Backyard dwellers confident of court victory

IT will be an uneasy New Year for the hundreds of backyard dwellers who are to find out on Thursday whether they are to be evicted from the N2 Gateway houses they occupied illegally earlier this month.

"We celebrated Christmas here. We celebrated Eid here and we will be here for New Year, too," said one backyard dweller, who asked not to be named.

"We believe we will win this time."

The backyard dwellers, from Delft, Belhar, Elsies River and Bonteheuwel, moved into the unfinished homes about two weeks ago.

Many claimed they had been on the housing waiting list and had all the papers needed to qualify for a home. It was alleged that DA councillor Frank Martin gave the backyard dwellers the green light to occupy the homes.

Thubelisha Homes, the N2 Gateway developer, was instructed by the national Housing Department to evict illegal occupants immediately.

Construction of the houses, earmarked for beneficiaries from Joe Slovo in Langa, is to resume on January 7.

The backyard dwellers, represented by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, were given a reprieve just before Christmas when the Cape High Court granted an interim order halting all evictions.

But they will find out on Thursday whether the evictions will be stopped permanently when the Cape High Court gives its final ruling.

Ashraf Cassiem, of the Anti-Eviction Campaign, said the Housing Department had used an outdated 1996 eviction order to remove people from the houses.

Residents were now considering taking action against the police for unlawful arrest, he said.

Meanwhile, the illegal residents of the unfinished houses are confident they will be able to say they are homeowners on Thursday.

Barbara Davids, who is sharing a house with her children and grandchildren, said the backyarders would win this battle.

"People have been waiting for 12 years on the waiting list. When is it going to be our turn? The people from Joe Slovo do not want to move here."

Like her neighbours, Hendricks has hardly any furniture in her house. There is just a mattress on the floor, a few items of clothing and a bucket in the bathroom.

This is in case the police come to evict them, Hendricks explains. Her daughters say they will not move again.

"We have all the proper papers and we are on the waiting list."

Most of the houses do not have doors or windows and the backyard dwellers have used roof tiles to plug the gaps.

Rodney Fester has only a red slip of fabric for a door and no possessions, yet he has protected "his" house by piling tiles in his doorway.

There are no amenities. People use communal taps for water and the bucket system is the only form of sanitation.

But for many of them, these hardships pale next to their desire to have a house.

"It's not about luxury - it is about having a roof over our heads," said one.

"We want this so badly that we are prepared to live in half-empty houses."

Many of the illegal occupants have asserted their rights by painting their names on the walls of their houses. One resident has inscribed "legal" on a house.

Security officers in bright bibs patrol the area, making sure that no more families move in before Thursday's high court decision. - Cape Times

Shackland is an alcoholic and violent whale of a time

Dickens said that the police together with the Zwelihle neighbourhood watch have continued mounting operations every weekend throughout the night against shebeens. Despite successes in closing down most illegal operations, new premises spring up weekly...

Poaching continues to thrive and acts a a funding source for criminal activities, providing mainly weapons and drugs. “The use of extortion via protection rackets and threats of bodily harm are consequences of poaching activities and the wealth associated with it. This is centered on the shebeens where most of the drunkenness and violence take place.”

“The housing department is not coping, less than half the people who were originally issued with houses in Kwasa Kwasa are not living in these homes and are now living in shacks attached to the homes because they can rent out their houses, or have sold out at ridiculous prices out of desperation and intimidation,” he added: “The crime situation was exacerbated this year with resentment against Somali shops which have sprung up all over Zwehlihle, resulting in attacks and robberies on the Somalis.

Referring to the bloody taxi war in Zwelihle this year that was brought about mainly by illegal taxis transporting immigrants from the Eastern Cape and taking local business away from the legal taxis, Dickens said a group of eight hit men have been arrested and the murders have stopped for the time being.

He said the increase in house break-ins in Zwelihle signals a situation where there are a lot of hungry and desperate people in the township.

“This form of crime will not stop unless we limit immigration into the area, there are simply not enough job opportunities to satisfy the ever increasing influx of people.”- Hermanus Times

Delft eviction on hold for now

The Cape High Court has granted an interim order halting the eviction of backyard dwellers who occupied unfinished homes built as part of the N2 Gateway project in Delft.

The Anti-Eviction Campaign claimed a major victory on Monday after it helped occupiers get the interdict, just as police had begun to evict occupiers of the homes.

The court order assured a second chance for homeless people over the festive period, and forced police to allow those they had already evicted to return.

Last week backyard dwellers, who had been waiting for housing for "many years" and had the so-called "white cards" to prove they had applied for housing, began occupying newly-built government houses in Delft without permission.

On Friday last week, police intervened on the basis of a 14-month-old court order and evicted the occupiers. Several people were arrested and appeared in the Bellville magistrate's court on Christmas Eve.

But last weekend many of the evicted people moved back in and police, supported by army units, moved into the township on Sunday and prepared to begin evicting them again.

But the court order now temporarily suspends the eviction order police had been using, dated October 30, 2006, said Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinator Ashraf Cassiem.

"The residents will now appear in court again on January 3 to hear the judge's final ruling," he said on day, adding that the judge had also "denied the government's housing agent, Thubelisha Homes, a new eviction order".

Cassiem said the government would have to rethink the whole N2 Gateway project.

"This is the pet project of the Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, and she wants to push it through against all odds," he said.

"The problem is, the government wants to do anything that makes life easier for them, not for the people. The backyard dwellers have been on the waiting lists for many years already and they see new arrivals in the area get homes before them." He denied it was "a racial thing".

"People from all communities have been living in backyards, rented shacks and so on for years and they are still waiting for homes," he said.

Cassiem said his organisation was helping residents investigate the possibility of taking action for unlawful arrest because police had allegedly arrested them with an illegal, outdated court order.
- Cape Argus

Delft evictions halted

Cape Town - Hundreds of Cape Flats families will be spending Christmas in the Delft houses they have occupied, after the Cape High Court on Monday ordered a temporary halt to their eviction.

The order was made in chambers by Judge Deon Van Zyl at 17:00 as many of the families, with small children, waited anxiously outside the court.

Police and a private security company earlier in the day recommenced evicting families from the houses, which are earmarked for residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement who cannot be accommodated there when the settlement is upgraded.

The application for an urgent interdict was brought on behalf of the families by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.

It was sought on the grounds that the evictions were being carried out illegally on the basis of an eviction order granted to the City of Cape Town on October last year, against other people.

Emerging from the court at 17:15 campaign chairperson Ashraf Cassiem was greeted with shouts of joy when he announced they had won a respite.

No more evictions till January 3

He said state-owned developer Thubelisha Homes, which is upgrading Joe Slovo as part of the N2 Gateway project, had asked Van Zyl for a fresh eviction order, but the Judge had refused it.

"The order is this," he said. "As of today (Monday) 17:00, which is the time we agreed, there will be no evictions until we get back in court on the third of January, where the court will make a final decision."

He said the order covered everyone who had signed a confirmatory affidavit for the court hearing.

Ward councillor for the Delft area Frank Martin said that people in backyard rooms, overcrowded homes or shacks in the Delft and Belhar areas had been on council waiting lists for an average 25 years.

"We're sitting with elderly people, ages that range from 60 up to 83 years of age," he said.

"All these years they've never been accommodated, they've never received a subsidy from government."

In contrast, he said, there were "kids" of 18 years from Joe Slovo, without any dependants, who had been allocated new homes at Delft.

Many of the Joe Slovo residents had never appeared on a waiting list.

Martin was arrested last week for allegedly encouraging people to move into the new homes.

One of the occupants, a woman who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals from the authorities, said her neighbours had called to tell her the police were evicting people.

"The police are removing our furniture, they're tramping our doors open by force, removing all the people's stuff outside the houses," she said.

"They're taking the stuff and go dump it somewhere else [sic]... they've got no right to tramp doors open and remove stuff without permission."

The SA Police Service and the city metro police, plus a security firm, have been evicting people since last week.

Cassiem said about 700 families were represented in the application.

The High Court earlier this month reserved judgment on a bid by the Joe Slovo residents themselves to block their own looming forced removal to Delft. - SAPA

Delft residents head to Cape court

Several hundred people who have occupied homes at Delft on the Cape Flats are on their way to the Cape High Court in a bid to block their impending eviction, a spokesperson said.

Mzonke Poni, a co-ordinator of the Anti-Eviction Campaign, said the occupiers had been unable to secure an interdict at the Bellville Magistrate's Court on Monday morning.

He said the evictions were based on a court order granted to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and developer Thubelisha Homes at the Bellville court in October last year.

However there was now no record of the order on the court files.

For this reason, he said, Monday's magistrate had said he was unable to grant an interdict.

Speaking just after 1pm, Poni said he and the hundreds of residents who had demonstrated outside the court were now on their way by train to the High Court, where they would make another attempt to get an urgent interdict.

"We are going there as I'm talking," he said.

Poni said the campaign was assisting more than 450 families, backyard dwellers from elsewhere in Delft, and Belhar, who moved into the incomplete homes last week.

The homes are meant to house the overflow from the N2 Gateway project, in which the Joe Slovo shantytown is being replaced by brick housing.

The High Court has reserved judgement on a bid by the Joe Slovo residents themselves to block their own looming forced removal to Delft. - Sapa

Police remove N2 squatters once again

Police have moved in once again to evict community members of Delft who are illegally occupying government houses of the N-2 Gateway Project near Cape Town.

They were evicted last week, only to move back into the homes after the security forces had left. About 500 community members from Delft and Belhar took occupation of the housing units on Wednesday after allegedly being told to do so by the area's ward councillor Frank Martin.

Martin has since been charged and is out on bail of R1000.

Many of the units are still under construction. Meanwhile, the community members' application today at the Bellville Magistrate's Court for an interdict against their eviction has been referred to the Cape High Court.

On Friday, police used rubber bullets to disperse the dwellers, who were throwing stones at them. Five people were arrested for public violence. - SABC

N2 Gateway occupation saga continues

About 600 dwellers from Delft and Belhar moved into the incomplete N2 Gateway homes last week.

Cape Town police are expected to move in this morning to evict a group of people who are occupying houses in the N2 Gateway project in Delft on the Cape Flats. At the same time, the occupants will lodge a court application for an urgent interdict to prevent their eviction.

About 600 backyard dwellers from Delft and Belhar moved into the incomplete N2 Gateway homes last week. Housing minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, then issued an order to evict them.

Community leader of the backyard dwellers, Mzonke Poni, says the minister's eviction order is illegal. Their urgent application will be lodged with the Bellville Magistrate's Court this morning.

- SABC

Scores left displaced after Cape shack fires

Many left homeless following more shack fires

More than a hundred people have been left displaced after shack fires broke out last night in two informal settlements outside Cape Town.

Fire service authorities say about 30 informal homes were destroyed in a blaze opposite the Klipfontein Mission Station in Old Crossroads, leaving at least 50 people homeless.

More than 70 people lost their homes when a fire broke out in the Europa informal settlement in Gugulethu.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries in either incident. - SABC

Relocation or forced removal?

Judge President John Hlophe will rule soon on what has become the hottest housing issue in Cape Town -- whether to give government the go-ahead to forcibly remove 20 000 Joe Slovo residents to Delft.

The minister of housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, asked the courts to pave the way for the eviction of the residents.

The community, which has occupied the land for 15 years, refuses to move. Some residents say they will move only if the government builds houses in Joe Slovo for at least 70% of them.

Last week Hlophe reserved judgement in the Cape High Court on the application brought by government and its housing agency, Thubelisha Homes, to evict the residents.

But an eviction schedule was tabled in court. It will start with 45 families being moved to Delft on the January 28. Evictions will continue for 45 weeks.

Advocate Geoff Budlender, representing the residents, says this is “the most serious eviction case [he] ha[s] handled”.

Budlender says he cannot “remember another case in which government started the eviction of a settled community of 20 000 people where people have lived for as long as 15 years”.

The state claims the residents are illegally occupying land and should be removed under the Prevention of Illegal Evictions and Unlawful Occupation of Lands Act.

The community claims the state failed to show ownership of Joe Slovo -- no title deed was produced -- and, without proof of ownership, it cannot be forced out.

The community says it needed the help of the courts because the housing department and the provincial housing department, under MEC Richard Dyanti, promised residents that if they moved to Delft, houses would be built for them in Joe Slovo.

“This did not happen. Phase one of the N2 Gateway provided only one Joe Slovo resident with a house and there are about 2 000 families living here,” says community leader Manyenzeke Sopaqa. - M&G

Hundreds lay claim to Delft houses

Hundreds of Cape Town's backyard dwellers, who say they have been waiting for promised housing for several years, are refusing to move from unfinished houses in the N2 Gateway project in Delft, which they are occupying illegally.

This week, groups of residents from Delft, Belhar, Elsies River and Bonteheuwel started moving into houses reserved for Joe Slovo residents who lost their informal homes in a Langa fire two years ago.

Frank Martin, a ward councillor for another section of Delft, was arrested on Thursday after a confrontation between police and those occupying the houses in New Symphony Way.

The new arrivals, who have been moving in since Wednesday, said that although the houses lacked doors, windows, running water or electricity, they were "good enough" for them.

They have already hung curtains on paneless windows and some have written their names and slogans such as "Los af" (Leave alone) on the outside walls.

Several people arrived ferrying their belongings on horse carts and brought bricks, ceilingboards, roof tiles, curtains or other material with which to secure the houses.

The angry new arrivals said they were frustrated with waiting for homes and upset that some people were receiving housing privileges which others were not.

"What we want is a 50/50 not a 70/30 deal in the allocation of the houses here," said Nompumelelo Sigam.

All the people here, he said, had suffered as much as Joe Slovo shack fire victims. "At least they (fire victims) have got temporary houses, so they should also wait like anyone else," said Sigam.

Meanwhile police spokesperson Inspector Bernadine Steyn confirmed Martin's arrest at his Black Heath home on Thursday.

She said he was due to appear in the Bellville Magistrates' Court on Friday on charges of violating a court order, fraud and enticing riotous behaviour.

Councillor Dirk Smit said on Thursday that Martin could also face disciplinary action if he was found to have contravened the councillors' code of conduct.

This follows allegations by a housing company that wrote to the city saying he was encouraging people to illegally occupy the Delft houses.

Prince Xanthi Sigcau of Thubelisha, who deals with the N2 Gateway houses, said the contractors, Ibuyile, were responsible for the houses until they were handed over to Thubelisha. He said the contractors had taken the matter to police.

Vusi Tshose, spokesperson for Housing MEC Richard Dyanti, said the department was working with the City of Cape Town to ensure houses were given to the people to whom they had been allocated. - Cape Argus

W. Cape MEC plans to curb shack fires

Western Cape Local Government MEC Richard Dyanti says he plans to propose wide-raging legislation, to curb fires in informal settlements. This follows yesterday's launch of the provincial government’s fire prevention campaign.

The unveiling of the initiative coincides with rising temperatures and strong winds. Yesterday the mercury climbed to 32 degrees in Cape Town and today's forecast maximum is 31 degrees celsius.

The campaign aims to educate people who live in shacks about personal safety, including basic tips to remember when lighting fires. Dyanti says he plans to outlaw shack-building in fire-prone areas. - 702 Talk Radio

70 displaced after Cape informal settlement blaze

About 70 people have been displaced after a fire broke out in the SST informal settlement in Khayelitsha in the early hours of this morning.

Fire services authorities say at least 21 informal dwellings have been destroyed. They say there have been no injuries or deaths reported. The cause of the blaze has not yet been established.

Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town has distanced itself from letters that have been issued to residents of Delft - authorising them to occupy vacant houses in the area. The letters were given out to the residents by Democratic Alliance ward councillor, Frank Martin, at a public meeting in the Delft Civic Hall last night. On Monday, Martin led a group of irate residents from Belhar and Delft to the site of phase two of the N2 Gateway Housing Project and allegedly told them to illegally occupy the houses.

The City's member of the Mayoral Committee for Housing Dan Plato says they regard those letters as unauthorised ....as a result there is no guarantee from the side of the city of Cape Town that any person who received such a letter that that person will be a beneficiary or even is a beneficiary - so the city council has distanced itself from the letters that were given out by the councillor.

Attempts to get comment from Martin have proved fruitless. Plato says the council is investigating the conduct of DA councillor Martin. He says necessary action will be taken against Martin if he is found to have contravened the council's code of conduct. - SABC

Hunt on for escaped XDR-TB patients

Twenty-three patients with incurable, highly infectious and drug-resistant tuberculosis have escaped from a South African hospital, local media report.

A total of 49 patients have absconded from Jose Pearson hospital near Port Elizabeth this week, officials said.

Although 26 have since returned to the wards, police are now primed to join door-to-door searches for the rest.

The patients, some of whom have been in hospital for 18 months, were said to want to spend Christmas with family.

But health officials said the patients posed a risk to public health and needed to return to hospital immediately.

"I think that those who returned are aware that they are putting themselves and their families at risk," hospital spokesman Siyanda Manana told the South African Press Association.

"If they [the others] do not return immediately, department officials will be accompanied by members of the South African Police Service in a door-to-door search."

Widespread - Experts think South Africa has underestimated the spread of TB

Correspondents say South Africa is battling the spread of virulent forms of TB which are especially dangerous for those infected with HIV, the virus which can lead to Aids.

The country has an estimated 5.4 million people living with HIV.

Just 400 people have been officially diagnosed with extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the Associated Press reports.

But the true figure is thought to be considerably higher because many people die before being diagnosed.
Several provinces in South Africa have been forced to take legal action to force drug-resistant TB patients to stay in hospital, AP adds. - BBC - SABC

Shack dwellers warned against hazardous areas

Shack dwellers in the Western Cape will in future be prohibited from erecting structures in hazardous areas.

Provincial housing minister, Richard Dyantyi, says his department will be introducing laws to this effect next year. He was speaking at Khayamnandi near Stellenbosch where, together with Disaster Management, a campaign was launched to intensify fire prevention in informal settlements.

Khayamnandi has been identified as one of 10 communities in the province with high incidents of shack fires.

Dyantyi says even after shack fires, communities will not be allowed to return to these areas for their own safety.

“This coming year we're going to be introducing legislation… in the province that is going prevent … people (moving back to)… vulnerable areas ... We do identify these dangerous areas, (and then) people go and build on them…” says Dyantyi. - SABC

Promise to eradicate bucket system will not be met

THE government has admitted that it will not be able to honour its promise of eradicating the bucket toilet system in formal settlements by the end of this year.

During the annual state of the nation address on January 8, president Thabo Mbeki promised that by December 31, all buckets in formal settlements would be done away with.

This was already a shift from an earlier promise to eradicate all buckets in formal and informal settlements...

An InternAfrica - Bucket System history.

Some households in formal areas of the Eastern Cape which still use the bucket system will continue doing so until at least next March, the government‘s latest deadline.

And thousands of families in post-1994 formal settlements in the Eastern and Southern Cape would still use the bucket system far beyond this date.

This is because the government has now changed its tune, saying its current bucket eradication programme only addresses buckets in pre-1994 formal settlements.

There was no reference to pre- or post- 1994 buckets during the presidential address in January.

The department of water affairs‘ Eastern Cape sanitation manager Amanda Machimana said:

“The government will eradicate buckets only in pre-1994 formal settlements.

“There are other bucket systems in post-1994 formal low-cost houses. There is a different programme for those.”

The province had in excess of 14,000 buckets in informal settlements, she said, adding that the statistics for buckets in post-1994 formal settlements were not readily available.

Asked how it was possible that the post-apartheid government had built so many formal homes without toilets, Machimana said that the availability of piped water was the main reason toilets were not installed in some homes.

Departmental spokesman Mandilakhe Zenzile said: “When implementing sanitation you have to consult with communities, and that may take up to six months. They come back and tell you that they don‘t want this, they want that and the other. Some areas are rocky and had to be blasted, delaying the process.”

He said unreliable weather patterns had prevented other projects from being implemented on time.

Makana municipality spokesman Thandy Matebese said that because human remains had been found in ancient graves in KwaNdancama, 60 buckets there had been exempted from the deadline.

“The SA Heritage Resources Authority is trying to address the issue of the bones, and we can‘t do any work there,” he said, adding that Sahra would complete its work in March.

Institute for Democracy in South Africa associate researcher Steven Friedman said it was disturbing to see that the government was failing to meet its commitments.

“Fourteen years into democracy we still have bucket toilets; it‘s unacceptable. The government has repeatedly, not once, committed itself to eradicate the bucket system but has failed to deliver. As citizens we need to hold government to account.”

He said the country had the resources to eradicate the system, but lacked the capacity. “We must make more noise and put the government in a tight position,” Friedman said.

In contrast to the Eastern Cape, only three bucket toilets are left in all the formal areas of the Southern Cape, according to the department‘s Western Cape sanitation manager Simphiwe Mashicila.

“Out of 235, the George municipality is left with only three buckets. They will be eradicated by the end of December, so they will meet the deadline.”

He said Knysna‘s municipal accounts showed that all pre-1994 buckets had been eradicated. “The remaining buckets are being addressed through the housing roll-out programme.”

The government has budgeted about R1,8-billion for bucket eradication over the medium term expenditure from 2005/6 to 2007/8.

Western Cape local government spokesman Vusi Tshose conceded that there were thousands of buckets in informal settlements in the Southern Cape, but he didn‘t know the exact figure.

- The Herald

Cape councillor reprimanded for reckless behaviour

The City of Cape Town will investigate as a matter of urgency the circumstances which prompted a ward councillor to lead 200 residents from Belhar and Delft in an attempt to occupy empty houses of the N2 Gateway Housing Project. Frank Martin claims that 154 people were promised houses by December 14.

Mayoral committee member for Housing Dan Plato has dismissed Martin's action as irresponsible.

However Martin is adamant that his action was not rash. He claims to have had numerous meetings with the city council, the province and the company that manages the N2 Gateway Housing Project, Thubelitsha Homes, about the housing list. - SABC

Massive shack fire leaves 600 homeless

Six hundred people have been left homeless after a massive shack fire in Masiphumelele, an informal settlement near Fish Hoek, razed 150 shacks early on Sunday morning.

This as rescue vehicles had to be sourced from as far afield as Cape Town, as the nearest fire station, at Fish Hoek, was closed because it was "short staffed".

Earlier this year, the Cape Times reported that Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi had warned that only half of the Western Cape's 30 municipalities would be ready for this year's fire season, and most would have to cope with outdated equipment and massive staff shortages.

In 2005, the Provincial Disaster Management Centre identified 11 high-risk communities, including Masiphumelele, Doornbach, Khayelitsha, Khayamnandi and De Doorns.

And last weekend provincial firefighters battled about 400 fires in less than 72 hours.

Senior operator Pieter Smit said 150 shacks had been destroyed in the fire, which started about 2.30am on Sunday morning. Emergency vehicles, including five pumps, fought the blaze. Neither Smit nor the city's disaster management unit could confirm the cause of the fire, but Smit believed a "candle, a primer stove or someone smoking in bed" could have ignited the blaze. He said no injuries or fatalities had been reported.

Smit said Fish Hoek was a "one pump station" and legally, a set number of people were required to man a pump. If enough people were not available to do this, he said, they could not respond to a fire.

The city's chief fire officer, Ian Schnetler, said he would "investigate" the matter. Those left homeless by the blaze were being temporarily housed in a community hall. - Cape Times

'Merre Christmas'

Modderdam Road runs from the N2 highway into the centre of beautiful downtown Bellville, part of greater Cape Town. I’ve been driving the four or so kilometers of the road to the University of the Western Cape every day for 10 years. Modderdam is a microcosm of the world we live in: vistas of development without transformation.

The first thing to say about Modderdam is that it changed a friend’s life. One day in the old days, with a few comrades, he lay down in front of a bulldozer to try to prevent shacks from being destroyed.

Randall begs outside the UWC main gate. He once told me that he lives in the graveyard with his grandmother and that he was 16 years old, but that was at least three years ago. He has a battered, adult look about him these days. For a while he had a sign laminated by someone at UWC, but now he’s back to cardboard pleas for money. He told me he makes about R30 a day. People leaving the university hand him food, and drink on hot days. It’s a good begging spot, I think, although pretty awful in the winter...

My colleague Keith once said that he saw little wild buck across the Road from UWC in the bush. Then they tore up the bush, flattened the sand and built gigantic warehouses for an aluminium company. They put up supports, a roof, precast walls and then smooth concrete over the sand. It’s quick. It takes months to build one measly little semi in the N2 Gateway project, but you can put up a whole warehouse in about six weeks.

Two or three years ago, an Irish NGO put up nice houses on Modderdam next to the highway in an empty field in a neighbourhood called Netreg. There are streets and lights and plumbing and the houses have proper tile roofs. These are what everyone thought was going to be rolled out to the poor in 1994 — good, decent houses. Not fancy, but nice, painted in cheerful colours. But no. After the Irish houses went up, shacks started to fill other Modderdam spaces. Shacks just like the ones my friend had tried unsuccessfully to defend 25 years before.

In particular, one set of shacks is called “the rastas”. First there was lumpy, sandy, weedy ground scattered with rubbish, next to a primary school. The school always had broken windows and no students that I could see as I drove by, so I was never sure if it was open or not. Then came one shack, then two, then 200.

The past two years have been busy for the rastas. Last year they were provided with electricity. As I drove by one day, the power poles were starting to go up. Then the lines started to come down into the shacks. Then porta-potties appeared. Now there’s a dumpster overflowing with all kinds of rubbish.

Along the meridian in the Road, the City of Cape Town has been planting thorn trees this year — the kind that giraffes like to eat. These thorny seedlings are each properly anchored inside a little shelter of gum-tree poles and wire mesh and now they stretch all the way to Bellville. This is good for the ozone layer. I think they planted thorn trees to keep people from hacking them down for firewood. But perhaps that’s too cynical, because thorn trees and sand and desolation may just naturally go together. But I bet they plant trees with proper leaves in Rondebosch and Claremont.

But then this year, someone planted little palm trees, too, in front of the shacks. Like a garden; and there’s an area ringed with little white stones with other garden plants inside.

And now, god help us, the city has seen fit to erect an 10-foot high electric Christmas tree right out in front of the rastas. It has a star on top and coloured lights. Let there be holiday cheer for the shackdwellers.

There’s an electric tree in Bellville South, too, farther along the Road. With all due respect to its residents, Bellville South — one long greasy smear — has to be the grottiest place on Earth. I know that coloured people were moved there when they were forcibly removed from Bellville so that Afrikaner nationalism could have a place in Cape Town to call its own. But let not the obvious loveliness of Bellville South stop the City of Cape Town from bringing cheer to it with another 10-foot electric bulb tree with a star on top.

If the shacks have electricity, porta-potties, a dumpster, thorn and palm trees and cheer, does it mean that they are permanent? This is your neighbourhood! Get used to it! Shouldn’t the shack children have Christmas lights too?

Twice in 10 years I’ve seen pelicans flying overhead, coming from the False Bay direction. The first time it was just one bird, ponderous like a cargo plane, keeping time with my car all the way along. This year one morning there was a whole V-wing of pelicans, like a group of little fat people flapping in the air, silent and powerful.

Yesterday, Randall’s cardboard said: “Merre Christmas.”


M&G Thought Leader Terri Barnes - Associate professor of history at UWC

Fires rage through veld, factory and family homes

...Meanwhile more than 100 people were displaced after a fire erupted at an informal settlement in Landsdowne in Cape Town last night.

About 25 wooden structures and a factory close to the area have been destroyed. The displaced people have received temporary shelter from family and friends. The cause of the blaze is not known... - SABC

X/M-DR TB patients break out

Eastern Cape authorities are searching for TB patients who escaped from the Jose Pearson Hospital in the Nelson Mandela municipality.

The Eastern Cape Health department said on Friday that it was believed that 29 M-DR and 20 X-DR patients cut through three of the hospital's perimeter fences to make their escape.

"We believe that small groups began leaving on Wednesday and continued yesterday," said spokesperson Siyanda Manana.

It is believed that testing, conducted earlier in the week to determine who could and could not go home, may have sparked discontent among patients.

"We did, however, tell patients that those who tested positive and could not go home, would have their families brought to the hospital, at the department's expense," said Manana - adding that a Christmas party had been organised for the patients who remained in the hospital over the festive season.

"There are precautionary measures that need to be taken when these patients interact with their families, so as not to spread the disease," said Manana.

"We cannot know for sure that these precautions would be taken without the necessary supervision."

The hospital has been in contact with the patients' families, asking them to return their sick loved ones to the hospital.

"At the moment, we are asking for the families' co-operation. If they are not returned, we will then have to have court orders issued, forcing them to return to hospital," said Manana. - SAPA

XDR-TB patients will remain in forced isolation

The case between the Western Cape health department and three surviving XDR-TB patients has been postponed until June 3 next year, the SABC reported on Thursday.

The Cape High Court was to have ruled on the finality of an interim order preventing the patients from leaving the Brooklyn Chest Hospital until they had been cured of XDR-TB. On Thursday both parties agreed to a postponement.

The interim order would stand, meaning the patients would have to remain in the hospital until June 2008.

Provincial Health Minister Pierre Uys, who welcomed the court's decision, said the patients would remain in isolation.

The Legal Aid Board, which represents the three surviving patients, declined to give interviews, saying the matter was sub-judice. It said in a brief statement that it had filed a counter-application together with the trio's answering affidavits.

Health authorities have refused to identify the patients to protect their privacy. Another who ran away from the hospital had returned.

The deadly strain of TB has claimed dozens of lives in the Western Cape so far. - Sapa

Ruling on Joe Slovo move delayed

The Cape High Court has reserved judgment on the application by government and its housing agency, Thubelisha Homes, to move thousands of Joe Slovo residents.

Judge President John Hlophe's decision followed hours of argument by the opposing legal teams and was greeted with a mixed reaction.

"We are heading into the festive season and people are preparing for the holiday. If judgment were given today and it went against us, it would have meant a bleak Christmas for us," said Mzwanele Zulu, a Joe Slovo community leader.

"In this sense, it is convenient for us that judgment was reserved."

The Housing Department was confident the judgment would be in its favour. If it was, it would ensure people were moved to temporary accommodation in Delft with minimal disruption, housing director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane said.

"We are on the right track. A critical aspect of this case is that if the outcome is negative for us, it will relate to the state's ability to intervene in situations where people live in unacceptable conditions and on floodplains or river banks.

"If we win, it will confirm the state's right to intervene in such situations."

Earlier, Hlophe ruled against the residents' application challenging Thubelisha's legal authority to evict them. He said he would provide reasons during judgment in the eviction case.

Geoff Budlender and Peter Hathorne, appearing for the residents, argued that the community should rightfully remain on the land because of an expectation the City of Cape Town had created.

The council had provided services such as electricity, water and sanitation and had numbered shacks. Red cards given to residents as proof of their applications for houses had strengthened the expectation created, the counsel argued.

They said the department had reneged on a promise to give Joe Slovo residents access to 70 percent of houses it was to build on the land as part of the government's N2 Gateway housing project.

The balance was intended for people living in back yards in Bokmakierie, Gugulethu and other areas.

If the government and Thubelisha Homes wanted to evict residents, people living in Joe Slovo should be identified individually, not evicted as a group, Budlender and Hathorne said.

Michael Donen, for the department, and Steve Kirk-Cohen, for Thubelisha, said the government had a duty to provide services. The red cards were nothing but proof that residents had applied for formal homes, they said.

Donen said the government's application was not for an eviction per se, but for Joe Slovo residents to be moved to Delft so the land they now occupied could be used to build houses.

Kirk-Cohen gave the court a schedule of the relocations envisaged and said these would be effected in stages.

Outside the court about 2,000 people from Joe Slovo danced and sang in the street for a second day. After a brief report from their leaders, they headed home peacefully. - Cape Times

Judge will decide on Joe Slovo evictions in 2008

Cape Judge President John Hlope will only decide in 2008 whether the residents of Joe Slovo will be evicted or not. This follows an application for an eviction order against the residents of the informal settlement by the Minister of Housing, Western Cape Housing MEC and State-owned property developer Thubelisha Homes.

The three want permission from the court to evict and relocate Joe Slovo residents to temporary shelter in Delft.

Earlier the judge dealt the community's efforts to remain on the contested land a major blow. He dismissed the community's application against the eviction without costs.

The community challenged the validity of an agreement between the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Housing Department and Thubelisha Homes. The residents have already informed Hlope of their intention to apply for leave to appeal this decision. - SABC

Lawyers fly into Mama's Housing fray

BENEFICIARIES of the Mama's Housing Project in Pelican Park have decided to appoint legal representation to assist them in their ongoing battle to obtain houses on the site allocated for the project.

The plight of these beneficiaries, the number of which is still unclear due to suspect dealings by the previous managers of the project, has led to uncertainty as to who among them qualify for houses.

The project has been controversial since its inception, but has been brought to the spotlight in recent months for its mismanagement of beneficiaries and funds.

It was said that 374 beneficiaries had paid money for houses, but the money has not been accounted for. The project was stopped by the provincial government.

An in-house investigation was commissioned by the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing and, as a result of the findings, the project's bank account was frozen.

It also resulted in the termination of the contract between the service provider, Mamas Housing Company, and the department.

The department then decided to take over the project. After the ongoing investigations and the halting of the project, many beneficiaries have erected so-called "illegal" Wendy houses on the land.

This has caused an uproar among the residents in the vicinity, who claim crime has escalated due to the arrival of these "illegal squatters". This resulted in the city taking action against the province, the owner of the land.

The city has served a notice on the province, demanding they apply for written approval by 1 January for the erected structures.

However, the province says it is conducting an eviction process to remove the settlers from the land. On Saturday, 8 December the beneficiaries of Mama's Housing Project met with their newly appointed lawyer, Igshaan Higgins of De Klerk and Van Gend Attorneys.

Higgins explained he would liaise with the various stakeholders, and that "nobody will be evicted".

He says he wants to make the beneficiaries case one of public interest, but he hopes the case can be settled outside of court.

During the meeting an interim committee was elected to act as liaison between Higgins and the beneficiaries.

Shireen Ishmail, one of the beneficiaries living on the land in Pelican Park who was elected as a committee member, explains she was informed that the beneficiaries would receive a notice of intent from the province by 15 December and will be served with eviction notices in January.

"With the appointment of the lawyer, we are feeling positive about our situation," she says.

An insider working for the province confirmed this to Peoples Post: "Our lawyers are going ahead with the process."

BKS, the consultants appointed to conduct a survey to ascertain who the beneficiaries are, will present a full report to the province by February, says the source.

"The process is coming along well and if they do not vacate the land, we will take the process to court," explains the source.

It is still unclear when building of the houses will commence, but the source explains that before the houses can be built, the "land invaders" need to be removed. - People's Post

Judgment reserved in Joe Slovo case

The proposed relocation of residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement was a bid to reverse century-old wrongs, the Cape high court was told on Thursday.

Cape Judge President John Hlophe was hearing an application by provincial authorities for permission to relocate the community, currently living in shacks alongside Cape Town's N2 highway.

The province says it wants temporarily relocate the 20,000 residents to Delft on the Cape Flats.

Mike Donen, senior counsel for Western Cape housing MEC Richard Dyantyi, told the judge the application was unique, as it was the first time the high court was being asked to take control of the relocation of an entire community.

"It is historic because this concerns an attempt by a democratic government to reverse the wrongs that happened in this country nearly 100 years ago," he argued.

Donen said it was churlish to refer to the relocation as a "forced removal", as had been done.

Case law on the question of evictions and relocations of this magnitude was non-existent, he said.

The difficulty for the court was the legal dilemma resulting from the Constitutional right of an individual to adequate housing.

The State had to use reasonable means, with limited resources, to realise this right.

"No one may be evicted without an order of court," Donan said.

Evictions were permitted by the court, but only after the court had considered all the relevant circumstances.

"This is not eviction as such, as it involves relocation."

Donen said negotiations and consultations between the government and the Joe Slovo residents had deadlocked, and the court was required to resolve the deadlock.

The intended relocation related to the practical difficulties in developing the Joe Slovo area, and the court had to determine how far it would allow the government to go.

He said the purpose of the intended development was to place individuals in houses that cost R50 000 each.

At present, the residents lived in overcrowded conditions, in unsafe shacks made from wood, plastic and corrugated iron.

"The occupants of Joe Slovo will move from their present insecurity to secure tenure," Donen said.

Hlophe reserved judgment. - Sapa

'Forced removal bid worst in 30 years'

A city lawyer hailed for helping communities resist eviction under apartheid says the government's attempt forcibly to remove 20,000 Joe Slovo, Langa, residents is the most serious eviction case he has handled in 30 years.

Geoff Budlender, instructed by the Legal Resources Centre, is representing the residents in an application to the Cape High Court challenging the legal authority of the government housing agency Thubelisha Homes to seek an eviction order.

A temporary eviction order has been granted.

Peter Hathorne, also acting for the residents, said a memorandum of understanding between the City of Cape Town and the provincial government - to transfer city land for housing and of which Thubelisha was the chosen developer - affected residents' rights.

The company and the government want to move people living in Joe Slovo to Delft and to build mortgaged homes on the land as part of government's N2 Gateway project.

Judge President John Hlophe said he would give his ruling on Thursday.

"The main application (to evict) approximately 20,000 people (has) really serious consequences for those people," Budlender said.

"(Joe Slovo) is a settled community. Children have been born there and brought up there, and people have died there.

"In about 30 years of defending people being illegally evicted, I can't think of another case where the authorities have sought an order of this kind. It could mean the destruction of a community. This is a vulnerable community and we look at the court to protect them.

"In the context that justice be done and be seen to be done, people should not be stopped to defend themselves."

Steve Kirk-Cohen, for Thubelisha Homes, agreed the matter was sensitive, but said the N2 Gateway project was a pilot programme that had to begin somewhere. He said if the application against Thubelisha succeeded, it would lead to delays.

In highly technical arguments, Kirk-Cohen and Michael Donen, for the department of housing, said the residents had been aware of the planned developments and should have inquired if they had objections.

Donen said the N2 Gateway was a critical component in the government's plans to eradicate the housing backlog.

Outside the court, about 2,000 people from Joe Slovo, including mothers with babies on their backs, danced and sang in the street.

A Joe Slovo leader, Mzwanele Zulu, said the people were determined to resist the eviction and remained optimistic of winning the case.

Before adjourning on Wednesday, Hlophe told the legal teams that if he ruled against the residents, they should be ready to proceed with the main application opposing the temporary eviction order being made final. - Cape Times

Court dismisses Slovo residents’ application

The Cape High court has dismissed an application by the residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement which sought to challenge the legality of an agreement between the City, the Western Cape government and property developer Thubelisha Homes.

Legal counsel for Thubelisha and Western Cape Housing Minister Richard Dyantyi have now started making submissions in their application to evict 20 000 residents from the settlement.

The plan to move the residents comes after plans by State owned developer Thubelisha Homes to construct formal housing there as part of the Western Cape's N2 gateway project.

The proceedings continue – SABC Additional reporting by Sapa

Joe Slovo eviction application dismissed

An urgent application to stop the relocation of 20 000 Joe Slovo informal settlement residents to Delft, on the Cape Flats, was dismissed by the Cape High Court on Thursday morning.

Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe said he would give reasons for the decision at a later stage.

The legal teams for both parties have now launched an application for consent to evict residents of the Joe Slovo settlement, which is next to the N2 highway.

The state-owned developer Thubelisha Homes wants to construct formal housing there as part of the Western Cape's N2 gateway project.

The proceedings continue. - Sapa

XDR-TB ex-patients challenge court order

Seen are the presence of bilateral pulmonary infiltrate (white marks) and caving formation (black)

Three Cape Town patients suffering from Extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) who absconded from the Brooklyn Chest hospital earlier this year are challenging an interim court order in the Cape High Court this morning.

XDR-TB is defined as MDR-TB that is also resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs.

Six patients have absconded, but one has since died. The order which was obtained by the Department of Health, says the patients should stay in hospital for at least six months. They are represented by the Legal Aid Board's Justice Centre.

Highly infectious disease
Some Constitutional experts say the freedom of someone diagnosed with a highly infectious disease, comes second to the safety of the general public.

In October this year, South African scientists announced that they had for the first time been able to fully decode the genetic blueprint to drug resistant tuberculosis - and the feat took them slightly more than a week.

Previously, the attempt to sequence the entire genome of one strain of Extensively Drug Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) could have been expected to take at least a year using older technology.- SABC

End of evictions in sight for Joe Slovo residents

Jubilation erupted outside the Cape High Court this afternoon, as over 1,000 Joe Slovo residents burst into song at the news that a positive ruling in their review application of government's agreements with Thubelisha Homes, could mean the end of bids to have them evicted.

Cape Judge President John Hlope earlier adjourned the matter, saying a ruling in favour of the community would be the end of the matter. However, he extracted promises from all the legal representatives to be ready to go ahead with the main application, which is the eviction order application, should he rule otherwise.

Community leader Mzwanele Zulu says they are optimistic of a positive outcome.

The department of housing has handed the land over to Thubelitsha Homes to develop. The National Housing Department, Western Cape Housing Department and Thubelisha Homes are applying for the removal of Joe Slovo residents to Delft, 30km away. That is to make way for the development of the bonded houses. - SABC

Joe Slovo goes to court

Outside the Cape High Court hundreds of Joe Slovo residents filled the streets today in protest of not being evicted to Delft.

This follows after Thubelitsha Homes a institution of the national department of housing sent the community to court applying for a court order to evict the residents to Delft.

Judge President John Hlophe who led proceedings was asked by Advocate Buckland representing the Joe Slovo community to be careful if he should decide to evict 20,000 people.

The advocate also raised concerns of obstructions leading to serious offences being taken by the community.

Mzwanele Zulu Joe Slovo task team leader was very positive at the proceeding smiling and dancing with the community.

“I’m very positive and I’m happy I’ve heard much of these discussions in court, I can see it and I’m hoping for the good now actually,” says Zulu.

“We are waiting for a positive response and negative response, but our main aim is not to leave Joe Slovo,” he said

The court proceedings have adjourned for lunch time.

Thubelitsha Homes were not available for comment. - Bush Radio

400 fires in three days

Firefighters were to remain on "the highest alert" overnight, after about 400 fires in less than 72 hours left hundreds of informal settlement residents homeless, and more fires were expected.

Blistering heat and gusting winds fanned the blazes in the Peninsula, Atlantis, Rooi Els, the Cape Winelands and West Coast District Municipality.

Worst hit was Khayelitsha with two major fires. Despite a temperature of 31°C and strong winds, residents of R Section in Khayelitsha spent Sunday rebuilding their shelters.

'Everything I do, I do for my children'

Mothers with children strapped to their backs were helping carry singed sheets of corrugated iron to the blackened ground where their homes had stood.

Other residents nailed planks together.

Zolile Stali, who had been living there for 18 years, said his shack, which had doubled as a shop, had been destroyed with all his stock and a number of Christmas presents he was storing.

"I can't believe it. I've lost more than R4 000 from the shop alone," he said.

Stali, who has six children from four to 17 years, said he had struggled for some time to save money for Christmas presents for his children. He could not believe it had all been destroyed.

"Everything I do, I do for my children. I bought them presents to make this Christmas special but then this happens. We already live a tough life here and this fire has made it even more difficult."

"Maybe one day we'll find out why our things burnt and we'll know it was for the best," he said.

Phatheka Mfama said her home had also burnt down and she had been working for more than seven hours trying to rebuild a shelter.

"I have an eight-month-old baby and he needs a home. Everything is gone, our clothes, food, my ID. I'll just have to stay with relatives and start all over again," she said.

On Sunday, Pieter Smit, a senior operator at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said in 63 hours the 29 fire stations in the unicity had responded to 381 fires.

"As I speak we're busy with 13 emergency calls and more calls are still coming in. There have been mostly grass fires because of the very hot conditions paired with the wind.

"There've been a few bigger fires as well. We're always on alert but now we're on the highest alert.

"People should be careful in this very warm weather and look out for fires," he said.

Temperatures were expected to cool slightly and reach 22°C on Monday, but Smit said the fire services would remain on the highest alert.

At the weekend the Cape Winelands also battled 31 blazes while late on Sunday firefighters in the West Coast District Municipality were too busy responding to veld fires to speak to the press.

Informal settlements around the city were the hardest hit, with nearly 100 shacks being razed and 437 residents left homeless.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said the largest fire, in T R Section, Khayelitsha, on Friday, had destroyed 60 shacks, leaving at least 300 people homeless.

He said nine fire engines, a spotter and two fixed-wing planes had extinguished the blaze.

No injuries had been reported.

On Saturday, at least 100 people in R Section in Khayelitsha were left homeless by a fire that razed 25 shacks.

Solomons-Johannes said four fire engines had fought this fire.

As those left homeless rebuilt their shelters on Sunday, 25 more people lost their homes in a fire in Gugulethu. Six shacks burned down.

Solomons-Johannes said two shacks that were home to five people had burned down in Milnerton.

In Manenberg, a flat and two shacks housing seven people were gutted. - Cape Times

Informal dwellers promised housing

A housing plan by the George municipality to build 2,500 houses will eradicate the Asazani informal settlement in Thembalethu by 2008. However the residents say this is probably just another empty promise.

A project to build 900 houses in the area was approved last year however the municipality decided to change the plan to create a bigger project. This has caused a delay in the delivery of housing. More than 5,000 people live in unbearable conditions in Asazani. The residents have been hard hit by the recent heavy rains.

It is expected that the installation of services for the project will commence by mid-2008. The housing project will cost R200 million. - SABC

3 Shack fires, leave scores homeless

At least 30 people have been left homeless following yet another shack fire in Gugulethu on the Cape Flats. Cape Town Fire says about six structures were gutted late last night.

There were no fatalities or injuries. The cause of the blaze is unknown.

Yesterday, more than 100 people were left homeless in Khayelitsha's RR Section after a blaze burnt down 20 huts. A candle apparently toppled over in one of the structures in very windy conditions.

On Friday, about 200 people were left destitute when 60 shacks were gutted in Khayelitsha's TR Section.

Victims of the latest fire say they've lost everything. - SABC

Paraffin hike leaves poor out in cold

Experts say this week's increase in the paraffin price will have a deep impact on the lives of the poorest in South Africa.

On Wednesday the price of paraffin rose by 71c a litre. The price has steadily increased since June.

Paraffin users - mainly those living in informal settlements and rural areas - are estimated at between 17 and 21 million, close to half of the country's population.

Nhlanhla Mdadane, KwaZulu-Natal regional manager of the Paraffin Safety Association, said: "We see that these regular increases in paraffin prices are hurting the poor."

He said every year 700 million litres of paraffin were sold in South Africa, most serving as a source of energy for the poor, who had no access to electricity.

Mdadane said although paraffin was easily accessible, it was also a dangerous source of energy.

He said a recent study by the Geographical Information System-based surveillance system showed that at least 1,000 people died annually from paraffin burns.

The study also found that about 80,000 people suffered from paraffin poisoning. These are mainly children who drink paraffin thinking it is water.

Mdadane said the study also found that there were 40 000 people suffering from chemical pneumonia associated with paraffin use.

Phumzile Nteyi, PRO of the Paraffin Safety Association, said the increase in number of people affected by paraffin-related illnesses was because unscrupulous traders sold paraffin stoves condemned by the South African Bureau of Standards.

"In Durban, Umzimkhulu, East London and even Cape Town we have some shops that still sell stoves that were banned last year," Nteyi said.

He said the company that manufactured these stoves had promised to recall them.

"They claim they are not responsible and there could be a company that illegally ships them in." - Sunday Tribune

2 Shack fires on the Cape Flats leave hundreds homeless

Another shack fire in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats has left more than a 100 people homeless. The blaze destroyed about 20 shacks at RR section.

It is alleged that a candle toppled over in one of the shacks. No one was injured. Four fire engines were used to douse the flames.

Yesterday 200 people were left homeless after a fire destroyed about 60 shacks in the TR Section of the township. - SABC

Cape Town Informall Settlements Master Plan. Posted 6 months ago - how are we doing?

Cape Town river could catch fire - NGO

The aptly-named Black River in Cape Town is so polluted it could catch fire, an environmental organisation warned on Thursday.

"High levels of E.coli [bacterium] and phosphorus are turning the Black River into a methane-gas-producing swamp, which poses severe health risks to humans," the group What-On-Earth-Is-Happening (WOE-H) said in a statement.

Rivers in other parts of the world with such high levels of pollution had burst into flames, "and the Black River could do the same unless urgent action is taken", it said.

An example of this happening was the Cuyahoga River, which flowed through Cleveland in the United States. The river there caught fire in 1968.

"There is little point in us... worrying about ice melting in the Antarctic"

"The blaze lasted just thirty minutes, but it did approximately $50,000 (about R350,000) damage [at the time], principally to bridges spanning the river," WOE-H said.

Methane gas is highly flammable at certain concentrations in air.

WOE-H has called for more funds to be made available to clean-up the Black River.

"There is little point in us signing international conventions and worrying about ice melting in the Antarctic, if we can't clean just one Cape Town river," it said.

WOE-H co-ordinator Leila Beltramo told Sapa the E.coli levels in the river were so high that drinking a cupful would cause severe diarrhoea.

'You'd get terribly ill'

The E.coli bacterium in the water is an indication of faecal contamination.

"You'd get terribly ill," Beltramo said.

A clean-up of the Black River, involving national and local politicians, is set for Saturday.

The river drains parts of the Cape Flats, and flows past Mowbray into Table Bay. - Sapa

S Cape flood damage bill nears R750m

Damage caused by the recent floods in the Southern Cape stands almost at R750 million. The Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing has presented a full report on the extent of the damage to the Cabinet of the Western Cape.

Severe damage was caused to infrastructure, roads, informal and formal housing, bridges and municipal sewerage works.

The Department says the most affected areas were low-lying, where storm water drainage systems failed to cope with the downpours. A decision to declare the area a disaster will be taken once the final damage figures are verified. - SABC

'17 000 people using one toilet unacceptable'

Political interference, red tape, and legislation are slowing the City of Cape Town's housing projects, Mayor Helen Zille said on Wednesday.

"Political interference on the ground is stalling projects," she told the last full council meeting of 2007.

"This is an unfortunate trend that we are seeing in some of the informal settlements of Cape Town."

Citing Enkanini as an example, Zille said it was recently reported that 17 000 people were using only one toilet, but when she visited the settlement there were a number of damaged or destroyed toilets.

The ratio of families to toilets was 8:1. However, there were many vandalised toilets, deliberately destroyed.

Even toilets made of concrete designed to resist vandalism had been broken with what must have been an industrial hammer.

"I have to ask, why do people do this?"

In some cases, the city was even struggling to get bidders for housing tenders in informal areas because conditions were so unfavourable -contractors increasingly would not work there.

Zille said implementation of housing was also being slowed down by bureaucratic delay of major projects.

The Scottsdene Show Village, for example, was delayed from November 2006 until November 15, 2007 while the city waited for province to provide permission to subdivide existing even on correctly zoned land, following only one objection.

"The fact is, bureaucratic processes can either be used to facilitate delivery, or used to block delivery for political purposes.

"Compare the example of Scottsdene to the provincial government's willingness to fast track approvals for the Green Point Stadium.

"Compare, also, the speed at which the provincial government moved when it wanted to take over the city's municipal public transport functions through a public transport operating entity, to their foot-dragging around granting the City of Cape Town housing accreditation," Zille said.

Legislation also hindered housing delivery.

A major project in Pelican Park, which should yield around 5,500 housing units, was being held up by a combination of environmental impact assessment (EIA) legislation and bureaucratic delays.

Phase 1 of the project, comprising 3,500 houses, had already received EIA approval many years ago.

However, this approval lapsed under the former city administration, and no houses were built.

"Now we have had to re-apply for an EIA, and we were required to obtain approval for all three phases of the 420 hectare site," she said.

This resulted in about six months of delays at provincial level, before it was decided that phase 1 could be de-linked so that it could be started.

"The new EIA legislation may help to speed up approvals for small pieces of land, however, it is no less of a burden for large projects than the laws it replaced."

A shortage of project managers in the housing department was also a major factor.

Although these posts were being filled, it still took time for the administrative process to be completed, Zille said. - Sapa

Three killed in Jeffrey's Bay fire

Three people burned to death in a shack in Oceanview, Jeffreys Bay, early on Tuesday, Eastern Cape police said.

The fire brigade had received a call alerting them to the fire, but when they arrived at the address in the informal settlement, the shack was already destroyed, Superintendent Priscilla Naidu said.

The bodies of the three people were later found, severely burnt and difficult to identify.

It is thought a candle or lamp may have started the blaze, which firemen prevented from spreading further into the settlement. - Sapa

S Cape flood damage estimates run into millions

Damage estimates of the flooding that occurred in the Southern Cape is already pegged at R650 million. Infrastructure damage alone is nearly half of that, while damage on farms is about R200 million. The total bill for last year's flood was just over R500 million - excluding damage to private property.

Private insurance claims are expected to amount to more than R100 milllion. A leading insurer is already looking at claims worth R60 million. Some Little Brak River residents are still cleaning up. Residents from the nearby Powertown informal settlement also suffered huge losses... SABC


Wappa-wappa-wappa...

'Our dying friend's screams saved us'

When three young children escaped from a fire sweeping through their shack early on Monday, they realised the screaming that woke them belonged to their three-year-old friend who was dying.

Nosihle Ngonini was killed with 79-year-old Notasi Msutwana who had lived with her in a Gugulethu shack housing six other abandoned children and elderly residents, as well as their two caregivers.

And just an hour earlier in a nearby area of the Barcelona informal settlement, Mzwanele Mpuntsa, 28, was killed in another blaze.

'I was so scared I just started running'

On Monday, Samelisiwe Xabadiya, 11, still wearing pink pants and a blue jersey covered in ash, the only items of her clothing which survived the fire, said she had been sleeping when "loud screams" had woke her up.

"I was so scared I just started running. I ran to the neighbour and waited," she said, staring at the ground.

Xabadiya said her two friends Zimkhita Sixoko, seven, and Yamkela Mobala, four, soon ran to join her and as they watched "big flames eat the house" they realised Nosihle was missing.

"Then we realised it was her screaming we were hearing. She's dead now. I used to play with her. I'm sad I couldn't save her," Xabadiya said, speaking softly.

Nolusindiso Sixoka, who cared for the children and elderly with her mother, Beauty, said the children were in shock and the death of their friend had not sunk in.

'I'm sad I couldn't save her'

"They're still very quiet," she said.

"They don't properly understand what happened. My mother had some of these children and people who can't look after themselves here so we could look after them. Nosihle's mother Vuyokazi, 20, is still at work on a farm and hasn't been here since she heard her daughter was killed.

"She'll get here later. This is so sad." Sixoka said there had been a power failure late on Sunday, so people had lit candles, one of which could have caused the fire.

Tears filled her eyes as she pointed to the spot where Msutwana and little Nosihle had been asleep when they were burned.

"I could hear Nosihle screaming. I wish I could have saved her, but the fire was around her and I couldn't get to her," Sixoka said.

"I think - and hope - that (Msutwana) was sleeping."

Thembelani Sqhlulo, whose shack also burned down, said he had been friends with Mzwanele Mpuntsa, who was burned to death about an hour earlier in the other shack fire.

"It's just so shocking this happened," he said.

"I didn't hear Mzwanele screaming or anything, so I believe he was sleeping when the fire got him."

Police police were investigating the causes of the blazes, but no foul play was suspected, spokesperson Bernadine Steyn said. - Cape Times

Three killed in Cape shack fires

Three people have been killed in separate fires in Gugulethu. Cape Town Fire says both incidents occurred in the Barcelona informal settlement in Gugulethu last night.

In the first incident, two adults were burnt to death and in the other a minor was killed. Nineteen people were displaced as a result of the two blazes. They were housed by family and friends, or accommodated in nearby community halls. The cause of the fires is not known at this stage.

A child died recently when a shack caught alight in the Hillside informal settlement in Grabouw in the Western Cape. Authorities say it is suspected that the blaze was caused by a candle. The fire was contained in two informal structures. About 10 people were left homeless. - SABC

A lethal find...?

A massive row is brewing between the Joe Slovo squatter community and government after a Cape Town professor found the presence of the lethal crocidolite asbestos in material similar to that used to build the walls of temporary houses in Delft -- a suburb outside Cape Town where government wants to move this 25,000-strong community.

Crocidolite is the most lethal carcinogenic known and, if inhaled, causes mesothelioma, an aggressive and untreatable lung cancer. South Africa is believed to have the world’s highest rate of masothelioma and one of the highest rates of asbestosis. It’s still not illegal to manufacture building materials containing asbestos. Draft legislation accepted by Cabinet at the end of 2005, but which has not been promulgated, proposed to make it illegal to mine, process, import, export, sell or even transport this potentially lethal mineral. Crocidolite or blue asbestos is regarded as the most dangerous. Legislation banning the use of asbestos is expected to be promulgated by the end of the month or early next year, said Thendo Nethengwe, assistant director of chemical management at the department of environmental affairs.

The department of housing and the community are locked in a bitter court battle after the department obtained an urgent court order last month to evict 6,000 families from Joe Slovo to Delft so that phase two of the N2 Gateway housing project can continue. The case will be heard in the high court on December 12.

The N2 Gateway project, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s flagship housing project, has been dogged by controversy since its inception. Phase two, consisting of bonded houses to be built by First National Bank, have been on hold for many months because the shack dwellers of Joe Slovo refuse to move to Delft -- an area which is about 20km outside town. On Friday last week an affidavit and report by Chris Harris, professor in the department of geological sciences at the University of Cape Town, was filed at the Cape Town High Court as part of the community’s case opposing government’s plan to move them. Harris, who is a scientist with 20 years’ experience, was given two pieces of building materials collected from “Tsunami” -- the area in Delft where Joe Slovo residents are to be removed -- and asked to analyse and investigate them for the presence of asbestos.

“There were two materials -- one red and relatively new, which had on it a stamp stating that it was ‘Eyethu Everite asbestos free’, and a grey sample appearing older, which was unmarked. The fibres I examined are 100% consistent with them being chrysotile and crocidolite, respectively. I am satisfied that they are, and accordingly would commonly be referred to as, asbestos,” Harris said in his report. Harris found the fibres in the red sample were “clearly visible, abundant and are part of the material. The majority of the fibres are colourless, a minority are dark; consistent with colourless fibres being chrysotile and dark fibres being crocidolite.”

The government has been moving Joe Slovo residents into the temporary relocation areas (TRA) in Delft called “Tsunami” and “Thubelisha” for the past three years and has claimed consistently that the material used to construct the temporary houses is reinforced fibre cement and not asbestos. This week, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu general manager of Thubelisha Homes, the company managing the construction of the N2 Gateway, said that the material used in Tsunami was provided by Everite. “They specifically got the contract to supply us with material because it is asbestos-free -- it’s fibre cement and I don’t know where those two pieces of material analysed come from,” Sigcawu said. He was adamant the material used to build the houses in Tsunami had been approved by the South African Bureau of Standards. “We are not manufacturers. If Everite says its building material contains no asbestos and it has the SABS approval, there’s no need to test it,” he said.

Everite Building Products, owned by the JSE-listed Group Five, has provided the building industry with material for more than 60 years and is renowned for its fibre-cement roofing, ceilings and pipes, which are asbestos free. Everite’s spokesperson, Brian Gibson, said this week that he was “at a loss to explain where this material comes from” and indicated that Harris could have been mistaken when he found asbestos in the building material with an Everite serial number and logo. “Since December 2002 we have manufactured absolutely no product containing asbestos. If Harris found asbestos to be present in the materials presented to him for analysis, then they were not the materials sold to the department of housing for temporary informal housing,” he said. But Gibson did not rule out the possibility that old stock might have entered the market. “There was a period until 2003 when stocks contained white asbestos and it could have found its way into the market. I need to see the scientific proof and I would like this material to be reviewed by a recognised asbestos expert using X-ray defraction techniques -- we have not manufactured asbestos products for five years,” he said. Harris said it was unnecessary to do further tests on these pieces of material.

“My professional opinion is that further tests are not necessary … I’m satisfied they’re asbestos.” The two pieces of material were collected from Tsunami by Shaheed Mohamed, a lecturer in mechanical engineering in the faculty of engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Mzwanele Zulu, a student at the university and spokesperson for the Joe Slovo residents committee’s task team fighting the removal, and a qualified civil engineer. Mohamed, who filed an affidavit as part of the community’s court papers, said he had personally picked up two pieces of material in Tsunami. “Alongside a TRA ‘house’, I saw two pieces of material, one red and one grey … Both red and grey pieces corresponded with material used in the construction of the walls. I examined the walls and am able to confirm that the patterns on both the red and the grey pieces of material correspond with the material used to build the wall.” Mohamed said Everite confirmed that the serial number on the material belonged to the firm.

“The Everite official even told us that the material is not old, but probably a piece manufactured in 2007.” Richard Spoor, a human rights lawyer who, on behalf of former asbestos mine workers and their families, took on Gencor, the former investment holding company, and won R460-million in compensation a few years ago, said this week: “Crocidolite is death. Everite’s Gibson made an affidavit on Thursday claiming that Everite had spent more than R100-million developing material that is asbestos free. He denies that there is any asbestos in the material and says that Harris is mistaken. “The materials supplied to the department of housing is known as ‘autoclaved big six’ … it contains a combination of both cellulose and man-made organic synthetic fibres. They can, if analysed by a person insufficiently au fait with our product, be confused with asbestiform fibres.” ‘No asbestos in material’The head of Electron Microscopy at the National Institute for Occupational Health, Jim Phillips, analysed the same two pieces of building material that Harris did and has found that the “red fibre-cement material does not contain asbestos”. Phillips was asked by the state’s legal team to analyse the material using polarising light microscopy and confirmed Gibson’s findings. He said that the material was “suggestive of a man-made organic fibre”, and not of asbestos... M&G