Builders' council boss on special leave

National Home Builders' Registration Council (NHBRC) CEO Sipho Mashinini has been put on special leave following allegations of corruption against him, says the organisation.

He was granted "special leave of absence" following a meeting between Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, NHBRC chairman Vukile Mehana and media reports on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a staff memorandum released to the media.

Mashinini was CEO at the time the NHBRC offered Vanessa Somiah, who was investigating the organisation for corruption, a job with a annual salary of over R1 million.

This was nearly double her pay as leader of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) team tasked to probe allegations of corruption in public housing. She resigned as investigator and joined the council, without telling the SIU where she was going.

While in her new job, she testified at a disciplinary hearing against NHBRC employees who had alerted the SIU to the possible corruption.

Sexwale removed her from her post earlier this week.

According to the memorandum Somiah also remained on special leave.

The council has appointed Jeffrey Mahachi as acting CEO.

Sexwale said on Tuesday that Mashinini would be the subject of further investigations. He said he was in favour of all possible steps being taken against those involved in covering up corruption at the council, including criminal charges.

"I don't want half measures ... I really don't take prisoners on this kind of thing," said the minister.

He said the SIU would repeat its investigation into allegations of corruption at the NHBRC, as the report he had received was clearly "a whitewash" riddled with discrepancies that warranted proper analysis.

SIU head Willie Hofmeyr said this should take two to three months.

- Timeslive

Sexwale demands probe into NHBRC

The National Home Builders' Registration Council (NHBRC) has been advised to probe claims against CEO Sipho Mashinini on the appointment of a former Special Investigating Unit (SIU) official, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said.

An outraged Sexwale said the NHBRC offered Vanessa Somiah a salary of more than R1 million a year -- nearly double her pay at the SIU -- to quit the corruption busting unit, in a move he described as "bribery".

Sexwale said Somiah had since been suspended from the NHBRC post, which was created without the requisite ministerial approval.

Somiah oversaw the SIU's four-year-old probe into corruption in public housing and was personally tasked with investigating corruption allegations within the NHBRC at the request of the ministry.

At the same time, she was secretly offered or applied for a senior post in the NHBRC, allegedly in collusion with its CEO Sipho Mashinini, who was one of the people under investigation, Sexwale said.

"It came to light that, at the same time as she was in the process of working on the report for the department of human settlements, she was ostensibly negotiating with, and subsequently became employed by the NHBRC at almost twice the salary she was earning at the SIU.

"Within weeks of her employment the NHBRC while conducting some kind of disciplinary action against its employees, listed Ms Vanessa Somiah as a witness against some of them who were whistleblowers while she was at the SIU.

"It is quite clear to any thinking person what the objectives of all these machinations were about.

"I regard all this as not only devious but also shocking, to realise how some of those who are supposed to be in authority in our campaign against corruption can undertake such reprehensible measures to undermine this fight," Sexwale said.

He said Mashinini had been given a final written warning and would be the subject of further investigations.

"The council has been further advised that investigations around Mr Mashinini ought not to be conducted while he is in office."

Sexwale said he was in favour of all possible steps being taken against those involved in covering up corruption at the NHBRC, including criminal charges.

"I don't want half measures ... I really don't take prisoners on this kind of thing."

He said the SIU would repeat the investigation into allegations of corruption at the NHBRC, as the report he had received was clearly "a whitewash" riddled with discrepancies that warranted proper analysis.

SIU head Willie Hofmeyr said this should take two to three months.

Hofmeyr said the affair was deeply unpleasant for the SIU and had been uncovered thanks to information received from the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu).

"We have received very good co-operation from the union in this whole investigation and I do want to thank them for that," he said.

Hofmeyr said Nehawu members blew the whistle before the Easter weekend, complaining that they had given Somiah information against Mashinini which she had failed to properly investigate.

Somiah left the SIU at the end of April, but failed to disclose that she was taking a job with NHBRC and had a conflict of interest.

"By that stage she had resigned, but she did not tell us who her new employer was," he said.

"The SIU is appalled by these allegations that reflect very negatively on the important work that we are tasked to do.

"We would like to make it clear that this kind of behaviour, if it is proven to be correct, will not be tolerated under any circumstances and that we will pursue individuals implicated in such behaviour harshly and vigorously."

Hofmeyr said that, at this stage, he could not say how much money was involved in the alleged corruption at the NHBRC or how many people were implicated.

The NHBRC's previous chairperson, who resigned last year, is also under investigation.

The NHBRC was established under the Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act, mainly to protect the interest of housing consumers and to regulate the home building industry.

The SIU's overall investigation into public housing corruption has so far led to the recovery of R55 million. Sources said the SIU was confident that the probe had not been compromised by Somiah's alleged misconduct.

- Sapa

NHBC bought off SIU investigator with top job - Tokyo Sexwale

Minister says Vanessa Somiah then testified against whistleblowers in disciplinary hearings

Media briefing by the Minister of Human Settlements, Mr TMG Sexwale on NHBRC issues

Following the reply that I, as Minister, made in Parliament regarding conflict of interest within the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), I undertook to brief the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements about further details.

The matter at hand is as follows: A senior official within the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Ms Vanessa Somiah, entrusted by the SIU with the task of investigating corruption allegations within the NHBRC at the request of the Ministry of Human Settlements, was at the same time secretly being offered or applied for a senior post in the selfsame NHBRC in collusion with one of the persons under investigation, namely Mr Sipho Mashinini, the CEO of NHBRC.

It came to light that, at the same time as she was in the process of working on the report for the Department of Human Settlements, she was ostensibly negotiating with, and subsequently became employed by the NHBRC at almost twice the salary she was earning at the SIU.

Within weeks of her employment, the NHBRC whilst conducting some kind of disciplinary action against its employees, listed Ms Vanessa Somiah as a witness against some of them who were whistleblowers whilst she was at the SIU. It is quite clear to any thinking person what the objectives of all these machinations were about.

I regard all this as not only devious but also shocking, to realise how some of those who are supposed to be in authority in our campaign against corruption can undertake such reprehensible measures to undermine this fight.

Background to this NHBRC saga

• The SIU was established by Presidential Proclamation in terms of the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act.
• The NHBRC was established in terms of the Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act.
• The Protected Disclosures Act protects whistleblowers from any form of victimisation.
• The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act empowers all citizens to report corruption.
• The Department of Human Settlements mandated the SIU in terms of Proclamation R7 of 2007 to investigate corruption within the housing sector.
• Last year I established the National Audit Task Team, working together with the SIU to deal with the scourge of corruption within the housing sector.

Several people, whistleblowers included, plus a member of the Portfolio Committee, Mr Steyn, raised with the Department concerns regarding possible conflict of interest and corruption at the NHBRC.

I mandated the SIU to undertake investigation into these allegations in line with the terms of reference for the National Audit Task Team referred to above.

The SIU produced a report on this investigation, a closer study of which revealed serious discrepancies which warranted proper analysis.

Actions taken by the minister

The Council of the NHBRC has been requested to explain Ms Vanessa Somiah's irregular appointment.

In respect of the CEO, Mr Mashinini, the Council has been advised to investigate certain specific allegations against him including the appointment of Ms Vanessa Somiah.

The Council has been further advised that investigations around Mr Mashinini ought not to be conducted whilst he is in office.

To date, the Council has always assured me of its complete cooperation with the Ministry and the SIU in respect of the original investigation which triggered all the above and related matters. Its previous chairperson, who is also under investigation, tendered her resignation last year.

This briefing is being brought to the attention of the Human Settlements Portfolio Committee as was undertaken by myself to Parliament last week. It is our considered view that this matter, although the entire NHBRC investigation is still to be concluded, has become a matter of public interest.

Let me assure everyone as I did in Parliament that no stone will be left unturned to get to the bottom of the saga. The fight against corruption must not just be spoken about - it must be seen to be done.

Our mandate of Human Settlements requires us to be vigilant in the protection of public funds. The NHBRC which, as a regulatory body, is virtually the monitor or "police" of our Department regarding the construction of housing country-wide. It must therefore continue to be seen as such.

Statement issued by the Department of Human Settlements, June 28 2011

Calls to flush R550m toilet contract

Parliament's human settlements portfolio committee is set to clash with the ministers of Public Works and of Human Settlements over a state agency the committee wants fired.

The committee recently commissioned legal opinion which found that the government would be within its rights to cancel the second and third phases of the Independent Development Trust's R550-million contract to build pit and flushing toilets in 25 rural municipalities.

The development trust, which falls under the control of the Department of Public Works, was to have completed the first phase of its three-year contract, worth R100-million, in April.

But it managed to spend only R46-million on 8368 pit toilets - a third of which were delivered after the deadline.

Though the committee does not have the power to fire the trust, it plans to table a report in parliament calling for Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde to cancel the rest of the contract.

If parliament accepts the committee's recommendation, Mahlangu-Nkabinde will have to axe the agency.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale last week pleaded with the committee to give the development trust more time.

"The worst thing would be to take government contracts and quickly give them to the private sector. I would want the development trust to fail completely before we do such a thing," he said.

However, MPs told Sexwale that they had been trying for 10 months to get the trust to deliver.

"Huge amounts of money are being forwarded upfront to this agency. How do we get this agency to function? We had less than 50% delivery on sanitation last year," said ANC MP Gloria Bornman.

DA MP Butch Steyn said tender documents indicated that the agency had no experience in sanitation and should not have been given the contract.

"It is precisely when a government agency, over which we have a little bit more control, does not perform that we should get rid of them.

''Sexwale's comment that we should give them time is ludicrous because what happens to the services people are waiting for in the meantime?" Steyn asked.

- Timeslive

Hemp House: South Africa’s Most Sustainable Home Made From An “Illegal Narcotic”

Tony Budden aimed to give the Hemp House the lightest carbon footprint possible, but had to import most of the materials since South Africa lacks a domestic supply of hemp products. The internal modular walls are comprised of hemp insulation and sealed with magnesium oxide boards, while the external walls are made from a lime-based hempcrete that is considerably less energy intensive to produce and less dense than traditional cement. But what makes the building South Africa’s most sustainable?

It is passively cooled, heated, and ventilated, incredibly well insulated, and partly powered by solar energy. The floors are made from sustainably-sourced cork, 85% of the furniture and cabinetry is made from hempboard, and all of the grey and black water will be treated and recycled. Also included are LED lamps to reduce energy use, eco-paints to prevent harmful off-gassing, and reclaimed stone.

Not only is the Hemp House an impressive achievement in sustainable building, but Budden’s determination to overcome misguided regulatory roadblocks to illustrate the huge environmental and social advantages of growing hemp locally puts this groundbreaking home on par with Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu peace efforts. Already government officials are reconsidering their formerly-held bias against what is actually an excellent antidote to water and chemical happy fibers such as cotton.

+ Hemporium

+ Better-Places

- inhabitat.com

The young and the washed out

While many were celebrating Youth Day yesterday, wheelchair-bound Fanisa Qaka was stuck in her flooded shack.

Qaka, 38, and hundreds of families in the Zola informal settlement in Khayelitsha, near Cape Town, spent most of the day trying to salvage their belongings and keep dry in their flooded homes.

In some homes where the water was knee-deep, residents sat on empty beer crates waiting for help.

The city's disaster management team offered to move the stranded residents into a nearby hall, but they could not move immediately because it had been booked for a Youth Day function.

"We have been frantically scooping the water out of our homes since Wednesday," said Qaka. "Now we're coughing and have caught flu.

"The whole house is damp, cupboards are filled with water and even our shoes are wet. There are four small children in this house, including my sister's two-month-old baby. We can't celebrate Youth Day; we're celebrating water."

Together with 3000 other families in the settlement, Qaka had to weather several incidents caused by heavy rains, winds and chilly weather in the Cape Peninsula.

Charlotte Powell, spokesman for the city's Disaster Risk Management, said there were 20 flooding hot spots around the city. The worst affected were those living on the Cape Flats because of "limited run-off" or drainage.

"The weather service predicted an 80% chance of rainfall between Wednesday and Thursday, gale force winds of up to 65km an hour, very cold conditions and rough seas as high as 4m and 6m."

She said a house was damaged by a mudslide in Hout Bay early yesterday. Flooding was reported in Philippi, Retreat and Strand and power lines were damaged by strong winds and lightning.

Powell said her department would provide blankets, shelter and food to affected families. She could not say, however, how many people would be evacuated from their homes.

Secretary of the street committee in the Zola settlement Luleka Mafenuka said: "Three thousand shacks have flooded. Everything is wet - clothes, blankets, beds. This happens every year."

- Timeslive

ICD: Rise in police abuse at service delivery protests

Police brutality had become more prevalent at service delivery protests in the past two years, but cases were often hard to solve because officers were reluctant to incriminate colleagues, the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) said on Tuesday

"It has been for the past two years that we have seen this," ICD director Francois Beukman said after a briefing to Parliament's portfolio committee on its backlog of cases.

The backlog came to 2 491 cases for the last financial year. Of these, 729 were in KwaZulu-Natal, 676 in the Western Cape, 506 in Gauteng and 219 in Mpumalanga. A drive to reduce the backlog saw the figure slashed by 57% to start the current year with 1 079 old cases on its books.

Beukman's staff told MPs it often proved difficult to identify the police officers who committed abuses at protests because they wore riot masks and fired rubber bullets which, unlike live ammunition, cannot be traced back to their weapons.

"One of the challenges we face with cases of service delivery protests is that we have units that are deployed from different areas," ICD chief director of investigations Tommy Tshabalala said. "There were protests in Balfour, there were protests in Ermelo in Mpumalanga, and in all those cases you will find that there were a minimum of four units or five units.

"They come in and restore order in terms of the protest and then withdraw thereafter, and then we get the complaints lodged thereafter.

"Part of the difficulty we have experienced ... where rubber bullets have been used, unlike live ammunition, they cannot be traced to a particular weapon," he added.

"More often than not these officers are wearing helmets."

Incensed

The ICD said in the case of activist Andries Tatane -- who died after he was filmed being beaten and shot by police in Ficksburg in April -- six officers were identified by their colleagues, but in similar cases they had not been able to find witnesses.

This included the death of two protestors in Ermelo in February.

"With the cases in Mpumalanga there are no witnesses who can identify the suspects in those specific cases where two people passed away, " Beukman said.

The remarks incensed committee chairperson Sindi Chikunga, who said the police had a duty to arrest fellow officers who committed abuses on the spot, not to wait for the ICD to launch an investigation.

"I cannot imagine a situation where constables would just be sent to an area without any senior person accountable for them.

"Sometimes it even irritates me when they will then say, 'Anyway, the ICD is investigating'. It is becoming a norm ... You cannot have an operation that takes place and nobody is accountable for what happens there.

"They are policemen, they have a constitutional obligation to fight crime, but nobody gets arrested."

'Let's not use euphemisms'

African National Congress MP Annelise van Wyk suggested that the ICD should attend protests as observers, but Beukman demurred that this was "dangerous".

"These marches are not supposed to be dangerous. If that is the case then there is a problem that we need to address holistically," Van Wyk retorted. "It is the right of citizens to protest. It is the responsibility of the police to deal with it in such a manner that it does not become dangerous."

She also chastised Beukman for saying people had "passed away" during clashes with the police at protests.

"Let's not use euphemisms, people did not pass away, they were killed at these protest marches."

ICD spokesperson Moses Dlamini said the body did not have precise figures at hand of how many of their cases were linked to police violence at service delivery protests, but confirmed that incidents of this kind had become "a trend".

The ICD investigates complaints against the police.

- Sapa

No home, no four walls, no warmth

Three-year-old Jim-Bop clutches a white teddy bear. It’s a gift for Imaan – the baby who will soon come home from hospital to live in a field.

The 10-day-old girl is the latest member of a community who live in makeshift shelters next to Kapteinsklip train station.

Jim-Bop idolises Spider-Man, but the toddler and the rest of the 120-strong community living on a field in Swartklip don’t need fictional heroes – there are real heroes living next door.

It’s getting dark on Thursday evening, and the 20 families are setting up their makeshift tents. A High Court interdict prevents them from putting up any solid structures and their materials have been confiscated by City of Cape Town officials.

The community instead uses branches as support poles and a blanket or plastic sheet as cover. They put up the shelters at night and take them down before the regular inspections. If the structures are up for more than 48 hours, law enforcers cannot pull them down.

While the tents are being set up, Jim-Bop runs across the field, helping to get wood for tonight’s fire. His real name is Neville, but he answers only to Jim-Bop – the nickname his dad gave him.

The toddler has spent the past six months living in the field with his mother, Renecia Davids, 25, and his brother, one-year-old Jermaine.

Davids claims she was beaten by her drug-addict boyfriend, Jim-Bop’s father, who often threatened her with a knife. When Jim-Bop sees a knife, he hides.

Davids was so scared that her boyfriend would attack their six-year-old daughter Chanice, who tried to protect her mother from the abuse, she sent her to stay with a relative.

She thought the abuse would never stop, but help arrived in the form of “land invaders”, who moved on to a nearby field a month ago. These people, her heroes, saved her and her children.

“They noticed the bruises on my face and continually tried to get us to move to their camp. Eventually I took my children – and my boyfriend left us and never came back. Since then we’ve become a part of the community here, and this is how we survive.”

It’s 7pm and the fire that Jim-Bop helped make is roaring. The last group of commuters walk home from the nearby station. Many live in the camp and are greeted with smiles and a hot plate of food. Tonight’s supper is a pot of fish breyani, donated by Rene Adams, a nearby resident and another one of the community’s heroes. If it weren’t for her act of kindness, there would have been no food on the crates that serve as a table.

It’s a special night for the camp. New mother Ilhaam Abrahams, 27, has come home after giving birth to Imaan, Arabic for “faith”. Imaan, who was born six weeks prematurely and had to be delivered by Caesarean, remains in hospital. The camp residents helped to get Abrahams to the hospital after she started bleeding.

The area is barren except for the bushes which provide firewood. Some of the residents have dug underground shelters to protect themselves from the gale-force winds and heavy rains.

The camp’s residents offered to pay for a room for her to stay in with the baby, but Abrahams declined the offer, saying she wanted to stay at the camp with the people she knew cared about her and her child.

“It hurts so much to think I’ll have to bring her home to a field but I can’t give up my baby. I plan to look after the baby during the day, but I will leave her with relatives at night to keep her away from the harsh conditions here,” she said.

Residents chat about politics. They want new mayor Patricia de Lille to visit them – to see how they are living. They discuss Albertina Sisulu’s death. A man with a Manchester United beanie and scarf is chided by Liverpool supporters and told he’ll have to take off the kit or they’ll “evict him”. Everyone laughs – even the United supporter.

The residents catch up with each other until 1.30am, when they finally call it a night and retreat to their tents and trenches. The men take turns watching over the camp while the others sleep. There is no space in the camp for me or photographer Neil Baynes. We retreat to the car.

It is 6am and cold on Friday morning when the camp wakes up to start taking down the structures before law enforcement arrives.

Adams arrives at 8am to see how the people are doing.

A former member of the camp, Adams moved into the backyard of her parents’ house.

She often prepares food for the camp and stores any meat they receive. The children wash every second day at her house, and spend the day there when it is too wet and cold.

“I understand what the people go through because I went through the same thing, but I was fortunate enough to have a place to go back to after the raids started. The people here are like family and I’m only too happy to help where I can,” she says.

Faeza Meyer, one of the camp’s leaders, says the group has become stronger as a result of their adversities.

“Every challenge that comes our way we face together, whether it’s law enforcement taking down our tents or dealing with problems inside the camp.

“We are a real family and our bond will only become stronger.”

They have faith, none more so than Ilhaam Abrahams, who was about to make her way to hospital to feed Imaan.

“I’ve miscarried twice before, but with the faith of Allah, I knew I would give birth to my beautiful baby girl. I have faith that this child will live a blessed life.”

- Weekend Argus

Timeline of the ongoing battle at Tafelsig

* May 15: Thousands of backyard dwellers invade four sites in Tafelsig, earmarked for housing development over the next four years.

* May 16: Violent clashes between the invaders and police follow, after hundreds of shacks are demolished at Swartklip, one of the four sites. Eighteen people are injured and 14 backyarders arrested during the incident.

* May 17: The day before local government elections, and the City of Cape Town wins a Western Cape High Court interdict, allowing them to demolish the illegal structures and prevent the building of any new structures on city land. The city also applies for an eviction order.

Police and residents continue their battle on the Swartklip sports field, with police taking down dozens shacks rebuilt overnight. Police force the invaders off the field only for ANC provincial head Marius Fransman to lead them back moments later. Albert Fritz, then Community Safety MEC, calls for an investigation into Fransman’s actions.

* May 18: Most of the invaders comply with the interdict and the numbers at the four sites start to drop.

* May 20: The city is accredited to build houses by national government and newly elected mayor Patricia de Lille admits housing is still a major problem for the province.

* May 22: Land invaders drop to a few hundred. The city announces its plans to take invaders to court on June 1.

* May 26: More than 500 invaders march through the CBD against eviction order.

* June 1: Hundreds of backyarders from across the city demonstrate outside the High Court in support of the Tafelsig land invaders, as the court hears the application for the eviction order. Both sides agree to postpone the case until July 27 to allow invaders to find legal representation.

* June 5: Nine Swartklip families press charges of assault against city law enforcement. A pregnant woman is rushed to the hospital undergoing contractions after she claims she was assaulted during an inspection.

* Present: Law enforcement continues to patrol the four sites. A group of around 120 remain on the Kapteinsklip site, despite the threat of eviction.

- Weekend Argus