Just not good enough

THE house that was not good enough for sacked cabinet minister Sicelo Shiceka has six bedrooms and spectacular views, and is worth at least R9-million.

Instead, the "sick" minister moved into a multimillion-rand government penthouse suite while it was being renovated.

Shiceka was fired by President Jacob Zuma this week as minister of cooperative governance. Zuma did not givereasons.

Shiceka had been on sick leave for months, andit emerged he had spent a fortune staying in a luxury hotel because of an "influx" of mosquitoes at the mansion.

The Sunday Times also revealed how he had visited a jailed girlfriend in Switzerland at taxpayers' expense while staying in a five-star hotel.

His fall from power followed a damning probe by the public protector triggered by several Sunday Times exposés.

He was found to have wasted more than R1-million of public money on needless travel, R146,000 of that to stay in the six-star One&Only hotel in Cape Town.

This week, the Sunday Times identified his residence as a 534m² mansion on the highest street of the Cape Town suburb of Oranjezicht.

It has two driveways, a pool and a police guard hut. Municipal records show it was valued at R9-million in 2009.

In his responses to the public protector, Shiceka said he used the One&Only hotel because of "technical challenges" at his residence and because of "an influx of mosquitoes".

However, his immediate neighbour, tour operator Mario Filippi, said: "In 21 years here, I have never seen more than one mosquito at a time. That house could accommodate me and my entire extended family very comfortably."

Filippi said neighbours had joined together to defeat a proposal for high security walls around the property while Shiceka was staying there.

The house is listed, according to city valuation records, as having been built in 1953, which supports Shiceka's contention that the residence could have had technical problems. But a public works inspection report described the condition of the amenities as "reasonable".

Public protector Thuli Madonsela found that he had used the house regularly for over a year, which, she said, was "inconsistent with the suggestion that his residence was uninhabitable".

In addition to his primary ministerial home in Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria, Shiceka moved into his Cape Town mansion in November 2009.

The Sunday Times established that a R3-million seaside penthouse was made available to him for the past seven months while he was absent on sick leave.

A letter dated August 31 2011 from former minister of public works Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde - who was also fired this week - stated that a penthouse apartment at Sunrise Villas in Muizenberg had been allocated to Shiceka since work began on a "total upgrade" of the mansion on March 31.

Records show that the Department of Public Works spent R7.8-million on two penthouse apartments and five small flats at Sunrise Villas in 2005.

However, Botshelo Rakate, spokesman for the Department of Cooperative Governance, said Shiceka had not made use of the Muizenberg penthouse, saying it also had technical problems.

Meanwhile, other details of Shiceka's taste for the good life have emerged. While on sick leave, he stayed in the presidential suite at the Lesotho Sun.

Madonsela found he had used the fictitious name "Nkagisang Ngesi" for the booking and had unlawfully tried to force his department to use taxpayers' money to pay the R25,000 bill.

- Timeslive

Designer city 'just window-dressing'

Cape Town has been named World Design Capital for 2014 but the popping of champagne corks after Wednesday's announcement at the International Design Congress in ­Taipei could not drown out dissenting voices back home.

Among them was that of a senior Western Cape official who was involved in the initial bidding process. The official, who asked not to be named, was sceptical about the bid

committee's slogan, "Live Design, Transform Life", and the claim that the city's poor would benefit directly from the ­prestigious award.

"It is a positive accolade, but the money will be wasted and the poor will remain marginalised," the official said. He also questioned whether the award would improve public transport and "cater to the basic needs" of people who were living "in derelict conditions". "Cape Town first needs to reconfigure the big wart that is sitting on its face," he added.

A leading figure in South Africa's design community, who also asked not to be named, agreed. She admitted that the city's World Design Capital bid "sounded sexy" but doubted that the overall cost would ever be made public. She also raised ­concern about the long-term impact. "It's not like the World Cup when tickets are sold and you can track how many people come. There is no specific event [in 2014] that will hold it together. They will just be rebranding existing events," she said.

Other sceptics singled out Helsinki, which would be the World Design Capital in 2012. They cited Pekka Timonen, executive director of Helsinki's World Design Capital committee, who estimated that the initial budget would be between €15-million and €16-million.

It was not clear how much the initiative would eventually cost Cape Town, but the city would have to pay a "licensing fee" of €160000 -- about R1.76-million -- up front.

Official spokesperson for the bid committee, Guy Lundy, was unperturbed. He told the Mail & Guardian that corporate sponsors and advertising would cover the costs. "We want to move away from the idea that Cape Town is just a holiday destination. It is also on the cutting edge of the business sector," he said.

"Unlike the Fifa World Cup in 2010 we are showcasing local design for an entire year. Sponsors will have an opportunity to keep their public relations going for a longer period of time." Lundy admitted that it would be hard to quantify profits but he was adamant that the initiative would educate South Africans about how design could bring about economic transformation.

In her weekly newsletter Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said: "Our design approaches include plans for infrastructure development. They include new ways of building houses, new ways of providing clean water, new ways of ­supporting businesses and first-time job seekers, and new ways of moving people around."

Cape Town Partnership, the official coordinator of the World Design Capital bid, said there were 750 creative industries and businesses in Cape Town's city centre alone. It claimed that they would directly benefit from the 2014 initiative. In an article titled "Design: A Tool for Change and Reform", the partnership's managing director, Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana, challenged the idea that the World Design Capital was merely "a pat on the back for producing aesthetically pleasing monuments of design".

Instead, she said, it was a recognition that design could be a "tool for change". Architect and designer Y Tsai, who was also a member of the bid committee, remarked that Cape Town was a great "incubator" of design. Cape Town beat fellow nominees Bilbao and Dublin to take the 2014 title.

- M&G

How to build a Cannabrick Home - Cop17 Cape Design Solution

Peacefully Demonstrated outside the Department of Housing May 7 2005

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.
   
   Plant 'n hemp saad. Water en laat die plante om te groei en saad te produseer. Plant en water hierdie sade. Jou doel is om te groei genoeg is om 'n huis bou, jy sal ongeveer een aker benodig om' n 5-kamer huis te bou.
   
   
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.
   
   Oorweeg die baie relevante punte in die riglyne van die bou van jou huis stap aangebied-vir-stap.
   
   
   
   
   


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.
   
   Begin met die beplanning, waar jou huis sal staan. Oorweeg dit alles oor die omgewing en jy sal gebou in, soos winter en somer son, wind en reën - jy nie wil bou op 'n vloedvlakte, of jou huis sal wegspoelen nie. Maak seker om te beplan al jou water en afval vereistes voldoen.
   
   
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.
   
   Sny die gegroei hemp/cannabis plante af en in die veld verlaat om rhett vir 'n week. Die oggend-dou en die natuurlike verrotting proses sal die vesel van die plant los te maak.
   
   a. Proses van die plantmateriaal deur te sny blare en takke af, dan is getref klein bundels die lengte van die plant oor en omgekeerde hark.
   b. Die lang vesel dele wat in jou hand bly is goed vir die matte weef en die maak van verskeie ander items jou vaardighede kan bereik.
   c. Die saad kan vir meer behuising ingesamel word.
   d. Versamel die klein houtagtige bits (die hurd) wat gedaal het, die afval is wat sal in die konstruksie materiaal gebruik kan word.
   
   


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).
   
   Was die kudde, droog dit af, dan was dit weer. Wees versigtig om nie toe te laat die aangeleentheid te verrot of verval gedurende hierdie proses, deur die draai, voorlê en laat die Afrika-son om droog die kudde goed. Nou kombineer in verhoudings 10:2:3:3 kombineer die cannabis / ntsangu / dagga Hurd (10), gewaste riviersand 0.5 mm (2), hidrouliese kalk (3) en water (3) aan die deklaag te maak (Hierdie proses kan tweaking nodig, afhangende van jou geografiese ligging, humiditeit, reën, ens)
   
   
6. Now build your house! Ngoku ke yakha indlu yakho! Nou bou jou huis!
   
   
7. Teach others. Fundisa abanye. Onderrig ander.
   
   

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.

Calls for government officials to go GREEN

Cape Town - A suggestion has been made for government officials to go through a "mandatory energy efficient education."

In the same vein, Parliament in Cape Town and Pretoria's Union Buildings have been called upon to take the lead in energy saving.

Government has also been urged to stop the "urban sprawl" and have a coordinated approach on achieving energy efficiency.


This came out earlier on Tuesday during presentations to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Energy by various built industry players, such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Council for the Built Industry (CBE).

The meeting came at a time when the country and the global community is preparing for the much anticipated COP17 Climate Change talks later this year in Durban.

Dr Llewellyn van Wyk of CSIR argued that there were 10 things the government had to do in order to win the fight on energy-saving.

These, he said, included moving away from "urban sprawl" to integrated urban development and investing in alternative energy as well as innovative and bio-composite materials.

For instance, he said that industrial hemp, which can be grown four times a year in this country, could be used for building.

However, he said that the police were resistant in giving licenses for hemp growing, as some people tendered to grow the plant along with dagga.

While there were no simple solutions in saving energy, he called for "smart ways" in designing buildings and allocation of land.

He said that South Africa could save up to 23.3 million gigajoules of energy through clever design of houses.

By 2035, he said that the global energy use in the non-high income countries would have increased by 36 percent.

The committee admitted that the "situation is threatening and answers too hard to get."

Zola Skosana of CBE expressed concern on whether town planners were tapping into new and smart technologies when designing buildings.

He called on government to lead by example in the retrofitting of its buildings in order to save energy.

Steve Thorne, director of non-profit organisation SouthSouthNorth, said that they would upscale their Kuyasa Project in Cape Town to a National Sustainable Development Facility (NSDF).

The initiative was Africa's first Clean Development Mechanism project.

The committee was also impressed with the presentation on an "Integrated Energy Environment Empowerment - Cost Optimised (iEEECO)" project taking place in Atlantis, outside Cape Town.

The mixed housing project was also being funded by the Department of Human Settlements.

– BuaNews / Environmental Issues

Housing - Each One Settle One campaign Open invitation

In a desperate attempt to tackle the housing backlog, housing minister Tokyo Sexwale is appealing to the Good Samaritan in each South African to invest in SA’s future by buying another South African a house.

Housing minister Tokyo Sexwale is appealing to the Good Samaritan in each South African to invest in SA’s future by buying another South African a house.

He calls it his Each One Settle One campaign and says it has received a “heart warming response” from a number of companies since it was launched at the JSE a few weeks ago.

Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinum and Old Mutual have been the first to pledge their involvement, but it’s not just aimed at big corporates. “Someone called yesterday saying they would give us [enough for] 200 houses from their family foundation,” says Sexwale. “I’ve had calls from school principals, families, and individuals. Someone has offered us 2m bricks.”

So how does it work? Will donations be pooled into one big fund? Will it be used to give away RDP-type houses to the poor or is the idea to build and sell larger, quality houses to those in what is known as the gap market, who earn too much to qualify for government subsidies but too little to service a mortgage bond? If so, how will this campaign make gap housing more affordable?

Despite a lengthy interview, the FM is still none the wiser. Sexwale says there is no preferred funding or delivery model behind the campaign. “It’s very open, there’ll be a multiplicity of approaches so that it’s open to whoever wants to come. There’ll be a model for every specific situation.

“If you can help one South African to the tune of R55000 [the current government housing subsidy] do it on your own — if you know what to do . But if you don’t ,” says Sexwale, “give us your money and we’ll put it to good use”.

Given the well-meaning intentions of such a scheme it seems churlish to remind ourselves that 87% of the houses built by government between 1994 and 2010 are considered “high-risk” structures. This is due to various defects. Also, the minister had to take back R463m in unspent housing grants from provinces last year.

That aside, how can Sexwale expect companies that already pay high taxes and are involved in many social responsibility projects and BEE initiatives to donate more to government?

“You’re doing your duty to yourself and your country,” he says . “SA is being confronted by service delivery protests every day and they’re becoming increasingly violent. There’s a lot of impatience out there, so people can’t just sit back and say: ‘Sexwale must deal with this thing’.”

The background document outlining the campaign states that “unless we take individual responsibility for housing our fellow citizens, SA may find itself in a catastrophic recession similar to that of the US”. It also claims that the campaign could create “tens of thousands of jobs”.

These claims are overblown — the US is not in a recession, nor is this campaign likely to provide the kind of growth catalyst that could prevent SA entering a recession.

“The minister has, since his first days in office, demonstrated a flair for political theatre and gestures calibrated to win media attention,” says Rhodes University lecturer and housing expert Richard Pithouse. He feels “there is simply no way that a campaign like this has any chance of making a substantial contribution to overcoming the housing crisis”.

Pithouse also warns against the danger of making social rights the responsibility of business, arguing that only the state has that duty. Unfortunately, he says, Sexwale “hasn’t demonstrated any willingness to move beyond superficial gestures and to get to grips with the structural issues at the heart of our chronic urban crisis”.

Sexwale does not take kindly to armchair critics who dismiss his campaign as being populist or short on substance. Nay sayers, according to Sexwale, do not understand the magnitude of the problem.

Certainly, the scale of SA’s housing backlog is huge. The department has built over 3m subsidised houses since 1994, roughly 200,000/ year.

However, in 2008, SA’s housing backlog still stood at 2,1m. Since then it has grown to 2,3m because of rising urbanisation, population growth and decreasing household size.

The housing backlog means SA now has roughly 2,500 slums and about 12m people without access to decent houses, according to the department. Its goal is to clear the backlog by 2030 but it recognises that it can’t do this alone.

At the same time, Sexwale is impatient with the suggestion that a tax benefit be provided to encourage campaign contributions, saying: “When someone sticks his arm in your car window at a traffic light you don’t attach conditions.”

He is in the process of appointing “a very senior business person” to head the Each One Settle One desk in the national housing department. Campaign contributions will be made into a separate bank account and overseen by an independent board of trustees.

The department also undertakes to conduct regular media briefings and televised appearances to report on the campaign’s progress.

Leon van Schalkwyk, Impala Platinum group executive (strategic finance) thinks there is a business case for non mining firms to facilitate employee home ownership, saying it results in a “solid, satisfied workforce, staff retention and less pressure on employers to keep raising salaries, because workers at last have affordable housing”.

Impala is investing R2bn developing the new Sunrise View estate in Rustenberg. So far 1,500 houses have been built and a R17m school is next on the cards. But instead of renting or giving away RDP-type units, the mine has developed a more sustainable model.

It involves building quality two- and three-bedroom homes, costing up to R265000 each, and selling them to employees. This ensures that workers have an appreciating capital asset.

To ensure affordability, the mine has partnered the government’s National Housing Finance Corp (NHFC), which provides qualifying workers with mortgage bonds of up to R190,000. In addition, Impala provides these employees with a R75,000 interest-free loan. The lowest-paid workers also qualify for a government subsidy, which is offset against the bond to reduce the monthly instalments.

As a result, workers pay R1820/month for a three-bedroom unit whereas they would be paying R4043 at market rates.

Impala deducts beneficiaries’ mortgage instalments from the payroll. If a home- owner leaves the firm, he also has to begin paying interest on the R75,000 company loan. This helps to retain staff. Only 29 of the first 1,300 home owners have resigned over the past three years.

“We did it initially because we were driven by the mining charter, but now we see it works. It’s real upliftment,” says Van Schalkwyk. “It’s the right thing to do, to anticipate and invest in the future. It means our workers’ children will grow up in a decent environment and go to a decent school. In 10 years’ time they may work for us.”

Anglo Platinum is participating in a similar programme, facilitating the building of 20000 houses for its employees over the next 10 years, through an employer-assisted housing scheme that will cost that company R1,4bn. But normal companies don’t have the capacity to install bulk infrastructure, as the mines have done. If government could undertake to provide serviced sites, leaving it to firms to just pay for the top structure, then Sexwale’s appeal would look more attractive. It would stand even more chance if the SA Revenue Service could give incentives to companies to provide a housing benefit as a condition of employment.

“Then this thing could really work,” says Van Schalkwyk. “If we all do it, it’ll make for a better SA.”

- FM

Design a tool for change and reform

Whoever wins the World Design Capital 2014 award – to be announced in Taipei tomorrow – the process of bidding alone has already changed our city.

Just in documenting Cape Town’s design landscape – and that shaping the design-led course of our city’s transformation – through the 465-page bid book, we have learned to see our city as a human system. Many of the projects, blue-sky thinking and design contributions that make up the pages of this solid resource have begun to form a benchmark from which to convince the public and private sectors to invest in design as a tool to create the liveable Cape Town we strive for. It is also a healthy indicator of the prospects for a new and lasting knowledge and innovation-based economic sector.

If we are to develop this city into an inclusive one that allows all citi-zens to thrive, expand and innovate, we have to redesign our systems.

According to the Cities Network, the 1996 census found 54 percent of South Africans living in cities. By 2030, it is estimated 70-75 percent will live in urban centres. Design will be key in making this growth sustainable, economically viable.

Cape Town is one of the six metropolitan areas, together with the 17 next-largest cities and towns, which account for 70-80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Johannesburg, Cape Town and eThekwini (Durban) alone account for nearly 50 percent of GDP. Yet, given Cape Town’s academic, urban and natural gifts, we should be generating more jobs and greater economic return for the region than we currently are.

In the face of massive urbanisation, our city must meet several challenges. Our planning must en-sure that we can deliver on the basics, for instance, to house everyone by 2030 and beyond. We need to mobilise our collective talent and innovative thinking to evolve into a city designed to support human systems and human happiness – and to offer economic opportunities for all. Through design we can explore the options for this future city.

The newly formed Cape Economic Development Partnership, convened by Cape Town Partnership CE Andrew Boraine, is in itself a design project. The role of the EDP is that of a partnership organisation that brings national and regional stakeholders together to redesign the current economic delivery system. Its goal is to identify and maximise systems for economic growth that will also yield a high return on employment and skills development.

While the primary economies of mining and manufacture have been shrinking, the services sector has been growing. The comparative employment power in this sector is currently not as significant, but there is still vast opportunity for this emerging sector to evolve and contribute significant employment opportunities. To grow this sector in terms of meeting its potential, the formalisation of a creative and knowledge economy must be prioritised.

Not only is there much opportunity for creative thinkers to design and develop new systems within our communities, but there is also a real need to share this knowledge and skill with a rapidly growing African continent. This is both a humanitarian and commercially economic prospect.

By the year 2020, Lagos in Nigeria will be the world’s third-biggest city, with a population of 26 million, making it bigger than all of South Africa’s major cities combined. With 10 of the fastest growing countries in the world, the massive urbanisation of Africa and the boom of development taking place here means that innovation and design-based products and systems are key ex-ports for South Africans to produce and perfect. We need to look at ex-porting our services, ideas and systems, not just grapes or wine.

To meet this need we would have to actively focus on the development and nurturing of the knowledge economy. Our schools and tertiary systems must intensify their focus on science and innovation, legislation would need to protect and serve the formation and ownership of ori-ginal ideas and we must create laboratories from which creative and innovative thinking could be commercialised and sold or exported.

Winning the title of World Design Capital 2014 would truly set this course in motion, accelerating our trajectory towards a knowledge economy and its innovation systems. Our bid aims to reposition Cape Town for the knowledge economy. With a worldwide focus on Cape Town as a benchmark for design, we could benefit from much exchange and mentorship, and support – financial and through a vast network of design-focused cities across the world – as we embark on this new economic journey.

Barcelona, once a wealthy centre for manufacturing, experienced the decimation of its economy as a more competitive trade element rose up in the Far East. Barcelona turned itself around by actively focusing on its knowledge economy and becoming a highly regarded innovation centre.

Of course, we must not imagine that we can, nor should, merely replicate the success stories of European and American centres of innovation and design. Our fellow nominees – Bilbao in Spain and Dublin, Ireland – are simply not faced with the same set of challenges. In many instances, the design of our social systems is still concerned with issues of survival, and our challenges include the meeting of basic needs and services that could radically alter and improve our society.

To give an example; a recent study conducted by the African Futures Project found that an “aggressive yet reasonable annual improvement in water and sanitation for Africa will lead to 18 million fewer malnourished children by 2030, a US$75 billion increase in GDP by 2040 and 17 million fewer people living on less than US$1.25 a day by 2050”.

World Health Organisation findings pointed out that a 10 percent reduction in diarrhoeal episodes would equate to an annual reduction in health-related costs of US$ 7.3 billion. In addition, there is a significant return on investment when improving sanitation, with each US dollar invested yielding a return of between US$ 3 and US$ 4, depending on the region.

These are the challenges that remind us that the World Design Capital title is not a pat on the back for producing aesthetically pleasing objects or monuments to design. Instead, it recognises and rewards the employment of design as a tool for change. It asks how design is being used to uplift societies and improve lives. How can design be employed to efficiently deliver taps and toilets to societies that can be transformed by them?

For design to be integrated into an economic framework it must also be supported by policies. Our policies around design and knowledge management must be based on the diversity of these activities and their connection to regional economic drivers. It is important that design communities engage in this conversation or policy will be driven by non-designers.

To begin with, an inventory of design industries is required. Creative Cape Town, under the auspices of the Cape Town Partnership, undertook such a study in 2008, and discovered that about 750 creative industries and businesses exist in the Cape Town central city alone. If one includes educational institutions, the figure climbs to about 827. This study should be repeated and should include the greater Cape Town area to paint a reliable picture of our creative assets.

This will assist us in accurately diversifying and specialising our design economies. A concentration of one or another kind of design or innovation must speak to the overall needs of the greater economy in order to be viable.

Creativity is being used extensively to market destinations for their distinct attributes and locational advantages and, while this is important too, winning the World Design Capital title would mean we could start to seriously create a blueprint for design-led growth and the formation of the design and knowledge economy in a sub-Saharan African context.

In a recent presentation, Design Indaba founder and director Ravi Naidoo pointed out that the community is the new client. Design has come to the fore as a globally responsible guide for change. Cape Town’s bid was based on the mantra, “Live Design, Transform Life”. From a city of segregation, we hope to grow into one of integration. One of our biggest design projects in recent times is the IRT and its network of MyCiTi bus routes; it is this sort of implementation that will bring social cohesion, inclusivity and opportunity into our society.

As we learnt with the 2010 Fifa World Cup, winning goes a long way to creating focus and setting deadlines. Without the pressure of the intense one-month event schedule of the World Cup (there are only six official new events that must be implemented during the World Design Capital year, in addition to the rebranding of many existing events), Cape Town will be able to focus on what we want to communicate and nurture during our World Design Capital year. What are the transitions we wish to make, how do we want to raise this debate?

l Bulelwa Makalima-Ngewana is the managing director of the Cape Town Partnership, which is the official co-ordinator of Cape Town’s World Design Capital Bid on behalf of the City of Cape Town.

- Cape Argus

It's about my hotel stay and your poverty & poor climate

Later on in 2011, international climate change negotiators will meet in Africa to look back on the famine which is now sweeping the eastern parts of that continent, and make predictions that climate change will be largely injurious to Africa’s future food production.

The World Bank’s special envoy on climate change, Andrew Steer, told The Associated Press:

“The challenges are overwhelming… Africa needs to triple food production by 2050…At the same time, you’ve got climate change lowering average yields …. So, of course, we need something different.”

He hopes for a refocused look at agriculture to take place at the talks that are to be held in South Africa’s eastern city of Durban, the first talks in Africa since Nairobi hosted a round in 2006. South Africa says that as chair of the Durban conference, it will alert the industrializing nations to deliver money and technology to help developing countries in Africa to create clean industries and cope with the droughts and floods.

Africa is hard hit by the effects of climate change and needs more money for managing water and creating seeds for food crops which can withstand droughts and floods.

Researchers with the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global agriculture accounts for 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than transportation’s 13 percent and almost at the industry’s 19 percent. Farming’s contribution to global warming possibly might offset techniques to store and sequester more and more carbon in soil and trees.

Sequestering carbon is good for the environment and has even yielded increases.

“You invest in things that are good for yields, good for resilience and also sequester more carbon…You can have it both ways if you get carbon back in soils.”

Steer says it is hard to determine exactly how much money is needed, and cautioned that while agreements on helping poor countries and a focus on agriculture could emerge at Durban.

Durban isn’t “a pledging session”, mind you, said Mr. Steer on the sidelines of a climate change conference on farming which attracted agriculture ministers from across Africa to Johannesburg.

In a speech which opened the Johannesburg conference, South African agriculture minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said that “Food security, poverty and climate are closely linked and should not be considered separately.”

- Naturalbuy

Minister spends R1,5m on posh hotels

Agriculture Department defends minister’s R1,5m hotel bill saying she did not have official accommodation for more than a year

CAPE TOWN — Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has become the latest Cabinet minister to be caught out staying in top hotels — to the tune of R1,5m over a two-year period, sometimes for almost a month at a time.

The news of Ms Joemat Pettersson’s spending on hotel accommodation in SA follows the recent furore over former co-operative governance minister Sicelo Shiceka spending large sums on foreign travel and luxury hotels.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found it to have been maladministration and dishonest and ordered that Mr Shiceka repay the money and that President Jacob Zuma take "serious" action.

However, Ms Madonsela cleared Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa for spending R734448 at Cape Town’s Table Bay Hotel and Durban’s Hilton, saying this had happened while his official residence was being repaired between May and July 2009. There was no evidence the minister had been involved in the arrangements, the price of which the protector’s office nevertheless described as "unreasonably high".

Yesterday, in a written reply to Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Donald Lee’s parliamentary question, Ms Joemat-Pettersson said she had stayed in hotels in SA 106 times between April 2009 and May this year. Most notable of the stays is one listed as "Pure Toys One CC" in Johannesburg between June 13 and July 11 last year, a period of 28 days, costing R420000 for "bed and meals" while on "official business".

Ms Joemat-Pettersson spent even longer in the Vineyard Hotel and Spa, a four-star Cape Town hotel. She was there from June 16 to July 21 2009 (35 days) and spent R134735 on bed and meals.

Bed and meals between September 16 and October 21 2009 at the Peermont D’oreale Grande Emperors Palace cost the taxpayer R289352.

Many stays were at the Intercontinental at OR Tambo International Airport, only a short drive from Pretoria, where the minister has an official residence. Some of the hotel stays were in Pretoria itself, or in Cape Town, where the minister also has an official residence.

Mr Lee said this was "a disgraceful waste of taxpayers’ money" and that as Ms Joemat-Pettersson was supposed to have official residences, "why is she not staying in them; does she have shares in these hotels?"

His colleague, agriculture spokesman Lourie Bosman, said he would ask further questions to establish why official residences were not used. "Minister Joemat- Pettersson’s hotel bill is unjustifiable in a country where millions of South Africans live in poverty and do not have access to proper housing." The agriculture ministry said the DA was "grandstanding" and that the minister was appointed in May 2009 but did not have official accommodation for more than a year. The house allocated to her in Cape Town was substandard and had many chronic defects. While it was undergoing renovation, Ms Joemat-Pettersson had to be accommodated at a hotel to allow her to perform her official duties, the ministry said.

"Similarly, with the Pretoria residence, Joemat-Pettersson had to make use of hotel accommodation as the department responsible for allocating her official accommodation had not done so for over a year. Consequently, the minister had to use alternative accommodation in accordance with the rules governing the official accommodation of ministers. (She) has been occupying the official residences in Cape Town and Pretoria since August 2010."

- Businessday

Agriculture ministry defends R1.6m hotel bills

Criticism of Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson for luxury hotel stays is "cheap politicking", her department said on Monday.

"The minister was appointed in May 2009, and did not have official accommodation for more than a year," it said by way of explanation in a statement.

In a reply to a parliamentary question, tabled earlier, Joemat-Pettersson revealed she had spent R1,584,817.86 -- since April 1, 2009 -- on hotel accommodation, all while on "official duties".

Her written reply to the question, posed by the Democratic Alliance, drew sharp criticism from the opposition party on Monday.

"The... reply revealed numerous long stays at hotels, bookings at five-star hotels, a high number of double-bookings (meaning that two different hotels were booked and paid for, for the same night) and a number of stays at hotels in Pretoria, despite the fact that the minister should have an official residence there," DA MP Lourie Bosman said in a statement.

Joemat-Pettersson's hotel bills were unjustifiable in a country where millions lived in poverty and did not have access to proper housing.

"Her spending habits are similar to those of many of her Cabinet colleagues, who seem intent on placing their expensive tastes above the needs of the South African people," he said.

Hotel expenses listed by Joemat-Pettersson in her reply include, among others:

-- Over a month at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Cape Town during June and July 2009, at a cost of R134,735.86;

-- Five weeks at the Peermont D'Oreal Grande Emperor's Palace in Johannesburg between September 16 and October 21, 2009, at a total cost of R289,352; and,

-- Close to a month spent at Pure Toys One CC in Johannesburg during June and July last year, at a total cost of R420,000.

In its reaction to the criticism on Monday, the department of agriculture said it was perturbed by what it called the DA's "grandstanding".

The DA had failed to explain the context of why Joemat-Pettersson had to be accommodated at hotels.

"The minister was appointed in May 2009 and did not have official accommodation for more than a year. The house that was allocated to the minister in Cape Town was sub-standard and had many chronic defects," the department said.

"During that period when the house was undergoing renovations, [the] minister had to be accommodated at a hotel to allow her to perform her official duties."

To label the minister's hotel accommodation unjustifiable (and) suggesting she placed expensive tastes above the needs of the South African people, was "insulting, disingenuous and smacks of cheap politicking", the department said.

The R1.6 million in hotel costs run up by the minister during her about 30 months in office were "justifiable given the prevailing circumstances at the time", the department said.

"The minister had to use alternative accommodation in accordance with the rules governing the official accommodation of ministers."

- Timeslive

Life's great inside our new 'hemp house'

A HILLINGDON pensioner is living with his family in a new environmentally-friendly 'hemp home' for people with disabilities.

The house in Mulberry Crescent, West Drayton, was built with Hemcrete, a blend of a lime-based binding and hemp that absorbs CO2 during the manufacturing process.

It has water-heating solar panels, extensive insulation and emits 100% less CO2 than a standard building.

Father-of-four Sharif Omar, 37, who lives in the house with his 79-year-old disabled father, said: “It has changed my life - my whole family is very happy here.

"We worked with Hillingdon Council to make the access better for my father and he can use the garden and other rooms now.

To date, 47 new bespoke borough homes have been created, including several bungalows for people with disabilities.

Cllr Philip Corthorne, cabinet member for social care health and housing, said: “Not only does it use cutting-edge materials and processes to create an environmentally friendly property, it also looks at the specific needs of the resident - something that will ultimately empower them to live as independently as possible."

The project is part of a programme launched by the council in 2008 to redevelop derelict and under-used spaces, previously targeted by vandals, into affordable housing.

- Hillingdontimes

Unlocking Zuma’s costly housing

The total disarray of the Department of Public Works has again been clearly highlighted through contradictory statements over whether President Jacob Zuma’s official residences and offices in Joburg and Cape Town were being refurbished or not.

“If the one hand does not know what the other hand is doing that is when corruption can flourish,” Athol Trollip, of the DA, said yesterday.

Confirmation by the Ministry in a Parliamentary response to Trollip that nearly R170 million was to be spent on the refurbishment of Zuma’s Pretoria residence Mahlamba Ndlopfu was later retracted and vehemently denied by Public Works Minister Gwen Mhlangu-Nkabinde and acting Director-General Mandla Mabuza.

The debacle comes less than a month since Auditor-General Terence Nombembe gave the department a disclaimer saying he had not only found irregular expenditure amounting to R16.5m, but that there was no evidence of R1.3 billion in capital transactions. Immovable assets worth R3.4bn could also not be traced.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has, in two reports on the police leasing scandal, recommended that steps be taken against Mahlangu-Nkabinde and national police commissioner Bheki Cele for their roles in the R500m and R1.1bn lease agreements with businessman Roux Shabangu. Madonsela had found that the Pretoria and Durban leases were concluded in an unlawful and improper way.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde admitted last month in a public address that a Special Investigating Unit’s probe had found the department had lost R3bn through 41 dodgy tenders. The entire department was under investigation, it was stated.

Sapa had quoted Mahlangu-Nkabinde as admitting in an address to the Engineering Council of South Africa recently that her department had been run like a “cash cow” with contracts awarded to people who had no clue as to what they were required to do.

Trollip said confusion over the responses and whether the build programme was going ahead despite its cancellation earlier in the year clearly highlighted the problems in the department handling the management and maintenance of all government buildings.

“The problem lies with the department not knowing what is being said.”

Trollip had asked for comprehensive refurbishment figures from the department weeks after Mahlangu-Nkabinde had announced the cancellation of the projects.

After their release earlier in the week, and the subsequent media reports, the minister denied the veracity of the response, saying the information released to Parliament was incorrect.

Trollip said: “If no one knows what is going on in the department, then it makes it more vulnerable to corruption. It is well known that departments of public works are the departments around the world that are most prone to corruption.”

He pointed out that Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Mabuza had emphasised the retention of the status quo - that the projects were cancelled in March - but that government spokesman Jimmy Manyi had said the opposite shortly thereafter.

Manyi had in his reaction denied that the cost of the renovations to Zuma’s Pretoria residence was extravagant or compromised social delivery, saying the work to be done “on a range of official properties will be done in the same way that the government attends to other programmes - like health and education”.

The DA was adamant the confusion could not be ignored. Trollip made it clear that it was not the DA’s questions that were embarrassing to the government, but that it was its answers that had embarrassed the executive.

“That is why people like Roux Shabangu can do what he is doing,” Trollip charged.

Trollip had asked this week, in reaction to the responses received and later retracted, for a full explanation from Mahlangu-Nkabinde why such expenditure was deemed an appropriate use of state funds.

He said such exorbitant expenditure indicated just how disconnected Zuma was from the people. “At a time when millions of South Africans face rising unemployment, a lack of basic services and poor quality housing, the president has seen fit to reward himself with a series of renovations to his lavish residences. The hundreds of millions of rands this has cost the state could have built over 7,000 RDP houses.”

In her retraction of the response on Thursday Mahlangu-Nkabinde was at pains to reiterate the contracts were cancelled in March and had not been reinstated.

“No work has been undertaken, no taxpayers’ money has been spent,” she said.

Her officials, she said, had assured her of this even though it was true that the presidential residence was due for refurbishment.

“They assure me of this and I can assure South Africa that any expenditure on the refurbishment will be in line with normal building costs.”

She said it remained unclear how the cancelled cost proposal was sent to the DA, and that she had instructed the department to investigate.

Mabuza said yesterday he regarded the matter as closed.

“There is no such thing as a R170m refurbishment. It is pure nonsense. According to us the matter is closed,” Mabuza said in response to the Sunday Tribune’s questions.

He emphasised that any work required at Mahlamba Ndlopfu would be done “internally by the department”.

Mabuza had instructed the department’s “projects and professional services unit to commence with the work”.

“Accordingly, the department will, once the investigation on the maintenance state of these assets is concluded, decide on execution of maintenance internally,” he said.

What Mabuza did confirm was that “some official” had submitted “false information” to Parliament on the costs involved, and that he had ordered an investigation “to determine the conduct of this official”.

A cost breakdown:

- Renovating Genadendal: R13.5m

- Renovating Tuynhuys: R24.4m

- Furnishing Tuynhuys: R778,000

- Upgrading Bryntirion: R192m

- Tribune

Zuma home revamp riddle

Depending on who in government you believe, spending millions of rand on renovations to presidential homes and offices is either:

• A monumental waste of money that has been stopped in its tracks;
• A simple misunderstanding about the figures involved;
• A dastardly attempt to undermine the dignity of the president; or
• A justifiable expense to keep the president in a manner befitting such high office.

Since information emerged this week that the government planned to spend about R400 million upgrading presidential facilities, officials have lurched from one fumble to another as the Presidency, government communicators and the Public Works Department contradicted one another at every turn.

The saga began when the Public Works Ministry responded to a set of three parliamentary questions from DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip, dated between March and April this year, about the costs involved in previously announced upgrades to the president’s official residences and offices. These include Mahlamba Ndlopfu in Pretoria and Genadendal in Cape Town, and offices within the Bryntirion Estate and at Tuynhuys in Cape Town.

The written parliamentary answers, issued in the name of Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, whose department is responsible for all government accommodation, revealed the following costs:

l Bryntirion Estate – R192.7m, including new security gates and a dog unit (R39m), boundary fences (R61.7m), electrical reticulation (R22m), a generator room and substation (R15m) and a new road (R55m) within this presidential and ministerial complex. “It must be noted that the above estimated costs have been checked and verified by our departmental professional team prior to approval,” the ministry emphasised in its reply;

l Mahlamba Ndlopfu – R168.7m for interior refurbishments alone. And while no cost estimate was provided for other renovations, the minister said these would include upgrades to security, fire detection, “danger warning” systems and “escape routes”, a new surveillance system, the construction of a “sauna/steam room” and the restoration of various historic elements to their original condition, as per SA Heritage Resource Authority guidelines.

• Tuynhuys – R24.4m, including furniture (R778,000); and,
• Genadendal – R13.5m.

No sooner had the media reported this information – provided by the government itself – than cabinet spokesman and chief government spin-doctor Jimmy Manyi accused the media of trying to “undermine the dignity and relentless work ethic of this administration”.

“Government rejects suggestions that renovations to official residences and offices of the president of the Republic of South Africa are an extravagance or that they compromise social delivery,” Manyi’s opening salvo exclaimed. “The work to be undertaken on a range of official properties will be done in the same way that government attends to other programmes. This work is being done within our means and at properties – inherited by the democratic dispensation – that are of historical significance and whose upkeep attracts expenses of the kind indicated by the Minister of Public Works.”

Manyi went on to stress that the renovations would enable President Jacob Zuma – and future presidents – to work “in conditions of efficiency, security and the relative comfort that befits the highest office in the country”.

“It will also enable South Africa to return the support and hospitality that is extended to our government when we engage with counterparts all around the world,” he further explained.

This view was echoed on Thursday by the ANC, which said the party was “unhappy with the manner in which the media has responded to the report of (Mahlangu-Nkabinde) to Parliament”.

“The media reports try to criminalise the upkeep of public assets as if it is not an inherent responsibility for Public Works… It is not in the interests of South Africa for the president to be subjected to undue criticism when we subscribe to dominant practices the world over,” the ANC added in support of its claim that the government was simply doing what governments do.

“It will be a sad thing if the media and the opposition want to suggest that the security of a sitting president and his wellbeing are of no consequence to the country,” the ANC added.

Also on Thursday, Public Works acting director-general, Mandla Mabuza, spoke out about the “utter nonsense” reported by the media, saying he found it “very absurd and ridiculous that some journalist published a grossly and factually inaccurate report” on the presidential refurbishments. And, seemingly oblivious to the contradiction, he announced that an investigation would be launched to determine which one of his officials had provided Parliament and the media with “wrong information”.

On the same day, Mabuza’s boss (Mahlangu-Nkabinde), who is having an annus horribilis, denied that any money had been spent on these projects. She insisted she had put a stop to it in March. The renovation projects are understood to have been approved before Mahlangu-Nkabinde took over this portfolio. “No work has been undertaken, no taxpayers’ money has been spent. In March this year, when I learned about the proposed cost of the refurbishment, I said it was too high and ordered that it not go ahead,” she said.

Uncomfortable questions were asked in March after news reports that the government was shopping around for artwork, Persian rugs and gold cutlery for a multi-million rand VIP home at the Bryntirion Estate “earmarked for the deputy president”. Reports also revealed that R62m had been set aside for a “Presidential Medical Unit” at the estate.

“Yes, I do understand that there’s an outcry over exorbitant figures, and I agree… If there is a carpet that is going to be refurbished, surely you don’t have to go out on tender for that, you just have to fix it,” Mahlangu-Nkabinde said, after a public backlash over the reported costs.

Once again, these reports were based on official government information. But then the minister muddied the waters this week by adding this disclaimer: “My officials assure me that while it is true that the presidential residence is due to be refurbished, they have not finalised any contracts… I can assure South Africa that any expenditure on the refurbishment will be in line with normal building costs.”

The true state of affairs remains unclear. Perhaps, once all the officials have been investigated and the ministers, directors-general and government spin-doctors have got their ducks in a row, it will all become as crystal clear as the chandelier suspended from the presidential ceiling at Bryntirion.

- Pretoria News

Cape Town clean river project honours Asmal

A multimillion-rand river cleaning programme for Cape Town, which will create 32,000 jobs every year, has been launched in honour of the late former water affairs and forestry minister Kader Asmal.

Announcing the project yesterday, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the Kader Asmal Integrated Catchment Management Project would protect a valuable resource, while also ensuring the city adhered to "the principle of sustainable development".

The cleaning effort was to start immediately, with the first phase coming with a R138 million price tag.

And the rivers set to get some attention include the Diep River, Salt River, Liesbeeck River, Black River, Elsies Kraal River, Keyser River, Prince Kasteel River, Westlake River, Zandvlei River, Zeekoevlei, Rondevlei, Eerste River, Kuils River, and the Khayelitsha Wetlands.

De Lille said invasive plants would be removed, pollution hotspots identified, leaking sewers repaired, litter disposed of, and rivers cleaned up.

Asmal's wife, Louise Asmal, yesterday thanked De Lille and the city, calling the project "praiseworthy".

She said water issues were very close to her husband's heart.

"I'm sure this project is one my husband would've been in favour of, especially when one takes into account how many people are without water in this country."

Deli Ndlovu, 22, one of those employed to help clean up the rivers, applauded the initiative.

"I've been staying at home doing nothing since 2008 (and) I'm so glad to have a job. I have two children to support. At least now I don't have to rely on someone else to support them."

De Lille urged Capetonians to help keep the city clean.

"Don't litter, because litter pollutes our rivers. And we need to keep them clean to provide relief for those most in need in our society," she said.

- Cape Argus

South Africans blamed for Alex issues

Residents of Alexandra in Johannesburg who sell their RDP houses,contribute to the cause of the housing debacle, said the Local Government and Housing MEC on Friday.

“The problem is not with foreigners, the problem is with South Africans...foreigners find that they were sold houses by South Africans,” said MEC Humphrey Mmemezi.

“We should rather spot these South Africans that are doing what they should not be doing, because RDP houses are for the poor.”

He said people were only allowed to sell their RDP houses after eight years and when they have been given title deeds.

The MEC emphasised that rental stock was a “free for all” and that both South Africans and foreign nationals were allowed to rent RDP houses.

Six officials have been suspended on charges of corruption.

He said they were being investigated for allegedly having sold RDP houses and in some cases renting them.

The minister said after he met with the Alexandra stakeholders, it was agreed that people who applied for RDP houses in 1996, would be given first priority.

He said the elderly, disasbled and child headed homes would also get preference.

The MEC said by the end of 2012, the department hope it would have housed all the 1996 applicants.

Mmemezi was briefing journalists on the outcome of his meeting with Alexandra stakeholders.

- Sapa

Flipflop Booya :- No R170m clean-up, no sauna for Zuma

No R170 million clean-up. No sauna. No escape routes. No restored chandeliers. And no gold spoons or Persian carpets next door either.

The president will have to put up with an unrefurbished state house and a less-than-glamorous guesthouse. When the president’s house is upgraded, it will be by state employees, not contractors.

On Wednesday, Public Works’s written response to parliamentary questions from the DA’s Athol Trollip said the upgrade of Mahlamba Ndlopfu, the president’s state house in Pretoria, was costing R170m.

But on Thursday, the Ministry and Department of Public Works admitted it had sent the wrong information to Trollip.

“No work has been undertaken, no taxpayers’ money has been spent,” said Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, confirming her promise in March that she had stopped the Mahlamba Ndlopfu refurbishment as too expensive.

“My officials assure me that while it is true that the presidential residence is due to be refurbished, they have not finalised any contracts or settled on a date that the work will begin. They assure me of this and I can assure South Africa that any expenditure on the refurbishment will be in line with normal building costs,” said Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

In March, she told officials to do the work themselves.

“There is no house that is built for R177m. As soon as I heard of it, as the present minister, I put a stop to it and said the expertise you see around the table should help me arrive at giving the president what he needs, but also at a very cost-effective price,” she said then.

On Thursday, she told her acting director-general, Mandla Mabuza, to explain why the costs of the cancelled project were sent to the DA, and Mabuza said heads would roll.

The department’s official response to Trollip said the Mahlamba Ndlopfu fix would cost nearly R170m and listed 29 items, including an electronic surveillance system, escape routes, restoration of fireplaces and chandeliers, a swimming pool fix, a new sauna and steam room, walkway lights, sanitary fittings, solar heating and energy-saving lights.

“This is a department in a complete state of chaos,” said Trollip on Thursday.

Mabuza insisted that “not a single cent” had been spent yet and said he’d demanded answers within 48 hours on why the wrong information was issued.

“There is no refurbishment of the president’s residence to the tune of R170m or whatever millions that have been quoted,” said Mabuza.

“In line with that instruction by the minister, I, as an accounting officer, had ensured that no process, no process at all, will lead to the refurbishment of the estate to that amount.”

He said department professionals were assessing what work was needed and, when that was finished, he would decide on the work and costs.

In March, the minister also said she’d stopped the procurement of furnishings for the Presidential Guesthouse, which the president was supposed to move into while Mahlamba Ndlopfu was being refurbished. This followed reports by The Star that the department was running tenders for Persian carpets, artworks and gold cutlery for the guesthouse.

Mabuza said any work would also be done in-house.

“There is no new furniture which has been procured. I’m telling you as a matter of fact and as an accounting officer of the department,” he said.

Late on Thursday, chief government spokesman Jimmy Manyi confused things further by saying the renovation cost wasn’t an extravagance.

He said the upgrade would allow the president to do demanding work “in conditions of efficiency, security and the relative comfort that befits the highest office”.

- IOL

ANC blasts Zuma house reaction

The ANC has criticised attempts by the media and opposition to “criminalise” the up-keep of public assets, saying this was a dominant practice in many states.

“The media reports try to criminalise the up-keep of public assets as if it is not an inherent responsibility for public works, said spokesman Jackson Mthembu in a statement on Thursday.

“If there was neglect of public assets both the media and the opposition would make noise and when the government retains value of its assets you still are accused of wrong doing.”

Earlier on Thursday, The Star reported that revamping the interior of Zuma's official residence in Pretoria was expected to cost R170m.

This had emerged on Wednesday in written replies by Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde to parliamentary questions by the Democratic Alliance.

The refurbishment would include a sauna and a steam room.

The total value of the refurbishment, building, and other work already carried out on Zuma's offices, official homes in Cape Town and Pretoria, and projects on the Bryntirion ministerial estate, amounted to more than R400m.

However, Mahlangu-Nkabinde rejected the reports of a revamp later on Thursday. Her officials assured her that while it was true that the presidential residence was due to be refurbished, they had not finalised any contracts or settled on a date when the work would begin.

“No work has been undertaken, no taxpayer money has been spent.

“In March this year, when I learned about the proposed cost of the refurbishment I said it was too high and ordered that it not go ahead,” she said.

This was a matter of public record because she had issued a statement on March 22 in which she said the proposed cost was too high and that no work was being undertaken.

Mthembu expressed unhappiness at the manner in which the media responded, saying continuous renovation of state assets allow the government to retain their value.

“It is not in the interest of South Africa for the President to be subjected to undue criticism when the government was subscribing to dominant practices the world over,” he said.

He acknowledged the opposition's inherent responsibility of holding the government accountable, but said it also had an inherent responsibility of appreciating the role of the government and the President.

“It will be a sad thing if the media and the opposition want to suggest that the security of a sitting President and his well being is of no consequence to the country.”

Cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi rejected suggestions that renovations at Zuma's residence were extravagance or compromised social delivery.

“The work to be undertaken on a range of official properties will be done in the same way that government attends to other programmes - like health and education,” said Manyi.

“All these facilities will be at the disposal of future administrations and cannot therefore be treated as personal favours.”

He said renovations would enable Zuma and other future presidents to attend to a demanding programme of work in conditions of “efficiency, security and the relative comfort”.

- Sapa

Thembalethu march turns violent

Police fired a stun grenade at a group of Thembalethu residents after violence broke out during a protest march to municipal offices in nearby George on Thursday.

“A few members of the group started to behave violently and police shot one stun grenade into the crowd. No other serious incidents have been reported,” Captain Bernadine Steyn said.

About 3 000 residents were marching to George in the Western Cape to hand over a memorandum.

The acting director for community safety in George, Barend Nelson, said the memorandum would most likely deal with service delivery in the township.

“We know that they are marching, but we will only know more once we receive the memorandum.”

Residents clashed with police during service delivery protests earlier in the month. Locals were reportedly upset about water and sanitation problems.

– Sapa

Zuma's massive makeover

The government is spending almost R400-million renovating President Jacob Zuma's official residences and office in Cape Town and homes for the cabinet.

Replying to a written question in parliament yesterday, Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde said new additions included steam rooms, fireplaces and chandeliers.

Asked for a total cost breakdown of the R168-million renovation of Mahlambandlopfu, Zuma's official residence in Pretoria, Mahlangu-Nkabinde said the money had been spent on the restoration and installation of new security and recreation facilities. The refurbishments included the:

• Construction of a sauna and changing facilities;
• Revamping of a swimming pool;
• Upgrading of security measures, including an escape route;
• Provision of wooden doors and windows;
• Restoration of a fireplace and chandeliers;
• Erection of a new electronic security surveillance system;
• Installation of lights along the pathways and driveways; and
• Installation of a fire-detection system.
• The government has also forked out a further R13.5-million to renovate Genadendal, Zuma's Cape Town state house.

His office in Cape Town - Tuynhys - has been upgraded at a cost of R24.4-million, with furnishings to the value of R778,000 included in the package.

Mahlangu-Nkabinde also revealed that the Bryntirion cabinet complex in Pretoria, where ministers and their deputies live when in the capital, was due to undergo renovations projected to cost more than R192-million.

She said the money would be spent on installing a new fence at a cost of R42-million. A further R15-million would be used to build a generator room, whereas an additional R22-million had been set aside for electrical reticulation.

"It must be noted that the above estimated costs have been checked and verified by our department," said Mahlangu-Nkabinde.

"It is the market that determines the construction cost."

DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip, who asked the parliamentary question, said the costs were exorbitant.

He said the money could have been used to build more than 7,000 RDP houses.

Zuma's spokesman, Mac Maharaj, could not be reached for comment.

Observers are likely to criticise the expensive renovations as an initiative that went against government's austerity measures aimed at curbing spending on unnecessary items.

In August, it emerged that the government had spent R183-million on renovating 34 homes of ministers and other senior government leaders in Cape Town.

This included the revamping of a custom-built home for deputy speaker Nomandia Mfeketo at a cost of R8-million.

- Timeslive

Human Settlements making slow progress on 2014 target

The department of performance monitoring and evaluation in the Presidency has warned parliament’s human settlements portfolio committee that the Human Settlements Department is making slow progress in getting water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal to all homes in South Africa by 2014.

Performance monitoring and evaluation director-general Sean Phillips told the committee on Thursday that the government’s aim of providing 80,000 well-located rental units by 2014 was also proceeding slower than targeted.

The government’s plan to set up a mortgage insurance guarantee for 215,000 home loans was found to be substantially behind its target date for completion or facing an impediment which would require urgent intervention by minister Tokyo Sexwale or the cabinet, he said.

“Banks still have to agree that they will use the programme to address the affordable housing finance challenges,” said Phillips.

While the government aimed to release 6,250 hectares of state-owned land for housing development, this was also proceeding slower than planned, said Phillips.

“There is concern that Public Works and other public land holding agencies are not prioritising the processing of land identified with the Housing Development Agency quickly enough,” he said.

However, Sexwale’s department is on track to finish upgrading 400,000 homes in informal settlements by 2014. It is also on track with its plan to arrange finance for almost 7,000 affordable homes.

- Timeslive

Human Settlements official fired

A senior official in the Department of Human Settlements has been dismissed after being found guilty of misconduct, the department said on Thursday.

"The dismissal sanction is intended to send out a clear message that any form of misconduct impeding on service delivery will never be tolerated." Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said in a statement.

Tamie Mpotulo was the national sanitation programme manager. She was dismissed on September 28.

She was found guilty in a disciplinary hearing of dereliction of duty, prejudicing the implementation of the rural household infrastructure programme and improper conduct towards senior officials of the Independent Development Trust.

The national sanitation programme was transferred in 2010 to the Human Settlements Department from the Department of Environmental Affairs.

The department said the programme provided basic sanitation, particularly in rural areas.

Phillip Chauke would act as the programme manager.

- Timeslive

Politics and housing an uneasy match - unless you spend a couple of billion on upgrading a public servants home

WESTERN Cape Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and Bitou mayor Memory Booysen have both called for an end to the politicisation of free low-cost housing for homeless South Africans.

Speaking at the official handover of 52 government subsidised high density housing units in Plett’s Qolweni township, Madikizela said in some areas the housing issue had been “highly politicised”, with less worthy applicants being rewarded with free low-cost houses for their loyalty to a particular party, while deserving opposition supporters had been denied.

“The delivery of houses is not a political issue, and must not be used for political purposes. Whatever issues political leaders have must not affect the people of the communities,” Madikizela said.

“Housing is a social issue, and the government must make sure houses are provided for people who really need them. The houses are for South Africans, and getting a house doesn’t depend on the political party they support.”

He said the databases on which government relied for the allocation of houses “have to be credible” for the system to work, with only the most deserving receiving houses.

The MEC said it was encouraging to note that there had been co-operation between political parties to address the problem, with support from national Human Settlements minister Tokyo Sexwale.

Booysen said applicants for free housing had to accept that they could not look for advice on the issue from municipal ward councillors who were not in a position to advise them.

“Housing is a sensitive issue. The politicisation of the provision of housing stops now. The only source of information as to when a housing project is going to be completed and when people can move in is the provincial government. Whatever else you hear, if it hasn’t been confirmed by the provincial government, it’s not going to happen.”

Madikizela praised the developers of the Qolweni housing project, which will eventually see the construction of 1420 units in the area, 317 of which have already been completed.

Qolweni and the neighbouring townships of Bossiesgif, Pinetree, and Gaatjie are still home to thousands of shack dwellers.

“Everything we do is with taxpayers’ money, and you the people have given us a lot of responsibility to build these houses for you. When we work together, as government and community, we are able to do good work,” Madikizela said.
Garden Route Media

- CXpress

Zuma to release Oilgate report

President Jacob Zuma will release the report of the Donen Commission of Inquiry into the involvement of South Africans in the Iraq oil-for-food programme, his office said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Mac Maharaj said the report would be released in recognition of the public interest in the subject matter.

"The presidency is aware of the potential misuse of the contents of the report," he said.

"We wish to caution that the comments made ... about individuals must not be elevated to findings of fact as these were interim and untried comments."

In 2006, former president Thabo Mbeki commissioned an investigation into illegal transactions by South African individuals and companies in the United Nations oil-for food programme.

The programme was established in 1995 to allow Iraq to sell oil in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid without building up funds for military purposes.

It was tainted by corruption and abuse, with the Iraqi government demanding illicit payments from its customers.

Mbeki's commission of inquiry was headed by advocate Michael Donen, with assistance from advocate Andrew Chauke and senior superintendent Lucy Moleka.

Their report apparently implicated some top leaders in the African National Congress, and was not released to the public.

Maharaj said on Tuesday that the report "clearly established that the conduct of the individuals from South Africa affected by this report did not constitute any offence under South African law".

"Those who were caught up in the subject matter of the inquiry did not have an opportunity to deal with their alleged involvement fully."

On Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus welcomed the release of the report, but questioned the motive behind its sudden release after failed attempts by Independent Newspapers to access it under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).

"The timing of the presidency's announcement is ... interesting, given that the report is said to implicate two figures who appear to be opposed to Zuma's continued leadership of the ANC," DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said.

"... It is crucial that information is released into the public domain for the right reasons, and not as a means to fight internal political battles."

The FF Plus said it wondered whether the Donen report had become part of an internal struggle in the run-up to the ANC's elective conference next year in December.

"The fact that Zuma is at this specific time prepared to release the Donen report, nearly 30 months after he took up his office ... begs the question whether ... he would possibly gain politically from it," parliamentary spokesperson on minerals Anton Alberts said.

He said the FF Plus wrote a letter to Motlanthe in October 2008 requesting him to release the report. The request was denied.

"It is high time that South Africa finds out what advantage the ANC had gained from this scandal."

Zuma will make the report available by December 7.

- Sapa

Township residents, police clash

Thembalethu residents in George want National Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to suspend senior Southern Cape police officials who used “excessive force” against residents protesting the lack of municipal services.

Fifty-eight people were arrested for public violence after service delivery protests in Thembalethu turned violent on Wednesday, with police firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas at demonstrators who burnt tyres, threw stones and set alight a municipal building and a vehicle.

Thembalethu residents claim several community members sustained serious injuries, including two children – an eight-year-old wounded in the head and a toddler who suffered smoke inhalation.

The 3 000-strong crowd took to the streets to demand basic services from their local municipality.

One of the organisers, Jackson Sikweza, claimed police were trigger-happy – “shooting at anyone and everything that moved”.

“Our people have to live like animals – no houses, no water, no sanitation and no infrastructure.

“The municipality has been ignoring our plight for far too long. People have been living like this for more than 20 years,” he said.

Sikweza confirmed that a municipal building and a vehicle were set alight but said trouble started when police cordoned off the township’s only entry and exit point.

“They stopped people from marching to the local George municipality. We had the proper permission and they ended up arresting people. Even those who were on their way to work and later the day, those arriving home.”

Sikweza said the people wanted an opportunity to voice their concerns.

“People feel police attacked them for no proper reason. They were the ones who said the march was over even before it started.”

ANC regional secretary for George, Castro Leholo, described the service delivery protest as chaotic.

“Police blocked off the area, preventing protesters from marching. They started arresting people and the crowd be-came even more agitated and angry.”

He said residents had resolved to call on Mthethwa and the Independent Complaints Directorate to take action against police.

George councillor and president of the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners, Virgill Gericke, who was at the scene, said the police action was shocking.

“They were just contributing to an already volatile situation.

“There was no control from the commanding structures in the police. At the police station people that disembarked from vans were physically beaten.”

Southern Cape police confirmed that 58 people were arrested for public violence during Wednesday’s action.

Captain Bernadine Steyn said four policemen were injured during the incident.

“The road was blockaded, tyres burned and stones were thrown. Four SAPS vehicles were damaged and one traffic vehicle. Stones were also thrown at Thembalethu police station and petrol bombs at SAPS members,” she said.

“A sergeant sustained an open wound just above the eye and was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition, stones were thrown at two members and half a brick at one member.

“An Opel Corsa bakkie and the municipal building were set alight.

“We used rubber bullets and stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the group.”

She said the 58 suspects would appear in the Thembalethu Magistrate’s Court on November 9.

- Weekend Argus

Indoor cooking stoves kill 2 million yearly: study

Primitive cooking stoves are used throughout half the world and kill more people per year -- about two million -- than malaria, said a study published in the United States on Thursday.

Three billion people worldwide cook indoors by burning solid fuels such as wood, charcoal or dung, yet little public awareness surrounds what the World Health Organization describes as the globe's top environmental killer.

The smoke that pours from these unvented fires fills indoor spaces and causes pneumonia and chronic lung disease that particularly affects women and children who tend to spend more time in the home while men are outside working.

More research and programs to sell more efficient cookstoves to residents in remote or impoverished areas could help improve health and allow girls to get educated rather than spend time gathering fuel, said the research in the journal Science.

"Many people in developed countries don't realize that smoke from indoor cooking fires is a terrible scourge upon the health of a large number of people," said co-author Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health.

"International efforts to combat this scourge are now beginning. The NIH's role is to support the research that will determine the most efficient, cost-effective means to do so while safe guarding human health."

One program in the Andean highlands of Peru has had some success. In that area, where about 30 percent of the Peruvian population lives (10 million people), 40 percent of women have heart and chronic obstructive lung diseases.

In addition, up to 60 percent of children are malnourished and suffer "relentless respiratory diseases," said an accompanying editorial by Peru's former first lady Pilar Nores Bodereau.
She founded a program called Sembrando, a private initiative that helps local members of the community build better cookstoves, latrines and grow family orchards, all at a cost of about 200 US dollars per family.

In the past five years, the project has served 92,000 families, or about 500,000 people in the Andes, and early studies show a "substantial decrease in bronchopulmonary diseases and a clear increase in the height/weight ratio of children under five years old," she wrote.

The project has "inspired the Peruvian government to start a campaign to build 500,000 clean cookstoves nationwide," she added.

The United Nations Foundation has launched its own public-private partnership to establish a market for clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels in the developing world, called the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

Its goal is to have 100 million homes using cleaner cookstoves and fuels by 2020. More than 175 countries, foundations, corporations, and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are involved.

The study in Science said the US government "has committed more than $50 million, including about $25 million of the NIH's ongoing research funds" toward studying the impact of indoor air pollution from cooking fires.

Between $150 and $200 million is needed for a comprehensive research program on how much pollution reduction is needed to see a health improvement, as well as the benefits of current efforts to use better cookstoves, said the study.

In addition, the UN program does not aim to give stoves away for free, even though the people who need them are already quite poor.

"A stove purchased by the consumer is inherently more valued than one that is received without charge, especially if the free stove was designed without consumer input," said the study.

- AFP