N2 Gateway residents march on government

Cape Town - Hundreds of residents of the flagship N2 Gateway housing project marched through central Cape Town on Tuesday to plead for Western Cape provincial government intervention in the project.

Chair of the residents committee, Luthando Ndabamba, said they were unhappy at the way state housing developer Thubelisha homes was running the project.

Though there were 704 units, Thubelisha had no office on the premises.

"If we have any complaints we have to go to the city centre," he said.

"We won't get help [there], they will refer us to places like Johannesburg. That's not nice."

He said there were structural defects and plumbing problems, and the 704 units in the complex were becoming havens for drug dealers.

"Everything is just wrong in that complex," he said.

In addition, though residents were originally told they would be renting with an option to buy, the purchase option seemed to have disappeared.

Ndabamba said premier Helen Zille and housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela addressed the marchers outside the provincial administration building in Wale Street.

Zille had told them that though she was not promising anything, she would come to meet the residents and see where she could help.

She had said she knew the problems they were talking about, and that she herself had complained that the project was a failure.

The units that the protesters live in were erected on land formerly occupied by shack-dwellers, many of whom have been relocated to more distant areas of the Cape Flats.

The Gateway project has been dogged by protests and a series of court challenges over evictions.

- SAPA

Cops fire rubber bullets at protesters

Protests continued for a second night in Masiphumelele near Kommetjie after angry residents, unhappy with replies to their questions from the Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela.

Police fired rubber bullets at about 500 people who had gathered shortly after 6pm on Thursday night, baracading the entrance to the Masiphumelele off Kommetjie Road.

The protest follows a demand from backyard dwellers that land, set aside for another project, be used to house them.

Chairman of NGO Amakhaya Ngoku (Housing Now) Thembinkosi Kitchen said Thursday night's protest were fuelled after a visit to the area by Madikizela.

"Madikizela was here to see what was happening and seemingly people were not happy with his responses to their questions, instead they asked that Minister of Human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale address them on their concerns.

Madikizela said demands made by the backyard dwellers were unrealistic.

"They expected me to provide them with accommodation because they had been evicted by their former landlords.

Madikizela said action from his department after the protests to house those left homeless would set a wrong precedent.

"Its important that we listen to people but people should also understand that they can't demand housing through protests, it would set a bad precedent.

Late last night police spokesperson Bernadine Steyn said situation was still tense and that no arrests had been made.

- Cape Times

Listen to the shack-dwellers

Tens of thousands of shack-dwellers in South Africa are doomed to be evicted to transit camps.

Last week the Constitutional Court gave the green light for the eviction of 20 000 people from Cape Town's Joe Slovo settlement to make way for the N2 Gateway Project. Most residents are to be relocated to the Delft temporary relocation area (TRA).

In 2005, 2 400 families from Langa, Cape Town, were relocated to a camp called Tsunami. In Johannesburg, 6 400 families in Protea South, Soweto, fought a plan to move them to a decant camp in 2007. In Durban, 52 families in Siyanda, KwaMashu, were evicted in December last year and moved to a transit camp to make way for a new freeway.

Transit camps, as they were known during apartheid, were used in the Fifties for the screening, segregation and repatriation of unwanted black urbanites. And in the ambiguous late apartheid years, progressive lawyers used transit camp legislation to prevent the removal of people to distant sites and service areas.

Today, recent court cases have raised the question: do transit camps qualify as "adequate alternative accommodation" as required by post-apartheid law?

For proponents in government, transit camps are "formal" and temporary, an acceptable stopgap in the process of delivering permanent houses. For households refusing relocation, transit camps are unacceptable even by the standards of informal dwellings and even if temporary -- which many are patently not.
Transit camp shelters ordinarily are one-room boxes of 25m² with tin roofs. Some are built in rows, with a single sheet of tin separating one family from another.

Often, the camps are without electricity. Some have outdoor communal taps, toilets or cold showers in tin or plastic structures. Toilets are massed together in rows.

Camps typically are encircled with fencing or barbed wire. Private security or police are stationed at lockable entry gates. Not only is access controlled, rules apply to camp life. Until two months ago, the Delft TRA had an armoured truck at its single entrance and was locked at particular hours. In the Protea South camp, spaza shops and other businesses will be banned.

Often transit camps are a long way from the shacks in which residents have lived for many years. In the Tsunami camp, some have lost their jobs as a result of relocation. Transport costs are higher; shops less accessible. Those with electricity in their shacks have had to revert to candles and paraffin stoves, both expensive and hazardous.

The erosion of social networks means occupants are in greater fear of their safety -- especially women when using communal toilets after dark. Children in Tsunami, not accommodated in local classrooms, were bussed 25km to school. In the Sol Plaatje camp in Johannesburg, those on HIV/Aids medication struggle to get access to treatment.

Some transit camps have taken on the status of permanent settlements. Happy Valley in Cape Town, originally built from government-issued poles and black sails, has been in existence for 12 years. Occupants who have been in the Tsunami camp for four years will be moved to the Delft TRA. In Symphony Way, 127 families will challenge their eviction to the Delft TRA in the Cape High Court in September.

From Langa to eMacambini to Siyanda, residents protesting against relocation -- whether for reasons of livelihood, location or autonomy -- have been portrayed as thwarting development. They have been illegally arrested, shot at with rubber bullets and seriously injured by the police.

A sustainable approach starts from the perspective of urban livelihoods, such as that of the shack-dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, in KwaZulu-Natal.

While formal housing is the desired option, the umjondolo (shack settlement) is not bad simpy because it is informal, but because it often lack services such as toilets. Its location also matters. A life is not improved by relocation from a shack to a distant "formal" structure.

National housing policy recognises this by prioritising in situ upgrading. But to rid KwaZulu-Natal of shack settlements by 2010, the province passed a Slum Elimination Act in 2007. Dubbed the "Polokwane Mandate", all provinces are expected to enact similar legislation. In this Act, transit camps are central to the elimination of slums.

In little over a year football tourists will visit eThekwini and other World Cup cities. They will be encouraged to visit museums to view the horrors of forced removals and transit camps under apartheid. Ironically, to get to the Cato Manor museum they may have to drive passed bulldozed shacks and present-day transit camps.

Authorities must understand the lives of shack-dwellers themselves. When residents say they prefer a shack to a transit camp this must be taken seriously. It is not a vote in favour of shacks, but a stronger vote against the alternative.

Kerry Chance, Marie Huchzermeyer and Mark Hunter are based at the universities of Chicago, Witwatersrand and Toronto respectively. - M&G

Masiphumelele residents stone police vehicle

Protesters blocked the entrance to the informal settlement of Masiphumelele near Kommetjie with burning tyres and stoned two of its vehicles on Wednesday, police spokesperson Bernadine Steyn said.

Police responded by firing rubber bullets into the crowd.

Steyn said the unrest had started late afternoon and by late Wednesday night police were still clearing the scene.

"People closed the road to Masiphumelele with tyres which were set alight. Two police vehicles were stoned. Rubber bullets were fired into the crowd."

Steyn was on Wednesday night unable to say what had sparked the protest.

Amakhaya Ngoku Housing Association secretary Bulelwa Jafta said the protest was started by backyard dwellers who wanted to build housing on a piece or land earmarked for development.

The backyarders had previously protested in October last year.

"The place they want to build their shacks is meant for another project, so they are not meant to build there," Jafta said.

Read the full story in Thursday's Cape Times

Joe Slovo eviction: Vulnerable community feels the law from the top down

OVER a period of 10 months commencing on August 17, the largest judicially sanctioned eviction of a community in SA’s post-apartheid period will take place. The 20000-strong impoverished community of the Joe Slovo informal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town will be required to relocate 15km away to a temporary relocation area in Delft.

According to provincial and local government, their relocation is required to enable the upgrading and building of formal housing as part of the N2 Gateway Project. Following resistance by the residents to the relocation, the housing authorities applied for and obtained an eviction order from the Western Cape High Court in terms of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, 1998. The residents of Joe Slovo appealed to the Constitutional Court and a weighty judgment was handed down on June 10.

The judgment is significant as it spells out the implications of the housing rights in section 26 of the constitution in circumstances when state organs seek to evict a large, settled community from their homes to facilitate a major housing development. The government will be taking note as the principles articulated in the judgment go to the core of its Breaking New Ground policy, of which the N2 Gateway is a key pilot project. In this policy, the Department of Human Settlements seeks to eradicate informal settlements through structured in situ upgrading, and, where this is not possible, through relocation of relevant communities.

In the case of Joe Slovo, the decision was that in situ upgrading was not feasible and the community should accordingly be relocated to Delft. An initial commitment that 70% of those relocated would be able to return to low- income housing in Joe Slovo morphed over time into a diffuse undertaking to apply “objective criteria” in allocating the housing units in Joe Slovo to the relocated community. The trust between communities and the representatives of the various spheres and agencies of government was further eroded by the fact that the first phases of the development did not give effect to the promise to accommodate 70% of the Joe Slovo residents. Moreover, the dream of a home was becoming ever more elusive as rentals in the development were pitched far higher than initially envisaged and more emphasis was placed on bonded housing which was inaccessible to the vast majority of the families, whose incomes were below R3500 a month. Moreover, many residents feared that the relocation to Delft would destroy their already fragile livelihood and communal networks, and that they would lack access to the schools, transport and other facilities on which they depended in the Joe Slovo settlement.

The Constitutional Court rejected the arguments of the residents that the state was not entitled to seek their eviction in terms of the act. It also held that their eviction and relocation to Delft to enable the upgrading and development of the Joe Slovo settlement was just and equitable in the circumstances.

However, three significant legal and practical victories were won by the residents. First, all five judges, who wrote separate judgments, underscored the necessity of the provision of adequate alternative accommodation when the state evicts a settled community from their homes. This obligation is derived from a long line of cases commencing with the groundbreaking Grootboom judgment in 2000, when the court held that the state must make reasonable provision for those facing homelessness or living in intolerable conditions. Not content to rely on vague guarantees regarding the nature of the alternative accommodation to be provided at Delft, the court stipulated detailed standards with which the “temporary accommodation units” in Delft had to comply, including the provision of services and facilities. Second, the government was ordered to allocate 70% of low-cost housing at Joe Slovo to the relocated communities (the remaining 30% would be allocated to the back-yarders of Langa). Finally, the authorities were required to “meaningfully engage” with the community on the nuts and bolts of the eviction, such as the timetable and the provision of transport facilities to places of work, schools and clinics.

Despite these important gains, the willingness to effectively condone the inadequate consultation processes raises serious concerns. This consultation process was littered with mixed messages conveyed by an array of officials, broken promises and, in the words of Judge Albie Sachs, the “frequent employment of a top-down approach, where the purpose of reporting back to the community was seen as being to pass on information about decisions already taken rather than to involve the residents as partners in the process of decision- making itself”. This represents the antithesis of the “structured, consistent and careful engagement” by “competent, sensitive” officials skilled in engagement which the court has previously underscored when state organs seek to evict large groups of vulnerable people.

A few of the judges held that the laudable objectives and greater good of the N2 Gateway project outweighed the defects in the consultation process. It would be too burdensome to expect higher standards from the state in these circumstances. This fails to take seriously the court’s own insight that procedure and substance are inextricably connected. Meaningful participation is not only an expression of the dignity of citizens, but is indispensable to ensuring that the design and implementation of programmes to realise socioeconomic rights are effective and sustainable. In the Joe Slovo case, for example, there are serious questions whether an in situ upgrade would have been less disruptive and more effective.

If “meaningful engagement” is not to become a meaningless platitude in realising socioeconomic rights, it must be taken seriously by the courts, which have a constitutional mandate to control all evictions of people from their homes. Unless this happens, the realisation of socioeconomic rights in SA will exhibit all the flaws of a top-down approach in which the intended beneficiaries have had little real say.

- Prof Liebenberg holds the HF Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law at Stellenbosch University and was a member of the legal team for the amici curiae in the Joe Slovo case.

- BusinessDay - News Worth Knowing

Joe Slovo residents defy move to Delft

Tension is mounting in Langa near Cape Town as informal settlers from Joe Slovo slowly fill up every available piece of open land in the more established areas.

Joe Slovo residents, many of whom were moved to make way for the Gateway project and who do not want to move to residential units in Delft, have settled in other parts of Langa in their hundreds and erected shacks.

More move in almost every day and some Langa residents have now called for the authorities and community leaders to intervene.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said tensions had been mounting between residents and the newcomers and police have had to be called on occasion.

"We understand their plight but we cannot condone their acts because they live under hazardous conditions that are dangerous and unhealthy. These conditions affect all of us because they have no electricity, water or sanitation and they dump everything in the drains."

She said there were new shacks going up "on a daily basis" and "it was getting out of hand". She called for leaders to intervene because things were turning "nasty".

Last week the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment that the Joe Slovo residents be given proper alternative accommodation. It also ruled that 70 percent of the current and former residents be accommodated at any future low-cost housing project at the N2 Gateway.

Residents still living in the informal settlement can be moved to temporary residential units in Delft but many people do not want to move.

Thubelisha Homes, connected to the Gateway projects, and the Joe Slovo residents have been given until June 30 to agree on the start of any new relocation process.

Community task team chairman Sfiso Zulu said they had raised many concerns about the move to Delft. In the past people who had agreed to move were given forms to sign which were never properly explained to them.

"They were told to take their assets and they were loaded into trucks and their shacks were dismantled without them really knowing what was going on."

Zulu accused the ANC government of implementing "apartheid laws" under which people were moved to distant areas where there were no job opportunities or access to transport.

They did not want to disrupt the government's efforts to relocate people to temporary residential areas, but Delft "was out of the question".

He said Langa was central and people could get part-time jobs in the surrounding areas.

"The authorities do not have our interests at heart and are making decisions about where we should be accommodated."

Joe Slovo resident Siyazi Siziba said people who had voluntarily moved to Delft had come back because "there was no life" there. She said they wanted to remain in Langa and many had started moving to backyards before the relocation deadline.

Promises that certain sections of Langa would be developed had been made by the authorities but nothing had come to fruition.

Shack dweller Vusumzi Vokwana said local houses were "too small" to accommodate big families and the only option was to build shacks where land was available. Shack dwellers only paid for the electricity from more established homes and did not pay rent.

But ward councillor Mayenzeke Sopaqa said Joe Slovo residents needed to obey the government's rules because the move to Delft would ultimately benefit them. He condemned people who were moving out of the informal settlement and erecting their shacks in open spaces in Langa.

"Their behaviour cannot be tolerated. There are by-laws which prohibit people from building in certain areas. The government wants to eradicate poverty and provide people with decent houses.

"They have to move out of Joe Slovo so that construction can start happening and there is no land available in Langa to accommodate them."

Sopaqa said those who were building shacks in Langa should return to where they came from. "We don't want a situation where forced removals and political and police intervention will be required."

- Cape Argus

South Africa’s two worlds in motion

In exactly one year, the football World Cup will kick off in South Africa – a vital first for the African continent. In the lead up to it, however, there has been much sniping from other countries, mostly Western nations, suggesting that either we are unlikely to be ready in time or the event itself will be badly organised.

The fact that South Africa has hosted a Rugby World Cup, the Cricket World Cup, as well as, at the last minute, the recent Indian Premier League cricket jamboree, all with spectacular success, doesn’t seem to dent such prejudice. The big test, therefore, will be if South Africa proves confident enough to host a truly African-flavoured event.

Or will we meekly present an anodyne, Disney Lion King version, to conform to stereotypes that this continent is all about tribal drums and wild animals?

One FIFA requirement, for example, was the building of an enormously costly new stadium in Cape Town rather than upgrading an existing one in a poor area (where most soccer fans live). A FIFA delegate actually said that television cameras, when drawing back from action on the pitch, should not offend viewers with a glimpse of all those huddled shacks. Instead the backdrop will now be scenic, iconic Table Mountain.

In other words, FIFA seems to want South Africa to censor our poverty and pretend to be a developed nation. So the question is: will we play along with this charade?

Another highly suspicious sign is a high-profile government scheme to remove shack dwellers from the motorway that leads from Cape Town airport into the city. This project has been “fast-tracked”, almost certainly in the desire that visitors in 2010 will no longer see unsightly, rickety shacks, but be impressed by dignified housing. The project, however, has been seriously delayed because the poor themselves refused to be moved.

They knew that once they were shifted elsewhere, far out of the city, they were likely be forgotten and stranded. This has been fought all the way through the courts. Finally, last week, the Constitutional Court gave the go-ahead for about 20,000 people to be moved – but stipulated that a suitable alternative must be found for them.

It has yet to be seen, however, if the evictees and the government can agree on what constitutes a suitable alternative. In the past, people from the Joe Slovo informal settlement along the N2 motorway who had agreed to move soon found that, first, they were so far from town that even those with jobs couldn’t afford the transport and, second, when new houses were built, rents were pitched at a price they couldn’t possibly afford.

The hoardings along the N2 show happy black families standing outside shiny new homes with fuzzy slogans such as: “Slums shall be abolished”. What the poor fear is that these slogans really mean, “Slums will be removed – out of sight.”

The World Cup has a wonderful potential to demonstrate that South Africa is not just a place of corruption, crime and game parks, but that there is a vibrant cultural life here as well, rich as well as poor. Yet this will never come across as long as Africa needs to pretend it is some kind of faux Western nation, just with more sunshine.

There is a world of difference between proudly presenting yourself as you are and a desperate, insecure desire to please. A friend recently returned from a provincial game reserve situated along the western edge of Kruger National Park. These are wonderful wildlife wildernesses run by the provincial authorities, which few know about – so they have the added bonus of being sparingly visited. But my friend was depressed.

The two black rangers in the small, tented camp where he stayed had been sent to Spain, along with other rangers from other camps, for a two-week language course in preparation for a hoped-for tourist invasion during the World Cup.

How many soccer fans, let alone Spanish ones, will visit? How much of a foreign language can one pick up in two weeks anyway? Yet the cost must have been enormous.

As my friend pointed out, these are smart guys who may not be formally well-educated, but my goodness they know their stuff and are fantastic natural communicators. “What will actually upset any foreign visitors”, observed my friend sadly, “is to see that the rangers’ shirts are threadbare and that their shoes are in desperate need of repair.” What do we really want the World Cup visitors to see? There are (at least) two nations on offer: a business and suburban world, with homogenised shopping malls, plus a harsher, poorer reality. It seems on the evidence so far that we may attempt to present a minority face: pretending, with a fixed smile, that the other Africa doesn’t really exist - like the illusion along Cape Town’s N2 motorway that we have done away with slums.

But if we really are going to greet visitors with a few stock phrases in their own language, while wearing a threadbare shirt, we will still only be fooling ourselves.

- Tribune

Housing backlog a moving target: MEC

Official estimates of the housing backlog, based on a 2006 study, put the shortage at around 410,000. With the R1,58 billion the province will receive from the national government this year in terms of the Division of Revenue Act the Western Cape government can build in the region of 16,000 housing units and 18,000 serviced sites. At this rate, and if the housing shortage remained static, it will take us up to 28 years to eradicate the backlog.

That was the word on Thursday by Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela, MEC for Housing in the Western Cape in delivering his budget speech. According to the MEC, the backlog was not static. It is a moving target. Between 2001 and 2007, the population of the Western Cape grew by 17% spurred largely by high rates of in-migration to the province. If we continue on a high growth trajectory, by 2040 the housing backlog in the Western Cape will have nearly doubled to 804,000. Clearly, a radical re-think of the way that we deliver housing is required. One way is to increase the share of the funding we receive from national government.

The MEC said he would use every inter-governmental forum to lobby for more money for housing in the Western Cape. But whatever increase in funding we might be able to secure, we must recognise that it will not solve our housing shortage overnight. We do not need reminding that we are now officially in a recession the effects of which are likely to be felt, especially amongst the poor, in years to come. As unemployment rises, so too will the demand for subsidised housing.

He said it was clear that the challenges were immense, but I can assure the people of the Western Cape that we will not collapse under the weight of expectation upon our collective shoulders...

On the contrary, we will work even harder to find innovative ways to reduce the housing backlog and create sustainable, integrated communities.

Interventions

Madikizela said there were a number of interventions that could be introduced to accelerate the delivery of housing opportunities within current budget constraints and economic realities. Currently, the bulk of projects approved by the Department utilise a project-linked subsidy system which covers contractor-led projects on greenfield sites. These account for 45% or R711m of our housing grant budget and remain the mainstay of the Departments housing programme.

I believe that the emphasis on greenfield projects and contractor-built houses has to shift if we are to make a serious dent in the housing backlog. In-situ upgrading, for example, tends to be more cost-effective and less disruptive. This is why this administration intends to focus more on this type of project going forward, he said.

The Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) already in place aims to upgrade and provide basic services to communities in well-located informal settlements. The upgrading of informal settlements must not be seen, as some critics suggest, as a means to perpetuate apartheid-era town planning.

If implemented correctly, it can be a cost-effective way to create a dignified environment for shack dwellers without uprooting families and communities. In this financial year, the Department will spend 26% of its budget or R411m on this programme. This is something, I believe, we need to re-evaluate and increase in the years ahead, the MEC said.

To assist with selecting sites for future upgrade, the Department recently completed work on a vulnerability index that will inform the prioritisation of funding for informal settlements. This will allow us to objectively measure which informal settlements should be prioritised, based on the greatest need. The Department is also currently in the early stages of developing a masterplan for in-situ upgrading based on a province-wide assessment of informal settlements. This will allow us to develop time-bound targets to progressively provide informal settlement households with opportunities for improved infrastructure, services and tenure as well as support to improve their housing options over time.

Selling up or renting out

Madikizel said many beneficiaries sell on or rent out their houses and move back into shacks. Those that they sell to are often people who are not eligible for a subsidised house, which has the effect of increasing the backlog further. In some cases this behaviour is understandable. Many of our beneficiaries are the poorest of the poor. They are in survivalist mode; they are not in a position to consider the long term benefits of owning an appreciating asset. They need to put food in their childrens stomachs today.

However, the MEC said it was necessary to consider ways to ensure that the people who live in subsidised houses are the intended beneficiaries. One way of doing this is to increase the number of Peoples Housing Projects or PHPs relative to project-linked subsidies.

Unlike projects where beneficiaries are passive recipients, PHPs encourage people to get involved in the design of their house plans, to build or monitor the construction of their house and ensure that their houses are built to the requisite standard. The close involvement in the construction process confers a sense of ownership that is often not felt by recipients of other types of government subsidised housing.

PHPs also enhance consumer choice. A beneficiary can choose to design and build a house bigger than the subsidy allows, provided that she or he can finance the shortfall. A sweat equity contribution can result in a cut in labour costs which means more value for money for the beneficiary.

Corruption

The minister reported that the provincial government was currently spending 11% of its total budget or R174m on building housing structures through PHP methods. This is something I would like to increase over time providing that we can iron out some of the problems we have experienced with PHPs. In this regard, I am encouraged that the National Department of Housing recently completed its Enhanced PHP policy to improve the way that these projects are managed.

Madikizela said it was apparent that PHP projects despite their potential are beset with challenges. These include corruption, insufficient capacity of support organisations, lack of adherence to the PHP model in practice and insufficient capacity within the Department to deal with these challenges. The quality of some of the housing units built has sometimes been poor because PHP projects are not required to be registered with the National Home Builders Registration Council, he added.

I have requested the Department to develop a plan to improve our capacity to deal with PHP projects. We are also looking at ways in consultation with the Special Investigating Unit to stamp out the corruption that has riddled some of these projects, resulting in blockages. Furthermore, I plan to investigate ways to ensure that the houses built under the PHP programme are of the required quality.

Backyarders

He said besides the plight of those that suffer the indignity of living in unserviced informal settlements, he was deeply concerned about the fact that people who live in backyards have not been prioritised. Many backyarders have waited patiently for years for a house.

They have as much right as anyone else to dignified housing. We aim to oblige municipalities to strike the right balance between informal settlement dwellers and backyarders in the selection of beneficiaries for new housing projects. It cannot be right that people as young as 21 years old get preference over people who have been waiting for a house for three decades.

He pledged that his administration would take the plight of backyarders very seriously indeed, particularly with regards to the allocation of housing. We are starting the process of reviewing the way in which municipal so-called housing waiting lists are used to allocate housing. We will re-examine the allocation ratio of 70:30 which discriminates against backyarders and change it to 50:50.

Part of the reason for unfair allocations is because the data used is of poor quality: geographic coverage is limited, data is incomplete, out of date or simply inaccurate. Because poor data leads to unfair selection decisions, the Department is putting in place a programme to assist municipalities to improve their housing demand data collection, management and procedures.

He said the department would develop ways to simplify, standardize and demystify the manner in which houses are allocated. The Departments research shows that approaches to allocation differ across municipalities and are complicated for residents to understand and follow. We aim to make the process transparent and easy for everyone to understand. Without transparency, the perception will persist that some groups receive preferential treatment over others.

- Voice Of the Cape

Learn how to build a Cannabrick Home in the language of your choice

You can select your language though translate on the left which will translate the English.
InternAfrica is seeking assistance in getting this translated into the rest of South Africa's languages

Demonstrated outside the Department of Housing

1. Plant a cannabis seed. Water and allow the plant to grow and produce seed. Plant and water these seeds. Your goal is to grow enough to build a house, you will need about 1 acre to build a 5 roomed home.
   
   Tyala imbewu ntsangu (ye-cannabis). Nkcenkceshela imbewu uze uyinike ithuba lokuba ikhule ide ikhuphe eyayo imbewu. Uyothi ke uyityale nalembewu uyinkcenkceshele njalo. Injongo yakho kukukhulisa izityalo ezothi zonele ekwakheni indlu, uyakudinga i-acre (malunga nentsimi) enye ukuze wakhe indlu enamagumbi amahlanu.
   
   
2. Consider the many relevant points presented in the guidelines of Build your house step-by-step.
   
   Qwalasela yonke imigaqo oyibekelweyo kwincwadana i-Build Your House Step By Step.
   
   
   The Eastern Cape Government has developed a document titled:
   “A Basic Guide to Quality Housing Development”
   It is available here.
   
   
3. Start planning where your house will stand. Consider everything about the environment you’ll be building in, like winter and summer sunshine, wind and rain – you don’t want to build on a floodplain, or your house will wash away. Be sure to plan all your water and waste requirements.
   
   Ceba indawo ozokwakha kuyo indlu yakho. Qwalasela yonke into ngomhlaba lo uzokwakha kuwo indlu yakho, izinto ezinje ngemimoya, ilanga, neemvula zehlobo nobusika, akekho umntu ofuna ukwakha indlu yakhe emgxobhozweni okanye apho iyothi ibe lilifa lezikhukhula khona. Uqiniseke ukuba unamanzi akulungeleyo ukwenza oku.
   
   
4. Cut the grown cannabis plants down and leave in the field to rhett for a week. The morning dew and natural rotting process will loosen the fibers from the plant.
   
   a. Process the plant matter by cutting leaves and branches off, then hit small bundles the length of the plant over and upturned rake.
   b. The long fiber parts that remain in your hand are good for weaving rugs and making various other items your skills can accomplish.
   c. The seed can be gathered for more housing.
   d. Gather the small woody bits (the hurd) that have fallen, this waste is what will be used in the construction material.
   
   Sika / sarha izityalo uzibeke egadini ixesha elingangeveki ukuze zibole. Umbethe wasekuseni nezinye izinto zendalo ezibolisayo ziya kuyikhulula I-fibre ezityalweni.
   
   a. Yikhawulezise ngohlukanisa intonga zezityalo namagqabi, uhlale uyiharika rhoqo.
   b. Intonga ezi zinothi zincede kwezinye izinto ezifana nokwenza ingubo nezinye izinto onothi uzibonele zona ngokolwazi lwakho.
   c. Imbewu inokuqokelelwe ukwakha ezinye izindlu.
   d. Qokelela imithana ethe yaziwela njengokuba uzoyisebenzisa xa usakha indlu yakho.
   
   
5. Wash the hurd, dry it, then wash it again. Be careful not to allow the matter to rot or decay during this process, by turning, airing and allowing the African sun to dry the hurd properly. Now combine in proportions 10:2:3:3 combine the cannabis/ntsangu/dagga Hurd(10), washed river sand 0.5mm(2), hydraulic lime(3) and water(3) to make the mulch (This process may need tweaking depending on your geographic location, humidity, rainfall etc)
   
   Hlamba ingqokelela yakho, uyomise, uphinde uyihlambe.Ulumkele ukuba lengqokelela ibole kwelithuba, yiguquguqule, uyivumele ibethwe ngumoya uvumele nelanga lase Afrika liyomise lengqokelela. Dibanisa ngokwalo mgaqo 10:2:3:3, dibanisa ke lemvuno yakho yomgquba wentsangu (10) kunye nesanti yasemlanjeni 0.5mm(2), ikalika (3) kunye namanzi (3) ukwenza udaka (Nale into ke iyokuthi ixhomekeke kwindawo leyo ukuyo nemvula zakhona njalo-njalo).
   
   
6. Now build your house! Ngoku ke yakha indlu yakho!
   
   
7. Teach others. Fundisa abanye.
   
   
   

   

You can use this “dagga-cement” for making bricks, shutter casting or the proven “pole-and-dagga” method. This last method allows for a sturdy, warm, fireproof and water proof home – built with pride and intuitive engineering, not a ‘uniform box’.

Be sure to consider all aspects of your house design and structural requirements. Although the cannabis-cement will become stronger than steel in time, it is not advised to build over 2 floors high without considering structural implications. With planning this cement can be used to build up to 4 floors high.

The cannabis-cement will dry over a period of a month (depending on the weather). At this point you will be able to add the roof. Seal your home’s walls with lime; lime external walls annually.

Decorate your house with masonry to make it unique, and paint with coloured lime as per custom.

Always PLANT A TREE in a place that will provide shade, to commemorate this accomplishment.

Council will plant trees if citizens care for them. Call (021) 689-8938 http://www.trees.org.za/

Assist your family, friends or neighbors with your experience and expertise. Share information and technique; you can uplift yourself and your community.

Exploiting housing expectations

South Africans are proud that they have one of the biggest housing programmes in the world — a commendable effort to provide suitable and affordable housing to millions of poor people, thus giving concrete expression to the ideals of the Freedom Charter and the Constitution. The government says it has built 3.1-million houses for 10-million people since 1994, the majority being owned by women.

Housing also remains one of the government’s spending priorities as former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel again asserted in his Budget Speech in February. Manuel announced the allocation of R67-billion on infrastructure grants to municipalities; R45-billion over three years to the Department of Housing’s Breaking New Ground (BNG) programme; and R1.5-billion to the integrated housing and human settlement grant to provinces.

Housing programme plagued by controversy

Yet, sadly, South Africa’s housing programme remains plagued by controversy, fraud, corruption, exploitation and abuse. And the very people who are meant to benefit, often end up being victims. South Africa’s housing policy started taking shape even before the democratic elections of 1994 when a multi-party, non-governmental negotiating body known as the National Housing Forum was formed. This lay the foundations of the later national housing policy, leading first to the Housing Accord, which produced the 1994 White Paper on Housing, which in turn formed the basis of the housing policy of the government of national unity under President Nelson Mandela.

With the best intentions in the world, the National Housing Accord was signed in 1994 by a range of stakeholders representing the homeless, the government, communities and civil society, the financial sector, emerging contractors, the established construction industry, building material suppliers, employers, developers and the international community. All policies, programmes and guidelines that followed fell within the framework set out initially in the White Paper.

After several false starts and midstream changes of direction since 1994, Minister of Housing Lindiwe Sisulu in September 2004 presented the cabinet with a comprehensive, revised sustainable housing plan, the BNG programme. The BNG’s prime objective is the eradication or upgrading of all informal settlements in the country by 2014/15. The Housing Act compels all three spheres of government to prioritise the needs of the poor with respect to housing development.

In addition, all three spheres of government must ensure that housing development:

• Provides as wide a choice of housing and tenure options as is reasonably possible;

• Is economically, fiscally, socially and financially affordable and sustainable;

• Is based on integrated development planning; and

• Is administered in a transparent, accountable and equitable manner, and upholds the practice of good governance.

Almost every one of these noble ideals has been undermined by unscrupulous people

And therein lies the rub — for almost every one of these noble ideals has been undermined by unscrupulous people; from government officials to builders and developers, from homeowners to fraudsters and others. So great has the problem become that the Department of Housing’s director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane paid specific attention to it in the department’s last annual report, referring to shortcomings identified by the auditor-general in the administration of housing subsidies by provincial departments and attempts to combat fraud and corruption.

"The establishment of the Special Investigating Unit has rendered positive results," said Kotsoane. "During this year we have seen more provincial departments capacitating and operationalising similar units and as a result it was possible to establish an inter-governmental anti-corruption forum to facilitate a co-ordinated approach to rooting out corruption. While, on the one hand, we have been able to secure more funding to address corruption, there has also been progress in working closer with law enforcement agencies."

The problem goes far back. Already in 2002 the then housing minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele appointed a task team to investigate corruption, fraud and maladministration in the housing subsidy scheme and was shocked by its findings. A few months later, the new housing minister Brigitte Mabandla also referred to the problem when she welcomed the increase in the number of arrests of provincial housing officials suspected of involvement in fraudulent or other malpractices related to housing.

Mabandla said the growing number of arrests at the time showed that her department was winning the war against corruption, but that measures to fight corruption would nonetheless be intensified. However, as upbeat as the minister might have been about succeeding in the fight to root out the exploitation and corruption in the reconstruction and development (RDP) housing programme, the rot continued.

In 2004, when tabling her department’s Budget vote in Parliament, the housing minister again had to deal at length with the problem. She announced the department had appointed auditing firm KPMG as a second task team to support the work of the first in the elimination of fraud, corruption and maladministration.

During her department’s Budget vote in Parliament last year, Sisulu referred to the problem of illegal allocation of houses to non-qualifying foreigners (brought up as one of the reasons for the xenophobic attacks on foreigners). She said that an audit by the auditor-general failed to uncover such cases, adding, "We all know it is true that some of our houses are occupied by foreign nationals. This could only mean that our people — the beneficiaries of these houses — have either sold them before the period of limitation has elapsed or are renting them out". She gave the assurance that her department had tightened its regulations to end the abuse.

The exploitation and abuses take many forms, for example:

Owners of RDP houses selling their houses illegally before the limitation period has expired;

Abuse of rewarding criteria and waiting lists by corrupt officials who illegally allocate houses upon receiving bribe payments;

Illegal allocation of houses to foreigners, allegedly by officials accepting bribes (last year the Democratic Alliance compiled a list of beneficiaries said to be foreign nationals who were allocated RDP houses in Alexandra);

Local authorities frequently fail to take action against corrupt officials where abuses have been pointed out. In 2005, fed-up residents and members of the Greater Musina Unemployment Forum marched to the local municipal offices to protest the lack of action against councillors accused of renting out, or selling, RDP houses to foreigners;

Developers paying corrupt officials to approve shoddy building work or the use of cheap, inferior building materials in constructing RDP houses on lucrative government contracts, as is detailed in one housing department document;

Government officials in all departments claiming they are unemployed or earn less than the qualifying minimum income in order to fraudulently have RDP houses awarded to them. Last year, in a mere week, 29 such cases involving nurses, teachers and school principals were brought to court in KwaZulu-Natal;

Government officials falsely claiming housing subsidies or manipulating computer systems to receive more than one housing subsidy. In 2006, more than 2100 officials of the Gauteng housing and local government department were implicated in fraud of more than R133-million related to the allocation of housing subsidies;

In another case, more than R25-million was lost after 1708 applications for housing subsidies were allocated to people who were already dead, according to the Department of Home Affairs;

Developers claiming money from the government for building non-existent houses. In November 2004, three prominent Eastern Cape businessmen appeared in the Alice magistrate’s court in one such case;

Corrupt officials selling plots to RDP housing hopefuls that have already been sold to other buyers. In 2007, a senior official responsible for housing in Johannesburg was arrested for allegedly selling stands that had already been allocated for R1000 each;

Illegal occupation of RDP houses by people not entitled to them, sometimes with the aid of corrupt local councillors, politicians or government officials;

Corrupt officials illegally selling state land to people under the pretence that RDP houses would be built on it for them;

RDP housing building contractors using cheap materials that cause houses to collapse or develop cracks. In January last year, 36 RDP houses collapsed during heavy storms in eMzinoni township outside Bethal after builders had diluted the cement used with 20 wheelbarrows of sand instead of the recommended three wheelbarrows per bag of cement. Last year, a pregnant woman died when her RDP house collapsed in Amaotana, north of Durban; and

Fraudulent and illegal allocation of RDP house-building tenders to family, friends and associates of officials and councillors. In 2007, allegations of corruption rocked Limpopo’s Department of Local Government and Housing when an official allegedly allocated tenders worth R115-million to his peers.

The list is almost endless. But how does the government intend dealing with these abusive and exploitative practices?

For one, following the allegations made last year regarding foreigners receiving houses, Sisulu promised a tightening of the application of relevant regulations with, among other things, municipalities being forced to adhere to the national housing demand database to be monitored independently.

Sisulu also announced measures to check the practice of people selling off their RDP houses through occupancy audits to establish if the original beneficiaries of the houses still live in them. The services of the Special Investigations Unit were to be enlisted to take action against the practice.

In another measure aimed at reducing illegal and fraudulent practices, Sisulu announced that her department would be increasing its subsidised rental stock to ensure that those who do not qualify for state houses would have access to affordable rented accommodation.

In the 2006/07 annual report, the department also refers at length to its attempts, and that of the National Housing Anti-Corruption Forum (NHACF) and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), to stamp out housing corruption. The Special Investigative Task Team (SITT), housed within the department, investigates allegations of maladministration, irregularities, fraud and corruption related to the implementation of national housing programmes.

To enhance a 'collaborative approach' and better co-ordination between the national department and the nine provincial departments, the department created the NHACF, which works closely with various law-enforcement agencies. However, the department acknowledges that its work is being hampered by capacity constraints.

- Ubuntu magazine

Cannabrick homes to be built in government drive

A prototype three-bedroom house, funded by the taxpayer, will go on show today. The home is part of a government drive to build more housing with a smaller carbon footprint.

The "renewable house" features walls made from Hemcrete - a mix of hamp and lime - and was built thanks to a £200,000 grant from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC), which built the home, said building it used half the energy that building a traditional brick home would use.

It claims energy bills for the home owners would be as low as £150 a year, and predicts building on thousands of houses could begin soon.

Dr John Williams, head of materials at the NNFCC, told The Guardian: "The forecasts are that we could roll this out very quickly if someone places an order for 25,000 homes.

"Increasing numbers of farmers are growing hemp because it fits in with their current growing cycles between April and September and it is a good break crop for wheat.

"If just 1 per cent of the UK's agricultural land was used to grow hemp, it would be enough to build 180,000 homes per year."

The hemp house provides a cheaper alternative to traditional brick and mortar housing, with a build cost of £75,000 excluding groundworks.

The hemp absorbs carbon dioxide when it is growing and the NNFCC estimates that 110kg (242.5lb) of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, the equivalent of a return flight from Plymouth to Manchester, for every square metre of wall.

- Telegraph

InternAfrica would again like to point out that South Africa has both more of the raw product available than the UK - and MORE of a housing demand.

Here is how to build your own Cannabrick home.

Small victory for homeless

Ashraf Cassiem and 139 families who have set up home under the stars along Symphony Way in wind-swept Delft on the Cape Flats cele-brated a small victory last week after being given a reprieve in their fight against eviction.

"We'll gladly move to houses that are safe, clean and adequate to our families' needs," said Cassiem, chairperson of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.

On Tuesday residents were granted a postponement of the eviction application by the City of Cape Town, acting for the Western Cape government.

Cassiem, who represented them, was delighted when acting Judge Jake Moloi ordered the families to file answering papers by June 30, and that the matter be heard on September 3.

"I'm happy that the court is finally listening to poor people who can't afford legal representation," said Cassiem.

The Symphony Way families illegally occupied newly completed homes intended for beneficiaries of the government's N2 Gateway project in Delft.

When police evicted them in February last year, they erected makeshift shelters in Symphony Way, resisting removal to Blikkiesdorp, a crime-ridden "temporary relocation area".

Cassiem said the battles of the Symphony Way community bore a striking similarity to moves to evict 20 000 shack-dwellers of the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa in Cape Town.

These residents are being evicted to make way for housing for the controversial N2 Gateway project and are uncertain whether they will be offered housing in the "flagship" development.

Five judges of the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled on Wednesday that they would allow the eviction of Joe Slovo residents but that they had to be given alternative housing.

Joe Slovo representative Mzwanele Zulu said he had mixed feelings about the judgment.

"I'm happy, but I feel an element of disappointment. There'll have to be negotiations with our lawyers before there are relocations."

Welcoming the Joe Slovo judgment as "groundbreaking", the director general of human settlements, Itumeleng Kotsoane, said it made the fast-tracking of integrated human settlements and organised progress towards "the achievement of a South Africa free of slums and informal settlements" possible.

- M&G

Backyarders' misery continues

There is no quick fix for the desperately poor housing conditions in overpopulated Masiphumelele, despite sporadic protests by evicted backyard dwellers demanding land.

The settlements' Pokelwa Street was plunged into disarray for much of yesterday as police fired rubber bullets at backyard dwellers who demonstrated against a mass eviction earlier this week.

Three people had been arrested for public violence by midday on Friday

Disgruntled community representative Mfundiso Ngetu said the backyarders had no place to go and that protest would continue until their demands were met.

Several backyard dwellers were evicted from private landowners' property as a result of a provincial housing project in the area this week.

Backyard dwellers' shacks on private property were set to be demolished in order for the property owners to construct houses on their land.

This land falls under phase one and phase two of the housing project.

"We were not told by the people (the landlords) or the project's organisers that they would be building houses," said Ngetu.

One of the backyarders said: "This is provocation." There were calls for the housing MEC to explain.

At the heart of the controversy is a vacant piece of land which falls in phase four of the project and which is available but "not ready" for settlement. Phase four is reserved for use as a temporary relocation area.

The backyard dwellers have since been left out in the cold.

Police station commissioner Captain Helena Mouton confirmed that since the first evictions began on Monday there had been a tension and sporadic protests.

Police and Metro Police officers used force yesterday to disperse the group that burnt tyres and threw stones in Kommetjie Road.

An emergency meeting was called at the local community centre, but the backyarders were not satisfied that the ward councillor for the area, Felicity Purchase, would take their demands to the necessary authorities.

Purchase listened to their concerns during the heated discussion in the packed community hall.

After the meeting Purchase said: "I know how they feel but they have expectations the council cannot fulfil. We will do what we can but there is no quick solution."

Roger Carney, the housing project manager in the area, said there are "too many people in Masiphumelele for the amount of available land".

"Even if we can speed up some of the sites, the density would increase and we'd have to move more people. It would cost us millions of rands."

Carney said the position of the backyard dwellers had been noted. "I understand how they feel and I can't give them an answer when they ask me where they are going to sleep tonight."

- Saturday Argus

Backyarders arrested after protest

Police fired rubber bullets and arrested three people as Masiphumelele backyard dwellers near Kommetjie protested against poor housing delivery in the area.

Tension mounted in the settlement at the intersection of Pokelwa and Ntantala ways where angry backyarders had gathered after meeting with Fish Hoek ward counsellor Felicity Purchase and community leaders in the Masiphumelele Community Hall earlier on Friday.

Purchase had been questioned at the meeting about the provincial housing project and undertook to raise these issues with the authorities.

"You can shoot us, you can arrest us, we don't give a damn"

The backyard dwellers, however, were not satisfied with her undertaking and demanded that their landlords and government officials be present at their next meeting.

After leaving the meeting they sang and danced at a four-way stop while community representatives argued with police.

When the group refused to disperse, police opened fire with rubber bullets and searched for people identified earlier as inciting violence with the burning of tyres and throwing stones.

Three people were arrested and will be charged with public violence.

Earlier on Friday, at about 5am, backyard dwellers had burnt tyres and disrupted traffic flow along Pokelwa Way and Kommetjie Road.

However, tension has been simmering since Monday, according to Ocean View station commissioner Captain Helene Mouton, when private land owners, who intended starting with the construction of their houses, evicted the backyard dwellers. The land they were evicted from is for phases one and two of a housing project.

The backyard dwellers were unhappy that they had been denied the right to move on to land available for phase four of the project.

Isiqalo Housing Project chairperson Mfundiso Ngetu said this morning that they would not stop demonstrating until their demands had been met.

During the stand-off with police, Ngetu said: "You can shoot us, you can arrest us, we don't give a damn."

By 11:30 on Friday most of the backyard dwellers had dispersed but there was a heavy police presence in the area.

- Cape Argus

Joe Slovo evictions ruling welcomed

The Constitutional Court order allowing the eviction of 20,000 Joe Slovo shack dwellers under strict conditions was hailed on Wednesday by the Department of Human Settlements as "ground-breaking" .

Five justices of the Constitutional Court handed down the judgment, which allows the eviction of the Langa informal settlement residents, but insists that they be given proper, alternative accommodation.

The court ruled that 70 percent of the current and former residents should be accommodated at any future new low-cost housing development at the N2 Gateway.

Thubelisha and the Human Settlements Ministry had earlier indicated that more than 1 500 of the "Building New Ground" houses would be made available for residents.

The national government, Thubelisha Homes and the MEC for Housing have also been ordered by the court to cover 50 percent of the costs.

Families still living in Joe Slovo would be moved to temporary residential units in Delft according to a "timeplan" that had earlier been set out by Thubelisha Homes.

The court also ordered that the applicants and respondents reach agreement on the start of relocations to Delft. Both parties have been given until June 30 to agree on the start of the relocation process.

"This ground-breaking judgment allows the government to plan better and to fast-track the building of integrated human settlements across the country and to work in an organised manner towards the achievement of a South Africa free of slums and informal settlements," said director-general of the department Itumeleng Kotsoane.

He said the housing development agency and government officials would work closely with evicted communities to ensure their new temporary homes had all the basic amenities. "As government we must ensure that clinics and creches are there, children must go to school, and disruptions to people's lives are minimised," Kotsoane said.

The general manager of the government's N2 Gateway housing project, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, said the judgment was good news for both parties.

"A better life beckons for the people of Joe Slovo informal settlement. The highest court in the land has pronounced its judgment, and the biggest winners are the families who will soon put the misery of shack dwelling behind them...

"We are mindful of the fact that temporary relocations pose temporary inconveniences for the people, and will continue the measures already in place to minimise disruption and uncertainty."

The case relates to an eviction order granted by the Cape High Court in March to allow the national government to build formal houses under its N2 Gateway project.

But the residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement
appealed to the Constitutional Court, saying they were legally living on that land.

The residents also argued that 70 percent of them should be legally entitled to qualify for the new houses to be built by the government.

"The appeal succeeds in part and is dismissed in part," read the judgment handed down in the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court justices found that the residents were living illegally on the land.

They also said the new temporary housing had to comply with certain standards. These included that a residential unit should be at least 24m2 in size, be serviced with tarred roads, be individually numbered, have walls constructed with a substance called Nutec, have a galvanised iron roof, have electricity, and access to fresh water and flush toilets.

As the Joe Slovo residents awaited the news from Constitution Hill on Wednesday, they gathered on a patch of grass at the entrance to the informal settlement.

Sifiso Mapasa, chairman of the Joe Slovo Task Team, said on the eve of the ruling he could not sleep.

After receiving snippets of the judgment from the community's lawyer in Johannesburg, Mapasa said: "We respect the decision, our issue has always been that government had not properly consulted people in the process of establishing the N2 Gateway."

- Cape Times

W Cape may win land war with ANC

The Western Cape government looks set to get back the land that was transferred to the Housing Development Agency (HDA) by the ANC provincial government shortly before April's general elections.

This was revealed by Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday at the provincial parliament when she responded to a question about the findings of an investigation into the land transfer.

Zille said they were getting legal advice on the process applied in the transfer of the pieces of land, but that lawyers had informed her there was a chance that the land would be returned to the province.

ANC chief whip Max Ozinsky wanted to know whether Zille had, to date, found any evidence to suggest that the transfers were illegal, to which she responded that she had been informed that "apart from immorality and the cynicism of the actions, the 1 000 hectares (of land) was done without the approval of the provincial Treasury".

Zille said this was irregular and that the transfer of the Housing department land was done without taking it to the provincial legal department.

"And I was also informed by lawyers that there is a substantial chance of us getting the land returned, which demonstrates that it was not appropriately processed, and it was done with unseemingly haste in order to finish the transaction before this government came into power."

She said that she had written to the national ministry of Human Settlements and the chief executive of the HDA, to place on record that her administration questioned the legality of the transaction and to request a meeting with them to resolve the issue.

Zille said they did not believe that the land transferred and land availability of units would result in the fastest or the most active delivery of housing on the parcels of land involved.

She said the HDA did not yet have a development arm in place.

"The disastrously run Thubelisha Homes which repeatedly failed to meet its targets on the N2 Gateway project has yet to be replaced. So, what the HDA is doing with this land or how it is going to develop this land - even it does not know," said Zille.

-Cape Argus

Court seals fate of Joe Slovo residents

The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that 20,000 residents in the Joe Slovo informal settlement on the Cape Flats must be evicted.

However, five judges said in an unanimous judgment that those evicted must be given alternative housing.

The Constitutional Court upheld in part an appeal brought by residents after the Cape High Court granted an eviction order last March.

Although the Constitutional Court ruled that the eviction order stands, it said those evicted must be consulted with first and must be given alternative housing.

Also, 70 percent of the new formal houses to be built on that land, must be allocated to former Joe Slovo informal settlement residents who apply for and qualify for this housing, the judges ruled.

The national government wanted to move the Joe Slovo residents 15km away to Delft to make room for formal housing being built under the N2 Gateway project.

The Cape High Court granted the government an eviction order, but Joe Slovo residents appealed that ruling in the Constitutional Court.

In September 2007 residents clashed violently with police over the evictions.

Some partly-constructed homes on the Slovo site were damaged, and several people arrested.

Joe Slovo is one of Cape Town's biggest informal settlements, containing about 4,500 crowded shacks. It is 10km from the city centre.

- Sapa

Concourt to rule on Slovo eviction

The Constitutional Court is to rule on Wednesday on a bid by about 20 000 residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement on the Cape Flats to overturn an eviction order.

Thubelisha Homes, the national government's housing agency, wants to move them 15km to Delft, to make room for formal housing being built under the N2 Gateway project.

Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe granted the eviction order in March last year, and the challenge was argued in the Constitutional Court in August.

The residents have contested the validity of the order, saying among other things that it is not just and equitable.

They say they have a legitimate expectation that 70 percent of the houses in the new development should be allocated to Joe Slovo residents.

In September 2007 they clashed violently with police over the evictions.

Some partly-constructed homes on the Slovo site were damaged, and several people arrested.

Joe Slovo is one of Cape Town's biggest informal settlements, containing about 4,500 crowded shacks.

It is 10km from the city centre. - Sapa

Rubber bullets and violent protests rock Samora Michelle

Samora Michelle and Olivier Thambo Drive was a battleground between police and residents protesting for the second time in 2 weeks against poor service delivery, and seeking formal housing.

While Police were dispatched to control the situation, with rubber bullets, the City Committee spokesperson Kylie Hutton said the city was doing all it could to addreess the situation.

"They are looking at human settlements as a whole and how they can deliver services to them."

'We will willingly go today if...'

There were cries of "hallelujah" in the Cape High Court on Tuesday when pavement-dwellers from Delft on the Cape Flats won a reprieve in their fight against eviction.

Acting Judge Jake Moloi "reluctantly" granted their request for a postponement of the eviction application, which was supposed to be argued on Tuesday.

He ruled instead that the matter be heard on September 3, and ordered 139 families facing eviction to file answering papers by June 30.

So far they had filed nothing, and the court did not know whether their opposition to the eviction was valid or frivolous, he said.

The application was brought by the City of Cape Town, acting on behalf of the Western Cape provincial government.

The families are among those who illegally occupied newly-completed homes in Delft intended for beneficiaries of the N2 Gateway project.

When they were evicted in February last year, they chose to erect shelters on the pavement of Symphony Way, rather than move to rudimentary corrugated-iron homes offered in a temporary settlement area nicknamed Blikkiesdorp.

The families did not have legal representation on Tuesday.

Instead, the attempt for the postponement was argued on their behalf by Ashraf Cassiem of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.

"I'm happy that the court is finally listening to poor people who cannot afford legal representation," he told Sapa afterwards.

He said the families wanted to be evicted, but to proper homes, not a temporary relocation area.

"We will willingly go today if they make that proposal," he said.

About 50 pavement-dwellers and their supporters, closely watched by police, attended the hearing.

They applauded when Moloi announced his decision, ululated, whistled and shouted. - Sapa

R10-million to stop City land invasions

The City of Cape Town is spending R10-million in the current financial year to fund its Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) in an effort to safeguard housing projects it says “are being threatened by systematically planned and executed land invasions”.

But anti-eviction organisations have slammed the unit, saying the money could be better spent elsewhere and that it is leading to “war” between communities and the city.

The ALIU - established to monitor, stop and evict those who attempt to erect shacks illegally - dealt with 29 land invasions during the 2008/2009 financial year, said ALIU head Steve Hayward.

This number included 17 in Helderberg, six in Tygerberg, two in the South/Central region and four in Blaauwberg.

Hayward said in all 29 land invasions the unit had acted immediately and succeeded in removing people from city-owned land.

Hayward said the unit had obtained eight court interdicts to prevent people from further occupying land.

In the latest high profile incident, Macassar backyarders invaded city-owned land on May 19. The invasion saw rubber bullets being fired by police and the backyarders being evicted from the land. In total, four people were arrested.

Hayward said in the Macassar case, structures had been taken down and building material confiscated, but that these materials had been returned to the backyarders on Wednesday last week (03/06/2009).

Macassar backyarders have argued that their eviction from the land was illegal, but Hayward denied this, arguing that the backyarders had attempted to take land in an unlawful manner.

He said the law provided no protection to people who sought to illegally invade land.

He said a court order was only required for the demolition of occupied shacks. In the Macassar case the structures which were dismantled were all still in the course of being erected and not occupied.

But Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC) spokesman Mncedisi Twalo said he was “upset” by the way the ALIU had treated backyarders and warned of mobilisation in the Western Cape due to what he described as people being “unfairly” treated.

He said while expensive infrastructure such as malls were built, there were thousands in need of houses. Cape Town’s housing backlog is estimated at 400,000.

Twalo criticised the money allocated to the ALIU, arguing that “so much money could have been used to build houses, instead of going to a unit that has formed war between communities and the city”.

He accused the unit of being “arrogant” and treating people badly when dealing with land invasions.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the city said a number of housing projects were scheduled for completion in the next few years and there was concern “these projects are being threatened by systematically planned and executed land invasions”.

The upcoming financial year would see work beginning on 16,280 “housing opportunities” and R68-million had been allocated for the purchase of land.

Some of the biggest projects included 1,350 units in Happy Valley Phase 2, 3,500 units in Bardale , 2,850 units in Nonqubela and 1,650 units in Wallacedene.

“While remaining strictly within the confines of the law, the City’s Anti Land Invasion Unit is determined to repel these invasions under the supervision of the Metro Police and the SAPS,” the city said. — West Cape News

Building collapses after heavy Cape rains

About 70 people had to evacuate a 110-year-old building in Salt River, Cape Town before it collapsed due to heavy rains early on Saturday, city disaster management said.

"The residents of the double storey building were moved to a hall in the area," said Disaster Risk Management Centre head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

The Old Junction hotel was built in October 1899 and building inspectors declared it unsafe for human occupation after it collapsed.

Meanwhile, about 7350 people from 20 informal settlements were affected by the heavy rains which have hit the mother city.

Areas around the Cape Flats including Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Philippi were the most affected by the cold and rainy weather, but no residents had been evacuated from their homes.

"The rain will clear today and the cold front has subsided in areas around the Cape Town Metropole. We don't expect people to be evacuated," Solomons-Johannes said.

He appealed to motorists to drive carefully, to residents to make sure their roofs were intact and to clear rubble that may block storm water drains. - Sapa

Thousands affected by rains

Cape Town – Some 7 350 people from 20 informal settlements have been affected by the heavy rains which have hit the mother city.

Areas around the Cape Flats including Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and Philippi were the most affected by the cold and rainy weather, but no residents had been evacuated from their homes.

"The rain will clear today and the cold front has subsided in areas around the Cape Town Metropole. We don't expect people to be evacuated," said Disaster Risk Management Centre head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

He appealed to motorists to drive carefully, to residents to make sure their roofs were intact and to clear rubble that may block storm water drains.

- SAPA

Scores displaced on Cape Flates due to heavy rains

About a 1 000 people have been displaced due to rainy weather on the Cape Flats in Cape Town. Disaster Management spokesperson, Charlotte Powell, says they are currently monitoring the situation in nine informal settlements. - SABC

Samora Machel residents protest violently

Samora Machel residents say they will continue to protest until the government provides clear answers on when they will receive formal housing.

Yesterday police dispersed residents with rubber bullets as they barricaded the bottom of Oliver Tambo Drive with burning tyres.

But the City of Cape Town said Mayor Dan Plato's committee on informal housing would meet next week to ad-dress concerns raised by the residents and those of informal settlements across the city.

Earlier yesterday morning the protesters closed Vanguard Drive at the Oliver Tambo intersection, pelting a passing Golden Arrow bus with stones and burning rubbish.

Police spokeswoman Nto-mboxolo Sitshitshi said no arrests had been made and that police would continue patrols in the area today.

A representative of the group, Siyabulela Mafo, said they would be handing a memorandum to ward councillor Monwabisi Mbaliswana in the next few days.

Mafo said the community had been promised formal housing by the national and provincial departments of Housing and the City of Cape Town. But as yet another winter approached, these promises had not been fulfilled.

He said they would continue with protests for the next few days. They had originally planned the action to take place before the national elections, but did not want the protests to seem politically motivated.

Another resident, Alfred Mohakali, said their cries for government assistance repeatedly fell on deaf ears.

He has been living in a backyard dwelling for the past ten years.

Mbaliswana, the local ward councillor, said he was aware of the community's concerns. He said he would be meeting with relevant city officials.

"I want the officials to come chat to the residents to give them answers on their issues."

City spokesperson Kylie Hatton said Plato would hold a meeting with city officials on Wednesday to discuss issues including the management of informal settlements; the provision of financial assistance to the poor; and land acquisition. "These are not cut and dried issues, and the committee will be looking at the concerns as a whole."

- Cape Argus

Homeless fight Cape Town city

TAKING A STAND: Khayelitsha residents marched to the Cape Town mayor’s offices last week protesting against being forcibly removed from vacant land in Macassar near Khayelitsha . PHOTO: ANNA MAJAVU It is raining and cold there ... babies are sitting in the rain MORE than 200 back-yard residents are caught up in a legal battle with the city of Cape Town for occupying land in Macassar, near Khayelitsha. The group, organised by Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape, said they were tired of paying R500 to rent rooms in back yards so they have built shacks on the vacant land. Abahlali baseMjondolo scored an early victory against the city when they won a Cape high court interdict preventing the city from demolishing their shacks. But the city’s anti-land invasions unit destroyed the shacks anyway. Vusi Matikinca, the group’s attorney, told Sowetan yesterday: “It is raining and cold there. There are babies sitting in the rain. “The city acted unlawfully because they did not abide by the Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act. They said the land belonged to us and you have no right to come here. “The group admits the land does not belong to them but we have a problem with the city’s unlawful behaviour,” Matikinca said. But the city’s anti-land invasion unit head, Stephen Hayward, said they had the right to evict the residents. “We did not need a court order,” Hayward said. “When someone dispossesses anyone else of his property the owner has the right to take the property back.” He said the city had won the battle by getting its own interdict against Abahlali baseMjondolo yesterday, preventing the group from occupying the land. Meanwhile, the group’ s leader, Mzonke Poni, has appeared in court after being arrested on Monday. Poni laid assault charges against the city after metro cops followed him to the Macassar taxi rank and allegedly hit him over the shoulder and collarbone with handcuffs. An officer allegedly told him he would be arrested if he did not stop photographing the demolitions. When Sowetan saw Poni at the Macassar police cells yesterday he was bruised. Police confirmed that he had been treated in hospital for his injuries. - Sowetan

Housing Pressure Cooker Builds in Western Cape

The Western Cape, and the City of Cape Town in particular, faces an acute housing backlog of 400,000 - a number at the root cause of violent service delivery protests that sporadically disrupt parts of the City.

And with an influx of 2,000 new migrants every month, the number of houses being built by all spheres of government seems unlikely to significantly dent the backlog and alleviate the demand for housing.

The Western Cape’s backlog makes up a sizeable chunk of the national backlog of 2.15 million and is second only to Gauteng’s. Since April elections there have already been four service delivery protests, with frustration over a lack of housing the main reason given for the protests.

In the 16,000-strong Joe Slovo informal settlement, one of 223 informal settlements in the City that are home to 540,000 people, frustration with a lack of housing delivery runs high.

Gloria Qaga, 35, a mother of six children, said conditions in the informal settlement made her children sick and she could not raise them properly from her two-bedroom shack.

“The government does not care about us or care about what we want on our land. They are after money and if you don’t have it then tough luck,” she said.

Qaga said she had first registered for an RDP house in 1994, but had not heard anything. She then registered again in 2004, but had still not heard anything.

The settlement, in Langa, Cape Town’s oldest township, was identified as the site for the national government’s N2 Gateway Housing Project, which seeks to deliver 22,000 houses. But most residents have refused to move to a temporary relocation area in Delft, 40 kilometres away, to make way for the development.

Remaining residents have taken the fight against their eviction to the Constitutional Court, where a decision is pending.

They argue for the right to remain in the area, which is close to the city, employment prospects and services.

Although the N2 Gateway project is a national government initiative, the province and the municipality are also important players when it comes to housing delivery.

Alida Kotzee, the director of strategy support and coordination in the City’s housing directorate, said there were 306,801 applicants on the City’s housing database, but an additional 100,000 “guestimate” of people had not been registered and needed to be added.

Some of the people on this list might be housed in rental stock so not all where in need of shelter, but “all express the need to benefit from a housing subsidy and own a property through the subsidy process”.

Kotzee said the City experienced an influx of 2,000 people a month or 24,000 a year.

But according to Herman Steyn, the City’s manager of new housing, only 6,439 housing opportunities were provided in the 2007/08 year.

Even added to the provincial and national housing figures, it therefore appears unlikely that the backlog will be dented.

Western Cape housing department spokesperson Zalisile Mbali said over the last five years 76,924 houses had been provided.

Projected figures for the next three years were for an average of 16,000 houses per year. Assuming funding increased, 16,000 units would be delivered per annum for 2012/13 and 2013/14.

Mbali said given the backlog the department was placing emphasis on in situ upgrading of informal settlements. It was also moving to give full housing accreditation to the City of Cape Town and fostering public private partnerships.
- West Cape News

“We are tired of waiting”

Mavis Khuthala, 34, lives in a two-roomed shack in Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, Cape Town.

Made from wood and cardboard, the floor of the shack is sand, there are no windows and the household has to use a bucket toilet a block away. She shares the shack with eight children and one other adult.

Khuthala has been on the housing waiting list for 12 years, but although she has seen housing developments going up all around her she has yet to get a house.
She is one of 400,000 people in Cape Town on the housing waiting list.

“We are tired of waiting and nothing is being said to us about when we will get houses,” she said.

Khuthala said she had first registered with the City of Cape Town in 1997, but her name had never appeared on any lists of allocated houses.

She said she had registered again in 2004.

Later, when the N2 Gateway Housing Project, a national government project to deliver mass housing, was announced in 2005, she said she had hoped to be allocated a house, but had heard that only employed people who earned a monthly basic income would be allocated houses.

Khuthala is unemployed and her household survives on R720 pooled together from child support grants.

On numerous occasions in 2007 and last year, she said she had checked with the City of Cape Town to see if a house was available, but been told to “wait like everyone else”.

Khuthala takes care of her own five children and three belonging to her sister.

She spends most of her days in her shack taking care of them, but feels the children are not safe in the shacklands - something she believes will change if she gets a house.

Although she has access to electricity, she said most months she ran out of money and could not afford to buy power.

She is therefore forced to use paraffin and candles, which present a fire hazard to the children.

In addition, she is also concerned about hygiene.

Residents throw out dirty water in front of her shack and because of a lack of sanitation there is a risk of diarrhea and other diseases.

“This is not a place to raise children. I need a house so that my children can have a decent home, like other children,” she said. — West Cape News