AEC march on Gugulethu Social Services

(a) Thousands of Gugulethu AEC residents to march on social services Wednesday morning

(b) Gugulethu AEC go to town in numbers for meeting with Housing MEC

(c) 'Public violence' charges against Delft AEC member and two others get thrown out of court

(d) Rasta's in Delft, with the support of COREMO and Delft AEC march against police brutality

(e) Solidarity: The Slums Act Judgment in the Durban Hight Court Today

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(a) Tomorrow at 7am, thousands of Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign supporters will converge on the local Social Services office to confront officials about the so-called "Social Relief of Distress Grant" which is being politicised and made available only to certain ANC members via the local ward councillor.

The Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign will be handing over a list of thousands of poor residents whom we have spend hours registered. We are demanding that we too are included in the grant because (as poor people from Nyanga, Gugulethu and Manenberg) we qualify and deserve equal treatment as ANC supporters.

We expect Zola Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development, to respond to our demands for equal access to government grants regardless of political affiliation. This action will lead towards the launch of our No Land! No House! No Jobs! No Vote! Campaign which seeks to remove party politics from the delivery of services and convince residents to hold all politicians accountable to their communities.

For comment, please call Mncedisi at 078 580 8646 and Speelman at 073 9825 725

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(c) At noon earlier today, the Gugulethu AEC traveled in numbers to the offices of the Provincial Housing Department in town to meet with the MEC for Housing.

In our last public meeting with MEC for Housing, Mr Whitey Jacobs told our community that, for the past 15 years, there has been "no provincial housing plan for backyard dwellers in Cape Town". After consulting with the communities of Gugulethu, Langa and Nyanga, Jacobs promised to meet our demands and come up with a strategic plan for backyarders in our communities that took our own views into account. As media from the Argus, Times, the Sun, the Daily Voice and the Sowetan witnessed, he further promised that if he did not come up with a plan that satisfied residents within 2 months, he would resign from office.

At the report-back meeting today, the Jacobs promised to come to the Gugulethu Sports Complex on Sunday the 15^th of February at 14h00 for the AEC's weekly mass meeting.

· He also claimed that his department was taking management of the N2 Gateway Project and allocation of houses over from Thubelisha Homes because of mismanagement. This contradicts what his office told Delft-Symphony AEC last week.

· He promised that Gugulethu backyard dwellers will be accommodated in the N2 Gateway as well as in projects in Khayelitsha.

· The MEC futher stated that the land backyarders have attempted to occupy in Gugulethu (ELF# RR448 on Lansdowne Road) is owned by the City and is slated to be developed into housing for the backyard dwellers.

· Finally, he had previously promised to come up with a plan to house backyard dwellers in Mowbray, Muizenberg and Constantia and promised to provide more details of the plan on 15 of February.

We look forward to participating in ironing out these plans with the MEC at our mass meeting. As backyard dwellers, we hope that this is not just another promise that politicians make just before elections. If he is unable to fulfill these promises, we expect him to honorably resign from his position.

For more information, contact Mncedisi at 078 580 8646 and Speelman at 073 9825 725

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(c) Today, Delft AEC member, Riedwaan Davids, and two other individuals accused of public violence during the violent mass evictions on the 19^th of February, 2008, had their case thrown out of court.

For the past 11 months, Riedwaan Davids has had to worry about the pending case in which police accused him of throwing rocks at the Sheriff of the Court. Riedwaan was arrested immediately after police, without warning, opened fire on residents. They arrested him when they found him hiding inside an N2 Gateway house with other residents and members of the media. Despite the charges, everyone present in Section 2 that day knows (and can testify) that not a single stone was thrown before the police shot over 20 residents and three children.

As part of their defense, Riedwaan had planned testimony from an children's NGO worker who took this video footage. The footage (video 1), shows Riedwaan (in a white t-shirt and blue hat) attempting to calm down angry residents about 10 seconds before the police opened fire.

While relieved that the case was thrown out, Riedwaan was upset that the case was postponed four times without any reason. Anti-Eviction Campaign members were also disappointed that they did not get a chance to show the clear aggression of police in this matter (video 2).

The Anti-Eviction Campaign sees the constant arrest of its members (with the matter either never making it to court or getting thrown out of court) as a violation of people's rights. It is an intimidation tactic that police officers use punish activists all over South Africa and make residents scared to protest in the future.

The AEC welcomes Riedwaan Davids back and hopes he will continue to fight with others in the community for land and housing!.

For comment, contact Aunty Jane at 0784031302

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(d) In a related issue, Delft's many Rastafarians took to the streets earlier today and rallied at Delft Police Station.

The issue at hand is the many instances of police brutality and abuse Rastas suffer because of their way of life. The most common abuse is when police single them out and searching them so that they can find them in possession of Dagga (Marijuana) and extract a bribe from them.

The Delft Police are known for widespread brutality especially of poor residents and those they feel do not belong. The incident that sparked the protest was the arrest and brutal beating of 9 Delft Rastas on the 13^th of January. According to residents, Captain Basson and a number of other police officers approached a group of Rastafarians who were buying food on the street. Basson immediately searched them and could not find anything on them. Basson then proceeded to yell racial slurs at them claiming the Rastas wanted to control Delft and that he would get rid of all of them. After some arguments back and forth, the police erupted, beat the group and arrested them. They were hurt so bad that many of them went to the hospital the next day when they were released.

When the 9 Rastas went to lay a charge against Basson, Delft Police refused to entertain their complaint. As a result, The Rasta Working Council, with the help of COREMO, organised todays march which took place from 13h30 until 14h30.

Members of the Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign were there in support of the rally as they have also had a number of distasteful experiences with local police officers.

For more information please contact Makhwenkwe 0835943945 or Ben at 0729271924 (COREMO)

-WC Anti-Eviction Campaign

The need for houses...

The City of Cape Town's "biggest crisis" is its housing shortage, with 300,000 units needed to meet the full demand for formal housing.

And this demand is increasing by 16,000 units every year.

The housing backlog was highlighted as one of the city's challenges in its 2007/08 annual report, to be tabled in council on Wednesday.

According to the report, there were 28,000 shacks in Cape Town in 1994. By 2006, this figure had spiralled to 105,000 shacks, with "tens of thousands" of people living in backyard informal structures.

At least 48,000 existing structures must be moved to new sites this year to avoid the high risks of floods, fire and the spread of disease, the city said.

But the city's new housing plan has in the past year created more than 6,400 housing opportunities, of which more than 3,000 were subsidy houses.

Although below the original target of 10,200 houses, it was above the revised June 2008 target of 6,000 housing opportunities.

The upgrade of the city's informal settlements will ensure that they are given full essential services while formal housing programmes are put in place.

In the 2007/08 financial year, 60 informal settlements were serviced with water, sanitation and area lighting.

The report noted that housing delivery was achieved despite challenges such as environmental impact assessment processes, problems with construction industry capacity, the shortage of professional managers and community interventions that stopped or slowed developments.

Projects in Phoenix, Manenberg and Khayelitsha were each delayed for five months because of interference from the community, the report noted.

The city needs stronger political support for its housing projects, improved communication with councillors and community leaders and agreement on the allocation of products before projects start.

Land invasions remain a challenge for the city and the council has allocated R8-million to set up a dedicated anti-land invasion unit.

New environmental regulations meant that several previous development approvals needed to be restarted.

The report said the city has been slow in reacting to tenders, meaning that some tenders had had to be repeated and others had become unsustainable because of cash flow problems.

Although the provincial government had yet to give the city the full housing accreditation it needs to streamline and accelerate housing delivery, it did afford the city conditional level one accreditation, which allows it to administer housing projects.

- Cape Times

Girl left with clothes on her back after fire

Philippi matric pupil Thembi Stemele has had a disastrous start to the new school year: the uniform she worked through her December holidays to pay for went up in flames when her mother's boyfriend allegedly torched their home.

Instead of returning to school to follow her dream of matriculating in 2009, the devastated teenager had to spend the day sifting through the remains of the four-roomed shack she shared with her poverty-stricken family.

Thembi's Grade 11 school report from Intsebenziswano High School in Brown's Farm, her birth certificate, her ID and all the family's belongings were destroyed in the fire on Tuesday night, which also destroyed her uncle's neighbouring shack and several others nearby.

The books and clothing of Thembi's 11-year-old sister, Noluvo, were burnt too. She had been due to start Grade 5 at St Mary's Primary School in New Crossroads on Wednesday.

Thembi said she had had high expectations for the new school year and had sacrificed her school holiday to work to earn cash to buy a new school uniform for her final year.

Her mother Sindiswa Skhephe's only income is from selling the Big Issue to motorists in the city.

The fire was allegedly the result of a spat between Skhephe and her boyfriend, after which the 40-year-old man allegedly torched their home.

They have not seen him since then.

"I spent time in the early evening ironing my new uniform to prepare myself for the next day at school.

"Now everything is destroyed," a tearful Thembi said.

The teenager worked as an assistant in a shoe store in Mitchells Plain during the school holiday.

She earned more than R1 000, out of which she bought her new uniform, including a school tracksuit, two white shirts, grey trousers, black shoes, a pullover and a tie.

All she has left is a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and some slip-slops on her feet.

All the family managed to salvage were some blackened kitchen utensils and ornaments.

Thembi's big hope for the new year is that her mother will find a new job so that the family no longer has to battle financially as they have done in the past.

When their home burned, Skhephe, 36, had left her home to seek refuge from a relative in a nearby section after the man allegedly threatened to stab her and kill her.

Mlandeli Ndabambi, chairperson for the area's (Block 6 Section) street committee, said the incident was the first of its kind in the neighbourhood and that they would do their best to support the family.

"We were all shocked when we saw the shack engulfed in flames," he said.

- Cape Argus

MEC denies using vouchers 'in bid for votes'

The provincial government has brushed aside Democratic Alliance allegations that the departments of social development and housing have used state resources in an attempt to garner support for the ANC's election campaign.

Donald Lee, a DA MP, accused Social Development MEC Zodwa Magwaza of vote-buying after she distributed vouchers for school uniforms to hundreds of pupils at schools earlier this week.

Michael de Villiers, a DA member of the legislature, said he would ask the standing committee on local government to investigate the department of housing because it published an advertisement inviting bidders to establish and verify a housing list of struggle veterans.

"This is obviously an instruction from the ANC. There is no legislation in place for a housing list particularly for struggle military veterans."

Lee has said school uniform vouchers were distributed at random to pupils in areas where the ANC had been hit by defections to other parties.

"No proper procedure was followed to ensure learners desperately in need of school uniforms actually get them."

The DA supported initiatives to help pupils with uniforms, but was opposed to the politicising of these.

The office of Housing MEC Whitey Jacobs said the department had acted on a call made by the minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, last year.

"Other provinces are doing the same," Jacobs's spokesperson, Lukhanyo Calata, said.

Of the DA accusation that the list amounted to electioneering, Calata said: "I would not call it electioneering. We understand why the DA say this. They are the opposition."

The department of social development said that in her quest to ease the effects of poverty, Magwaza had decided to assist the most vulnerable children in poor communities.

Her office said the uniform vouchers were part of a mandate given by Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya when he announced in November that R500-million for poverty alleviation would be shared by the nine provinces.

The Western Cape received R21-million, of which R9,5-million was used for flood victims and people displaced by xenophobic attacks, and R12,5-million used by district offices for 406 poor households.

"At no stage did the MEC or her officials go out to communities to buy votes," spokesperson Lungi Mbude said.

- Cape Times

'Be vigilant' call as teams tackle Cape fires

Firefighters are being called out to as many as 90 blazes a day, with negligence the suspected cause of most and arson in a few cases, says City of Cape Town fire chief Ian Schnetler.

He warns that hot, windy conditions - which bring a serious risk of runaway fires - are expected to persist in the greater Cape Town and West Coast areas this week.

In the seven hours to 2pm yesterday, fire teams went out to a large veld fire and 15 smaller veld fires.

Firefighters were responding to up to 90 calls a day.

"We responded to 81 fire calls on January 5 and 92 on January 8 and not one appears to have occurred naturally," Schnetler said.

"Although many of these fires were well managed and quickly extinguished, several had the potential to become dangerous."

Schnetler said he was awaiting reports on the causes of the blazes, but it was suspected "one or two" had been started deliberately and the rest had arisen through negligence.

"We appeal to everyone to heed all fire warnings and minimise the use of open fires," he said.

"We would like to emphasise that (arson) is a criminal offence that the courts will punish harshly."

Charles Fezi, a senior communications officer at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said smoke from a veld fire on Devil's Peak had made it necessary to close De Waal Drive for about five hours on Sunday. A helicopter had helped two fire engines at the scene put out the fire.

It is not yet known how the fire broke out.

Firefighters had also been called out on Sunday to Signal Hill, where a blaze had been put out the day before, but the call turned out to be a false alarm, Fezi said.

The fire on Saturday broke out about 11am and was put out by helicopter. About seven-and-a-half hours later it flared up again, close to where it had first broken out, but the helicopter quickly put it out.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, spokesperson for the city's disaster risk management centre, said 15 shacks were gutted in a blaze in the Wallacedene informal settlement early on Sunday. The call was received at 2.06am.

The fire left 36 people homeless, but no one was injured.

A team from the disaster risk management centre had given the group food, clothing and blankets, Solomons-Johannes said. They would be given materials to rebuild their homes today.

It was not yet known how the fire broke out.

Solomons-Johannes urged people in informal settlements to be extremely vigilant when using open flames and not to leave them unattended, not even briefly.

They should also not leave a candle or other flame burning when they went to sleep, he said.

Schnetler said if anyone saw someone starting a veld fire, they should call the fire services' law enforcement unit on 021 596 1999.

- Cape Times

ANC drops Mfeketo

Former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo has been removed from her position as convenor of the ANC's national executive committee task team overseeing party activities in the Western Cape province.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Cape Town on Thursday that Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane had been brought in as Mfeketo's replacement.

However, Mantashe was quick to point out that Mfeketo's removal did not mean the former Cape Town mayor was being sidelined.

"It's the normal reshuffling of teams in the ANC," he said. - Sapa

The N2 Gateway was a project forced through government channels by the M3 Nomaindia Mfekto, Richard Dyanti and lindiwe Sisulu.

This flagship attempt at dealing with housing has forcefully evicted people from their homes without consultation, delivered the most expensive cost per unit, fraught with corruption and failed delivery. The ANC has sought fit to ringfence the project and make no one accountable.

The ANC has since removed 2 of the M3 from their positions of power with the excuse

"It's the normal reshuffling of teams in the ANC"

Absolving the involved parties from any abuse of power in office, and providing NO WAY to hold anyone accountable for government expenditure and delivery.

Lindiwe - you may be on the ANC NEC - but 2 of M3 are gone... it does not look good for you...

In fact should they get rid of you - I may even vote ANC!

Cholera spreading fast in SA

Zimbabwe collapse exporting killer disease

CHOLERA is spreading in South Africa — and fast.

There have been more than 2000 infections in Limpopo and Mpumalanga has recorded it s first cholera death. Nine new cholera infections were reported in Mpumalanga yesterday.

More cholera infections in SA

Physicians’ plea on Zim

Zimbabwe Special Report

This brings to 13 the number of people who have died from the disease.

Department of health spokesman Fidel Hadebe said: “We are dealing with a communicable disease. People are travelling from Zimbabwe [ and] moving into Gauteng and Western Cape .”

He said health workers “are working flat out. Sometimes people seek help too late when they have complicated symptoms. We are dealing with a complicated problem and we just cannot quarantine people.”

• An Mpumalanga health department spokesman, Mpho Gabashane, said the province was on high alert after laboratory tests confirmed that a South African woman who died on January 5 had succumbed to cholera after visiting Zimbabwe with her husband. Nine other cholera cases were recorded at Mpumalanga clinics and hospitals.

Gabashane said the provincial health department was monitoring the rivers in all the areas in which cholera had been reported.

“We have received allegations that people have died in the area as a result of diarrhoea and, based on these allegations, we have undertaken to investigate all cases . ”

• A spokesman for the Limpopo health department, Phuthi Seloba, said cholera infections in the province had reached 2023, with 49 new cases confirmed yesterday — all the patients are South African.

• Western Cape health department’ spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said there had been seven cholera infections to date.

• In KwaZulu-Natal, the department of health’s spokesman, Leon Mbongwa, said only two cholera cases had been confirmed in the province. Four suspected cases had been incorrectly diagnosed.

• Gauteng has 33 cholera infections confirmed, and it is suspected that 173 people have contracted the disease, health department spokeswoman Phumelele Kaunda said.

Both North West and Eastern Cape have been relatively unscathed by the disease, but isolated cases of cholera infection have been reported. — Additional reporting by Sashni Pather

- The Times

More cholera cases

At least seven people have been diagnosed with cholera in the Western Cape, the province's Department of Health said on Monday.

Last month there were only two isolated cases of cholera reported in the province.

"These are laboratory confirmed cases and no deaths have been reported," said department spokesperson Faiza Steyn.

"We, as the provincial health department and City Health, are confident that there is no wide-scale outbreak of cholera."

There has been one case in Wallacedene, three cases in Khayelitsha, two cases in Masiphumelele and one case in Ravensmead.

At least 64 new suspected cases have been reported in Limpopo and Gauteng and a total of 13 confirmed cases of cholera were reported in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West.

Limpopo water affairs chief director Alson Matukane said ongoing tests of water resources in the province had indicated that parts of the Tubatse River in the Steelpoort area were contaminated with the disease.

"It seems areas that tested positive are where people use plastic containers to carry water," Mutukane said.

He said the department was still checking if the water was contaminated by people or by the environment.

People have been urged to attend awareness programmes on personal hygiene, including hand washing, which are being offered in the areas affected.

- Cape Argus

MDG Target11 - N2 Gateway failure

Introduction:
The purpose of this discussion document is to critically assess the progress in respect of the realisation of economic and social rights in the context of South Africa’s commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals...

The N2 Gateway Housing project has illustrated the great need for proper consultation and communication with communities. When a project of such a sensitive nature is initiated, communities need to be assured that they are not being marginalised like they were in the past. This assurance should preferably be made by the Department of Housing directly and not via a managing or development agent.

When deadlines pass and promises are not delivered on, communities need to be reassured that projects are still on track but just delayed due to certain reasons. Finally, communities need to know that they will eventually have proper shelter in which to live and bring up their families and it is the responsibility of the Department of Housing to consult with communities, work out options based on their income and needs. The Department should then provide surety to the communities that delivery promises will be met.

As explained by Advocate Geoff Budlender in Jordon “too many people in local, provincial and national government think that shacks are a problem and the solution is to demolish them, but one has to see shacks in a different light. They are a symptom of other problems – they are not themselves the problem.” And again, rapid service delivery should not take precedence over quality service delivery as it is evident that this creates additional problems and distrust between communities, government departments and service providers.

Working Paper: ESR Unit: Research, Documentation & Policy Analysis Programme (December, 2008)

Cape Town 'water safe to drink'

Cape Town - Water in certain Cape Town suburbs might have a "slight taste and odour" but is entirely safe to drink, the city assured residents on Friday.

The affected suburbs - from Helderberg in the east, Khayelitsha and the Cape Flats to Muizenberg in the west - were supplied from the Theewaterskloof dam, said spokesperson Lungile Dhlamini in a statement.

"The cause of the taste is algae that multiplies in the dams during the summer due to the higher temperatures, and has recurred sporadically for a number of years. The algae growth is seasonal and normally dissipates after four to five weeks."

Although the algae was removed in the treatment process, the taste and odour, described as musty or medicinal, remained. Further treatment of the water with activated carbon alleviated the taste, but did not eliminate it entirely. The water was however perfectly safe and fit for human consumption.

- SAPA

Fond memories of a strong woman

Go in Grace Helen...

'Mommy, help, Mommy help'

The old year could not have ended more badly for a Heinz Park mother when two of her children - one of them a few months pregnant - were burned to death after two men petrol-bombed their home.

A pregnant Chantelle Arendse, 24, and her four-year-old adopted sister, Marshlene Faas, were trapped as the flames engulfed their Daffodil Street home about 4am on Wednesday.

They and the rest of the family were asleep when their mother, Maria Faas, awakened, smelled petrol and heard a bang moments before the house caught fire, police spokesperson Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said.

Faas and her son, Reagan Harmse, escaped with only slight burns to their faces and necks.

'I could only stand and listen'

"(Chantelle and Marshlene) were trapped by flames and burned to death," Sitshitshi said.

Witnesses saw two men fleeing from the house.

A distraught Faas broke down as she said she could only watch helplessly as the flames engulfed the house with her daughters trapped inside.

"All four of us were in the house and my children were still in the room," she said.

"We tried to escape from the fire. But I was under the impression that my older daughter was going to bring out the baby.

The sale of the cupboard apparently upset the neighbour's mother

"I could then hear my daughter saying 'Mommy, help, Mommy help' inside the house.

"But I had no more strength to go back in and help them. I could only stand and listen."

Faas said she believed she knew who was behind the attack.

"We know them. The people who did this live in our street," she said.

She said the problem had begun with a cupboard that the householder's son sold to her for R150.
The sale of the cupboard apparently upset the neighbour's mother, who wanted her cupboard back.

"The police even came here to arrest me, but they couldn't because the cupboard had been sold to me. That's the main reason (the neighbours) threw petrol on us. "

"It's not only this house - the same people set another house alight.

"But this is bad - I've got two children dead in the new year.

"It was unnecessary. (My daughter) didn't even drink and smoke."

Faas said she bore no grudge towards the family of the men who set her house alight.
"I have nothing against them," she said. "My heart is clear. There are no feelings of hate.
"(The men who did this) just look at my face and carry on walking."

Sitshitshi said police were investigating murder charges and had yet to establish the motive for the attack.

No one had been arrested. - Cape Times

Khayelitsha cholera not strain from Zim

The City of Cape Town's health department says only one case of cholera, in Khayelitsha, has been confirmed and two adults are being monitored for suspected cholera, allaying fears that Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak may have spread to the city.

Virginia Azevedo of the city's health department said laboratory tests had confirmed that the strain of cholera identified in the Khayelitsha patient was different from the one responsible for the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe.

The World Health Organisation says Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has claimed more than 1,500 lives since August and a further 29,000 suspected cases have been reported.

None of the three had travelled to Zimbabwe

Azevedo said the cholera case in Khayelitsha, a woman in her mid-20s, was an isolated instance that should not be seen as a "flare-up". One patient had been admitted to the GF Jooste Hospital with cholera. Two adults, neighbours of the cholera patient, were being monitored.

None of the three had travelled to Zimbabwe, she said.

Executive director of city health Ivan Bromfield said health officials had visited the home to assess hygiene and contain the spread of the disease.

Azevedo said a 10-year-old child had gone to Karl Bremer with suspected cholera, but cholera was not confirmed.

She said diarrhoea was common at this time of the year, and isolated cases of cholera were not a cause for concern. The city was monitoring water and sewage sources in informal settlements and had not picked up any trace of cholera.

Keith Cloete of the provincial Health Department said they and the city were following up all cases of suspected cholera and taking precautions. Health services were on "high alert", he said.

Azevedo urged people to wash their hands with soap to minimise the risk.

- Cape Times