Ministers’ R92m housing bill

Ministers and deputy ministers live in state-owned mansions barricaded with extra security that costs more than many people’s homes.

President Jacob Zuma’s expanded executive has cost you R92 million in new houses - mainly in the Waterkloof area - in Pretoria for 15 politicians - and that’s just for their second collection of state-funded homes.

The national Department of Public Works spent R71.795m buying the 15 properties, including attorneys’ fees.

That’s an average of nearly R4.8m a house… but that wasn’t good enough for your politicians.

So the department spent another R11.4m on renovations and furnishings, and another R8.5m on extra security. The total bill came to R91 644 540.48.

And it’s not finished yet; some spending on furnishings and renovations is continuing.

Another 19 houses in Cape Town cost another R116m, excluding extra work or furnishings.

When The Star asked cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi if the cabinet had discussed any security threat to the ministers and deputy ministers that explained the level of expenditure, he referred all queries to Public Works.

The department had not responded to earlier requests for comment by late on Wednesday.

The details of the Pretoria expenditure are in the reply by the minister of public works to questions in the National Assembly by DA MP John Steenhuisen.

“It’s little wonder they’re so out of touch with the needs of ordinary South Africans when they’re living in such a cosseted situation,” Steenhuisen commented to The Star.

“It’s a huge form of largesse.”

Last week The Star reported on the purchase in March of one of the 15 houses in Auriga Street, Waterkloof Ridge, for R6.3m.

The department had refused - for “security reasons” - to tell The Star which member of the executive would occupy the house, but the minister’s reply identifies the occupant as Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Dina Pule.

The houses for Pule and Deputy Minister of Higher Education Hlengiwe Mkhize were the most expensive of the 15, at R6.3m each, plus lawyers’ fees.

Pule’s job involves monitoring government delivery and assessing related policy. The Presidency’s policy document for this monitoring lists one of the “non-negotiable principles” for improving government performance as the need to “recognise that there will always be limited funding and resources, and yet be willing to commit to doing more with less and doing it on time”.

The cheapest house cost R2.4m. It hasn’t been assigned to anyone.

The department paid above the Tshwane metro’s official valuations for every property, in some cases well above. One cost three-and-a-half times the market-value estimate.

So far, 11 of the houses have been assigned - three to ministers and eight to deputy ministers. None of the properties were bought through open tender but through a “negotiated procedure”, the minister said in its reply.

As they are the second state-provided properties for the incumbents, they are supposed to pay rent on these: R905 a month each for three of the properties and R745 a month each for the other eight.

The spending flies in the face of the lack of funds for service delivery. For example, of the 203 state schools in the Joburg central area, nearly three-quarters get less than R500 000 a year each in state funding and only nine get more than R1m.

The cost of those 15 houses could have added R450 000 to the budgets of every one of those 203 Joburg schools. What was spent on those 15 houses could have run Gauteng’s Heidelberg Hospital for a year or Mamelodi Hospital for six months.

The extra security alone on the house for the deputy minister of police cost enough to pay a police lieutenant in the Presidential Protection Services for 31 months or a Limpopo police station commander for two years.

The curtains for the deputy minister of mining’s pad cost as much as the pay for a minimum-wage coal miner working underground for about four years. - The Star

Fires over Christmas leave one dead, others destitute

Instead of relaxing over the festive season, residents of Phumlani Village in Lotus River are counting the cost of a fire on Christmas Day which killed one man and destroyed a number of shacks.

Sisanda Mthiywa, 22, lost her home and her friend Mzingaye Mlilo, who was living with her and her boyfriend, early on Christmas morning when a fire broke out at about 3am.

It spread quickly from one shack to the next.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

A devastated Mthiywa said all she remembered was her boyfriend waking her up to get out of the shack.

“It happened so fast, and even though my partner and I made it out of the shack, our friend, Mzingaye Mlilo, did not,” she said.

Mlilo died after suffering severe burns.

Neighbours have stepped forward to help Mthiywa build a new home with the leftover burnt material along with five 3m zinc plates, a box of nails and a roll of black plastic sheeting supplied by the city’s disaster management.

Mthiywa is staying with her neighbours while her shack is being rebuilt, while Xwayile Phakati, who also lost his home, said he was spending each night at a different friend’s home.

“All I have are the clothes on my back.

“I lost everything. I don’t even have enough material to build a new shack,’’ he explained.

Apart from the building material given to residents, the city’s disaster risk management unit has made arrangements to provide food parcels, clothing and blankets.

Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, the city’s disaster risk management spokesman, said trauma counselling would also be provided.

A community committee member, Leticia van Roman, has criticised the city for not doing enough.

“It’s so heartbreaking to think that these people lost everything, especially at Christmas.

“All they received to rebuild their homes was five zinc plates, a packet of nails and a roll of sheeting.”

Van Roman said Mthiywa had received small bags of mealie meal and samp, a small pot of peanut butter, five tea bags and a small packet of sugar.

Since Christmas, there have been 16 fires in suburbs and 11 in informal settlements.

Fifty-one people have been left homeless.

l Following the numerous fires over the festive season, the City of Cape Town is continuing with its public awareness campaign to equip residents with the knowledge to prevent unnecessary deaths and life-changing accidents.

Summer in Cape Town is a high fire-risk period, with many people suffering loss of life or livelihoods, and injuries.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said that in the past five years the city had doubled its firefighting staff in the Western Cape to 900, and that more than R2 million had been spent on five new departments.

“We also have a specialised training academy in Epping which has worldwide certification,” he said.

Even though the province had one of the best fire departments in the country, problems lay in informal settlements.

“Lack of access, overhanging illegal cables and other factors delayed engines from accessing burning structures.”

- Cape Argus

Shack fire shatters New Year’s dreams

They would have spent their year’s savings on New Year’s celebrations.

Instead, Sonwabo Mazala’s family will now have to spend their money on his burial.

Mazala, 25, died in a shack fire on Monday, one of seven people who died in 13 fires in the city since Friday. Almost 100 people were displaced.

The fire in Dunoon spread in Section 28 after the shack behind Mazala’s caught alight at 11pm on Monday.

Two of Mazala’s cousins, Mzimkhulu Tshali and Mzonke Charlie, said the fire spread through the informal settlement rapidly because of the strong winds.

At Section 28 on Tuesday, about 50 men, all of whom had lost their homes in the fire, worked tirelessly to reconstruct their shacks. The men demarcated the site of Mazala’s shack with structures made from wooden beams and zinc sheets.

“We won’t build anything on this spot because this is the place he died. This hurts so badly, especially over the festive season. We are not looking forward to New Year.

“We won’t celebrate because we don’t have the money. It will cost about R8 000 to send Mazala’s remains to his parents in the Eastern Cape and that is money we don’t have,” a tearful Charlie said as he beat his heart with his hand.

Tshali, who shared a shack with Mazala, said when he heard the screams and saw the fire spreading rapidly, he shouted: “There’s a fire, there’s a fire. Get out.”

Mazala, however, did not heed his call.

“I could not stay any longer, I did not even save anything. My clothes, shoes, television, ID and bank cards were all destroyed in the fire. I have nothing. I don’t know what I am going to do,” said Tshali.

Another resident, Nandipha Madyolo, described Mazala as a “good person”.

“At the time of the fire, the shack was locked and the man who lived there was out. No one knows what the cause is,” said Madyolo Zimasa Qolo, who lived close to Mazala.

“I had already bought all my daughter’s clothes and our food for Christmas and New Year. When I returned 15 minutes later after fleeing from the flames, everything was gone. My stove, microwave, my child’s stationery and clothes I spent hundreds on (are all gone).

“After the last fire in April where I also lost everything, I worked hard to get it all back.

“Now, again I have nothing. We can’t celebrate New Year,” she said.

Disaster Risk Management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said: “Arrangements have been made to assist victims with food parcels, clothing, blankets, building material and emergency trauma counselling.”

Emergency services can be contacted by dialling 107 from a landline. Cellphone users, dial 021 480 7700. 

- Cape Times

Man killed in shack fire

A man was killed in a shack fire in Phumlani in Cape Town on Sunday, December 25, 2011, disaster management said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found the charred body of a man inside one of the shacks around 2am, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

The man was burnt beyond recognition and four shacks were completely destroyed, leaving 15 people displaced.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Three other people, including a two-year-old baby girl, were killed in shack fired in the province since the start of the weekend . Twenty-one were left displaced.

Solomons-Johannes said those displaced were offered shelter and building material by the disaster management. - Sapa

Man ‘loses house to E Cape student’

A 63-year-old Mitchells Plain man, who has been on the Cape Town city council’s housing waiting list for 21 years, had hoped he would be in his own home for Christmas after his subsidy was approved for a house last year .

But Teddy Cyril Timm’s joy was shortlived when he found out that even though he’d begun receiving bills for municipal services relating to the property, he could not move in. This was because the house had meanwhile been allocated to a student who apparently lets out the house to tenants.

With his hopes dashed Timm, has been placed back on the 346 000-long housing waiting list.

However, Timm, an unemployed backyard dweller who lives in a wendy house on someone else’s property in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, told Weekend Argus he might not live long enough to be finally granted a home because he suffers from heart problems.

“I almost died last Christmas when I had a heart attack,” he said.

Timm is a member of a group of people who recently met senior housing officials to try to find out how far they are on the housing list.

The group, led by April Engelbrecht, the chairwoman of the Beacon Valley and Westridge residents association, tried to find out when they will be granted homes.

The city’s human settlements strategic director Alida Kotze and senior human settlement officials Brian Shelton and Trevor Mitchell told the group they would investigate and report back to them.

(The Cape Town city council refused to allow Weekend Argus to observe this meeting).

On May 3 last year, Timm was overjoyed when he received the documents to inform him his housing subsidy had been approved for Erf 57163.

Soon afterwards, he started receiving electricity, water and sewerage bills for the property.

But when he started to make enquiries and visited the property in Stella Way, Mitchells Plain, he found somebody else had moved into his government-subsidised home.

He discovered the house had been allocated to a journalism student, who has gone back to the Eastern Cape and according to Timm has let the property to a tenant for R500 a month.

“I’ve been to the council’s housing offices six times already this year.

“I’m always visiting the council, pestering them. I’ve walked myself tired for this house. There, my house is standing. But somebody else is living in my house.

“Now they want to put me back on the waiting list that I’ve been on since 1990

I had a heart attack in December. I have high blood pressure and angina. I don’t think I will live as long as to wait until they offer me another home,” said an upset Timm.

Sonnenberg confirmed city council officials could not trace Timm at the time the house was supposed to be allocated to him and that the council then allocated the home to somebody else. At the time, Timm was “in hospital due to a heart attack” and this was one of the reasons he could not be found.

However, Timm and his daughter, Shinazj Jeftha, said it was impossible that council officials were unable to find them and the only possible explanation was that officials did not make the effort to look for them.

No one from the council called Timm on his cellphone number or Jeftha on her cellphone number, which always accompanies Timm’s paperwork.

Council officials also didn’t visited Timm’s wendy house in Tafelsig, even though they sent his bills to that address.

He and his daughter said had officials bothered to go to the house, people there would have told the council where Timm was.

Jeftha said: “My father had a hernia operation in December. Soon afterwards, he had heart failure and we didn’t believe he was going to be home for Christmas. It’s not his fault he had a heart attack”.

The Cape Town city council refused to allow Weekend Argus access to the housing waiting list on the grounds they were protecting the privacy of the people on it.

In addition, Sonnenberg made it clear that even if the public had access to the list, they would not be able to find out the basic information relating to their government-subsidised homes.

Sonnenberg said the list did not indicate an applicant’s position on the list, when an applicant would receive a home, or which project the applicant was part of.

Sonnenberg said: “There are at present 346 562 names registered on the database. The data is confidential as it contains personal information.

“Lists are regularly misinterpreted and lead to wrong assumptions or conclusions which create serious problems,” he said. - Saturday Argus

De Lille oversees donation of 1 000 fire extinguishers

For the families and communities of the 126 people who lost their lives in shack fires this year there may yet be hope in the fight against fires on the Cape Flats.

Yesterday, the City of Cape Town launched a pilot project, distributing 1 000 hand-held fire extinguishers worth R85 000 in Joe Slovo township in Langa Zone 30, 31 and 32.

News of the dramatic entrance of Mayor Patricia de Lille and her entourage in Zone 32 spread fast and a crowd of nearly 100 emerged to hear her.

As members of the community stood in the pouring rain, mayoral committee member for community safety JP Smith told the community they were “special” because they were the first community to receive the hand-held devices. De Lille said the fire extinguishers would enable residents to take “immediate action and help deal with small fires at the incipient stage”.

“It is difficult for fire engines to come in between structures,” she said, saying the small extinguishers were essential to prevent fires spreading.

“Every year, we see many of our community lose all their belongings in a fire, sometimes even people’s lives.

“There is no money that can buy a person’s life. We will explore the possibility of expanding the project to other informal settlements that are prone to fires once we have measured its effectiveness.

“The portable fire extinguishers are part of the city’s ongoing plans to supplement awareness and education programmes, bolstering prevention strategies of our Fire and Rescue Services,” De Lille said.

The project is funded by the Mayoral Special Projects Fund.

Recent interventions by the city include increasing the number of city fire stations to 30 (all of which are open 24 hours a day) and appointing seasonal firefighters to enhance the capacity to deal with fires, particularly during the high-risk summer period.

Educational material highlighting safe practices around the use of fires, cooking, heating and lighting devices have been made available and an Expanded Public Works Programme-based project to help mitigate the risk of fire has been implemented, De Lille said.

She said they would also be launching an awareness campaign.

“The city will continue to monitor how effective (the fire extinguishers are) and will continue the roll-out to other communities,” she said.

- Cape Times

Partnerships ‘pivotal to success of District Six’

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille says a strong partnership between national, provincial and local government and the private sector will be pivotal for the success of the District Six restoration project

CAPE TOWN — A strong partnership between national, provincial and local government and the private sector will be pivotal for the success of the District Six restoration project, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said yesterday.

Earlier this month the public was given the opportunity to comment on the final restoration plan. The multibillion-rand project will result in 5000 homes being constructed and once successful claimants have been allocated homes, the rest of the properties will be made available at affordable rates to buyers.

The plan includes extensive details of the mixed-property development, which will include residential and commercial centres along with offices and public spaces.

Ms de Lille said that after many delays and disagreements, there was now optimism that the project would be successfully completed. "District Six is one of the land settlements which was still outstanding and it is important that there is consensus.

"There seems to be an agreement within the community on how the land should be used. Obviously you cannot please everyone, but there is a general consensus."

Ms de Lille said how the public consultation process was handled showed that a partnership between the national, provincial and local governments together with the private sector was important for the success of the project.

Nas Allie, CE of the District Six Redevelopment and Beneficiary Trust, said yesterday that the public consultation process had been very "successful". "The whole purpose of the consultations was for the public to comment and the general impression was positive."

He said the entire project was significant not only from a justice point of view but also from a business perspective. "This project could be replicated elsewhere in the country and could solve the housing crisis."

He said that the project would be completed in seven years’ time. The development of 42ha of land will cost about R7bn. The City of Cape Town will provide the bulk infrastructure for free and the national government will contribute R1,3bn towards the project. Claimants will also be asked to contribute about R225000 on average towards their homes, valued at R1m. Thus, claimants will be given shares in a special purpose vehicle company that would be set up to run the development.

This option meant that the land would still be in the hands of the claimants and revenue would be generated by leasing some of the land.

- BusinessDay

Baby dies in shack fire

An 18-month-old baby died and a total of 33 people were left homeless in separate fires in the Cape Town area on Monday morning, the city said.

The baby died in the Happy Valley informal settlement near Blackheath in the early hours of Monday morning.

The fire also gutted five shacks and left 17 people homeless, the city's disaster risk management centre said in a statement.

In the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, five people were left homeless after a fire burnt down two shacks around 2.43am.

The fire was extinguished by the victims and residents of the community.

At 7.40am a fire broke out at Forest Heights, Eerste River and gutted three backyard dwellings and damaged a formal house. Eleven people were left displaced.

The centre's acting head Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said the cause of the fires was being investigated.

“Arrangements have been made for assisting the victims with food parcels, clothing, blankets, building material and emergency psychosocial trauma counselling,” said Solomons-Johannes. 

– Sapa

Child killed in Cape Town shack fire

Cape Town - A two-year-old child was killed after 10 shacks caught fire in Lansdowne in Cape Town on Sunday, fire and rescue services said.

Fire-fighters extinguished the blaze in Flamingo informal settlement around 05:00 and found the burnt body in a shack, spokesperson Theo Lyne said.

He could not immediately provide further details on the dead child. Lyne said the incident left 16 people displaced. "The cause of the fire is not known and it will be investigated by the relevant authorities," he said. - SAPA

Call for consultation on street renaming

GUGULETHU residents have called on the City of Cape Town to consult them when it starts with the process of renaming the township's streets.

Early this week the city said it would consider whether to rename Gugulethu's "NY" streets in the new year.

The call to rename the streets was initiated under former ANC mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo because the reference to the streets as NY's (which stood for Native Yard) is offensive.

The city then wanted to rename NY1 as Amy Biehl Avenue after the American exchange student who was killed by PAC members in 1993. There is also a proposal to rename NY1 as "Steve Biko Drive" - after slain black consciousness leader Steve Biko.

Yesterday Sowetan conducted a vox pop to gauge people's feelings about the renaming of streets. Those interviewed said the city should consult with residents first.

Resident Ntombomzi Ncivathe said she was in favour of the street name changes.

"They (NYs) must be changed because they are offensive to black people. (But) I don't think NY1 should be named after Biehl."

Ncivathe also rejected "Steve Biko Drive", saying "many streets or facilities throughout the country have been named after Biko".

Ncivathe suggested that the street be named after a community leader or anti-apartheid struggle activist from Gugulethu.

Another resident, Mzamo Sidelo, accused the city of dividing residents by proposing that NY1 be named after Biko. He, however, supported the idea of naming the street "Amy Biehl".

Sidelo said the street would be viewed as a "monument" because of the 1993 incident and the fact that Biehl had done community work in the area.

Kholeka Nyongo supported " Steve Biko Drive". - Sowetan

Man killed in Cape shack fire

A man was killed in a shack fire in Philippi in Cape Town on Friday morning, the disaster risk management said.

Fire-fighters extinguished the flames in Sweet Home informal settlement after midnight and found the body inside a shack, spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johaness said.

The man was burnt beyond recognition. In a separate incident, 16 people were displaced after seven shacks burnt in Khayelitsha on Thursday night. The shacks caught fire around 11pm, and the flames were soon extinguished, Solomons-Johannes said. No one was injured. “The causes of the fires are not known and they will be investigated by the relevant authorities,” he said. - Sapa

Minister too busy to worry about shacks

The title of Minister of Housing changed to Minister of Human Settlements and the present incumbent is Tokyo Sexwale.

Since the very first free elections, housing in South Africa has largely been beset by badly built or nonexistent Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, corrupt contracts or simple pipe dreams. Former Minster Lindile Sisulu promised in Cape Town to build 20 000 houses in three years . . . nope, it was 18 months. Nope, it was 12 months. Anyway, it did not happen – not even 2 000 houses and now she is Minister of Defence, where she can make much bigger promises.

The reason for the change of title to Minister of Human Settlements is, I think, that nobody could dignify the dwellings in which half the population lives as houses and it would probably be politically unwise to have a Ministry of Miserable Shacks and Mansions, as appropriate as this may be.

One has to admire Tokyo S. He is a very busy man. He was very much part of the recent African National Congress disciplinary hearing into the actions of Julius Malema, which function must have rated way above worrying about Human Settlements. He certainly was not present at that most important recent event (in our lives here at home) – the burning down of Morris’s shack.

Morris works for my practice and has four children. All were, fortunately, spared when the youngest child lit the ‘flame stove’ in Morris’s shack in the wrong way and the shack caught alight and burned down.

I did some investigation (after getting the Morris family back in business) and found out this: 95% of shack fires are caused by electrical faults or stoves or lamps. The electrical faults occur since illegal taps to power lines feed a whole series of extension cords strung together to bring power (at a fixed rate) to shack after shack. When the cords overload, they melt and stuff catches fire. In Cape Town, they are quite prepared to supply safe low-cost power connections (even to a shack) but they want the way clear so they can easily service these connections. This doesn’t happen, so it doesn’t happen.

Paraffin lamps get knocked over and . . . well . . . fire.

The simple way forward is this: ask consulting firms around the country to let contracts to build houses which have a low fire load (the self-build houses in Mossel Bay are an excellent example). Contract on open (really open, no rubbish) tender and build houses. Trust me, a trained matriculant could administer this.

As for lights, we have been testing some solar lights which consist of a panel with a battery, a solar panel and lamps. Some of them are good, some not so good. But the good ones we have tested are very good – durable, reliable and simple, and cost about R900 per set of two lamps.

Now, since the power for lighting in shacks is going to be stolen anyway, why do municipalities and Eskom not just buy a whole lot of these and free-issue them to those who need lights? I can let whoever wants see the results of our tests on various solar lights. If they supplied 100 000 solar lights, then, at a cost of R800 each, with each set replacing 120 W of incandescent light, for R80-million you would knock 120 MW off the power system.

Think about it – each of those ghastly wind turbines produces about 2 MW and costs R12-million; the solar lights are a significantly better idea. Will it happen? I am certain not. Our Minister is too busy giving evidence for comrades and being president of the South African-Japanese Business Forum, honorary consul general of Finland in South Africa, honorary colonel in the South African Air Force . . . and Morris, after all, is just a bricklayer. But now a bricklayer with solar lights.

- Engineering News

Blaze teacher’s lesson in bravery

Meet the brave teacher who saved an entire pre-school from a hellish fire that destroyed 15 shacks.

If it were not for quick-thinking Nontando Dase, she and the 35 little angels in her care could have died in the blaze on Saturday.

And while she is glad they escaped with their lives, the daycare centre is left in ruins.

All the clothes, food and toys, donated to the Masithembane Daycare Centre in Wallacedene ahead of the festive season, have been destroyed.

The 43-year-old caregiver tells the Daily Voice about her harrowing brush with death as she sifts through the remains of her RDP house which served as the daycare.

Nontando cares for 35 kids between the ages of four months and eight years.

So when she heard people screaming that a fire was spreading fast, she immediately sprang into action.

She says some of the children were sleeping in a back room while she was feeding a group of toddlers in another room when she heard the neighbours’ frantic screams.

“I suddenly heard people screaming outside… There were four children sleeping in the back room where the flames were coming from,” Notando recalls.

“The house was then suddenly engulfed in smoke.

“I ran to the room and saw this big blaze coming through the window.”

The mother of two explains that she immediately picked up three kids at once and dashed to safety, handing them to neighbours before she ran back inside.

With the intense heat scorching everything in its path, Nontando dashed back into the house to save the last child left in the room.

“People helped me with the other children… I still cannot believe that I made it out,” she says.

“I want to thank God for all the strength he gave me.”

Looking down at the little ones she cares for, she adds: “These kids could have died from the smoke.”

And while residents are relieved the kids survived, they are now baying for the blood of the man who they believe started the fire.

Residents told the Daily Voice men were hunting for the man who is believed to have fled Wallacedene.

They say he started the fire after an argument with his girlfriend.

Resident Willemina Appels, 50, whose house was partially burnt, says the fire destroyed her Christmas.

“The fire destroyed all the windows and curtains I just bought for Christmas,” she tells the Daily Voice.

”I wish they could find this man so that he repay us for all this.”

Neighbour Someleze Koki, 29, says she came home to find that the side of her tiny RDP house burnt.

“The fire destroyed the electricity box – we have lost everything here,” she says.

“We are very angry with the man who started the fire, he must come and explain why he did this, especially this time of the year.”

* This article was published in the Daily Voice

Nepotism claims against boss of housing agency

ALLEGATIONS of nepotism, duplication of duties and flouting of procedures to appoint service providers have rocked the Housing Development Agency.

The agency's chief executive, Taffy Adler, is alleged to have hired his sister-in-law Josie Adler and a close friend, Brad Arden, to work with him at the HDA.

Josie and Arden are currently employed in the programmes and projects division.

The agency is responsible to secure vacant land for the Department of Human Settlements to build houses for the community and reports directly to Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

The agency's spokeswoman Kate Shand confirmed yesterday that Josie and Arden were indeed consulting for the agency.

She admitted that Josie was Taffy Adler's sister-in-law but denied that Arden and Adler were close friends.

"Josie Adler is Mr Adler's sister-in-law (but) Mr Adler only has a professional relationship with Brad Arden," Shand said in an e-mail.

She, however, denied that Josie Adler's relationship to the chief executive had influenced her appointment.

Experience, she said, gave her the nod.

"Josie Adler has a 40-year reputation in her field and she was appointed - independent of her relationship with Mr Adler - by an HDA general manager to undertake neighbourhood development work," Shand said.

Adler is also accused of contracting Sally Blaine to do human resource-related work.

This is despite the HDA having a fully-fledged HR department that performs the same functions.

Sowetan understands that employees in the HR department have complained about Blaine's appointment.

Blaine, who is stationed in the chief executive's office, received an hourly payment of R798 over 31 months.

Regarding Blaine's contract to the HR department, Shand said: "Sally Blaine was initially appointed to provide HR support as the HDA did not have an HR manager at the time.

"(She) currently provides strategic support to the HDA and only has a limited HR role where her prior knowledge of the organisation is brought to bear.

"We confirm the hourly rate of R789 including VAT."

According to the report, which studied irregular expenditure in the agency between March and September this year, Arden, Adler and Blaine were paid R418,608; R249,600 and R870,846 respectively

- Sowetan

‘Slumlord president’ criticised

There has been angry reaction to the story broken by The Star about President Jacob Zuma and his former wife owing R120 000 on levies for services.

The money is owed to the City of Joburg for two flats he owns in Berea.

Outraged residents have accused him of slumlording by having nine tenants living in one of his flats.

Val Hughes said his excuses held no water. “It’s all very well for him to say a managing agent was taking care of the properties, but surely he checks on them to see what is happening?”

Another reader, who wished to remain anonymous, said Zuma should lead by example. “How can he own two flats, one of them filled with nine people, and he does not know about it? This is slumlording at its best, even if he didn’t collect the rent. Someone should be held accountable. Does he have so much money that he can afford to forget he owns two flats in Berea?”

The DA has also slammed Zuma’s arrears. “Councillors in the City of Joburg are dismissed if they have arrears of more than three months,” said Susan Mottram, a DA councillor who has been trying to assist residents with unfair cut-offs by the council.

“We have all recently been threatened with disconnection of services, even though 19 of us have valid queries on our bills. Why is an exception being made with the president?”

Meanwhile, despite assurances from Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj, who said the issue would be addressed immediately, no attempt had been made to do so. The administrators were still refusing to speak to The Star, but confirmed there had been no progress on the matter.

Power to the entire block of flats in which Zuma’s units are situated, Saratoga Gardens, was cut three weeks ago because of a R1.8 million arrears.

* The Star reported on Wednesday that Clayson Monyela was Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s spokesman – it is in fact Ronnie Mamoepa. The Star apologises for the error.

- The Star

Speak to the Minister of Human Settlements at a price

The cash-strapped Western Cape ANC is targeting businesses for relief from its financial stress. And for this it has roped in Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale who is to address a “private and exclusive” cocktail function on Thursday.

The ANC in the Western Cape is hoping to fill a cash void of R3.5 million owed to, among others, the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), a car hire firm, and suppliers of election posters and T-shirts.

“Sponsors” hoping to get close to Sexwale and his director-general Thabane Zulu have been invited to cough up R200 000, R150 000 and R100 000 respectively for Platinum, Gold and Silver status at the function.

Platinum Sponsors receive two “VIP tables”, seating 10 in a “premium” position, with signage at each table, the prominent display of company logos and the opportunity to display promotional products. But instead of the ANC’s name appearing on the invitation, the function is being hosted by the “Western Cape Development Agency” (WCDA).

Several Cape Town businesses have received invitations to the event, to be held at the five-star Taj Hotel in Wale Street.

“The programme will outline business opportunities in the Western Cape. Presentations by the minister and his director-general will provide a comprehensive overview of housing opportunities in the Western Cape,” read the invitation sent in the name of the ANC’s provincial treasurer Fezile Calana.

The invitation explains that the WCDA “is motivated by the wish to give back to the communities, and through their talents and experiences, to provide leadership to the youth of the region”.

“The WCDA has identified as its first area of intervention education, economic development and entrepreneurship.”

There’s also mention of “special scholarship programmes” which would “promote integrity, the spirit of Ubuntu and regionalism”.

Calana did not want to comment on the invitation. But sources in the provincial structures of the ANC acknowledged that the WCDA was a vehicle the party used to raise funds “because white businesses don’t want to fund us”.

Hennie van Vuuren, director of the Institute for Security Studies which has researched party political funding in South Africa, said fund-raising moves like this fuelled corruption.

“One of the greatest missing pieces in the chain of anti-corruption measures remains the regulation of private funding of political parties.”

He said party funding was linked to access to ministers. Spaces were being created for elites to access politicians who had been elected by ordinary people.

Cape Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said businesses being made to pay for introductions to ministers could be misinterpreted as a bribe. - Cape Times

1790 stranded after shack fires

LANGA residents have appealed to the city of Cape Town to relocate residents who were left homeless when their shacks burnt down last weekend.

Fire destroyed about 178 shacks at various informal settlements, leaving about 626 people homeless. Two people also died over the weekend.

The first incident occurred on Saturday night in Zone 18, where about 56 shacks were destroyed and 166 people left homeless.

On Sunday night about 42 shacks were burnt on Brenton Road, one person died, another one was injured and 160 people were displaced. On the same day in Zone 24 about 80 shacks burnt down and 300 people became homeless.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

Weziwe Hewu said: "People call Langa embawuleni because our houses are affected by fire every year. I don't know where I'm going to sleep because all my relatives also lost their homes."

In Zone 24 some people were rebuilding their shacks, while others were sitting in the shade waiting for the council to give them building material.

"I don't have money to buy building material. I don't even know how I am going to rebuild my shack because the council promised to give us five sheets of corrugated iron and 10 poles each, which are not enough. My shack was old so I can't use that material," Nobandla Stemela said.

ANC councillor Mayenzeke Sopaqa said he had informed the disaster risk management and promised to provide the victims with food and building material. The city's disaster risk management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons urged people to be cautious.

"More than 1790 people were left homeless after 14 separate fires across the Cape Peninsula this weekend, and 10 people died in fires," he said.

He said the council has provided humanitarian relief to the victims that were affected by the various fires.

- Sowetan

‘Groundbreaking’ Sustainable Green housing development

The Tomorrow’s Garden City project at Hartington Place follows a competition by the Royal Institute of British Architects in which architects were asked to submit their design of the ideal affordable 21st century house.

The winning designs from the 2007 competition, run in partnership with Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and North Hertfordshire District Council, incorporate new technologies, environmental designs and use economically and socially sustainable materials such as hemp.

The project will provide 60 new homes for private sale, shared ownership and affordable rent.

Nick Wright, managing director of Rowan Homes, which is managing the build, said: “The ambition of the competition was to deliver high quality, low cost, environmentally friendly, groundbreaking housing in Letchworth - the world’s first ever Garden City - and we are so far delighted with the progress and are on track to deliver just this.

“The mix of property types will create a sustainable community with a wide spectrum of society and will encourage and support social inclusion, diversity and strong community spirit.”

Adrian Brace, the Heritage Foundation’s director of property, added: “This development is a great example of how the principles of Letchworth’s 1905 and 1907 cottage exhibitions have been re-invented to meet the environmental and social needs of a modern day Garden City.

“The competition represents a positive, pioneering approach to innovative architecture and town planning which supports our commitment to sustainability in the long term.”

An open day with the opportunity to look around a show home is planned for the start of 2012.

- thecomet

Cannabis Investment: An Industry Primed for Growth

If you thought cannabis investment was only a teenage pastime, think again. Hemp and medicinal cannabis are both tried and tested money-making industries, and both are moving at a fast pace. For those on the lookout for unusual investment opportunities—particularly in construction and pharmaceuticals—this could be a growing market.

Although industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent of the psychoactive component THC, in the United States the stigma attached to its hallucinogenic elements have hindered its development.

Production there ended in 1957 after prohibitive laws were passed, but while US legislators continue to debate the issue, 30 countries around the globe are cultivating the crop, including China and Australia.

John Hobson, president of the European Industrial Hemp Association, explained the interest: “Ten years ago if you stopped somebody on the street and said, ‘What is hemp?’ they would probably think it was something that you smoked.

“But now with construction and hemp insulation taking off, I think that the general public are becoming much more aware of what hemp is,” he said, adding that hemp has the added bonus of being cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

“Hemp is low on input, particularly chemicals, because it has a zero chemical requirement. It doesn’t suffer from any pests or diseases that would warrant a spray. And its quick growth in covering the ground would blot out any weed competition," he said. “It’s a fantastic crop for cleaning up ground, and profitable for the farmer to grow.”

Rick Diamond / WireImage Draperies manufactured with hemp.

About 15,000 hectares of hemp are being cultivated in the European Union, providing food, biodiesel and paints, paper and textiles and construction materials.

With a turnover of around $4 million, Britain’sLine Technology is at the forefront of hemp development and demonstrates the versatility of the crop, producing everything from concrete blocks to panels for the BMW five series.

Hobson summarized hemp’s attractive investment possibilities, telling CNBC:

“It is a profitable product for the grower, the processor, the construction companies, and the people who will be living in those structures, because there are huge savings on energy to be had in hemp construction.”

Cannabis is also increasingly popular in the pharmaceuticals industry, where it is used for pain relief for chronic illnesses.

Justin Gover, managing director of GW Pharmaceuticals told CNBC about the medicinal properties of cannabis and the science of ‘cannabinoids’:

“The cannabis plant has an extraordinary range of medicinal properties—it has had over many thousands of years a history of medicinal use.”

Developed over the past 12 years, his company’s drug Sativex is derived from two standardized extracts of specific types of cannabis to help multiple sclerosis sufferers.

Already available on the National Health Service in the UK and approved in four countries this year, Gover said he hoped by the end of next year nearly 20 countries should have approved the product.

Addressing concerns about costs of development in the current climate, Gover said, “The product costs about six pounds a day, which in the context of a lot of new medications coming onto the market is a significant discount. In particular treatments for the disease of MS are significantly more expensive.

“We appreciate that this isn’t as cheap as an old generic medication, but it is treating a patient population for whom those treatments have failed to provide adequate benefit.”

Gover agreed that the US was the place to be for pharmaceuticals, given it represents half of the market share. “It would be a significant inflection point for our company to be approved there,” he said, adding that in two years he hopes GW Pharmaceuticals will be involved in the care of terminal cancer patients.

He told CNBC that cannabis could help in not just pain relief, but the actual treatment of chronic illnesses such as cancer, epilepsy and diabetes.

The success of Sativex shows that cannabis based products do have a place in the global drugs market; commercial rights have been out-licensed toNovartis [NVO 113.62 2.48 (+2.23%) ] to sell to Asia, the Middle East and Africa, German based Bayer for the UK and Spain’s largest drugs companyAlmirall.

So in the construction, textiles, energy and drugs industries, hemp is a truly diverse and versatile crop; an alternative investment that's looking evergreen.

- CNBC

Winnie aims to flush away toilet woes

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is in Cape Town this week to see for herself the sanitation issues faced by residents across the city.

On Monday, Madikizela-Mandela, who is head of the ministerial sanitation task team, listened to residents and NGOs at the Civic Centre, where she noted their grievances and recommendations.

Madikizela-Mandela said she would spend this week in Cape Town speaking to residents and looking at service delivery around sanitation.

“For a change, I am not going to give any political speech today,” she told the audience. “Be as honest as you’ve ever been in your lives. I’m here to listen.”

She said that when she was in Crossroads in 1994, she promised to get rid of squatter camps, the bucket system and to see to it that people got houses.

“Tell us where we have succeeded and failed you since 1994,” she said on Monday.

Madikizela-Mandela commended the Western Cape provincial government for its “sterling job towards meeting the demands of our people”, and urged the province to continue being an example to the country.

Gavin Silber, policy co-ordinator from the Khayelitsha-based Social Justice Coalition, said safety was an important part of people’s access to toilets in the area because the toilets were too far away, and some people had been assaulted and raped while walking to them.

He said there were also serious health issues like diarrhoea, the leading cause of the death of children aged up to five years old in Khayelitsha.

Silber said it sometimes took months for the toilets to be repaired and this was often not done properly. This led to a situation in which up to 100 residents had to share a toilet.

He recommended monitoring and maintenance in the short term.

Philippi resident Zukile Rafuza said Cape Town could not be considered one of the best cities in the world “while we still have the bucket system and people live in shacks”.

Seipati Nyelele, of the SA Red Cross Society, said the bucket system had to be eradicated because people’s dignity was being compromised.

Madikizela-Mandela said the residents’ concerns were “precisely what we needed to hear from you”.

“These are the recommendations we would want to implement ourselves, not an academic report.”

- Cape Argus

Green Hab Oakus Hemp Triangle

The just-completed housing development by Hab Oakus - the partnership between Kevin McCloud's company Hab and housing group GreenSquare - is the focus of a new Channel 4 documentary series that begins this week.

The Triangle, a high-quality sustainable 42-home development in Swindon, features in the two-part series 'Kevin's Grand Design' as part of the Great British Property Scandal season.

During the programmes McCloud, fed up with the poor quality of Britain's identikit new houses, aims to prove that it shouldn't cost any more to build better designed places that are a nicer to live in and can help residents live happier, more sociable lives.

Kevin McCloud said: “We've almost completed the project now and overall I'm quietly very pleased. The public areas are now pretty well complete and I'm looking forward to seeing the wild flowers emerge next summer.

"I'm also looking forward to seeing how productive the polytunnels, veg beds and edible hedgerows are. Soon we'll have our Shimmy home information systems up and running and be able to talk to residents about how they take ownership of the scheme forward.

“What's great for us at Hab is that our partner, GreenSquare, is there for the long haul as community manager, offering support for what is going to be an interesting ride for us all. We've laid down some pretty fertile ground for a community to flourish and I really hope it does.”

GreenSquare chief executive David Ashmore said: “We're delighted to have completed our first Hab Oakus development and wish the residents at The Triangle a happy and comfortable future in their new homes. It's been great learning with, and from, Kevin and his team and the new residents.

“There is a massive challenge to provide the homes that millions of households in this country urgently require. We will work with Government and other partners to find yet more creative ways to improve the supply of high quality sustainable homes.

“GreenSquare has demonstrated its ability to deliver and to innovate and, importantly, to go way beyond beyond bricks and mortar – improving people’s lives and wellbeing through, for example, training and employment initiatives and all kinds of community activities.”

The award-winning designs for The Triangle are by Glenn Howells Architects with landscape architects Studio Engleback. Other key members of the project delivery team included build contractors Willmott Dixon Housing, environmental engineers Max Fordham, engineers Curtins, cost consultants DBK, GOCO CAR, Carnego Systems, and Lime Technology.

Homes at The Triangle are designed to be super insulated – naturally warm in winter and cool in summer – and have a range of features that do make them different from more ‘traditional’ homes including: air sourced heat pump; rain water harvesting and low water usage bathroom fittings; stack effect ventilation with chimney-style ventilation cowls; sheep’s wool loft insulation; triple glazed windows; bicycle storage built in to the front canopy of each house; and walls built from a hemp and lime wall thermal walling system that absorbs CO2 in its manufacture.

The development was supported with an investment of around £2.5 million from the Homes and Communities Agency and backed by £840,000 investment from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Investment Fund because of its use of environmentally-sustainable materials.

Channel 4's Great British Property Scandal season investigates some of the issues that have contributed to the current housing crisis and speaks to a broad range of the people affected by it.

The season highlights that while almost two million British families are currently on the waiting lists for social housing, one million properties lie empty across the UK, even though many cost huge amounts to keep secure.

- 24dash