Nkaandlaa burns Cape Town - as always

Houses burn as the President laughs about his firepool

Cape Town - Violence flared again in Marikana informal settlement on Friday, after residents torched the home of Leticia Mali on Symphony Way.

The act prompted retaliation by residents of Lower Crossroads who, in turn, set ablaze a shack of the man they accused of being behind the attack on Mali’s house.

The conflict has raged throughout the week, starting as a protest prompted by the cutting of illegal electricity connections to the informal settlement.

Four municipal trucks and five other vehicles were set alight, and a 68-year-old man died after his Toyota Hilux was stoned on the N2 on Thursday. Police vehicles were also stoned.

Angry Marikana protesters torched Mali’s home in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The Lower Crossroads residents then retaliated, claiming they were being held to ransom by the informal settlement residents.

“We are angry because we don’t have services to give them, and we are not responsible for them.

“So we don’t understand why they are taking their anger out on us and our homes.

“They have started this fight and we will not succumb to their ludicrous behaviour. These are our homes and we have worked hard for them,” one angry Lower Crossroads resident said.

Mali’s home was petrol-bombed by angry Marikana residents who claimed it was unfair that they were stuck in shacks with no services, while their neighbours lived comfortably.

Mali said some illegal electricity connections had run to Marikana from her house, but that she had cut them off due to the blackouts.

“They got angry and they threw a petrol bomb through the roof of the bedroom.

“The fire spread fast because there was no ceiling in that room,” she said.

Marikana community leader Nocks Gijana countered that it was not residents of the informal settlement who set her house alight, although she acknowledged there was bad blood between the two neighbourhoods.

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said late on Friday that the area remained tense, and police were monitoring the situation.

“This office can confirm that police action was taken during an ongoing protest in the Philippi East area.

“Property was damaged, but an accurate account of damages cannot no be issued at this stage,” he said.

- Saturday Argus

South Africa's 'brazen cover-up' of Zuma's home upgrade

The offence itself was bad enough - an orgy of overspending by obsequious officials and conniving contractors who managed to spend 246m rand ($21.7m, £14.3m) of public money lavishly upgrading South African President Jacob's Zuma's private homestead, Nkandla.

That is nearly 10 times what taxpayers spent on Nelson Mandela's two homes, and 20 times what it cost to secure Thabo Mbeki's house.

As we now know, Mr Zuma's "essential security upgrades" included a swimming pool, an amphitheatre, a chicken run and a visitors' centre. A fairly humble collection of traditional buildings on a rural hillside has been transformed into something more like a luxury holiday resort.

But as is so often the case in politics, it is the cover up - long, venomous, hair-splitting and sanctimonious - that has been most revealing, and most depressing.

Some of Mr Zuma's closest advisers - those with an eye on image and votes, rather than on real or imaginary security concerns - were urging him from the very beginning to apologise for any errors and to volunteer immediately to pay for any unwarranted expenditure.

The scandal could have ended in a week, and the president could even have emerged with his status enhanced.

Instead Mr Zuma and his supporters have sought to undermine the credibility of South Africa's public protector - whose exhaustively forensic report recommended that he repay some of the money - and have ridiculed the opposition for seeking to turn Nkandla into a presidency-defining scandal about accountability and corruption.

Now the police minister - a man whose career is, of course, entirely dependent on Mr Zuma's goodwill - has produced his own report, which spells out, in inadvertently comic detail, how conveniently the mosaic-inlayed swimming pool can double as an essential source of water for fighting fires.

The minister's unsurprising conclusion - Mr Zuma should not pay back a penny.

Comic moment

President Zuma did not hide his sense of vindication.

In parliament this week he openly mocked the opposition's attempts to pronounce the word "Nkandla" in a not-so-subtle hint that it was white politicians who were driving the criticism.

It was a confident, boisterous, divisive, and - at least for his supporters - genuinely comic moment.

And there is no doubt that Mr Zuma's jibes will have gone down well with his base.

- BBC

Nkaaandlaa Giggler Strikes again - heh heh heh HAAAI !

Four children die in shack fire

Cape Town - A Khayelitsha family has been left reeling in the aftermath of a shack fire which killed four children trapped inside.

The children, two of them just a year old, had been found dead at the doorway where they had desperately tried to open the door.

Lungiswa Vensile, the mother of two of the children, screamed as she recounted arriving at the shack in Khayelitsha's U Section to find it had been engulfed in flames.

Her children had been staying with her sister for the past two weeks as she worked to support her extended family.

"I am just so sad," she said, her voice hoarse and tears spilling down her cheeks.

The other two children were three and six.

Police said the fire had started at around 8pm, They were investigating the cause.

Neighbours said they had stepped outside to see a tower of flames looming over their homes as the fire engulfed a double-storey shack on the property.

Police said four dwellings were destroyed.

kieran.legg@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Toilets for 50,000 - Money woes for Cape stadium

Cape Town - Cape Town Stadium continues to be a massive financial drain on the City of Cape Town, and it doesn’t appear things will get better any time soon.

The stadium’s operational budget for the 2015/2016 financial year is a staggering R13 758 7954, while expected revenue is a just a tenth of that – R14 843 871.

A substantial portion of the stadium’s operating budget expenditure for the 2015/2016 financial year – more than R20 million – has already been allocated to salary related costs.

The bill is already nearly R6m higher than the expected revenue which is brought in by the hire or rental of portions of the stadium.

Running at a loss of more than R40m a year, the city is considering various commercial models that would make it financially viable.

However, this plan has not been finalised, and the city can’t afford to let the current management arrangement lapse. The temporary management arrangement, which was extended from June 2014, expires at the end of June.

In the absence of a long-term business plan that deals with staffing issues and commercial rights, the City of Cape Town has no option but to extend its current contracts and management plan for another year.

“The retention of the status quo will reduce any down time through the recruitment of a new team, thus reducing operational, infrastructural, safety and reputational risks,” said Lesley de Reuck, of the city’s tourism, events, and economic development directorate. The current staff was familiar with the stadium and the park, as well as their processes and standards.

“Events already booked for the 2015/2016 financial year require contractual fulfilment. These represent potential repeat clients and are critical revenue generators that must be nurtured. The facility cannot cease to operate on June 30, 2015,” said De Reuck.

In a report considered by the mayoral committee last week, De Reuck said a substantial portion of the stadium’s operating budget expenditure for the 2015/2016 financial year – R20 127 130 – had already been allocated to salary-related costs.

“The retention of the status quo will reduce any down time through the recruitment of a new team, thus reducing operational, infrastructural, safety and reputational risks.”

The current staff were familiar with the stadium and the park, as well as their processes and standards.The stadium has also been booked for events in the next financial year. “Current contractual and partnership agreements with event organisers must be honoured. Failure to do so may result in breach of contract and goodwill,” said De Reuck.

The team of external consultants appointed in 2011 to do a business modelling exercise on the stadium recommended that the land use and environmental conditions for the use of the stadium and its precinct should be changed to allow for commercial activity.

These processes are already under way and De Reuck said the submission of the formal application for amended land use planning conditions was “imminent”. The proposed amendments to the current environmental conditions were released for public comment last month.

He said both processes would be concluded by December, if there were no appeals.

Once these provisions have been granted, steps will be taken to release the Granger Bay Boulevard site into the property development market, he added.

Although the report called for a three-year extension of the management plan, until June 2018, Mayor Patricia de Lille amended the time frame, during Friday’s mayoral committee meeting, by just one year, to next June.

She also called for a progress report on the business plan to be submitted to the council by next March.

Also on the operational budget is a depreciation cost of more than R58m and repairs and maintenance costs of more than R192m. The total operating budget is more than R137m, but the expected revenue for the stadium for the next financial year is more than R148m. Most of this comes from the hire or rental of portions of the stadium.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Dilemma of Cape’s homeless

Cape Town - When Nomanindia Mfeketo was Cape Town mayor she made a commitment that within a year there would be no more children sleeping on the city’s streets.

That was in 2004 and, as she later acknowledged, the problem was a lot more complex than she had originally realised.

There have been a number of efforts since then to reduce the number of homeless people on the streets.

Before the World Cup in 2010, NGOs accused the city of rounding up street children and the homeless and dumping them at Blikkiesdorp near Delft. The city denies this, though, saying Blikkiesdorp was established as a Temporary Relocation Area in 2008 to house people who were evicted after invading N2 Gateway houses.

And last year there was a talk of the establishment of “community villages” outside the city centre where people could live and have access to skills training and drug rehabilitation programmes.

Greg Andrews, convener of the Street People’s Forum, said this proposal had since been canned.

The forum is a collective of several organisations working with street people in the city.

Andrews said the city’s “community village” idea was a perennial proposal that had surfaced in many guises over the last two decades.

“Even if such a community village were established, why would people want to go there? Would they be compelled against their will?

“On the other hand, perhaps it would be a really attractive proposition which someone on the streets would love to go to, in which case why would people leave once they have entered?”

Hassan Khan, chief executive of the Haven Night Shelter, believes the streets are no place for people to live.

“The streets should be a cold place, a place where you are hungry, so people come for help.”

But he says people are given permission to be there by politicians and some encouraged by NGOs who go out and give blankets and food to the poor.

“People are pre-programmed to help. They also pay someone just to be left alone.”

Not that he believes that poverty should be policed like the CCID with their private armies who force people to the edge of the CBD.

Khan said there were an increasing number of people coming to the streets, mainly adults.

“There are guys in their 50s from Welkom who have worked their whole lives in the Post Office and are virtually unemployable now.”

There is a large gay population, people who are not accepted by their families, and youngsters lured by the bright city lights.

“The important thing is how quickly a child on the street is identified and helped. The same with adults.”

Zara Nicholson, spokeswoman for mayor Patricia de Lille, said the City of Cape Town was the first city in the country to have adopted a policy for people living on the street.

“The city’s strategy is to reduce the number of people living on the street and to place them back with their families and communities of origin.”

Part of this reintegration effort included attempts to secure employment opportunities via the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Nicholson said that street people could not, however, be forced into accepting the city’s offers of assistance.

The City of Cape Town’s Reintegration Unit, launched in December, had successfully assisted 85 street people in its first three months of operation.

The city is also in the final phase of its Street People Survey which would include conducting a headcount of street people. The last comprehensive survey conducted by the city was in 2001 and there are estimates that there are around 7 000 transient people either living or begging on the street (across the whole city).

Councillor Suzette Little, the city’s mayoral committee member for social development and early childhood development announced recently that the city had nearly doubled its budget for its winter street people programme this year. The budget for the 2014 programme was R280 000, but this year R600 000 had been allocated.

Little said they also ran a number of programmes in communities most at risk to prevent more people migrating to the streets.

“These programmes are focused on issues in the home, truancy and substance abuse and to provide support to street people who are reintegrated into their communities to prevent a return to their former life.”

But Andrews doesn’t believe the city’s Street People Policy is actually effective.

“The central aim of its current policy boils down to the removal of people from the streets, though this is couched in gentle terms like ‘reintegration’ and ‘reunification’ so it’s quite palatable.”

But he explains that reunification or reintegration only worked if it was self-determined.

“Take for instance the typical example of someone who has come to the city centre desperate for work. Precious few opportunities exist and eventually he either is begging or parking cars, scrounging a pittance any way he can.

“Even if he never makes enough money to support his family, at least he feels he is not a burden to them – another mouth to feed, a body taking up precious space.

“But sometimes, he may be able to get a bag of groceries back home, maybe for someone’s birthday or for Christmas. Now the city’s Reintegration worker finally compels this man to go home.

“Imagine the shame of being escorted home by the larney from the welfare with nothing to support your family and them being told they must look after you. This is not sustainable.”

Andrews believes reintegration was only possible once the “40 percent unemployment and intractable brutal violence” that characterises daily life in the home communities that people on the streets run away from, are addressed.

“Furthermore, we need to address the bottleneck of over-full shelters, over-stretched services and inadequate social housing. Reintegration is meaningless when we have nothing to reintegrate a person into.”

Andrews says it would be refreshing if the city were to admit that people on the streets are not the problem and they’re not going away any time soon.

“The real problem is that 20 years into freedom, poverty is worse and it’s high time we stop trying to remove the poor from our well-to-do areas just because they make us feel uncomfortable or threaten our illusion of security.”

helen.bamford@inl.co.za

- Cape Argus

Decade anniversary - How to Build a cannabrick home

Peacefully Demonstrated outside the Department of Housing May 7 2005

1. Plant a cannabis seed. Water and allow the plant to grow and produce seed. Plant and water these seeds. Your goal is to grow enough to build a house, you will need about 1 acre to build a 5 roomed home.
   
   Tyala imbewu ntsangu (ye-cannabis). Nkcenkceshela imbewu uze uyinike ithuba lokuba ikhule ide ikhuphe eyayo imbewu. Uyothi ke uyityale nalembewu uyinkcenkceshele njalo. Injongo yakho kukukhulisa izityalo ezothi zonele ekwakheni indlu, uyakudinga i-acre (malunga nentsimi) enye ukuze wakhe indlu enamagumbi amahlanu.
   
   Plant 'n hemp saad. Water en laat die plante om te groei en saad te produseer. Plant en water hierdie sade. Jou doel is om  genoeg te groei om 'n huis bou, jy sal ongeveer een aker benodig om 'n 5-kamer huis te bou.
   
   Sokutshala imbewu insangu njalo. Amanzi nokuvumela isitshalo ukuze zikhule futhi ukhiqize imbewu. Plant namanzi lezi zinhlamvu. Umgomo wakho iwukuba akhule ngokwanele ukwakha indlu, uzodinga 1 Acre ukwakha 5 roomed ekhaya.
   
   
   
2. Consider the many relevant points presented in the guidelines of Build a house with hemp / Building with hemp.
   
   Qwalasela yonke imigaqo oyibekelweyo kwincwadana i-Build a house with hemp / Building with hemp.
   
   Oorweeg die baie relevante punte in die riglyne van die Build a house with hemp / Building with hemp.
   
   Cabangela amaphuzu amaningi efanele evezwa neziqondiso of Yakha indlu nge insangu / Building nge insangu.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Start planning where your house will stand. Consider everything about the environment you’ll be building in, like winter and summer sunshine, wind and rain – you don’t want to build on a floodplain, or your house will wash away. Be sure to plan all your water and waste requirements.
   
   Ceba indawo ozokwakha kuyo indlu yakho. Qwalasela yonke into ngomhlaba lo uzokwakha kuwo indlu yakho, izinto ezinje ngemimoya, ilanga, neemvula zehlobo nobusika, akekho umntu ofuna ukwakha indlu yakhe emgxobhozweni okanye apho iyothi ibe lilifa lezikhukhula khona. Uqiniseke ukuba unamanzi akulungeleyo ukwenza oku.
   
   Begin met die beplanning, waar jou huis sal staan. Oorweeg dit alles oor die omgewing en jy sal gebou in, soos winter en somer son, wind en reën - jy wil nie op 'n vloedvlakte bou nie, of jou huis sal wegspoel. Maak seker om te beplan al jou water en afval vereistes voldoen.
   
   Qala uhlela kuphi indlu yakho eyokuma. Cabanga konke mayelana imvelo uyobe ngokwakha ku, efana ebusika kanye kwelanga ehlobo, umoya nemvula-ungafuni ukwakha ethile kwemfunda, noma indlu yakho iyoba basuse. Qiniseka ukuhlela konke amanzi kanye imfucuza izidingo zakho.
   
   
4. Cut the grown cannabis plants down and leave in the field to rett for a week. The morning dew and natural rotting process will loosen the fibers from the plant.
   
   a. Process the plant matter by cutting leaves and branches off, then hit small bundles the length of the plant over and upturned rake.
   b. The long fiber parts that remain in your hand are good for weaving rugs and making various other items your skills can accomplish.
   c. The seed can be gathered for more housing.
   d. Gather the small woody bits (the hurd) that have fallen, this waste is what will be used in the construction material.
   
   Sika / sarha izityalo uzibeke egadini ixesha elingangeveki ukuze zibole. Umbethe wasekuseni nezinye izinto zendalo ezibolisayo ziya kuyikhulula I-fibre ezityalweni.
   
   a. Yikhawulezise ngohlukanisa intonga zezityalo namagqabi, uhlale uyiharika rhoqo.
   b. Intonga ezi zinothi zincede kwezinye izinto ezifana nokwenza ingubo nezinye izinto onothi uzibonele zona ngokolwazi lwakho.
   c. Imbewu inokuqokelelwe ukwakha ezinye izindlu.
   d. Qokelela imithana ethe yaziwela njengokuba uzoyisebenzisa xa usakha indlu yakho.
   
   Sny die gegroei hemp/cannabis plante af en in die veld verlaat om rhett vir 'n week. Die oggend-dou en die natuurlike verrotting proses sal die vesel van die plant los te maak.
   
   a. Proses van die plantmateriaal deur te sny blare en takke af, dan is getref klein bundels die lengte van die plant oor en omgekeerde hark.
   b. Die lang vesel dele wat in jou hand bly is goed vir die matte weef en die maak van verskeie ander items jou vaardighede kan bereik.
   c. Die saad kan vir meer behuising ingesamel word.
   d. Versamel die klein houtagtige bits (die hurd) wat gedaal het, die afval is wat sal in die konstruksie materiaal gebruik kan word.
   
   Sika izitshalo insangu njalo. isikhule phansi endle ukuze rhett isonto lonke. Amazolo ekuseni inqubo lwemvelo ukubola kuzokwenza athambise imicu kulesi simila.
   
   a. Ukucubungula udaba plant ukusika amaqabunga namagatsha ahambe ke hit izinyanda amancane ubude sitshalo phezu ne hala sokutakula.
   b. I-long fibre izingxenye ezisele esandleni sakho kukhona okuhle ngokuba ihlanganisa omata kanye nokwenza ezinye izinto ezahlukahlukene amakhono akho kungaba afeze.
   c. Imbewu kungenziwa babuthana izindlu xaxa.
   d. Ubuthe izingcezu bok encane (i-hurd) ukuthi uwe, lokhu imfucuza okuzokusiza lisetshenziswe ukwaziswa yezokwakha
   
   
5. Wash the hurd, dry it, then wash it again. Be careful not to allow the matter to rot or decay during this process, by turning, airing and allowing the African sun to dry the hurd properly. Now combine in proportions 10:2:3:3 combine the cannabis/ntsangu/dagga Hurd(10), washed river sand 0.5mm(2), hydraulic lime(3) and water(3) to make the mulch (This process may need tweaking depending on your geographic location, humidity, rainfall etc)
   
   Hlamba ingqokelela yakho, uyomise, uphinde uyihlambe.Ulumkele ukuba lengqokelela ibole kwelithuba, yiguquguqule, uyivumele ibethwe ngumoya uvumele nelanga lase Afrika liyomise lengqokelela. Dibanisa ngokwalo mgaqo 10:2:3:3, dibanisa ke lemvuno yakho yomgquba wentsangu (10) kunye nesanti yasemlanjeni 0.5mm(2), ikalika (3) kunye namanzi (3) ukwenza udaka (Nale into ke iyokuthi ixhomekeke kwindawo leyo ukuyo nemvula zakhona njalo-njalo).
   
   Was die kudde, droog dit af, dan was dit weer. Wees versigtig om nie toe te laat die aangeleentheid te verrot of verval gedurende hierdie proses, deur die draai, voorlê en laat die Afrika-son om droog die kudde goed. Nou kombineer in verhoudings 10:2:3:3 kombineer die cannabis / ntsangu / dagga Hurd (10), gewaste riviersand 0.5 mm (2), hidrouliese kalk (3) en water (3) aan die deklaag te maak (Hierdie proses kan tweaking nodig, afhangende van jou geografiese ligging, humiditeit, reën, ens)
   
   Geza izinti, zome it ke geza futhi. Qaphela ukuba singavumeli udaba ukubola noma ukubola kulo msebenzi , ngokubhekisa , angabiki futhi sivumele ilanga Afrika ukuze ome le hurd kahle . Sebesebenzisa ngezabelo 10:2:3:3 hlanganisa insangu njalo. / ntsangu / insangu Hurd (10) , umfula wageza isihlabathi 0.5mm (2) , wokubacindezela umcako (3) kanye namanzi (3) ukwenza semboza ngabo izithombo zezihlahla (Le nqubo may badinga tweaking kuye ngokuthi indawo yokuhlala yakho, umswakama, imvula, njll)
   
   
6. Now build your house! Ngoku ke yakha indlu yakho! Nou bou jou huis! Manje ukwakha indlu yakho!
   
   
7. Teach others. Fundisa abanye. Onderrig ander.
   
   

You can use this “dagga-cement” for making bricks, shutter casting or the proven “pole-and-dagga” method. This last method allows for a sturdy, warm, fireproof and water proof home – built with pride and intuitive engineering, not a ‘uniform box’.

Be sure to consider all aspects of your house design and structural requirements. Although the cannabis-cement will become stronger than steel in time, it is not advised to build over 2 floors high without considering structural implications. With planning this cement can be used to build up to 4 floors high.

The cannabis-cement will dry over a period of a month (depending on the weather). At this point you will be able to add the roof. Seal your home’s walls with lime; lime external walls annually. Decorate your house with masonry to make it unique, and paint with coloured lime as per custom.

Always PLANT A TREE in a place that will provide shade, to commemorate this accomplishment.

Council will plant trees if citizens care for them. Call (021) 689-8938 http://www.trees.org.za/

Assist your family, friends or neighbors with your experience and expertise. Share information and technique; you can uplift yourself and your community.

Hostels must fall, says housing minister

Lindiwe Sisulu wants to tear down South Africa’s notorious hostels – the scene of much of the xenophobic rioting in Joburg last month.

Indunas, the hostel leaders, have warned though that they won’t be part of anything that does not guarantee them proper houses – and they refuse to go into temporary shelters while the government breaks down existing hostels and builds new ones.

On Thursday, at a pre-budget vote, the human settlements minister said told MPs during her budget vote that hostels had to go because they had no place in a reconfigured state.

“Most of them (hostel residents) have spent a great deal of their time in cities. That they may have a holiday home in Mqanduli (in the Eastern Cape) doesn’t make them different from someone with a holiday home in Camps Bay who works in Brakpan,” she said.

Hostel residents would qualify either for a state-subsidised house, or community residential unit. It was time for South Africa to shed lingering legacy of apartheid and deal with the often atrocious living conditions in hostels: “They (hostels) are a very painful relic of our past... They (hostel residents) should live as part of society,” said Sisulu.

But in Alexandra’s Madala hostel, induna Bafowethu Sokhela said on Thursday ight: “What she’s saying has been said for years by many other politicians. Right now, they’re supposed to be developing the hostel as they said they would – but they’re doing nothing.”

He has lived in the hostel since the 1980s.

“The hostel has many people living in it. I don’t think they’ll have enough space to house us all. We won’t allow them to put us in temporary homes. We want houses just like other people in the country.”

Sokhela said the government must house every Madala hostel resident before it shut the place.

“They need to come in and get everyone’s information and move us into houses block by block if they have to. But they can’t close it till we have houses.”

The decision comes on the back of the refusal by residents of some Gauteng hostels to move into upgraded buildings, renovated from the apartheid-era single male accommodation into family units since 2009.

Following the upgrade, residents had to pay R750 a month.

Hostel residents complained they hadn’t been properly consulted and couldn’t afford the monthly rental.

Diepkloof, Soweto, hostel residents took to the streets to protest over housing on Monday.

This was the second protest by the hostel dwellers in Diepkloof following a protest in the area in June last year over lack of housing.

In Parliament, Sisulu said the government would like to “gradually abolish hostels in our towns, and hostel dwellers who have lived in our towns for a number of years would qualify for a Breaking New Ground house, or the CRU (community residential units) subsidy, depending on their specific circumstances”.

She said they had agreed with the mayors that upgraded hostels would be taken over by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority.

“This we will do in every town where we have upgraded hostels and hostel dwellers have not taken up residency.”

She said the government would accommodate hostel dwellers in temporary shelters while it put up permanent houses for them.

These social housing units would be given to young people under the age of 40 and who cannot afford to buy a house.

Sisulu said the recent raids on hostels in Jeppe and Alexandra in Joburg during xenophobic violence were not because they were targeting hostel dwellers.

The army and police raids at the hostels were a result of the violence emanating from those areas.

“We don’t associate them with evil,” she said.

The minister said there was no fixed date for the plan to complete the abolishment of hostels.

Surveys would be done on all the hostels throughout the country.

Subsequently, Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo told The Star the survey had already been undertaken and would finalised by next Friday.

DA MP Makashule Gana said houses built for hostel dwellers in Diepkloof and Mzimhlophe in Soweto were still empty after more than 10 years.

The national Department of Human Settlements is shifting its focus to mega-projects in order to tackle the country’s 1.5 million-unit housing backlog.

About 150 project applications have been received from the public and private sectors.

These would be processed to get under way over the next four years.

Sisulu said 60 percent of work would be done by youth brigades, funded by a ringfenced R159m, in an effort to transfer skills and create employment opportunities for young people.

However, the Human Settlements Department is also undertaking a review of its tender processes, described as its “biggest headache”, to prevent corruption and fraud.

A new procurement system should prevent abuse.

- Political Bureau and The Star

Foreigners here legally need housing too – Sisulu

Cape Town – If South Africa is to heal itself of the long-term effects of xenophobia, it must find a way to ensure that those who are in the country legally have somewhere to live. 

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu made the comment on Thursday at a news conference at Parliament before her budget speech and debate in the National Assembly. 

She reiterated the promise that she made last year regarding the housing backlog – to build 1.5 million houses and to provide housing opportunities. 

When the department counted the housing backlog, it counted South Africans, said Sisulu. 

“It has become obvious with the unfortunate xenophobic outbreak that there are many people who need housing of all kinds. 

“And if we are to heal over the long-term, we need to find a way to ensure that those people who are here legally have a place to live – either in rented accommodation or community housing units – because there is a tendency to buy houses from our beneficiaries. We must look further than last year, and try to find a measurable way to count our backlog.” 

Sisulu called on people to look after their houses, because they were assets. The value of a low-cost house built by the state is currently R160 000. 

The government was also committed to eradicating hostels – a remnant of the apartheid system. 

“Those who have lived in hostels for several years will qualify for state housing or a subsidy for community dwelling, depending on their specific requirements,” said Sisulu.

- NEWS24

Shack fire leaves more than 200 homeless

Cape Town - Approximately 240 people have been left homeless after a fire swept through parts of an informal settlement in Masiphumelele near Fish Hoek late on Thursday afternoon, the City of Cape Town said.

“Approximately 60 structures were destroyed,” the City’s disaster risk management spokeswoman Charlotte Powell said.

The City is providing emergency shelter for the survivors at the Masiphumelele Community Hall.

“The Red Cross Society will provide relief in the form of hot meals, blankets, and food,” said Powell.

The City’s human settlements department was on scene registering those affected and would provide affected residents with starter kits to rebuild their homes.

- ANA