Over 300 left homeless after shack fires on Cape Peninsula

Over 300 people have been left homeless after a number of shack fires in the Cape Peninsula overnight. Cape Town fire and rescue services say a fire which broke out in Site C, Khayelitsha in the early hours of this morning, destroyed about 50 wood and iron structures leaving roughly 160 people homeless.

A fire in the KTC informal settlement left 70 people displaced, while a further 15 shacks burnt down in Phillipi. No injuries have been reported. Yesterday, it was reported that the number of people left destitute by the fire that broke out in Philippi on the Cape Flats has doubled to 400.

- SABC

Cape flats fire leaves 400 people destitute

The number of people left destitute by the fire that broke out in Philippi on the Cape Flats has doubled to 400. Yesterday morning, disaster management officials put the number at about 200 people, but more shacks burnt down than initially thought.

About 100 shacks were gutted at an informal settlement in Bristol Road. The cause is unknown at this stage. A spokesperson for Disaster Management, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes confirmed that disaster management is on site assisting people with humanitarian aid consisting of food, clothing and blankets as well as clearing the site and issuing them with building material to re-erect their structures. - SABC

One killed and 250 left homeless after Cape fires

One person has been killed and more than 250 people left homeless following fires at two informal settlements in the Cape Peninsula.

Disaster Managment spokesperson, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, says one person was burnt beyond recognition when a fire swept through the Wallacedene informal settlement near Kraaifontein.

Thirteen shacks were gutted and 55 people displaced. Solomons-Johannes says in the second incident, 200 people were left homeless at Site B in Khayelitsha, when 60 dwellings were gutted.

He says the causes of the fires are unknown but authorities are investigating. He added that disaster management is on the scene to assist the people with the necessary relief aid. - SABC

Fire destroys shacks, scores left homeless

MORE than 150 Du Noon residents were left destitute on the eve of Christmas when a fire believed to have been started by an angry boyfriend gutted 59 homes early yesterday.

It is understood a man has been arrested for arson.

Residents claim the fire was started by a man who caught his girlfriend cheating on him in a shack in Du Noon's Site 5 informal settlement about 2am yesterday.

The angry residents said when the man, whose name cannot be released until he appears in court, tried to assault the woman and the man she was with, she fled, leaving both men behind.

"He was swearing at them and he took a paraffin lamp and threw it against the wall. Then he ran away as the fire spread," witnesses said.

They said they saw the man later being arrested by police, but Table View police did not confirm this yesterday.

Milnerton traffic patrol centre officer Dean Smith said the fire was fanned by a strong south-westerly wind and quickly spread to other shacks.

By the time fire fighters arrived, the tightly packed shacks had already been reduced to smouldering heaps. At least 150 people were left homeless after the blaze.

Thapelo, 29, who did not want to give his surname, said his house was far from the source of the blaze, but it quickly reached his home, engulfing it in flames.

He said: "We were asleep when I suddenly heard people calling out that there was fire. I ran outside, but I could not save anything. We have nothing to our name now."

He said a new pram bought for their two-year-old daughter as a Christmas present had been destroyed.

An emotional mother of two, Bongiswa Makatesi, said that besides belongings, she had lost more than R1 000 in cash - money she had kept to buy clothes for her children and parents. Makatesi said she did not know where she would sleep last night.

When Weekend Argus visited the informal settlement yesterday, residents were salvaging what they could from the wreckage and were trying to rebuild their homes.

Community leader Mandikhaya Mpumputhwana said this was a "hard knock" for the families, especially as it had happened just before Christmas. (from IOL)

CT fires leave 260 homeless

About 260 people were left homeless after two shack fires overnight on Friday in Khayelitsha and Woodstock, the Cape Town Disaster Management Centre said.

Centre spokesperson Wilfred Solomons Johannes said that the first fire happened in Site B, Khayelitsha, just after 13:00 on Thursday when 40 shacks were burned down. One hundred and sixty people were left homeless. They were not injured.

During the night in Railway Road, Woodstock, 39 shacks burned down. Some 100 people were affected. None were injured.

Solomons Johannes said the cause of the fires were not yet known.

However disaster management officials were on site and providing food, and blankets, as well as clearing the site. Building materials would also be provided to the affected people for them to rebuild their homes.

- SAPA

Early Christmas for Drakenstein residents

THE Drakenstein Municipality enlightened 20 families’ lifes with their own homes on Tuesday 15 December and 61 families by 18 December. Two disabled persons with special needs in Fairyland (Phase 4) were provided with facilities that will give them better access to and inside their houses.

As part of the housing ceremony on 15 December the Chief Executive Officer of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, Calvin Gilfellan, planted a tree as a symbol of life. Cape Town Routes Unlimited together with Drakenstein Development Trust donated 200 trees to Drakenstein. These trees will be planted with- in the next few months.

The Drakenstein Housing Department has planned in terms of the Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan for the financial year 2009/2010 to provide 1300 housing opportunities to people in dire need of housing.

The Western Cape Minister of Housing, Bonginkosi Madikizela, visited the Drakenstein housing projects on 3 December and was very positive with the People’s Housing Process (PHP) concept for housing and with the quality of houses built in the Drakenstein area.

“There are still problems with the PHP concept, but I will send you suggestions and changes to improve it. I am very impressed with the final touches done on the houses.

“It is much better than what I saw in other parts of the Province. I will make R10 million available for next year for housing in Drakenstein,” Minister Madikizela said.

The Drakenstein Housing Department is confident that they will meet their target of providing 1300 houses by the end of June next year. - Paarl Post

Why is Tokyo Sexwale supporting Mugabe and Zanu-PF?

I heard Tokyo Sexwale, on a clip broadcast by SAFM, saying at the Zanu-PF conference that “the ANC would always support Zanu-PF” and that they would help them win the elections.

Help them win – how? The same way they have “won” since 2000? By intimidation, displacement of voters, refusing new registrations?

The real question is “Why”?

The “Liberation Leaders” kleptocracies of Africa have not enriched themselves on land. Most of Africa is either subsistence farming or undeveloped. If you want to understand “ why” read the book “The Trouble with Africa” by Robert Calderisi. The land issue in both Zimbabwe and Africa is a red herring.

Robert Mugabe was alleged to be worth 60 billion dollars before 2001, when the land grabs started. I doubt he made that from selling milk to Nestlé in less than a decade.

What the kleptocrats of Africa have plundered is mineral wealth.

Tokyo led the delegation of business “investors” from SA to Zimbabwe as well.

Tokyo has mining interests.

Nelson Mandela’s grandson and Zuma’s nephew have invested millions in mines in Africa.

Mbeki’s family were said to be related to Mugabe’s by marriage.

Is the ANC elite linked to the Zanu-PF elite in mining ventures in Africa?

Is this why the ANC will “help” Zanu-PF win the elections? ...- Richmark Sentinel

Victims of Zimbabwe blitz struggle to build houses

HARARE — Four years after her house was demolished in a blitz by Zimbabwe's government, Chipo Chama still lives in a grass thatched shack struggling to find a better home for herself and her two children.

Though she is married to a builder, the 27-year-old housewife has rickety wooden planks for walls and covers her roof with plastic sheeting to keep out the rain in Harare's Hatcliffe suburb -- far from the neighbourhood where she used to live.

"Right now I don't have a housing lot, but we are paying money to local co-operatives (to save for a down payment) so we may get lots to build houses," Chama said.

And she is far from alone. According to official estimates, some two million Zimbabweans in this country of 12.2 million require accommodation.

In 2005, Chama had a sturdy brick and cement house with asbestos roofing, but the government bulldozed it, saying it was illegal and was not fit for human habitation.

The blitz, which was named Murambatsvina -- meaning "Drive out filth" -- left more than 700,000 people homeless and shattered the livelihoods of 2.4 million people whose small businesses were also destroyed by President Robert Mugabe's government.

The police and the army gave only short notice to people to move their property from buildings slated for destruction, causing property losses estimated in millions of dollars.

Some now live in settings far worse than the homes that were razed, often without water, electricity or sewers, coping with harsh conditions made even more abject by the country's economic straits.

The campaign was widely seen as an attempt to tamp out support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which enjoys much of its support in Zimbabwe's cities.

But since MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai joined a unity government with Mugabe in February, little has changed for the victims.

Chama says she lost property worth 300 US dollars -- a huge sum in a country where per capita GDP was estimated at 200 dollars last year.

Despite her loss, she hopes one day she will be able to find a lot to build a house for her family.

"I hope that in the years to come we will be able to build homes like in other surburbs," Chama said.

Another victim of Murambatsvina, builder John Chitawa, 49, told AFP that his life has never been the same after his property and little belongings were demolished in the clean up campaign but says life has moved on, and is picking up from where he left four years ago.

"When Murambatsvina hit us we lost a lot of things because the two roomed house I had built and the property was destroyed," Chitawa said adding that he lost valuables worth 3,000 dollars.

"The whole property I had was lost, my bed, my wardrobe, radio. I was attending a funeral when the blitz came and everything was destroyed and I was left at ground zero."

Chitawa, one of the few who got a housing lot from the government after Murambatsvina, has already built four rooms but there is no electricity, water is not flowing in taps and he uses a ventilated pit latrine -- known here as a Blair Toilet -- as the sewer system is not functioning well.

A few houses were built by the government of President Robert Mugabe in 2005 but were far from accommodating all the victims of Murambatsvina and the houses lacked water and sewers.

Housing Minister Fidelis Mhashu said the new unity government is mapping up a policy to build low-income housing, adding that if the country does not give priority to building houses for the homeless slums will emerge.

"We don't have slums in this country of the likes of those in Kibera, Kenya, and other countries," he said referring to one of the biggest slums in Africa.

"We are aware that if we don't act with speed we are going to have problems of slums appearing or mushrooming," Mhashu said.

Mhashu estimates that the country has a housing backlog of two million people and said the government will approach donor countries and financial institutions to assist in building houses as the government doesn't have money.

"Our country estimate is about two million people require accommodation," Mhashu said.

"We are frantically looking for funds from our financiers throughout the world."

- AFP

Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Harare

Saturday 12 December 2009

Delivered on behalf of the ANC by ANC NEC member Tokyo Sexwale, South African Minister of Human Settlements

On behalf of the ANC, and on behalf of the President of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, the ANC wishes Zanu-PF a very productive and successful congress.

Zanu-PF played a very important role in bringing about an end to racism, colonialism, apartheid, and all forms of discrimination, and played a leading role in ushering in freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe.

Zanu-PF supported the ANC and all other liberation movements in southern Africa, in the quest for their freedom and democracy. It cemented political and other ties with the ANC and the people of SA. Therefore, the importance of Zanu-PF in the politics of Zimbabwe and the region cannot be overemphasized.

We trust that this congress provide s an opportunity for robust debate and introspection and will help to breathe fresh life into Zanu-PF.

It is also our sincerest belief that much thought and ideas will emerge from this congress including a leadership that will carry the aims and ideals of Zanu-PF to greater heights.

Key amongst these should be to advocate the interests not only of the party but of the collective citizenry of Zimbabwe and to continue to entrench the democracy which you fought for so tirelessly over the years.

We trust that Zanu-PF will stay on course in this regard mindful of the imperative to unite all Zimbabweans as one people even under these challenging times.

We hope that Zanu-PF emerges as a strong force from this congress to address the political and economic challenges that are facing the country. These challenges include inter alia the consolidation of political stability, economic recovery and development, poverty alleviation and to confront various diseases which are taking their toll on the people of Zimbabwe.

We in South Africa came to learn not to deny the realities and to shy away from the dangers of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, which took a toll on our people. Our leadership in South Africa has taken the fight against HIV/AIDS in particular to greater heights.

It is also our belief that the strength to be gathered from this congress will inject more life into the functioning of the interim government formed on the basis of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

We as the ANC will continue to work with Zanu-PF and all other parties in the GPA. We wish to convey our sincerest hopes that Zanu-PF will lead the way that will ensure that the decisions of the GPA are implemented in full. We believe that the GPA has laid the basis of economic recovery and further development for Zimbabwe. We want to take this opportunity to appeal to the Zanu-PF leadership and all its members to support and chart a course through this period of negotiations that should lead to a lasting solution to the challenges that face Zimbabwe.

It is our considered hope that these negotiations should become a resounding success.

Our presence here as an ANC delegation is to send a message: that the ANC and Zanu-PF have been one throughout the period of the struggle against colonialism, racism and apartheid. The people of Zimbabwe and the people of South Africa, under the leadership of these two organizations, have emerged victorious against colonial oppression, to establish democratic rule in our different countries.

If things don’t go well in SA, Zimbabwe will be affected. Similarly, if things don’t go well in Zimbabwe, we in South Africa will be affected, because after all, we are only separated by a mere river, the Limpopo. At heart, we are one people.

It is also important to engage in robust debates among one another as comrades, to criticize one another where we believe solutions can be offered in a constructive manner. Nelson Mandela always reminds us that the enemy does not criticize you — he wants to see you fail. Only friends can therefore level criticism on one another.

Our message at this conference, again, is to support your deliberations, express our solidarity with the conference, and wish you well and success in your quest to better the lives of all Zimbabweans and to consolidate your democratic rule.

Phambili nechimurenga

Amandla!

Cde Sexwale took the opportunity to ask for Zimbabwe's support for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, saying his country would be sending a delegation to brief Government on what support they would need.

In response, Zanu-PF passed a resolution at the end of the congress throwing its weight behind South Africa as an able host that could successfully stage the soccer extravaganza.

Fire displaces 1 000 in Khayelitsha

Fire prevention officers will today try to determine the cause of a Khayelitsha fire, which destroyed 150 shacks, left two people in hospital and displaced more than 1 000.

Firefighters battled the blaze for most of yesterday afternoon in the Khayelitsha Y-section, but their efforts were hampered by strong winds and soaring temperatures. Late yesterday, there was still no indication of what had caused the fire.

"There will definitely be an investigation to find out the cause," an operator at the Fire Control and Command Centre said.

One firefighter and a Khayelitsha man suffered smoke inhalation and were admitted to hospital.

Disaster Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said about 150 shacks were destroyed in the blaze. Officials helped 1 000 displaced people find alternative accommodation in a community hall. They were provided with housing starter kits to rebuild their homes.

NGO Mustadafin Foundation provided the residents with hot meals, blankets and clothing.

Solomons-Johannes said workers would continue clearing the site of debris today.

Also yesterday afternoon, flames swept quickly through the Orange Kloof Reserve near Hout Bay when they were fanned by strong winds.

The cause of that fire and the extent of the damage to the vegetation was unknown.

Fire fighters and seasonal staff worked on the ground to extinguish the blaze as a helicopter dropped water on to the flames. Table Mountain National Park used an additional two 4x4 bush tenders to extinguish the blaze.

- Cape Times

Du Noon stopping legal power supply

Plans to install electricity in several informal settlements in Du Noon are being delayed by the refusal of residents to move to a temporary relocation area (TRA).

But those living along Potsdam Road, often the scene of violent protests over the lack of services, said they had not been given enough information to make the move.

Yesterday, an Eskom team went on a site inspection to highlight the dangers posed by illegal connections. Joe van der Westhuizen, Eskom's capital programme manager for the Western and Northern Cape, said shacks would have to be moved away from the area if the utility was going to go ahead in providing electricity.

"Part of the road needs to be dug up so that we can lay our underground cables," Van der Westhuizen said.

Many of those who objected to being moved from the Ekhumphumleni informal settlement, which was not serviced by Eskom, said their livelihoods could possibly suffer if they were moved.

Mayor Dan Plato, who visited the area in October, said nothing could be guaranteed for those who would move into the TRA.

"We are willing to provide electricity (for the people of Du Noon), but for that to happen we can't satisfy the needs of individuals," Plato said.

In Ekhumphumleni thousands of illegal connections can be seen running above the roofs of homes, from the built-up section to the informal settlement and across the busy Potsdam Road to the unserviced Doornbach site.

Residents, on average, pay R60 to be connected to the illegal grid of wires and then pay a flat monthly fee of around R250 for the cost of electricity.

Initially, all the residents on serviced sites in the area had received electricity, but Eskom was not able to keep up as the community expanded.

Eskom had applied for, and received a grant of R150 million for electrification projects in the Western Cape.

Although he couldn't say how much revenue was lost due to illegal connections, Van der Westhuizen said the utility had spent R4m last year to deal with the problem in the Western Cape.

- Cape Times

N2 Gateway housing scheme opened for locals

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela has done away with former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu's N2 Gateway housing plans for Langa, Cape Town.

Sisulu, now defence minister, had wanted to remove thousands of people from the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa to make way for 1500 houses, many being houses out of the financial reach of the area's mostly unemployed residents.

Madikizela made the announcement last night to about 1000 people packed into the Joe Slovo's informal settlement's wood and tin "community hall".

He was set to announce his new plan for the area at a press conference to be held at provincial government offices this morning.

Madikizela told Sowetan that he would build 2800 houses, enough to accommodate all 8000 people living in the settlement.

He said "no one will go to Delft" (a temporary relocation area about 30km away).

The MEC also promised to do away with the "70-30 formula" where 30% of the houses would have been allocated to backyard dwellers from other communities.

But Madikizela also warned the crowd "not to bring their relatives".

The only people who would have to move were people who earned too much to qualify for a government-subsidised house, or those who had previously received a government subsidy, he said.

Joe Slovo task team leader Mzwanele Zulu, who led the residents' campaign not to be forcibly removed to Delft, praised the announcement.

"Thus far we are on the same page if government is playing with open cards, unless they are going to disappoint us."

But others in the crowd were sceptical, saying it was not clear who qualified for houses and who didn't.

- Inet-Bridge - IOL Propterty

Welcome to the City’s Housing Database Search

Relocating Joe Slovo residents impractical and costly - MEC

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela on Tuesday said government would have to spend more than R33 million on temporary relocation structures for Joe Slovo families if they were evicted from their current site.

The MEC announced the thousands of people living in the informal settlement would not be removed.

The decision is despite a Constitutional Court ruling in June that government could evict some of the families.

Instead, Madikizela said they would all be given first preference on a planned housing development in the area.

He said relocating the families to Delft would have been problematic for people who worked or went to school nearby.

“We have discovered that 32 percent of people living in Joe Slovo are working, and out of that 32 percent, 57 percent are actually commuting by train, and there’s no train in Delft,” said the MEC.

- Eyewitness News

Mayor tells residents DIY

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato has taken a swipe at residents of new housing developments in Mitchells Plain, saying his own inspection found that their complaints that their houses were "falling apart", were false.

Urging the residents of Eastridge and Tafelsig to help themselves rather than depending entirely on the government, Plato told them to tile their floors and erect covers over their outside doors.

Plato visited the areas yesterday to follow up on complaints made by residents at a recent meeting.

'I haven't seen a house yet with major structural mistakes'

When he arrived on Monday, community members reiterated their complaints about the houses, saying nothing was being done to rectify the faults.

But Plato said the problems were not as bad as described.

"I received complaints about the structure of the houses and that they are falling apart. I promised the community that I would come out to see for myself, but what I found was something different.

"Mainly, I haven't seen a house yet with major structural mistakes, faults or damage, although there are minor mistakes," he said.

Plato appealed to the home owners to tile their floors to stop the cement from being eroded, and to erect covers above their doors to prevent rain from dripping through.

'As government, I expect them to do something for themselves'

"As government, I expect them to do something for themselves and not to be so dependant on government alone," Plato said.

In cases where people chose to make improvements themselves, the quality of houses were also improved, he said.

Michael Page, the project manager for both developments, said problems were being repaired, but that the process would take some time.

"We are working from one end to the other, so they are still waiting because we haven't reached them yet," he said.

"It's not a case of nothing being done. It's just that the teams haven't yet got to where they are."

Page added that vandalism of incomplete houses also posed a major problem.

A former community leader, who refused to be named, also complained that some owners were renting out their houses to people who use them to illegally sell alcohol.

Plato promised to launch an inquiry. - Cape Argus

Society must be cautious of fires

City of Cape Town Disaster Management Services on Tuesday urged residents to play their part to prevent veld and shack fires.

At least seven shacks burnt down at Thabo Mbeki Informal Settlement near Phillipi on Monday.

There were no injuries in the incident but 35 people lost their homes.

Officials said it was unclear how the blaze started.

The services’ Wilfred Solomons Johannes said they started providing help to the affected people.

“Disaster Management was on site and assisted the affected victims with the necessary disaster relief aid. Building kits have been issued to erect the structures. No persons were injured in the fire and an investigation has been launched by authorities,” said Johannes.

- Eyewitness News

Joe Slovo people to get ‘new houses’

WESTERN Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela has done away with former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s N2 Gateway housing plans for Langa, Cape Town.

Sisulu, now defence minister, had wanted to remove thousands of people from the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa to make way for 1500 houses, many being houses out of the financial reach of the area’s mostly unemployed residents.

Madikizela made the announcement last night to about 1000 people packed into the Joe Slovo’s informal settlement’s wood and tin “community hall”.

He is set to announce his new plan for the area at a press conference to be held at provincial government offices this morning.

Madikizela told Sowetan that he would build 2800 houses, enough to accommodate all 8000 people living in the settlement.

He said “no one will go to Delft” (a temporary relocation area about 30km away).

The MEC also promised to do away with the “70-30 formula” where 30percent of the houses would have been allocated to backyard dwellers from other communities.

But Madikizela also warned the crowd “not to bring their relatives”.

The only people who would have to move were people who earned too much to qualify for a government-subsidised house, or those who had previously received a government subsidy, he said.

Joe Slovo task team leader Mzwanele Zulu, who led the residents’ campaign not to be forcibly removed to Delft, praised the announcement.

“Thus far we are on the same page if government is playing with open cards, unless they are going to disappoint us.”

But others in the crowd were sceptical, saying it was not clear who qualified for houses and who didn’t.

- Sowetan

Hundreds homeless after Joe Slovo blaze

Many Joe Slovo residents in Cape Town have lost their homes after a fire swept through the informal settlement on Saturday.

More than 30 shacks were destroyed, leaving 150 people homeless.

Officials say the cause of the fire is unknown.

“Disaster management teams are on site and we are busy assisting the affected victims with the necessary humanitarian and disaster relief aid. We will launch an investigation into the cause of the fire,” said Disaster Management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

This is the third fire at a city informal settlement this week. - Eyewitness News

Homeless make way for 2010?

Cape Town - Homeless South Africans complained on Thursday they were being forced from the streets of Cape Town to make way for a host of star-studded, glamorous events surrounding next year's World Cup tournament.

Isaac Lewis, 41, said police have arrested him for loitering six times in the past month. Before that, Lewis said police mostly left him alone. He said he's been homeless for most of his life.

Police harassment "is increasing, everyday it's increasing," he said. "It's because they want to make a good impression for the foreigners coming. We are like insects to them, or flies."

Football officials and a host of international celebrities descended on the seaside city ahead of Friday's gala tournament draw.

Lewis spoke on the eve of the draw ceremony, which was to include Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a recorded address by Nelson Mandela, and a street concert. South Africa, where more than a quarter of the work force is unemployed and millions live in poverty, is hoping for an economic boost from the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected to the World Cup.

Lesley de Rueck, Cape Town's director of 2010 operations, denied the city was pressuring the homeless for the World Cup's sake. Felicity Purchase, a city council woman and member of a mayoral committee on economic development and tourism, said that the city wanted to get people off the streets for their own good as well as to keep the city "tidy."

Linzi Thomas, who founded a project to help street children and the homeless, was convinced Friday's draw ceremony and next year's tournament are the reasons that local authorities have been pressuring the homeless in recent months to move off the streets and into settlements like Blikkiesdorp, a grim camp on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Ziettha Meyer, 29, said she was taken off the streets and brought to Blikkiesdorp by a social worker who threatened to throw her in jail if she didn't go.

"She just came and dropped us here like we were a bunch of chickens," she said. "We didn't have a choice."

Shamielh Du Toit, 33, said she moved to Blikkiesdorp under similar circumstances six months ago.

"They came to us and said, 'people you must move away from here because we are cleaning up for the World Cup,"' she said.

Du Toit said the nearest train station to her shack is a 30-minute walk. She said can't afford the $2 roundtrip fare to Cape Town, so she can't look for work in the city. When she was living on the streets of Cape Town, she said she worked in a convenience store, earning about $7 a day.

"For me, always it was better on the streets," she said. "At least you can see people around you, and feel that you're alive," she said. She said crime and drug use are rife in Blikkiesdorp, and that she was afraid to leave her shack at night.

Blikkiesdorp's corrugated tin shacks, with a toilet and tap for every four dwellings, stretch in neat, sterile rows. The dusty settlement was created in 2008 to house 650 people evicted from buildings they had been illegally occupying, but now accommodates 1 452 families, according to Cape Town spokesperson Kylie Hatton.

Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato visited the site in mid-November following complaints by residents about the lack of basic services. Du Toit said he didn't enter because a crowd gathered at the front gate and jeered at him.

City spokesperson Hatton said that Blikkiesdorp is designed as an emergency haven for those forced from their homes by evictions, floods or fires.

"It's not a forced relocation. It's completely voluntary ... we don't target homeless people," Hatton said.

Hatton said that although the site is intended to be temporary, the lack of available housing keeps the city from putting a limit on how long people stay before being moved to better accommodation. She added that residents are encouraged to put their names on the city's housing waiting list, which has 300 000 people on it, although the need is estimated at 400,000.

Mansoor Mohamed, executive director for social development and tourism, said that while informal traders would be allowed to sell their goods during the June 11-July 11 World Cup, "illegal hawking" at traffic lights will be stopped.

According to Jason Brickhill of the Legal Resources Center, an independent human rights group based in Johannesburg, homeless South Africans in Pretoria and Johannesburg, two of the other cities where the tournament will be staged, are also being arrested by police for loitering, and illegal evictions are on the increase.

"In my mind it's linked to the World Cup," Brickhill said. "There has been talk of the need to clean up the streets, where the dirt is the people." - SPORT24

Presidency 'spins' the splurge

The Mail & Guardian newspaper has criticised the presidency for releasing a statement on an exclusive story set to appear on its front page on Friday.

"By effectively breaking our story in advance, and robbing us of exclusivity, the presidency has damaged the relationship of trust that we had developed with officials there," said M&G editor-in-chief, Nic Dawes in a statement.

The presidency issued a statement on Thursday, saying President Jacob Zuma was not using taxpayer's money to foot the bill for an expansion to his Nkandla homestead.

The M&G said this followed an attempt to obtain comment from the presidency about the construction, giving it a fair chance to respond.

The statement was issued late on Thursday afternoon, just before the paper's deadline.

The M&G said it was a "clear attempt to limit the impact" of the story.

The paper discovered the construction work during a visit to Nkandla at the weekend and had established details of large new houses, a clinic and helipad being built.

Trust

It approached both the presidency and the public works department for comment. The former refused to respond and the latter "untruthfully insisted" that no building was underway.

"Competition is an important part of a vibrant media landscape, and the drive to secure scoops is an important energising factor in our constitutionally prescribed work. Skilled communicators understand this, and realise that they need to be able to work with us.

"If government communicators make it impossible for us to trust them with basic courtesy, we will struggle to share information with them, and two things will suffer: their ability to shape our opinions, and the willingness of journalists to seek all sides of every story.

"Ultimately, that is bad for democracy," Dawes said.

The presidency, in its statement, said the renovations which government was paying for was in line with the security and medical requirements afforded to heads of state.

These alterations were taking place outside the perimeter of the Zuma household, said spokesman Vincent Magwenya.

Construction of accommodation for Zuma's security staff, a helipad and a clinic would be paid for by the government.

"The Presidency is fully aware of the need to separate public from private expenditure.

"The demarcation at Nkandla is very clear, and there can be no reason to confuse the private construction work in the Zuma household and the state facilities that will be constructed outside the perimeter."

The Zuma family and not the taxpayer was footing the bill for the expansion of the residence.

"We urge the media to leave the family alone to conduct its business, and reject any insinuation that there could be any untoward abuse of state resources by the president or his family," he said, adding that plans to expand were made before the elections.

"No government funding will be utilised for the construction work. This is a private matter which should be left to the family," Magwenya said.

- SAPA

Zuma's R65m Nkandla splurge

President Jacob Zuma is expanding his remote family homestead at Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal for a whopping price of R65-million -- and the taxpayer is footing the largest chunk of the bill.

The expansion will turn the presidential homestead into a sprawling precinct that will include a police station, helicopter pad, military clinic, visitors’ centre, parking lot with parking for at least 40 vehicles and at least three smaller houses that will serve as staff quarters.

See video footage of the development

Phase one of the project, comprising two houses, one of them a double-storey structure, and a guesthouse, is already under way.

Given that state money is involved, how future presidents will benefit from the development remains unclear.

Government insisted this week that it has no record of such a development and no hand in any of Zuma’s personal property endeavours.

Shortly before the Mail & Guardian’s deadline the presidency released a statement changing its tune. The statement reads: The Zuma family planned before the elections to extend the Nkandla residence, and this is being done at own cost. No government funding will be utilised for the construction work.

“Outside the perimeter of the Zuma household, a few metres from the house, the State is to undertake construction work in line with the security and medical requirements relating to Heads of State in the Republic. The security services have to construct accommodation facilities for their staff that attend to the President, erect a helipad to ensure safe landing for the Presidential helicopter and a clinic as per medical requirements.”

Public works spokersperson Koketso Sachane said on Wednesday: “Please note that there is no work or extension project taking place at President Jacob Zuma’s homestead at Nkandla.”

The presidency also claimed no knowledge of such a project, saying that Nkandla is Zuma’s private home and therefore no business of the state.

It accused the M&G of “setting out to embarrass the president” by publishing a story.

Further attempts to obtain comment from communications head Vusi Mona were futile.

On Thursday December 3 Mona promised to consult Zuma and get back to the M&G, but he did not respond to calls later in the day.

However, the M&G understands that a meeting to discuss the project was held at Nkandla on August 2, attended by the surgeon general, Vejay Ramlakan, and a representative of the department of public works.

Ramlakan, through his spokesperson, referred all queries to the presidency “because it is happening at the president’s homestead, so it is his matter to comment on”.

When the M&G visited Nkandla last weekend, an earth-mover was excavating the ground next to the existing homestead to prepare for the construction of the initial phase of the project.

Two cement mixers and two water tanks were on site as well as construction offices where the architectural plans for the construction are kept.

About 12 construction workers were working overtime to ensure the project gets off the ground.

The site was devoid of company signage.

The contractor told the M&G the three new houses would cost R4,1-million and would be funded by Zuma in his personal capacity. However, this was only phase one of the project.

The total cost of the development will run to R65-million, according to sources closely involved with it. “It is R65-million, but it will probably be more in the end. You know how it goes with building, the prices always go up and up,” one said.

There is no time frame for the completion of the development.

The M&G understands part of the reasoning behind the mammoth extension is to enhance the homestead’s capacity to host VIP guests and their retinues.

On election day this year former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo -- in the country as an election monitor -- popped into Zuma’s home after a helicopter flight. More of such visits are expected in the future.

A military source said there was also a need to extend the homestead’s capacity to house Zuma’s health and security staff, most of whom stay in Eshowe when Zuma is at Nkandla.

A source said: “This is cumbersome in terms of response time, so the idea was to build a bigger facility to house all the support staff in Nkandla when the president is there.”

The houses are apparently being built to accommodate two wives currently living at Nxamalala, MaNtuli Zuma and MaMbhija Zuma.

The complex already includes a house for his first wife, Sizakhele, built in 2000 shortly after he became deputy president.

Sizakhele uses the main house with various relatives, mostly women and children, who live in rondavel-type structures around her. A silver E-class Mercedes and a white Toyota Prado 4x4 are parked outside and serve as the first lady’s transport.

During the corruption trial of Zuma’s former financial adviser Schabir Shaik in 2004, the state produced evidence that alleged bribes flowing from French arms firm Thales helped finance the building of the homestead.

Zuma’s last visit to Nkandla was in September according to a security guard, but he is expected to spend time there over the Christmas period.

He will then host the annual Christmas party for children and attend to the long queues of local people who line up outside to visit him and discuss issues pertaining to the village.

According to architectural plans shown to the M&G, the precinct will include a garden that will house ancestral graves. The area is due to be cordoned off by a brick wall which will make provision for only one entrance.

The two new main houses are kidney-shaped and contain his-and-hers bathrooms, formal living rooms, walk-in closets and a study.

One house contains four bedrooms, while the smaller has three.

Double-volume ceilings will be fitted to the homes, which will sport thatched roofs, in the same style as the current homestead, which is cordoned off by green palisade fencing.

The plans were drawn up in August by Durban architects, the names of whom the M&G was unable to establish. However, no record of the plans could be found at the local deeds office in uThungulu municipality in Richards Bay.

Nkandla houses 13 000 people, many of whom have no access to electricity, and in-house water is a rarity. Work is taking place on the road leading to the presidential homestead to make it more accessible. - M&G

Islanders played football with food - Sexwale

Even though Robben Island prisoners broke the laws of apartheid, they never broke the rules of Fifa, former islander Tokyo Sexwale said.

He was speaking to local and international media on the island shortly after addressing a meeting of the Fifa executive held there.

Sexwale, now minister of human settlements, served as general secretary of the prisoners' Makana Footballers Association on the Island.

They even played football with fruit

Figures such as President Jacob Zuma and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke acted as referees.

Sexwale said the prisoners had defied every rule of apartheid and continued to do so on the island. But they never defied the rules of soccer, which were "sacrosanct".

"Even if Maradona does something strange, even if (Thierry) Henry does something with his hand, here we defy apartheid, but you don't defy Fifa rules."

Sexwale said the prisoners were originally not allowed to take part in any form of sport but "started to fight back".

They began by bundling rags together to make a football in their cells, or using anything else that could be turned into a spherical object. They even played football with fruit.

"Men had to stand together just for rights to have a football," he said. "Ja, we were freedom fighters, yes we were soldiers, yes we were liberators of our people, but we never forgot to unite ourselves and our people behind the beautiful game of football."

Sexwale is a member of the 2010 Local Organising Committee and of Fifa's Fair Play Committee. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail, but served 15 years, 13 of them on the Island.

- Cape Times

Perhaps Sisulu's spokesman heard voices

DEFENCE and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale are actually Very Good Friends, or VGFs, and that's official.

How people got the impression they were attacking each other is still a mystery in government circles.

Usually when ministers appear to be bad-mouthing one another, or they say things that make themselves look silly, it is the fault of the media for quoting them out of context. Context is a wonderful thing, but quite rare, because when you ask the aggrieved politician to explain exactly what the context was, he or she talks such gibberish that no one understands the context, and everyone is profoundly thankful that the original statement wasn't in it.

But in Ms Sisulu's case she wasn't quoted out of context, because she never said it in the first place. Her spokesman, Ndivhuwo Mabaya, did. Somehow or other he got it into his head to accuse Sexwale of not launching a single project since he took over the housing portfolio from Sisulu.

VGFs joined at the hip, practically

He also got it into his head to tell Sexwale that his minister was quite right to spend more than R20 million on a play to explain the government's new housing plans, after Sexwale had announced he was halting performances because he had "no time for plays and theatre that had nothing to do with building houses".

Sexwale said this himself on the radio, so his spokesman is for the moment in the clear. Possibly listeners heard it out of context.

But to get back to Mabaya. If Sisulu didn't say what her spokesman did, what prompted him to say those nasty things about Sexwale? Did he read her mind? If so there has to be a great future for Mabaya in government, which is in dire need of people who can read anybody's mind, especially President Zuma's. But Sisulu is such good friends with Sexwale that she wouldn't even think bad thoughts about him.

The only explanation is that he heard voices. And having heard the voices, he issued a statement that put the wealthiest man in the cabinet in his place.

I would recommend to Sisulu that she send Mabaya off for psychological counselling before he hears any more voices ordering him to sow dissension in government ranks. Single-handed he could cause a party split.

Sexwale is in a more difficult position, not being able to pin anything on his spokesman. Has he thought of accusing a ventriloquist of putting words into his mouth? I wonder. The only danger then lies in being called a dummy.

He definitely said he planned to repair defective RDP houses at a cost of R1 billion and bring in a special team to investigate low-cost housing fraud. That's a good thing for any housing minister to say, And Sexwale would be wise not to deny it. Can you imagine what that would sound like: "I shall not be repairing defective RDP houses at a cost of R1 billion and will not be bringing in a special team to investigate low-cost housing fraud."

But this statement so annoyed Sisulu's spokesman that the voices in his head told him to point out that she had initiated the plans for the repair of the houses and the fraud inquiry while she was still housing minister. Naturally Sisulu herself would never dream of hurting Sexwale's feelings by saying such a thing herself.

That is why they issued a joint statement that they were "surprised and taken aback at complete misinterpretations of their working relationship, and have vowed not to let distortions drive them apart".

VGFs joined at the hip, practically.

This article was originally published on page 8 of The Cape Times on December 02, 2009

Sexwale and Sisulu make up after spat

Following below-the-belt punches which prompted the ANC to call for a ceasefire, ministers Tokyo Sexwale and Lindiwe Sisulu have smoked the peace pipe - blaming a spokesman for their perceived strife.

In a public relations exercise, the two ministers issued a joint statement yesterday claiming to be true comrades in arms.

"Ministers Sisulu and Sexwale are surprised and taken aback at complete misinterpretations of the state of their working relationship, and have vowed not to let distortions drive them apart."

The two politicians traced back their "long-established" relationship which "goes beyond the borders of South Africa".

"The ministers also have in common the fact that one serves as minister of human settlements while the other is the former minister of housing under whose leadership the 'breaking new ground' human settlements policy was developed.

"The ministers have great respect for each other and continually engage each other in a robust and direct way on issues of governance and other matters," said the joint statement.

Sisulu blamed her spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya for issuing an "unauthorised" statement on her behalf. In the controversial statement, Sisulu accused Sexwale of claiming credit for initiatives she introduced while he had not come up with any new programmes since his appointment.

The attack on Sexwale was triggered by comments he made on a radio show that he had scrapped a R22 million theatre production because it had nothing to do with the building of houses.

Sexwale also told his staff that such wasteful expenditure would not happen on his watch.

The play, A re ageng Mzansi, was introduced under Sisulu's watch. It is understood that the defence minister viewed Sexwale's comments as an attack on her.

The ANC entered the fray, calling on the two ministers to refrain from "negative debates" and rather work together to ensure that the government delivered on its mandate.

Yesterday, Sisulu's head of communications, Siphiwe Dlamini, said Mabaya's statement had "not been approved" by the minister and did not "reflect the views of the minister or the department concerned".

"Administrative processes are being instituted against an official involved in the distribution... of an unauthorised statement concerning the Ministry of Human Settlements. It is not befitting of an officer of government to speak in that fashion of a minister..." said Dlamini.

Mabaya's "tone and language" were unfortunate, said Dlamini.

Mabaya did not reply when notified of the statement yesterday.

- The Sunday Independent

Woman burns to death in Delft

A wheelchair-bound woman burned to death in her Wendy House home in Delft on Monday afternoon, said Western Cape police.

Captain Joe Wilson said patrolling police investigating billowing smoke found the hut on fire in the yard of a house in Leiden at 1.15pm.

People were frantically trying to put out the blaze, which also burnt down the house, he said.

It was after emergency services had extinguished the flames that the charred remains of double leg amputee Carol Poggenpoel, 40, were found inside the hut. She was alone at the time of the fire.

Wilson said the cause of the blaze was not known. Foul play was not suspected. - Sapa