'Councillor kicked us out'

Squatter camp dwellers in Gugulethu have accused their ward councillor of evicting them from a community centre where they were sheltered after heavy rains flooded their shacks.

Most residents of Thambo Square squatter camp, who were sheltered in the Ikwezi community centre after their shacks were flooded in heavy rains two weeks ago, have returned home after claiming they were forcibly evicted from the centre.

The residents alleged that ward councillor Belinda Landingwe had forced them to go back to unhealthy conditions in their shacks.

When the Cape Argus visited the informal settlement on Friday, residents had gathered to ask local churches for shelter because they were worried about where they were going to go if it rained again.

On Saturday they all returned to their shacks and spent the rest of the weekend mopping up.

The residents claimed police had thrown them out of the centre, carrying the food and blankets they had received the day before.

Resident Thandiswa Mgwetyana said they were still shocked by the way their ward councillor had treated them.

Another resident, Venus Nogqala, said her grandson, Azola Baci, had had an operation because he had cancer.

"My grandson had a fit and doctors said it's because of the water," said Nogqala.

But Landingwe said that she had never thrown anyone out of the Ikwezi community centre.

She said there was an agreement that if the level of water in their shacks dropped they would go back and if it rained again they could return to the centre.

"We had an arrangement with them that I was going to go and check if there was still water in their shacks," she said.

The Anti-Eviction Campaign's provincial co-ordinator, Mncedisi Twalo, said the ward councillor had told him that she had thrown the people out of the hall because they were not affected by the floods.

- Cape Argus

NGO steps in to help shack dwellers

Thambo Square informal settlement residents in Gugulethu, whose shacks were flooded in recent rains, received blankets and food parcels from the International Islamic Relief organisation on Wednesday.

The plight of the residents came to light after they occupied the social services building in Gugulethu on Tuesday, seeking building materials and plastics for their shacks, as well as blankets and temporary accommodation.

The homeless group were offered shelter at a local community hall after their protest.

Zoliswa Fuyani, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said ward councillor Belinda Landingwe had not wanted to listen to those who had voted her in.

"When she (the ward councillor) is called to listen to our grievances she tells the people she cannot do anything for them," Fuyani said.

However Landingwe said the residents of Thambo Square were taken to a temporary area in Delft after the flooding began.

"I don't know why they came back but some of them told me that when they arrived in Delft their rooms were occupied by other people," she said.

Landingwe said some of the residents had houses in a nearby area which were provided by the government, but that they had decided to rent them out.

"I am dealing with people who are affected by floods, not people who already have houses. And this is not the only place affected, there are other areas," Landingwe pointed out.

She said she had conducted an inspection of the affected area and discovered that the water level had dropped, adding that she did not deal specifically with leaking roofs, but assisted only when flooding took place.

But the residents said they were tired of the "soup" that Landingwe kept feeding them, when all they wanted was proper housing.

"We don't need anything from them as they always respond with soup," said resident Silindile Mvambo.

Mcebisi Twalo, a representative of the Anti-Eviction Campaign, said they had called the International Islamic Relief and told them there were people who needed help.

"They visited the area last night and decided to offer people food and blankets.

"A local butcher also donated meat," said Twalo. - Cape Argus

No more fires! No more evictions!

No more fires! No more evictions!
The poor assert their right to the city!

Elokshini eKapa – As the AEC heads to Durban this weekend for an important alliance meeting and Shack Fire Summit with Abahlali BaseMjondolo (AbM), the residents of Foreman Rd are resisting the opportunistic illegal demolition of their homes by government after they experienced one of the most devastating fires of any informal settlement in the last few years.

Over 70% of the settlement burned down only a few days ago. That's over 1,000 families who have lost everything they own. Abahlali baseMjondolo holds government's armed de-electrification program responsible for all shack fires, deaths from shack fires, and burnt property in their settlements.

But instead of helping residents, the government has used this disaster as an opportunity to destroy the remaining shacks and forcibly remove all residents to "Temporary" Relocation Areas (TRAs).

The Anti-Eviction Campaign knows this tactic all too well. In Joe Slovo, thousands of residents were removed to TRAs in Delft a few years ago when a big fire destroyed their homes. They are still stuck in these barren, unhealthy, asbestos and crime-ridden camps. Lindiwe Sisulu and her cronies are now trying to evict the rest of the Joe Slovo residents (almost 20,000) to the same TRAs in Delft – as though the previous evictions were proven successful. But Joe Slovo residents say asiyi eDelft - they vow never to go to Delft.

Now, the government is also attempting to obtain a court order to evict the Pavement Dwellers of Symphony Way to another TRA in Delft (this one looks like a refugee camp with police controlling entry and enforcing a curfew for all occupants). But the Pavement Dwellers, who have already been evicted once this year, refuse to go anywhere but into a house. They vow to sleep on Symphony Rd in the rain if bulldozers come to break down their shacks.

Other AEC affiliated communities are facing similar threats of evictions into the TRAs but every single one of them is attempting to resist. They know if they move there, they may be stuck in these government shacks forever.

In Durban, the AEC and AbM will also be having an important alliance meeting that will possibly introduce two more independent social movements into our Action Alliance (our national social movement alliance which challenges our oppressors when they act without a mandate from the people.

So, as the AEC heads to the first ever people's Shack Fire Summit that is to be held in the ashes of Foreman Rd, we would like to remind the following to anyone interested in building a just world:

1) Even though we are poor, we are not stupid! We are the experts of our own communities. Only we can put an end to poverty.
2) Talk to us, not for us! We do not give any politician the mandate to speak on our behalf. We can speak for ourselves.
3) Aluta Continua! The people will continue to fight for our constitutional right to houses, to electricity, and other services. Everyone's basic needs must be met.
4) Outlaw all evictions now! Land is not property. Land is not a commodity. Land shall be shared by those who live on it.

Qina Mhlali! Qina! In solidarity with Foreman Rd and poor people anywhere and everywhere,
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

For more information, please contact any of our coordinators:

Ashraf Cassiem - 076 1861408
Mncedisi Twala - 078 5808646
Pamela Beukes - 079 3709614
Mzonke Poni - 073 2562036
Gary Hartzenberg - 072 3925859
Willie Heyn - 073 1443619
Jane Roberts - 072 2644319

Related Link: http://antieviction.org.za/

Nearly 20,000 EC houses identified as defective

NEARLY 20,000 houses in the Eastern Cape have been identified as defective, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has told the National Council of Provinces.

Replying to a written question from Watty Watson (DA), the minister said that 19953 houses that had been built in the Eastern Cape were defective, with 150 units at “various states of completion”. The total cost of repairing the houses is about R99,7-million.

Sisulu said provincial housing departments had initiated a process to determine the number of housing units with building defects.

Various methodologies such as surveys and requests for beneficiary applications had been used to determine the projects involved and the number of units with defects that needed to be repaired.

The services of the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) were being used “to ensure that the same contractor who initially built the units, is not appointed to do the rectification and that contractors appointed adhere to the necessary requirements”.

She said the verification process to date had revealed a number of projects with some sub-standard workmanship and the findings had been forwarded to the relevant provincial departments “for further investigation”.

- The Herald

Squatters vow war if evicted

Squatters who have erected shacks on the pavement of a Delft street have vowed not to move, despite threats of a court order by the City of Cape Town.

This follows reports that the city was seeking a court order to remove them from the pavement along Symphony Way.

The 141 families were among hundreds of people who in December invaded N2 Gateway houses from which they were later evicted under a court order.

The residents said the housing department had lied to them in February when they were forced to move out of the N2 Gateway houses.

"They even told us to keep house numbers because they promised we would go back, but other people are in those houses now," said Hilda Witbooi. If anyone came along to destroy their shacks, she said, they would be "starting a war".

Another pavement resident, Mark Andrews, said the temporary houses provided by the city, also in Symphony Way, were cold because they had no ceilings. However, he would have no alterative, should the city go ahead with its plans to move them by force.

Rodney Fester, another resident, said his concern was that "temporary accommodation" had the tendency to become a "permanent arrangement".

The Anti-Eviction Campaign's Jane Roberts said the city was using the temporary accommodation to "dump people". At the time of going to press, the city had not replied to questions from Cape Argus.

- Cape Argus

It's back to shacks for new home owners

Imizamo Yethu residents who have been provided with brick houses by Irish billionaire Niall Mellon are letting the houses for up to R2,000 a month and moving into shacks in their own backyards.

In 2003, Mellon, who has an apartment in central Cape Town, arranged for Irish volunteer builders to come to Hout Bay to build houses for the poor in a week-long blitz.

Over the next two years, in a number of lightning-quick visits they built a total of 448 brick houses for people who had lived in shacks.

'I chose to rent out my house'

But their good intentions are coming up against the reality of poverty in South Africa. Many of the brick houses have disappeared behind a screen of corrugated iron as owners move into shacks in their own back yards.

A house owned by Imizamo Yethu resident Thuletu Jwara is now a clothing shop rented by Chinese, while she lives in a shack behind the house.

Jwara said: "I chose to rent out my house because I am unemployed and need the money to pay the bond and help my family. The bond is R300 every month and my tenants are paying me R1 500 a month. When I've finished paying the bond I would love to move back to my house but it will depend on whether I can feed my family."

Another house in the area, complete with lounge, three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom, has been divided into six bedrooms with each accommodating a rent-paying tenant.

It is now difficult to move around in the house because of the many partitions, and there is nowhere to put appliances like the fridge.

'We do understand that it is a survival mechanism'

One of the tenants of this house, Lisa Makoma of Malawi, said the rooms were very small and the rent was high - she paid a total of R1 200 a month for one of the larger rooms. "The owners are now divorced and living separately so when it is the end of the month they come one by one to collect the rent money. So we pay twice - I pay R600 to her and R600 to him."

Deirdre Grant, spokesperson for the Niall Mellon Township Trust, said: "Legislation on housing bars the owners from selling the house within five years but it doesn't prevent them from renting it out, or letting a room and the backyard."

She said the trust was disappointed that the beneficiaries were renting out the houses and moving back to shacks. "But we do understand that it is a survival mechanism."

The trust has so far built a total of 5,000 brick houses between Johannesburg and Cape Town, the last being 200 in Freedom Park in Mitchells Plain earlier this month.

- Cape Argus

Under water, and still waiting for help

Residents of an informal settlement near Elsies River are despairing that they will never be moved from "the dump", saying that hundreds of them were promised in 1997 that they would be moved to a temporary area while they waited for permanent housing.

Now, 11 years later, they are still waiting.

The settlement, known as Malawi camp, is a grim place to live. Resident Johanna Beukes says her shack has been under water for the past five weeks - and no one has arrived with any help.

Community leader Mziwabantu Gxokwe confirmed that 403 residents were approved by the Department of Housing for new homes, and had been on the waiting list since 1997.

They were supposed to have been moved to a temporary area in the meantime, but had heard nothing since.

Gxokwe said the only help that had been forthcoming was in the form of plastic to cover their shacks.

This, however, did nothing to help with the water that seeped into their homes from the ground.

"The plastic they are giving them doesn't make any difference, because the volume of water underground is too high, and water is coming into the shacks," he said.

Beukes, who has lived in the settlement for 14 years, said she had approached a member of the area's committee for help, but was told there was nothing he could do for her.

"I must stay here in the water," she said, adding that her husband Marvin has also visited the City of Cape Town's offices twice.

He was told that someone would get back to him.

"He went there twice and they said they were going to call me. But that was five months ago.

"They never called," she said.

They had also had no feedback on their application to be moved, she added.

Beukes said she and her daughter were getting sick because of the cold and wet conditions.

- Cape Argus

City to forcibly remove adamant squatters

The City of Cape Town says it is to seek a court order allowing it forcibly to move 141 families who have been squatting beside Symphony Way in Delft since February and refuse to leave.

The families were among hundreds of people who in December invaded N2 Gateway houses from which they were later evicted under a court order.

Most of the people accepted a council offer of accommodation in a nearby temporary residential area, but the Symphony Way squatters, led by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, say they won't move unless they are given proper homes.

"They are taking up space next to a key secondary road that has been closed to traffic," mayoral committee member for housing Dan Plato said on Monday.

'The city's position is simple - they must get off Symphony Way'

"Our officials talked to them on many occasions. Now a legal process has started."

It would be up to the court to decide when the families should move, Plato said.

The city's executive director for housing, Hans Smit, said transport authorities had complained that the road's closure meant vehicles, particularly public transport vehicles, had to use a longer route along Delft Main Road, adding to traffic flow at peak times.

"You can't open that road with people living next to it," Smit said.

"The city's position is simple - they must get off Symphony Way.

'They were supposed to be temporary places, but seven and 12 years are in no way temporary'

"We've engaged them, but they have a simple attitude - they want houses. We can't promise houses, but there are options available to them. They have to follow the normal process to get houses.

"A court order is not an option the city wanted to follow, but we don't accept that they live next to the road. We're not talking about taking them far away. There is a temporary residential area about 300 metres away."

Anti-Eviction Campaign leader Ashraf Cassiem said the Symphony Way squatters would remain firm in resisting being moved as they believed the city used temporary residential areas as dumping grounds for homeless people.

"We don't know of any legal process, but from the start we rejected a temporary residential area. In (such) areas parents can't raise their children. (These areas) are unhealthy, unsafe and undignified.

"We are not of the impression that if people move to temporary residential areas they will get homes soon.

"At the Tsunami temporary residential area, people have been there for seven years and at Happy Valley, for 12 years. They were supposed to be temporary places, but seven and 12 years are in no way temporary."

- Cape Argus

Groundwater badly polluted with faecal matter

Groundwater samples taken in Hout Bay were badly polluted with faecal matter which exceeded the safety limit while the pollution in stormwater samples "went off the scale" of a laboratory's testing system, the Hout Bay Residents' Association said.

This was the first time groundwater tests had turned up pollution levels of this magnitude, it said.

Pollution of groundwater poses a serious problem in an arid country such as South Africa, which is likely to have to rely increasingly on groundwater sources as many parts of the country become warmer and drier with climate change.

The association said the faecal matter came from the crowded Imizamo Yethu shack settlement, which had inadequate services.

'It takes years and years for groundwater to become clean again'

Justin O'Riain of the Hout Bay Residents' Association, took the water samples from holes dug near Hout Bay's main road below the settlement.

"What's new is that this pollution is now in the groundwater. One of our biggest fears as a nation is that our groundwater will become contaminated. It takes years and years for groundwater to become clean again," O'Riain said.

The samples were tested in a Pathcare laboratory.

Harold Weber, a medical doctor on the residents' association, said even walking barefoot in the polluted stormwater could cause severe cellulitis "and possibly even death" in people who had open wounds and compromised immune systems. Hout Bay has one of the highest incidences of HIV in Cape Town, he said.

"It affects the people of Imizamo Yethu mostly. They have no proper services and there is no control over where they build their shacks. Some are built over fire hydrants and even in the service road," he said.

'It affects the people of Imizamo Yethu mostly'

People were forced to defecate in the bush or even stormwater drains, he said.

Brett Kramer, who lives on a smallholding in Hout Bay, said the sewer overflowed several times a week and ran down the gutters on to his fields.

"My fields get flooded with raw sewage. One of my cows died after drinking this water," Kramer said.

Ivan Bromfield, the city's executive director of health, said the city monitored river water quality monthly and evaluated the results against government water quality guidelines. Many of the rivers were unsuitable for recreational use.

His department told the engineers if it had picked up problems in water quality. City engineers had said they would divert some of the stormwater run-off into the sewers near Hout Bay's Victoria Road.

The city had also put up signs warning people not to swim or play in the Disa River. No one used the river water for drinking.

"The diversion is a temporary solution. The main solution is to upgrade the informal settlement. They are busy with that process now, but the planning process takes a while," Bromfield said.

- Cape Times

Cape 'can't keep up' with urban development

The City of Cape Town is struggling to keep up with the fast pace of development and this is putting a strain on outdated or poorly maintained infrastructure such as roads and sewerage services.

"We can't keep up with developments because they are happening faster than the city can build," mayoral committee member for roads, transport and stormwater, Elizabeth Thompson, said at Wednesday's mayoral committee meeting.

She said the city could "never keep up" with the need for road maintenance because of budgetary constraints.

'Even if we increase the rates by one or two percent it would only be a drop in the ocean'

Thompson said the city would lobby the National Treasury to ring-fence funding for roads maintenance for all municipalities,"even if it comes from fuel levies".

She said it would cost R575-million a year for the city to maintain its 10 000km of roads and a further R1,9-billion to deal with the maintenance backlog.

"I am not sure where we will get the money. Even if we increase the rates by one or two percent it would only be a drop in the ocean."

Mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said the city had only R125-million for maintenance. He said the transport budget had to be looked at "very seriously" as R450-million would be outstanding. Neilson said rates would have to be increased by about 15 percent to make up the shortfall.

The council roads and stormwater department commissioned a pilot study on the impact of densification on the city's stormwater, water and sewerage infrastructure.

'We can't densify if we can't afford it'

Table View, Boston and Strand were studied as part of the pilot project.

The study found that the three areas combined had 27 400 units more than had been approved by the zoning rights. It would cost R48,3-million to upgrade the water system in accordance with the needs of the communities living in the areas, R25,9-million to upgrade the sewer network and R85,5-million to improve the stormwater infrastructure.

The consultants said that public or private spaces should be carefully considered before they were used for densification.

"To adequately investigate the feasibility of densification, the status and impacts on the water services cannot be addressed in isolation.

"The status and impacts on the other services like roads and electricity should also be addressed."

The report recommended that a second study, including the cost implications of the required infrastructure, be carried out.

Mayoral committee member for planning Marian Nieuwoudt said densification could not be done on an "ad hoc" basis as was the practice now.

"We can't densify if we can't afford it."

A working group comprising representatives from various directorates is to investigate all aspects of the impact of densification on the city's infrastructure. - Cape Times

- Pic: Rising Tide - Jan Baker

'Cape faces double migrant burden'

An influx of foreigners into urban areas presents Cape Town with the "double burden" of an ageing population and an intensified need for sustainable job creation.

The majority of the province's "non-citizen" population is split between young African men looking for work and elderly Europeans. Their impacts are emphasised because 80 percent of these people are concentrated in the city.

These are findings of an HSRC report, "The State of the Population in the Western Cape Province", released on Friday.

The report defines non-citizens as "foreign-born persons" living in South Africa without legal citizenship.

The report also found the Western Cape - with the lowest fertility rate in the country - to be the county's fastest growing province, mainly due to its absorption of more than 3 300 migrants a month.

With a long history of European migration and past policies strongly favouring "pro-white immigration", the Western Cape was a "preferred destination for the white (immigrant) population" to the other provinces, Ravayi Marindo, manager of the department of social development's Western Cape Provincial Population Unit, said.

Her report speculates that the province's distance from mines and borders with neighbouring countries accounts for "smaller numbers of black African foreign-born persons and non-citizens".

Crime is another challenge brought about by these patterns as "a large number of young male adults may also become a liability if they are unemployed, as they may be absorbed into illegal activities".

Marindo said: "In terms of sustainable provision of services, the Western Cape needs to plan for the creation of more jobs, since the province is attracting young male immigrants in search of work. (And) the fairly substantial number of old age immigrants and retirees might require the provision of more services for the elderly."

The report did not include illegal immigrants, for whom there was no data.

An estimated 5.3 million people live in the Western Cape, and between 2001 and last year the population grew at double the national rate of 1,3 percent.

But while the Western Cape has the highest average life expectancy of all the provinces, it shares the unfortunate national trend of higher death rates associated with HIV/Aids.

- Cape Times
- Picture Thom Evans - Burden

Health risk warning

The City of Cape Town is concerned about the possible health risks of sewage overflows from the 9 000km-system, which is almost 50 years old.

Pumping stations, some of which are more than 20 years old, are experiencing system failures which also lead to overflows.

There are 3,2 million people in Cape Town and each one generates about 160 litres of waste each day, the city says.

It would take R5,6-billion to replace the sewer network and a further R500-million to replace the city's 382 pumping stations.

Mayor Helen Zille told delegates at this week's conference of the Institute of Municipal Finance Officers that the demand for the treatment of wastewater was increasing by 7 percent a year in rapidly growing parts of the city.

"We are investing R1-billion over the next three years to prevent public health and environmental disasters," she said.

This three-year rehabilitation of wastewater conveyance is to include replacement of old systems and creation of new bulk infrastructure.

In a report to the utility portfolio committee, Lungile Dhlamini, of utility services, said the complexity of the city's wastewater system meant there were many potential points for sewage to be discharged accidentally into the environment.

"The impact on human health will depend on the duration of exposure to an oveflow and the levels of pollutants in the overflow."

Sewer overflows and spills of untreated sewage contain disease-causing organisms, including bacteria, viruses and parasites.

Of the overflows between June 2006 and June this year, 17 percent arose from mechanical failure, 45 percent from electrical problems, 21 percent from blackouts, 7 percent from flooding and 7 percent from vandalism. Broken gravity and pressure mains accounted for the remaining 3 percent.

The reasons for the failures included "historical neglect" in planning and funding the long-term rehabilitation of the sewer system and poor replacements at the former seven municipalities.

Many of the sewer pipes are corroded, broken or poorly connected, which allows winter rainfall to leak into the system.

The city's sewers are intended to collect or convey only sewage or wastewater.

Dhlamini said the rehabilitation of the sewer network would require specialist and costly techniques. There are a limited number of contractors available for the specialised work.

Some of the sewers and pumps are too small to carry the volume of sewage from newly developed areas.

Many pipes are corroded and cracked. Pipes get blocked by grease or tree roots. Cable thefts also lead to system failures.

Dhlamini said the city would work with the transport, roads and stormwater unit to monitor the overflow of sewage into vleis, rivers and wetlands.

Most of the major sewage spills, on to beaches and into streams, have been in the South Peninsula, Tygerberg and Blouberg areas.

- Cape Times

Scores left homeless by two fires

While scores of Philippi residents braved the rain on Tuesday and rebuilt their shelters destroyed by a fire the day before, 40 more residents in the Masiphumelele informal settlement near Noordhoek were left homeless by another blaze.

No one was injured in either of the fires and the causes were being investigated.

Yesterday, Charlotte Powell, the city's Disaster Risk Management Centre's spokesperson, said an NGO had provided hot meals and blankets to the approximately 40 homeless Masiphumelele residents.

The city's housing department would supply them with starter kits to rebuild their homes.

Monica Pypers, a spokesperson at the Cape Town Fire Command and Control Centre, said the fire started about 10am and destroyed five shacks.

Meanwhile, scores of residents in Kosovo, Philippi, worked in the rain on Tuesday rebuilding their homes which were razed the day before, leaving about 60 of them homeless.

Parents and children walked through mud and charred, sodden debris carrying planks of wood and dripping packets of salvaged nails.

"I was at work when this happened. I came home to find I had nothing. I only have the clothes I'm wearing. I hope my friends will let me wear their clothes," Andile Zola, a resident, said as he brushed raindrops from his face.

Lifting a corrugated iron sheet on to planks in order to form a roof, Solomzi Qaloti said they were forced to work in the downpour.

"We need a place to stay. If we don't build then we don't have a house. We need to carry on with our lives," he said.

As the rain fell harder, some of the residents ran to the partially-built homes which provided the most shelter.

Ernest Pokolo, another resident, said he believed a neighbour had gone to work early on Monday but had left their electric stove on and this had caused the blaze.

A number of other residents said they also believed a neglected stove caused the fire and denied a tabloid report that it had been started by someone who wanted to harm political rivals as both DA and ANC members wanted to take control of Kosovo.

Nyanga police station spokesperson Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said officers were investigating the blaze and believed it was accident.

"They suspect it might have been started by a stove." - Cape Times

Fire leaves shack dwellers destitute

More than 60 people were left without shelter when a fire destroyed 14 shacks at the Kosovo informal settlement in Philippi on Monday morning.

A resident, Nomathamsanqa Somandi, lost everything she owned. She said she had only managed to save herself and her children. Somandi said the fire had started in the shack next door to hers and when she realised her home was in danger it was too late for her to salvage anything.

All she could think of were her children.

Paul Myburgh, a firefighter at the scene, said the cause of the fire was unknown. Myburgh said the blaze had caused a lot of damage to residents' belongings and electrical wires, but no injuries had been reported.

A resident who declined to be named suspected an electric stove had been left on.

"Even when an electric stove is switched off, it does not shut completely unless it is unplugged," the resident said.

He added that their area was densely populated and that people needed to be extra careful with things that could cause fires.

Ward councillor Monwabisi Mbaliswano said the owner of the shack had been at work when the fire started. "The owner leaves at about 6am," Mbaliswano added.

Residents of Kosovo were now worried about living in a disaster area.

The department of housing had provided the affected families with material to rebuild their shacks and the Department of Social Services had provided them with food parcels, he said. - Cape Argus