Hemp Houses Are Growing In South Africa

Presidential town on the rise

Bongiseni Bhengu is under pressure. It is tough enough being a municipal councillor constantly harassed to speed up service delivery and development, but when your ward is home to the president of the country, that pressure is tenfold.

The president's homestead at Kwanxamalala in Nkandla as it looked in 2009. 

Bhengu's constituency is ward 14 in Nkandla, the home town of SA'S number one citizen. Bhengu's home in the village of Kwanxamalala, nestled below the rolling hills of Mabengela and overlooking the sprawling Nkandla forest, is also a stone's throw away from the Zuma homestead.

Bhengu's first problem is that the residents of ward 14 assume he has a direct line to the president.

"That I am a councillor to the president comes with a lot of pressure," he says.

"People have a perception that the president will just wake up in the morning and say: 'I have decided to develop this area.'

Nkandla Now

"They want to know what is it that I have discussed with the president about development, and they expect the president to wave a magic wand and develop the ward overnight.

"These people seem to forget that Zuma is not the president of ward 14 and Nkandla alone but of South Africa. In their view the president should stick with us and our problems alone."

The second, and bigger, problem for Bhengu is dealing with people outside his ward who feel that it is benefiting from major infrastructure developments because it is home to Zuma.

With Nkandla having mushroomed from a rural, undeveloped area a few years ago into one with several community projects and

Swidespread infrastructure roll-out, it is not hard to see where such perceptions come from. Several community projects have developed and are consolidated around Nkandla's Lindela Thusong Multipurpose Centre, which houses a library, a post office, a municipal office, Home Affairs offices, the Jacob Zuma Education Trust office and an Ithala ATM.

"It helps a lot to bring services closer to people, and the president had a hand in it coming here," says Bhengu. The centre was built while Zuma was the deputy president.

Across from the centre, there is the Mamba One Stop Development Centre, built at a cost of R12.8 million by the former Kwazulu-natal Social Development MEC, Meshack Radebe.

This centre, which is not yet used to its full capacity, is meant to house a clinic and Home Affairs and Labour offices. There are social workers, an HIV/AIDS NGO and community projects operating from it at the moment.

Another facility, called Tulwane One Stop Development Centre, offering similar services, was built nearby by Radebe.

There were lavish functions to open both centres, attended by Zuma in the build-up to the 2009 elections. At the time, this triggered an angry reaction from the DA in the province, who charged that public funds were being used to campaign for the ANC.

Radebe responded by saying that the residents of Nkandla were not going to be punished by being excluded from service delivery just because Zuma happened to come from the town.

During The Mercury's recent visit to the area, there was a hive of developmental activity and there were several construction sites. In one project, the finishing touches were being put to road P55 from Eshowe to Nkandla, and road P15/2, which runs through Zuma's home town to Kranskop and on to Pietermaritzburg. This R500 million road network, covering 250km, is part of a project known as the Tale of Four Cities because it links Ulundi, Empangeni/richards Bay, Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Part of the road from Kranskop is already tarred, providing easy access for Zuma should he decide to travel straight to Nkandla from Pietermaritzburg, instead of going via Eshowe using the N2, as is usually the case. Bhengu says the development and tarring of the roads will help to shorten the journey between Nkandla and Durban. "It will also attract business opportunities into the area and help create jobs," he says.

Kwanele Ncalane, a spokesman for the KZN Transport Department, rejects suggestions that the construction of the road has anything to do with the fact that the home of the president is on the same route.

"If this is the case, people will have to explain why we have developed and are still developing and tarring thousands of kilometres of roads throughout the province of Kwazulu-natal," says Ncalane.

In the past three years, thousands of homes in Nkandla have received electricity connections at a cost of R44m. Replying to a parliamentary question in March 2011, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said there would be 3 000 electricity connections in six villages in the Nkandla area.

Peters said that Zuma's village of Kwanxamalala was among those that would benefit from electrification projects budgeted for 2011/12.

She said that in 2011/12 the government would aim to make 648 electricity connections in four other Nkandla villages. The programme would cost a total of R12m.

A further R20m worth of connections were expected in the area during the 2012/13 financial year, but this figure would decrease to R10m in the 2013/14 financial year.

At another construction site, a massive upgrading of the water reservoir and treatment plant - built by the Uthungulu district municipality for R45m - is under way.

The activity in Nkandla has also caught the attention of the private sector, with the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Nafcoc) announcing plans last year to build a R7m condom factory in the rural town.

Adding that this had nothing to do with Zuma's links to the town, Nafcoc said the factory would create about 300 jobs and that 20 percent of its ownership would eventually go to the local community.

The main development in the area, however, is the consolidation of the president's homestead, which is said to have undergone a R64m upgrade. This expansion, building on the African theme of his home, boasts six double-storey thatched rondavels meant for his wives.

Security has been beefed up, with the erection of a steel wall around the expanding homestead.

The renovation, encroaching on the small road that passes the property, has redefined the landscape of the village.

Last year it was reported that the homestead was to include a clinic, a helipad and accommodation for medical staff, all to make it easier for the president to receive medical assistance when he is at Nkandla.

Just behind the Zuma homestead is a cluster of more than 10 standalone thatched houses.

Still unoccupied, these are believed to be guest houses for visitors and other VIPS.

And behind the guest houses is a sports ground, which is still under construction.

Beyond this stands the massive new residence of Zuma's flamboyant nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, which includes two stand-alone double-storey flats and two standalone houses.

Requests by The Mercury to gain access to the properties were turned down because they have been declared national key points.

For the locals, this development boom was in no doubt thanks to Zuma and his commitment to rural development.

Earlier this year, the Jacob Zuma Foundation handed over five threebedroomed houses to needy families around Lindela, Nkandla.

Bhengu says these were the first of a number of houses to be built by the foundation for the needy in the province.

He says Zuma used his influence to get former president Nelson Mandela to have Mnyakanyaka High School, next to Zuma's home, renovated by mining company Goldfields. It now boasts a computer laboratory, thanks to Zuma's initiative.

Lennox Mabaso, a spokesman for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, says that Nkandla is one of many towns that are being given a facelift as part of the department's small towns rehabilitation programme.

"The idea is make it attractive to investors and to cap the migration of people to urban areas," says Mabaso.

"Any assumption that this development is coming to Nkandla because of Zuma is mischievous to the extreme.

"It is the deliberate misrepresentation of facts - an onslaught by some on the president as someone who is only concerned about himself."

Whatever the case, for the residents of Nkandla it is manna from heaven.

- The Mercury

Home alone tot dies in shack fire

A three-year-old boy, who was at home by himself, died in a shack fire in Khayelitsha’s RR Section on Monday night despite desperate attempts by neighbours to save him.

Police said they did not suspect foul play, but confirmed the child had been left alone by his parents.

Three-year-old Milani Siyaya burned to death in a fire that gutted two shacks.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer November Filander said on Tuesday the parents were not arrested but were taken from the scene for trauma counselling and to give statements.

“It’s suspected that a paraffin-lamp could have been the cause of the fire,” Filander said.

On Tuesday, neighbour Mpho Motsobotsi, 29, told the Cape Argus he was woken by the sound of a crying baby and the crackling sound of burning wood about 10pm on Monday.

He saw his neighbour’s home was burning.

Motsobotsi said he tried to save the child but the door was locked.

“I kicked the door three times to try and get inside. By the time I made it in the child had grown quiet and there was smoke and fire in the whole place. I couldn’t see anything,” he said.

Along with his neighbours, Motsobotsi grabbed buckets of water to put out the fire and during the commotion his own shack also caught fire. His girlfriend, Vuyokazi Phoki, 26, and their two young children managed to escape the fire, but their possessions were destroyed

Motsobotsi and his neighbours said this was the third fire in RR Section this year but that this had been the first time that someone had died. - Cape Argus

SA has failed its people – Winnie

South Africa has failed its people on the most basic human right of sanitation, ministerial sanitation task team chairwoman Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said on Wednesday.

“We need to revisit what went wrong,” she said in a speech prepared for delivery at a workshop in Joburg.

“South Africa still faces immense challenges related to water and sanitation.”

Madikizela-Mandela was unable to attend the workshop because she is recovering from an operation. Her speech was read to delegates by task team member Fazel Randera.

Madikizela-Mandela said the purpose of the workshop was to “craft a solution”.

“Has the government of today chosen to ignore the architectural and fundamental needs of its people?” she asked.

The ministerial task team had visited all nine provinces and local municipalities to look at the problem of sanitation.

It had found that service delivery was not prioritised.

“This was of great concern,” said Madikizela-Mandela.

She said poorly managed municipalities needed to be named and shamed.

“It's high time we bring back the power to the people.” – Sapa

Riots last resort of poor

Recent protests

A column of thick smoke billows from burning tyres as an enraged community, sticks and branches in hand toyi-toyi in front of a blue line of police officers.

The people, who have been there since early in the morning, are angry.

For months, some even say for years, they have begged the government for proper houses with running water and electricity. But their local councillor, despite all the promises in the run-up to the last election, has not delivered.

Now they have taken a stance; and violence and looting are the only way they believe will get the government’s attention.

A rock is hurled at the line of policemen, and then another, followed by more. The police fire rubber bullets, dispersing the crowd in all directions. The battle for service delivery has begun and will continue until the early hours.

This scenario plays out over and over across the country, and researchers warn that it will continue as people’s anger at the government’s failure to deliver – sometimes basic services such as running water – spills over into violent protests.

Service delivery protests, particularly in parts of Gauteng and Western Cape, have been steadily increasing since the early 2000s.

According to data produced by Municipal IQ, an independent agency that collects government data, there were 402 “major” service delivery protests in South Africa between 2004 and 2011.

Since 2004, there has been a steady increase in service delivery protests, peaking in 2010 with 111 occurrences. Last year, that figure dropped to 81.

The data show that Western Cape is the epicentre of service delivery protests, accounting for 24 percent of all protests, followed by Gauteng with 22 percent. Limpopo has the fewest protests, accounting for just 1 percent.

And with the onset of winter, the number of protests are expected to increase as people’s need for electricity to keep warm forces them on to the streets, research shows.

According to a research paper written by Harvard University scholars Jelani Karamoko and Hirsh Jain, people are more likely to protest against their harsh living conditions in winter when storms and floods are likely batter their homes.

But what are the reasons behind the violent service delivery protests?

According to Vanessa Barlosky, a researcher at Democracy Governance and Service Delivery Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council, service delivery protests are indicative of people’s anger at the rising level of inequality.

People are witnessing the constitutional failures of local government.

They are resorting to protests because they are not getting the services they were promised, Barlosky says.

She says that these types of protests are the only way people believe they can be heard, as they were used effectively in the fight against apartheid.

Service delivery protests happen mainly because of a lack of strong civic organisations coupled with the attitude of local government officials who do not engage with communities, Barlosky adds.

This could be a reason why Durban has not experienced as many protests as other major metropolitan cities.

“I don’t think there are so few protests in KwaZulu-Natal because service delivery is so effective.

The difference between the Western Cape and Gauteng is because of the very high disparities between the poor and the wealthy, which exacerbates conflict and crime. Also, Durban has quite a few strong civic organisations, such as Abahlali baseMjondolo (the shack dwellers lobby) which engage with the very poor regularly,” Barlosky says.

Mary de Haas, a KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor, says service delivery protests are directly linked to ineffective councillors and the “dreadful state of local bureaucracy”.

“People resort to this type of protest because they feel they have run out of options.”

She points out that in other countries, when councilmen and politicians don’t deliver, people protest with their feet and vote them out.

“In South Africa, our history makes us different because people feel an attachment to the ANC and do not see an alternative. So instead of voting people out they would rather take to the streets in violent protest.”

De Haas believes the reason there are so few service delivery protests in the province is because of the strong cultural ties to customary laws, where local chiefs hold sway over large numbers of people.

“In some parts of KwaZulu-Natal, especially around Zululand, live some of the country’s poorest people, but you won’t find service delivery protest because there is a culture of subservience to the chiefs.”

Karamoko and Jain say that service delivery protests would not flare up as often as they did if the government engaged with poor communities who feel “alienated”.

“It can reduce the perception that there are few outlets for public participation outside of violent uprisings.

Moreover, it can reduce the perception that government officials are corrupt or somehow complicit in the withholding of services from their communities. In the end, however, solving problems of this magnitude will take time and the sustained commitment of local government officials to engage with residents.”

- Daily News

Hemp may be building block to cosy home

An American company is planning to build a manufacturing plant in Ontario that will turn hemp into a compostable construction material.


American Lime Technology, a Chicago company that specializes in low carbon building materials, wants to manufacture a ready to install insulating product made from hemp at a plant near Toronto, said sales manager Matt Englemann.


Hemcrete, the company’s trademark name for the generic product hempcrete, is used to create insulating walls and non-load bearing walls.


“Hemcrete is not a structural material. It’s used in conjunction with another structure,” said Englemann. “Hemcrete is a combination of the woody core of the industrial hemp plant, bound together with a binder of lime and other natural mineral materials. It’s not Portland cement based.”


Hempcrete doesn’t have the strength of concrete, but it’s much lighter and is breathable, durable and biodegradable. Englemann said that as an insulation, it is superior to conventional products made from fibreglass.


“It’s really got a very unique combination of material properties that make it quite appealing for construction of building envelopes.”


American Lime Technology, the North American marketing arm of British company Lime Technology, has been in business since 2008. 


Tradical Hemcrete, the company’s trademarked brand, is poured at a construction site to form walls around the building’s frame. 


“We ship the industrial hemp shives in bales and the binder in bags. It’s mixed with water on site and cast into place,” Englemann said.


Hempcrete cannot be cast at temperatures below freezing, so Lime Technology has developed a system in which panels are formed at a plant and then assembled at the construction site.


The proposed manufacturing plant near Toronto would manufacture the pre-cast panels and other hemp construction materials. 


Similar pre-cast panels are being used to insulate a new Marks & Spencer store in England, according to Lime Technology’s website. 


In North America, American Lime Technology is supplying Hemcrete to construction projects.


A division of Lime Technology is also looking at building a hemp fibre processing plant in Alberta, which may also manufacture Hemcrete.


The leader of the Alberta project wasn’t ready to speak about the plant, saying the company would provide more information this fall.


Jan Slaski, a plant crop physiologist and hemp specialist for Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, has heard about the proposed plant.


“There is an entrepreneur who has incorporated his company in southern Alberta,” he said.


“His main goal, or business interest, is production of biocomposites for biobuilding materials.”


He said it makes sense to build such a plant in Alberta because the provincial government is focused on industrial uses for hemp rather than hemp grain.


“In Alberta, we are taking a slightly different approach to hemp,” he said. “We are developing hemp for fibre.” 


Consequently, Slaski and others are developing best agronomic practices for high yielding, high quality hemp fibre. Hemp fibres grown in Alberta may be used to make biocomposites for the automobile and aerospace industries, but most of the short fibre is suitable for building materials, Slaski said.


“Hemp contains two types of fibre: long fibre and short fibre,” he said.


“Long fibre, that is what is used for manufacture of car parts and textile, but 70 percent of the crop is short fibre … the inner core fibre.”


Englemann said hemp is greener than fibreglass insulation because it is renewable and compostable,an advantage if North American jurisdictions create renewable construction standards, he added.


“To have a high performance building solution that can last hundreds of years and still be compostable, is pretty fantastic.”

- Producer

Lifeline for Cape Town’s suburbs of decay

Crime hotspots and “decaying” suburbs across the Cape Flats and parts of the northern suburbs are to get a facelift and are the focus of mass upgrades which will benefit thousands of residents and a multitude of businesses.

The turnaround plan is part of the mayor’s urban regeneration project in which eight problem areas have been selected.

The upgrades are based on those of the Special Ratings Areas (SRAs) and the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) plan. SRAs were previously known as City Improvement Districts. Areas that have benefited from the initiative include Cape Town’s CBD, Sea Point, and Claremont.

Some of the benefits include increased law enforcement and additional cleaning staff.

Open spaces, which are crime hotbeds, will be transformed into recreational areas. This is already happening in one of the areas – Harare in Khayelitsha.

Driving the project are the city’s area co-ordination teams. They comprise city officials, ratepayers, non-governmental organisations, and in some cases, informal traders.

There are eight “nodes” in the project. These are:

* The Bellville CBD and surrounds.

* Mitchells Plain Town Centre.

* Manenberg, Hanover Park and Lotus Park.

* Bishop Lavis, Valhalla Park and Bonteheuwel.

* Harare and Kuyasa in Khayelitsha.

* The Wesfleur business node in Atlantis.

* Athlone CBD.

* Ocean View.

In some areas like Manenberg and Khayelitsha, a VPUU was already up and running.

The city recently hosted a briefing where officials gave an overview of the progress in one of the areas, the Bellville central business district and surrounds.

JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security, said the area had fallen into a state of “urban decay”.

Crimes like drug dealing and prostitution were on the increase.

“There was a the collapse of infrastructure… areas were looking neglected and broken.”

The goal was to bring the improvements seen in the SRAs, but without the multi-million rand budgets.

In the case of the SRAs, residents in the area pay an added fee on top of the normal rates. The additional money went toward services like extra law enforcement and cleaning services.

Bellville, for example, now has a permanent law enforcement component of 23 officers.

At the briefing, Sam Pienaar, city councillor, said there were 50 “problem buildings” along Voortrekker Road.

Pienaar said a problem building audit started in December. Since then, officials had started forming relationships with some of the bodies corporate of apartments along Voortrekker Road. This was leading to agreements to improve the appearance of some of the problem buildings.

He said mayor Patricia de Lille was set to announce a series of investments from the private sector in the Bellville CBD in the next few weeks.

The University of the Western Cape has already bought the premises of the former Jan S Marais hospital in the area.

An SRA for the Voortrekker Road corridor has already been approved. It will stretch up to Durban Road and through to Parow. It will start operating in July.

Gert Snyman, from the steering committee of this SRA, said they had to work fast to turn the situation in Bellville around.

“I’m a business owner here. And we know if we don’t manage to turn the area around this year, it’s going to the dogs in the years to come. We will have reached a point of no return.”

He said in the coming financial year, the SRA had a budget of just over R11 million. And of this, just over R6.2m was allocated to safety and security.

Work was also being done with a local NGO to assist homeless people, with the goal of re-uniting them with their families.

At the briefing, Alistair Graham, the manager of the VPUU projects, explained the goal of the regeneration project.

“It’s to uplift former neglected, dysfunctional areas which are regressing rapidly.”

Graham said one of the aims was also to redress inequality.

“We live in Cape Town within a divided city, certain areas have been excluded for many years.”

Each area has a different “action plan”.

At the town centre, 90 percent of the walks had been completed – these were designated walkways for pedestrians and a central marketplace for traders.

The only snag in this system was when residents and businesses in the SRAs failed to pay the extra fee on top of their rates.

The Cape Argus reported last month that the existing SRAs owe the city more than R18m in rates.

In the Cape Town CBD boundaries, government institutions owe more than R1.4m in levies, a city report showed.

As of December, the Groote Schuur district had arrears of just more than R1.1m.

One of the biggest reasons for arrears is that some property owners who did not want to be part of the SRAs are refusing to pay levies.

Sea Point SRA arrears stood at just more than R945,000.

Much of this stemmed from previous valuation adjustments and an “under-recovery” from property owners, the report said.

Claremont Boulevard’s SRA is made up only of business owners and only 61 percent are paying the levies. This is another area where the city is suggesting a debt drive.

The report said arrears were common in an SRA’s first year because some property owners did not support the concept and others disagreed with the regulation that the levy should be based on property valuations.

“Even those who support the establishment of the SRA want to experience the improvements before making payment,” the report said

- Cape Argus

Perverse effect of rural pit-toilet grant

Funding rules mean rural households’ full toilets are being replaced rather than emptied

THE government is spending R8000 a shot to build new ventilated pit latrines for rural households when all that is needed is R700 to empty the pits of existing ones.

The result — at a micro level — is that many rural households now have several toilet structures in their yards, including ones with full pits that need to be emptied.

At a society-wide level the result is equally bad: very slow progress is being made in undoing the backlog of 2,4-million households in the provision of decent sanitation as the toilets that have been built since 1994 steadily fill up and become unusable.

This is the perverse result of an attempt by the government to accelerate the delivery of sanitation by providing more money for it through a R1,2bn rural household infrastructure grant. The terms of the grant — set by the Treasury — are that it can only be used for the construction of new toilets and not to empty the ones that are full.

The emptying of ventilated pit latrines — the pit toilet which conforms to government standards in areas where there is no water-borne sewerage — is the responsibility of municipalities, says Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane, which must use their operational budgets to do so.

But Phillip Chauke, the acting head of the national sanitation programme unit in the Department of Human Settlements, says as many as 50% of municipalities are not emptying toilets, especially those in rural parts of the country.

He estimates that half of 2,4-million households that are defined as being part of the backlog already have recently built toilets, but these are full. The life span of a pit latrine is between five and eight years before the pit must be emptied.

"Once a household has got a full toilet, they are by definition without a toilet. There are many, many municipalities that tell me they already have toilets, what they need is help emptying them. Either they don’t have the funds, the equipment or it is not working. But the conditions of the money are that we are not allowed to do that.

"So instead when we see a household in this situation, we are spending (much) more than we should. Most of the existing structures are still very strong. But if the municipalities can’t come and empty the toilet, then we build a new one to give that citizen the service," says Mr Chauke.

The perverse outcome of the rural household infrastructure grant is not the only problem compounding the sanitation backlog.

In 2009, President Jacob Zuma shifted responsibility for the sanitation backlog from co-operative and traditional affairs to human settlements under Tokyo Sexwale.

The transition caused delivery to grind to a halt. Concerned about the "unacceptably slow progress" of the Department of Human Settlements, a report by Parliament’s portfolio committee on human settlements last August showed no progress was made at all in the first year in which the programme fell under Mr Sexwale.

The parliamentary committee expressed alarm again this year when it emerged that at the end of the third quarter of the programme’s second year, only 20% of the funds had been spent.

Apart from the developmental importance of good sanitation, proper toilets have been a constant demand among poor communities and last year emerged as a prominent election issue.

Mr Sexwale responded by establishing a high-profile task team headed by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to investigate the sanitation backlog.

The team has presented an interim report, says Mr Chauke. Mr Sexwale granted it another six months to complete its work.

Mr Chauke, who took over the unit in August with a large spending backlog, says delivery has accelerated significantly but the programme is likely to end the fourth quarter with about R80m — or 30% of its budget — unspent.

A report prepared for the South African Human Rights Commission, which is also holding hearings on sanitation, last month made the "startling finding" that "although access to sanitation is increasing", up to 28% of households are at risk of service failure or are experiencing service delivery failure.

- BusinessDay

Nathi Mthethwa denies 'looting' police spy fund

The Hawks are investigating claims that Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa used nearly R200 000 from a crime intelligence fund to make renovations to his Kwazulu-Natal home, the City Press reported on Sunday. 

The newspaper also claimed that Mthethwa was trying to quash the investigation into himself and two other high ranking police officers accused of colluding with him.

The claims were made in a "top secret" police report given last month to acting police chief General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, according to City Press.

Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela was not immediately available to comment on the article's claim of a Hawk's investigation, while Mthethwa in a statement on Sunday strongly denied all the claims.

According to City Press, crime intelligence boss Lieutenant General Richard Mdluli and finance head Major General Solly Lazarus were both named in the report.

Mdluli had been suspected of looting crime intelligence resources by misusing state vehicles, safe houses, and a police travel agency. He was suspended and then reinstated. The minister was instrumental in having Mdluli reinstated, the paper said.

The report claims that the minister was also instrumental in reinstating Lazarus who was also suspended -- going against the will of the acting police chief.

According to the alleged police report, Mthethwa had extensive "security renovations" made to his house, after Mdluli conducted a risk assessment in May 2010.

The payments were approved by Lazarus and were illegal as the secret fund was meant to only finance covert counter-crime operations, the newspaper said.

It further claimed that Hawks investigators found that the minister drove a luxury Mercedes-Benz SUV that was bought for him by crime intelligence from the secret fund. He allegedly drove the car between March 2010 and June 2011.

The minister denied all allegations in a statement released by his office on Sunday.

Spokesperson Zweli Mnisi said Mthethwa had on Sunday "telephonically requested the auditor general to investigate these allegations and will be formally writing to him urgently".

"Minister Mthethwa wishes to reiterate that no state funds were used in renovating his private residence or those of his immediate relatives.

"He has also not seen or used the Mercedes Benz car that is falsely attributed to him. The only involvement of the police was conducting a security threat analysis around the house once it was completed.

"We hope this investigation will unmask those behind these continuous false accusations against the minister and their motives."

Mthethwa also issued a response which was published in the same edition of the paper, denying the allegations levelled against him. -- Sapa

Man dies in Wallacedene blaze

One man died and 25 people were left homeless after a fire tore through a section of Wallacedene outside Cape Town, the city's disaster operations spokesman said on Friday.

The fire destroyed five backyard dwellings and damaged two formal dwellings from 10.30pm on Thursday, leaving the 25 people displaced, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

The man who died in the blaze had not been identified yet.

“The City’s disaster response teams will provide humanitarian and social relief aid today (Friday),” said Solomons-Johannes.

The cause of the fire would also be investigated. - Sapa

Parliament suspends top two

Parliament's administrative head, Zingile Dingani, and its chief financial officer, have been put on special leave following revelations that Dingani allegedly used R186,000 of parliament's money to build a wall around his house.

The Times has learned that Dingani, and chief financial officer Lesley Mondo, are at home waiting for the conclusion of an independent inquiry into the matter.

The Sunday Times reported two weeks ago that Dingani had approached Speaker Max Sisulu to authorise a R186,000 advance for the building of a wall at his house.

He said a risk assessment had been made of his home in the northern Cape Town suburb of Panorama following a security breach, and the state security agencies that made the assessment had recommended the building of a perimeter wall as a security measure.

But it has since emerged that the money was obtained irregularly because parliament does not have a policy of authorising such transactions.

Sisulu has asked the auditor-general to investigate the transaction. He will refer it to the public protector if the A-G is unable to investigate.

Three insiders with intimate knowledge of the situation confirmed that Dingani and Mondo had been suspended.

"Yes, they have been suspended. Parliament was forced to go the independent investigation route because at some point the Speaker will have signed for this thing," said a senior official who refused to be named.

Parliament spokesman Luzuko Jacobs confirmed that Dingani and Mondo were not at work but said they had asked for leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Mondo said he had taken voluntary leave to allow for the investigation to take its course.

"We have indicated that it would be best for us not to be around while the investigation takes place because of the positions we hold.

"I believe that the people who are doing the probe must be given the freedom to do the probe. But the true facts will emerge," he said.

Dingani could not be reached for comment.

The Sunday Times reported that Dingani - who earns R1.8-million a year - obtained money from the national legislature on the grounds that a serious security breach at his home necessitated the building of a perimeter wall.

An amount of R186 0000 was then deposited into the account of Wise Builders, a Cape Town construction company that he selected.

Though some directors-general of government departments, especially those in the security cluster, are provided with housing or protection by the state when they are in office, parliament does not have a policy regulating the protection of its accounting officer. It also does not have clear rules on loans to employees.

When Sisulu discovered that there was no policy regulating security measures at the home of senior parliamentary executives, he ordered that Dingani repay the money. An arrangement was made for R10000 to be deducted each month from Dingani's salary.

But documents obtained by the Sunday Times showed that one of the R10,000 instalments had been refunded to Dingani by parliament's chief financial officer.

Asked to explain why the R10,000 had been redeposited in Dingani's account, Jacobs said that the money had mistakenly been deducted from his salary in December. Deductions were scheduled to begin only in February.

Both the ANC and the DA have called for an independent investigation of the matter.

The two parties are also demanding the creation of a transparent oversight mechanism for parliament - as provided for in the Financial Management of Parliament Act - be expedited.

This could be in the form of an open multiparty committee before which parliament's officials will be required to appear regularly to account for the conduct of the institution's administration and finances.

- Timeslive

‘We were better off under a bridge’

Homeless people moved to Blikkiesdorp by the City of Cape Town before the World Cup in 2010 say they were better off living under a bridge than they are in the temporary relocation area.

Simon Lule, 36, from Tanzania, lived under a bridge in Woodstock. He said Blikkiesdorp is just a “dump site”.

“They don’t care about us as long as we’re off the street. There’s no service for us… This place is not safe, we’re suffering,” said Lule.

Blikkiesdorp was designed as “temporary emergency accommodation” for a period of about seven years.

Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral council member for human settlements, said the 1 742 structures in Blikkiesdorp housed about four to five people each.

“An additional 75 units have been built for qualifying emergency cases,” said Sonnenberg.

Lule said Blikkiesdorp residents got little to no services from the city.

“A house in the corner of P Block was burning and we called for the fire engine… no one came. Residents put out the fire,” said Lule.

Moegamad Titus, 52, who also lived under a bridge in Woodstock, lives in a unit with his wife and his six-month-old baby. Titus likened Blikkiesdorp to a concentration camp.

“Would those people in Parliament like it if they were taken from there and brought here to live with almost six children in one room?” asked Titus.

“We can’t go anywhere, we must just stay here. They don’t even make transport accessible to us. We’re suffering here,” he said.

Priscilla Adams, 35, who lives in a unit with her four children, said services were “poor” and there were no work opportunities in the area.

“Here, even 50c is too hard to get, but if we were under the bridge we wouldn’t even have to walk 15 minutes to find something to do.

“Metro police take their time to come when matters are reported. My one-year-old is sick with TB because of the poor living conditions,” said Adams.

Lule said people from Blikkiesdorp were not treated with the same respect as other citizens.

Richard Bosman, the city’s director for safety and security, said law enforcement officers were trained to treat everyone with “respect and dignity”. “If our officers are approached by people who are feeling ill, they will immediately request the necessary medical assistance.”

Lule said health care was one of the area’s biggest problems.

“Every week someone is sick or dying here. Ambulances take a long time to come, and sometimes they get here when patients are already dead.”

The city’s human settlement’s directorate is investigating possible development in the Delft area, which will include Blikkiesdorp.

Sonnenberg said the city, provincial government and the Airports Company of SA were still in discussions about the upgrade.

- Cape Argus

Madonsela tackles corruption

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela on Tuesday said corruption was like a cancer that should be cut out.

She was addressing an international conference at Stellenbosch University's Institute for Advanced Studies on anti-corruption strategies.

The public protector believes South Africa is at a tipping point when it comes to corruption.

“I do believe we are at a point where we have to take decisive action.” 

Madonsela said public accountability must be strengthened.

She said transparency was key in fighting the scourge. 

Madonsela said no one should be above the law. 

Meanwhile, South Africa has been fighting corruption for several years.

In September, President Jacob Zuma asked the Justice Ministry to set up a commission of inquiry into what is arguably the country’s biggest corruption scandal, the arms deal.

The hearing will probe allegations of corruption involving arms suppliers who sold fighter and trainer jets, planes, helicopters, ships and submarines to South Africa.

At the same time, the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and opposition parties have called on the government to intensify its fight against corruption.

- Eyewitness News