Cape Town’s great housing bungle

Dramatic revelations of the costly bungling in the controversial N2 Gateway project show that contractors started work without signed contracts, approved funding or even clear guidelines on what they were supposed to build.

The insights provided to the mayoral committee (Mayco) reveal the fullest picture yet of a politically driven development in which millions of rands were squandered because basic contractual procedures were abandoned in the haste to get housing on the ground.

The city is now set to call for a forensic audit of all contracts in relation to the N2 Gateway project.

The extent of the bungles came to light in a tense grilling of senior city officials by Mayco on Friday.

The public servants of Cape Town were all but powerless.

At issue was a R28-million tab the city was being asked to pick up for overruns and for multi-million rand claims by disgruntled contractors.

Mayco decided that in the absence of a thorough forensic audit, it would not accept liability.

City, provincial and national officials were fingered for their role in the saga.

In an uncharacteristic move, Mayco initially decided to close the meeting to the public because of the sensitivity of the matters under discussion. The press had to leave.

However, mayor Helen Zille, who was resting in her office because of an illness, was alerted and insisted the debate be opened. By then, most of the journalists had gone.

The N2 Gateway project was the ‘right’ kind for Cape Town.

What ensued was akin at times to a grand jury as Mayco pressed officials to provide clear answers.

What is apparent is that the public servants of Cape Town were all but powerless as they were caught up in a politically driven development agenda that took on a mad-cap quality because of the haste with which it was being implemented.

It emerged that contractors were on site, building structures at vast cost, in the absence of duly signed contracts or clear instructions on what was to be built, and before there was even a project budget.

Letters of appointment issued to contractors in the first phase of the rushed exercise, to which were attached a host of specifications, restrictions and objectives, were withdrawn halfway through the process, and new letters issued without any conditions at all.

The spotlight falls on six people - three politicians and three senior officials - who formed two committees that drove the project.

The politicians are former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, provincial housing MEC Richard Dyantyi and national Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu. The officials are acting director-general of the national Housing Department Ahmedi Vawda, provincial housing department head Shanaaz Majiet and city executive director Rushj Lehutso.

It is apparent the three officials were acting under political instructions, but it is not known what the specific instructions were, or on what authority they were given.

Mfeketo, Dyantyi and Sisulu - referred to in reports as “M3″ - may hold the key to the unanswered questions.

The city’s most senior planner, Stephen Boshoff, said the N2 Gateway project was the “right” kind for Cape Town, offering a development model the city should use on a wider scale.

And, as Mayco member Dan Plato repeatedly stated, the DA-led multi-party forum “is committed to the N2 Gateway project and to building houses for the poorest of the poor”.

However the focus of Mayco’s questions on Friday was the costly departures from standard approvals processes.

The questioning began with Mayco member for finance Ian Neilson wanting to “understand how this project unfolded”, and to know who was responsible for setting standards, approving designs and issuing orders.

It fell to senior officials - director of human settlements Seth Maquetuka, city project co-ordinator for the N2 Gateway Peter Oscroft and manager of finance: housing Wayne Muller - to try to give clarity on these matters.

Among the revelations were that:

• There was “such haste” with the project that the design work and the initial construction work were effectively “parallel processes”, Oscroft said. This led to some of the cost overruns because it was found that the ground was poor and additional foundation construction was needed. Further cost overruns arose because greening and landscaping of the sites were not part of the initial calculations.
  
  
• “Pricing was not determined before work was started,” said Oscroft. “We were a long way down the track with Joe Slovo phase one before the final prices were assembled. To a degree, this was as a result of poor project management by consultants and a lack of capacity in oversight on what those managers were doing at that time.”
  
  
• Initial letters of appointment to contractors on April 18 last year, which “set strict terms of compliance” with the Municipal Financial Management Act and with subsidy and grant funding requirements, were withdrawn on instruction from Ikhwezi, and were replaced, according to a city report, by “revised letters with the original restrictive conditions removed”.Oscroft told Mayco: “I cannot answer who instructed Ikhwezi, but the project managers, Cyberia, were given the instruction to withdraw the original letters and substitute them with letters of appointment which had less strenuous requirements.”
  
  
• Maquetuka told Mayco that the fact that this was a pilot project was the key context.He said: “The steering committee was given a mandate (by the politicians) to drive the process. A project management unit was appointed to deal with the day-to-day management. Most of the decisions flowed in that fashion.”On the question of a political mandate, Maquetuka said: “In terms of mandates, from a policy point of view, the highest decision-making body was M3 (Mfeketo, Dyantyi and Sisulu). That’s where the authority came from.”

Neilson wrapped up the meeting by saying: “From what we have heard - and it seems fuzzy as to who made what decisions to do what - I am not in a position to know to what extent the city is liable to pay the R28m cost overrun.

“It is not clear if it was the city, the province or the national government that made decisions which led to the overrun. Until we know that, we cannot make that decision.

“And clearly, the whole process was not a way to proceed in getting houses built. We cannot replicate this process in the city again. And calling it a pilot project is not an excuse not to do the job properly.

He said a thorough forensic investigation was needed. - Cape Argus

The June 16 Generation - It Can

With the 30 year anniversary having past 3 days ago for both, InternAfrica raises the struggle again, there are millions of people who need a sustainable way to build “City-Zenship” through reducing the ecological footprint, and use of renewable energies.

June 16 1976

* SA Student uprising - the begining of the end of apartheid
* The first Habitat Conference held in Vancouver - the begining of the end of slums

As the World Urban Forum3 Opens tonight - we step forward into the next 30 years.

Why do we still have these habitat problems? To build a home is a physical thing, far more achievable than a new political dispensation. We have accomplished that. We CAN resolve our habitat crisis.

Farm workers evicted for tourists

The controversial eviction of 300 workers’ families from estates in the Jonkershoek valley near Stellenbosch — including Christo Wiese’s wine estate, Lourensford — has been temporarily halted following a trade union protest campaign.

Farmers are planning to convert workers’ tied housing into tourist and student accommodation to generate extra income.

Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool last week called farm evictions the new “silent epidemic” in the Western Cape. “It has pushed the housing backlog to the rural towns,” he said. - M&G

MPs vent their frustration at housing department Scams

MPs roasted the Department of Housing on Wednesday for lacking control over its subsidy system, resulting in irregular awards exceeding R300-million to government employees.

Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts expressed dismay at the vagueness of answers from director general Itumeleng Kotsoane and deputy Mziwonke Dlabantu regarding systemic loopholes.

“We did not get a sense that you are with us in terms of concern,” committee chairperson Themba Godi said at the conclusion of a four-hour hearing.

“You at senior level, you either do not see it or you are shielding these people.”

The department’s responses to problems highlighted by Auditor General Shauket Fakie in January were generic and academic, said Godi.

“It was really a serious challenge to sit and listen to responses that did not show a sense of full appreciation of the problems,” he told departmental representatives.

Fakie’s report found that subsidies had been awarded to government employees whose earnings exceeded the threshold, to deceased individuals, people with invalid ID numbers and to applicants younger than 21. Some people got more than one subsidy.

Based on an average subsidy of R15 000, the loss from such irregularities was put at a minimum of R322-million.

Fakie said many of the original application forms had been lost, making his audit difficult.

Kotsoane, who is new to the job, sat with his head in his hands for most of the proceedings as committee members asked how this could have happened, and what was being done to avoid a repeat.

He referred most of the questions to his deputy.

Dlabantu explained that part of the problem arose because provincial housing departments used to have separate, unlinked data systems.

Prodded by MPs, he said a national system was introduced in 2000. Fakie’s audit was done on subsidies awarded up to March 2004.

Since then, close to 2 000 more irregular subsidies were awarded, representing about R30-million.

Dlabantu said a skills shortage was partly to blame, but gave no details of the department’s needs. He could also not provide data on disciplinary action taken.

Committee members reacted sharply to a statement by the director general that provincial departments should account for themselves.

The national department had given provinces the means to run their affairs, Kotsoane said, adding the committee had a duty to ensure provincial departments spent their budgets properly.

But committee members said this was the role of the national department.

“You are the overall accounting officer,” said member Thandi Tobias, to approving nods from her colleagues.

Eddie Trent pointed out that Fakie’s report did not cover subsidies to ordinary members of the public, meaning the full extent of the problem was much wider.

“What worries me is that this is the main function of your department … and you cannot even get that right.”

Committee member Vincent Smith expressed amazement that the very same provincial staff members the department claimed lacked capacity, were given powers to override national decisions to turn down subsidy applications.

“Clearly you have people incapable of doing their work and instead of restricting their authority you give them authority to go carte blanche,” he said.

“You can be assured that when we do our resolution you will feel the pain of these types of statements. This is not acceptable.”

Several committee members said it appeared departmental officials had not read Fakie’s report, and had failed to do much about his findings.

A joint steering committee promised by Minister of Housing Lindiwe Hendricks in November, for example, was set up in March and has met only once.

Housing portfolio committee chairperson Zoliswa Kota expressed concern that the department extended its own deadline for rectifying the situation to December.

“We are worried because [the bulk] of the budget of housing goes to the … provinces. If these kinds of challenges arise, the question of value for money for government becomes a key priority in our minds.”

Godi said strong departmental leadership was key to achieving government objectives.

“Officials must not lose the political imperative of doing the right thing,” he said. “We fought for liberation for the state machinery to serve the interests of our people.” — Sapa

World Urban Forum 3 - WUF3

In response to André du Plessis’s message below
——–
Thanks for your posting. In a day or two, please check out the summary of the 70 ideas-to-action being presented to Forum participants. It will be available at Habitat Jam.

Posted by: Charles Kelly | June 15, 2006 at 10:39

THE WORLD IS IN BIG TROUBLE

SYNOPSIS

Never before has the world had to face the massive problems it now does.The earth cannot sustain the current population with an acceptable lifestyle for all.

The following paper although only a few pages long sets out very clearly and simply why overpopulation greed and exploitation of resources (including labour) has led to these massive problems.It briefly outlines the causes of overpopulation and environmental degradation. More importantly it sets out clearly and succinctly the actions required both in the short and longer term, to effectively tackle overpopulation,environmental degradation and gross human suffering.

Please take a couple of minutes to read it : Commissioner General WUF3 - Charles Kelly

Business Day - Corrupt Housing officials

CAPE TOWN — Housing department officials failed to provide satisfactory answers to Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday about irregularities involving more than R300m in housing subsidies.

Senior department officials were called to account by Scopa on findings by auditor-general Shauket Fakie about lack of proper control in the country’s housing subsidy system. He found subsidies had been allocated irregularly to people who were dead, already beneficiaries, or who did not qualify.

His audit found that as at March 2004, 53426 subsidies worth R323m were granted irregularly. Among the irregular beneficiaries were more than 7000 government employees earning more than the maximum qualifying income and 6708 applicants under 21.

Heads of six provincial housing departments, the provincial accounts committee chairmen and members of the parliamentary housing portfolio committee also attended the hearing, which heard about problems such as missing subsidy application files, system failures and capacity problems.

Few of the issues raised by Fakie in his report, published in January, had been addressed, the committee heard.

A joint steering committee set up by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu in November last year to deal with the issues had met only once, and would complete its work only by December, the committee heard. Housing portfolio committee chairwoman Zoe Kota said this was late, and stressed the need for government to get “value for money” from its expenditure.

One of the constraints on a full inquiry into subsidies is that housing department director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane has been in the job for only about six weeks. The committee said it was not satisfied with the general explanations given by the deputy director-general for strategic support, Mziwonke Dlabantu.

He said monitoring systems and capacity had been strengthened and additional government database searches would come into effect later in the year.

Of grave concern to Scopa members was the ability of provincial housing officials to override a rejection of an application by the national housing department after a check against the home affairs identification register and the deeds register.

African National Congress MP Vincent Smith said the officials “will feel the pain” of these kind of unacceptable explanations when Scopa formulated a resolution for adoption by the National Assembly on Fakie’s report.

He also stressed the urgency for the department to beef up its financial management and internal audit functions.

Scopa chairman Themba Godi said that the committee was not “100% satisfied” with the answers given.

Other members questioned the seriousness and commitment of the department to deal with the problems.

Godi criticised the department for not acting swiftly against corrupt officials.

Business Day - News Worth Knowing

N2 Gateway contractors to wait for payment

Contractors who have not been paid for work on the N2 Gateway housing project may have to wait until the auditor-general has reviewed the finances of the government’s flagship project before they recover their costs. Full Story

Cape housing beneficiaries have longer wait

Beneficiaries of the N2 Gateway housing project in Langa on the Cape Flats will have to wait for a longer period, as politicians try to out manoeuvre each other on the running of the project. The City of Cape Town under the Democratic Alliance (DA)-led multi-party coalition has been kicked out of the project.

A forum of the national housing minister and MEC’s has blamed Helen Zille, the Cape Town mayor, of undermining intergovernmental relations, by raising concerns around the project in the media. Richard Dyantyi, the Western Cape housing minister, has described the forum’s decision as an attempt to prevent the project from becoming a political football.

Dyantyi says they did recognise that things turned differently immediately after elections, when the city was in different hands and thinks that its an unfortunate thing. “Instead of an intensified co-operative governance issues, they are having a lot of issues being played out in the media without those being discussed in proper intergovernmental relations structures.”

Project to be audited
Zille, who was kicked out of the project after she halted all payments for the project, says contracts were not signed, budgets were overshot by millions of rands, and it there seems to have been some corruption in the process. This is the reason why they are doing a forensic audit, she says.

Zille says she accepts the fact that national government has taken over the project, however, she says government must also pay for problems caused by the project. The N2 Gateway housing project was created to decrease the maze of shacks along the highway. SABC

Cape council kicked off Gateway project

The City of Cape Town, accused of using the N2 Gateway as a “political football”, has been stripped by national government of all responsibilities relating to the housing project.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu declared a dispute against the City on Monday and instructed Mayor Helen Zille to recuse herself and the DA-led multiparty government from future involvement in the project.

But Zille said: “There is little new in today’s announcement. Province and (Sisulu) have already taken this project away from the City of Cape Town. This happened the day before the March 1 elections when an agreement was signed with Thubelisha Homes.”

‘The City’s remaining role in the N2 Gateway is to hand over all relevant information’

This agreement placed the next phase of the project in the hands of provincial and national government.

“The City’s remaining role in the N2 Gateway is to hand over all relevant information to Thubelisha, and to provide services to the flats,” she said.

Sisulu met with housing MECs and representatives of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) on Monday in Gordon’s Bay to discuss the progress of government’s implementation of housing projects.

Their decision to freeze the City’s participation in the inter-governmental management of the government’s flagship project was announced at a hastily convened briefing late on Monday night.

While it was impossible for most media representatives to attend the briefing, the Cape Times learned later that while project management was transferred from the City to the province and Thubelisha Homes in February, the City was still part of the M3 group comprising representatives of the three tiers of government.

‘The auditor general’s involvement is a welcome development’

The City has now been dropped from this inter-governmental oversight group, “in the context that housing is a national and provincial competency”.

The N2 Gateway project has been dogged by controversy since its launch last year.

Zille said last week that the City refused to pick up the tab of more than R200-million for overrun costs and claims by contractors against the City for payment delays.

It is still unclear how the first 705 completed units will be allocated. Building costs of the units have increased significantly since the project started, resulting in a R35-million budget overrun for the first phase.

Delegates attending the two-day meeting, which ends on Monday, reportedly welcomed Sisulu’s decision to wait until she could respond with the housing MECs to reports about the status of the pilot housing project.

The City was accused of contravening the Intergovernmental Relations Bill that regulates interaction between the three spheres of government.

Zille’s absence from a recent M3 meeting about the project was highlighted as a lack of willingness by the City to participate in formal discussions with the government and province.

The delegates supported Sisulu’s decision, announced last month, to place Auditor-General Shauket Fakie in control of financial aspects of the project.

Zille has welcomed this, saying: “The auditor general’s involvement is a welcome development. We are also committed to continuing our forensic audit into the matter.”

The City has referred one of the tenders for the management of the project’s first phase, awarded by the former ANC-led administration to Cyberia Technologies, for forensic audit.

Although Cyberia were awarded a R5m tender for project management, they were paid altogether R12m before their contract was terminated shortly before the local government election.

The question of the overruns remains unanswered, although it was suggested that the auditor-general would decide how much of this would be paid by the City.

Zille said she “welcomed the admission” by Sisulu that province and national government should “share in covering the outstanding costs of this project”. The City is still responsible for the funding and provision of bulk infrastructure for the development.

Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi could not be reached for comment late on Monday night. Neither could Sisulu’s spokesperson, who did not return several messages.

* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on June 13, 2006

Western Cape can’t keep it’s house/ing in order

The Western Cape department of local government and housing in Cape Town has had its electricity and water supply cut by the city council. The department is now running on emergency power.

The City says the department won’t be reconnected until the Province pays it R700 000 owing by this department alone. The city says it’s owed a total of R3.2 billion in outstanding water and lights, and has now started a name and shame campaign to recover this debt.

The City said it followed standard protocol, gave the Department repeated notification and a 48-hour final warning. It says it cut the water and electricity supply as a last resort.

Officials dispute amounts
Lynne Brown, the Western Cape finance minister,disputes the amount owed to the Cape Town Unicity for unpaid electricity, rates and water bills. Brown says the Provincial Government owes the Cape Town Unicity R6 million, while the City says the figure is R80 million. Brown’s response follows the city’s cutting of electricity and water to the provincial department of Local Government and Housing.

The City says this department owes it R700 000. Brown says it’s unfortunate that the municipality did not deal with the Provincial Cabinet about the outstanding debt or within inter-governmental structures. SABC

City cannot carry Gateway costs alone

The city of Cape Town should not be expected to carry on its own the N2 Gateway’s overrun costs and contractors’ claims of close to R200-million as the project was undertaken as an “unfunded mandate at the directive” of the national department of housing, says executive mayor Helen Zille.

In a letter sent to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Monday, Zille said she would ask senior counsel to determine “how much of ratepayers’ money the city would have to pay” for a flagship project that had exceeded its budget and gone beyond its deadline for completion.

“While we concur with the broad objectives of Breaking New Ground (the national housing policy), we note that this statement of intent has not been costed or funded and therefore cannot be implemented.”

‘The project thus far is shocking to say the least’

Zille said that, “without prejudice”, the city would support the N2 Gateway only if it was tackled in accordance with established national policies and the city’s integrated development plan.

Sisulu said that, as the minister, she did not conduct relations with other spheres of government through the media. She said she “understood that Zille was new, but by now she should have familiarised herself with government protocol”.

The matter would be referred to the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Richard Dyantyi, to “whom Ms Zille accounts”, said Sisulu.

Dyantyi said he “respected the platforms of communication that had been created” and would comment on Zille’s letter only after a meeting of the three levels of government involved in the project.

Zille said the allocation of the units was the “most complex” aspect of the development and had to be shared by the city and the province.

“I am not passing the buck, but it should not just be the city’s responsibility.”

Dyantyi was on record as having said the N2 Gateway was not the city’s responsibility, Zille said.

Seth Maqetuka, city director of human settlements, said at the weekend that only 11 families had qualified for accommodation in the first phase of 705 units.

The ambitious 22 000-unit development has been mired in controversy since its launch last year as an intergovernmental initiative involving the city, province and national department of housing.

Responsibility for the project management of the development was transferred from the city to the province in February, shortly before the March 1 elections.

DA councillor Neil Ross, of the housing portfolio committee, told the council last week that overrun costs of more than R35-million would have to picked up by the city.

Zille said there were indications that each unit would cost R160 000, double the R80 000 initially estimated.

Ross said claims by contractors who had not been paid could cost the city a further R160-million.

Sisulu announced in her housing budget speech that the project would be finished within three years, but Ross said Thubelisha Homes estimated that it would take at least six years to complete.

Zille’s letter said: “What has emerged about the project thus far is shocking to say the least.

“The city was required to implement this unfunded mandate at the directive of your administration and the city now faces huge claims from various companies involved in the undertaking. This we cannot accept.”

She said many contractors had worked without contracts, allowing them to charge up to three times more for building structures.

Zille referred to the forensic audit of the Cyberia contract which was tendered at R5-million but eventually cost the city a total of R12-million.

Zille said the city could not be solely responsible for any part of a project that was pushed through by national government “without a proper policy framework”.

“Before we embark on any further aspect of this project, it is absolutely essential to establish the project’s protocols,” she said.

Funding and policy needed to be established by the national housing department so that province and the city could apply these guidelines.

ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha said there should have been better communication with the constituencies to warn them that houses would be available for specific groups of people.

Backyard dweller organisations have already warned that there could be chaos over allocation.

o This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on June 06, 2006

705 N2 units ready, Only 11 families told

The first 705 units of the N2 Gateway project may be ready for occupation, but only 11 families have apparently been told by the City that they qualify to move in.

Seth Maqetuka, the City’s human settlement director, said that of the 200 candidates who had applied for accommodation, only 11 families would be able to afford the R300 to R500 monthly rental.

When contacted on Sunday for confirmation, Maqetuka said: “Yes, those are the facts.”

‘We must remember that everything on the N2 Gateway is a pilot project’

But ANC councillor Xolile Gophe said this figure of 11 families sounded “ridiculous”.

Gophe said the City had already sent out 200 letters to candidates drawn from various housing lists and that 150 had responded.


“We must remember that everything on the N2 Gateway is a pilot project and things are bound to change.”

He said the allocation split of 70 percent for shack dwellers and 30 percent for backyarders “was not set in stone”.

Backyard dweller organisations warned last week that there would be potential chaos when people did eventually move into the units.

They had appealed for a 50/50 allocation split that would give more backyarders an opportunity to qualify for housing.

Gophe said government stakeholders would meet today about the allocation policy.

“This is the first time we will know about the allocation. We have not yet received the report (that refers to the 11 families who qualified).”

Local government and housing MEC Richard Dyantyi confirmed that a consultative allocation process was taking place in the form of workshops.

“We are also acknowledging the fact that the process is not as fast as we would like it to be. We might not be talking numbers for now, as we still have the majority of families to be taken through the process, but we are committed to speeding up the process in the next two weeks so that we can come to the final stages of allocation.”

Dyantyi said a consortium of independent auditors was working on the City’s housing list.

Gophe said it was a “given” that not everyone on the waiting lists would be able to move into the settlement.

“In Joe Slovo there are more than 6 000 families. The 705 units are just a drop in the ocean and not everyone will benefit.”

An estimated 250 000 families are currently affected by the housing backlog.

The national housing department announced last week that the second phase of the development, which has already started, will be run entirely by Thubelisha Homes.

Existing Joe Slovo residents will be relocated to 1 400 temporary units at Delft during the construction of the next set of units.

o This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on June 05, 2006

N2 Gateway claims threatens housing project

Contractors have threatened to bring claims amounting to more than R100-million against the city for mismanagement of the N2 Gateway housing project, says Democratic Alliance councillor Neil Ross.

“And the R35-million overrun in building the top structures are costs that council will also have to pick up.”

These revelations emerged during Thursday’s heated debate in full council about a recommendation to slash the N2 Gateway’s capital budget from R317-million to R86-million.

The city could still be liable for claims and overrun costs

While the management of the N2 Gateway was transferred from the city to the province and Thubelisha Homes in February, the city is still responsible for the funding and monitoring of bulk infrastructure.

Ross said that while this transfer was done shortly before the March 1 local government elections, the city could still be liable for claims and overrun costs of more than R35-million.

“We were given R80 000 per unit for the top structures, but they cost between R125 000 and R140 000. Who is responsible for this?” Tozama Bevu of the African National Congress (ANC) said the project was handed to the province “because they were the best to run it”.

Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in parliament last week that 22 000 houses would be built within the next three years. Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi said earlier that construction of the next phases was already under way.

But Ross said Thubelisha Homes indicated at a recent presentation that the N2 Gateway project would take at least six years to complete.

National government wanted to change the facade of the N2

“It should have been done by December 2006, but only 10 percent has been completed,” said Ross.

Ross said tender irregularities for the N2 Gateway project had cost the city more than R12-million. “Cyberia Technologies tendered for R5-million but were paid R12-million. Where did the extra R7-million come from?”

Vincent Bergh of the African Christian Democratic Party accused the ANC of shrouding the N2 Gateway project in secrecy.

“The real reason for the N2 is because national government wanted to change the facade of the N2 between Cape Town and the airport before 2010.”

He said the ANC ignored the City’s “competent in-house staff” and opted instead to appoint consultants.

But Bevu said the former ANC administration terminated Cyberia’s contract.

“It is nonsense that the N2 was done in secret.”

She said the N2 Gateway was proof the ANC was delivering. Ross said the allocation of units, “promised to every one and his wife”, had created unrealistic expectations that were compounded by the “political meddling of the former executive mayor (Nomaindia Mfeketo)”.

Dan Plato, mayoral committee member for housing, said: “There have been lots of problems with the funding of the N2 and lots of mistakes have been made.”

He said he would meet today with stakeholders for a status report on the project.

“The multi-party government is not happy with this project. It has cost the City at this point millions of rands already.”

Xolile Gophe of the ANC rebutted these allegations, saying: “There is no problem whatsoever as far as the N2 Gateway is concerned.”

“We must learn from the N2 that we can build houses in a year,” said Bevu.

* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Cape Times on June 02, 2006

Backyarders warn of ‘chaos’ in Cape

As D-day for the occupation of homes in the N2 Gateway Project nears, backyard dweller organisations from Gugulethu and other areas are raising concerns about the allocation criteria, and are warning of potential “chaos” when people start moving in.

Mncedisi Twalo, head of the Gugulethu Backyarder’s Association said the backyarders from Nyanga, Philippi and Langa had met with Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, director for human settlements Seth Maqethuka, mayoral committee member for housing Dan Plato and city housing official Basil Davidson on Monday.

“We demanded an explanation about the allocation,” said Twalo.

“Province is in charge, but our questions are related to the criteria.

‘The backlog increases because of the influx of people and young people are also growing up’

They are talking about giving the houses to people earning R3 000. People being interviewed don’t qualify because they earn less than R3 000.

“And this 70 percent shack dwellers and 30 percent backyarders criteria, where does it come from? It’s painful for backyarders.

“We’re not happy, we want 50-50. The people being given 70 percent only arrived in Cape Town now and we have been living in backyards for years.

“Now we have to tell this news to the masses. It’s going to be chaos,” said Twalo.

He said the housing backlog was being politicised.

“There is also Zille’s pilot project for backyarders in Grassy Park. When they invaded land they were removed, but within 72 hours they had been given back their material and a parcel of land,” he said.

“Treatment is not the same. It’s excluding us. They tell us about other projects like the Mau Mau Project, but they are not getting implemented. It’s still in the pipeline.

“Bear in mind the backlog increases because of the influx of people and young people are also growing up.”

The housing department’s response was that the allocation stays. - Cape Times