housing minister, has been tasked to present to cabinet a report on the extent of the damage.

Meanwhile, the Independent Democrats are calling for the army to be brought in to help with flood relief and for Ebrahim Rasool, the premier, to declare the affected informal settlements disaster areas. - SABC