R1bn to develop Richmond Park

Cape Town - Over R1 billion will be spent on developing the Richmond Park area in Cape Town, city officials said on Wednesday.

“The rezoning of the land for light industrial use will bring direct economic benefits to the claimant community who were forcibly removed from this land more than 50 years ago,” mayoral committee member for human settlements Tandeka Gqada said.

The city approved the rezoning on Wednesday.

Land owners and tenants were removed from the area between 1972 and 1984 in terms of the Group Areas Act implemented by the apartheid government which forced race groups to live in separate parts of towns and cities.

Some people relocated to Atlantis and others to the Cape Flats.

“During 1998, the land was occupied by the Richmond Park informal settlers. There are now 28 families living on the land, of which nine are part of the Richmond Park Restitution Claimant Community,” said Gqada.

“The Richmond Park Restitution Claimant Community comprises 401 families.”

The Regional Land Claims Commission approached the City of Cape Town in 2001 on behalf of the Richmond Park Restitution Claimant Community to request the restoration of their land.

“In 2008, the Richmond Park Claimant Community partnered with a development company which agreed to contribute skills and funding for the development of a light industrial complex on the land,” said Gqada.

“The developer would also provide financial compensation and allocate shares in the light industrial development to the claimants.”

Claimants would own 25 percent of the shares in the development company and would also receive R40 million in payment for leasing the land to the development company.

“Currently, the City of Cape Town, the Regional Land Claims Commission, the Richmond claimants, and the developer are negotiating with the Richmond Park informal settlers for their relocation, said Gqada.

The city had prepared a site for the current residents of Richmond Park at the Wolwerivier informal settlement.

Gqada said the families would have access to better services, such as water, sanitation, and electricity.

“Each family will be issued with a relocation kit and solar panel and light kit with a cellphone charger.”

“The city will assist with the transportation of the structure materials, if required, to the new relocation area,” she said.

“The Richmond Park Communal Property Association... has also made available R6500 as a token of appreciation for their co-operation, and to assist them during the relocation process,” said Gqada.

- Sapa

Analysis: Nkandla signifies our disenfranchisement

The public is justifiably outraged at the expenditure on the private home of president Jacob Zuma. It was with some generosity that the Public Protector concluded that he had not intentionally misled Parliament. If we assume this finding was correct, then it nevertheless illustrates a degree of detachment that the president has from what is happening around him, especially where he is being enriched. And, sadly, in expecting few personal repercussions, he may well be right. By RAYMOND SUTTNER.

It does not seem that president Zuma in the days after release of the Public Protector’s report had any appreciation of the magnitude of the scandal that he has allowed/encouraged and visited on the people of South Africa, in the home improvements at Nkandla. He simply carried on dancing as if there was nothing untoward and everything continued as before.

Likewise, there is no sense of responsibility on the side of the ANC to explain how funds required for providing basic needs were diverted into Nkandla upgrades. This is a year where we have had countless protests around the right to live in conditions fit for human beings: rights enshrined in our constitution, rights which the president and other public representatives are constitutionally obliged to uphold and advance. Some of those who cry out in pain and anger would have been able to enjoy clean water, live in safe housing and walk in paved streets had money not been diverted, had the constitution not been subverted.

One of the reasons why president Zuma has a sense of tranquillity is that he will not suffer and may in fact gain materially from the fall out. For all we know he is unlikely to repay any of the funds for the improvements, as recommended and if he were - compelled to do so he would simply call on one or other shady character to help him out. That would be readily done for the person who assists knows that s/he is part of a cycle of mutual enrichment and that s/he will be repaid in one of a range of ways, including lucrative contracts. In the end, if past patterns are followed it may well be that Zuma earns even more from this process.

The Nkandla scandal is more than a huge fraud. It is a crisis of democracy and epitomises a wider series of crises, (including the question of violence and broader governance crises). What is the weight of our constitution if we cannot hold Zuma and the many other mini-Zumas, proto-Number ones accountable? The ANC will be voted back into power. From what we can see, even if they were to ditch Zuma as too embarrassing there are many others who would come forward and play a similar role.

The crisis may suggest a more profound phenomenon signifying our simultaneous enfranchisement and disenfranchisement as a people. We have the vote but its effect has been neutralised. The struggle for universal suffrage was a central feature of the struggle for liberation.

The franchise is referred to as a universal right and that immediately counterposed it to Apartheid law. It is referred to as a right accruing to adulthood and that resonated for a people who were treated as children, called ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ no matter what their age. That is why early African nationalism often deployed the discourse of ‘recovering manhood’.

The crisis for us, the citizens of South Africa, is that the power of the vote has been undermined. One of the hard lessons of the last 20 years is that there is a very limited relationship between what one votes for (in manifestoes) and what one gets. The current ANC leadership, by negating their oaths of office, by failing to abide by the constitution, have devalued the significance of enfranchisement.

The struggle for the vote was a long and hard one for which many people gave their lives. One cannot lightly dismiss the importance of elections, even if their value is being undermined. But if we wish to defend constitutionalism, we need to build organisations and processes additional to electoral contests. This does not mean oppositional politics alone, for what is needed now is not only resistance to legislation attacking peoples’ rights and acts of violence and fraud. We also need a broad coalition of people to advance a programme that can defend and advance democracy and transformation. Current efforts to build alliances and unity need to be broadened. NUMSA has said that the Freedom Charter must be implemented ‘in full.’ Without fully interrogating what that means, the spirit of that demand is for realisation of rights affecting all those who suffered under Apartheid and continue to experience denial of their basic needs. For that sentiment to be realised, current unifying initiatives need to be augmented. Broad social forces need to be harnessed, including all who are ready to defend the constitution and the poorest of the poor, wherever they are located, who still do not enjoy the rights for which we struggled. - DM

Professor Raymond Suttner, attached to Rhodes University and UNISA, is an analyst and professional public speaker on current political and historical questions. He writes a regular column and is interviewed weekly on Creamer Media’s polity.org.za. Suttner is a former political prisoner and was in the leadership of the ANC-led alliance. He blogs at raymondsuttner.com.

This article first appeared on Creamer Media’s website: polity.org.za

ANC to march over Cape service delivery

Cape Town - Township residents will be marching to the Western Cape legislature in Cape Town to demand a response on land and housing issues, a provincial ANC official said on Tuesday.

“Around 2000 to 3000 people will be coming from the Cape town townships of Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Strand, Delft, Gugulethu, Manenberg, Langa, Hout Bay, Atlantis and Kraaifontein,” said provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile.

The purpose of the African National Congress march on Wednesday morning was to get a response from premier Helen Zille.

Mjongile said a memorandum of demands was delivered after a march on February 5. He complained that no response had been forthcoming.

Mayor Patricia de Lille had responded to the demands on February 27, according to a scanned document seen by Sapa.

The ANC responded to De Lille's letter on March 19, criticising her responses and the way she had “cherry-picked” certain issues to respond to.

Among the ANC's demands were that land be made available for religious and cultural purposes, that houses be given to “backyarders” and that the bucket and portable toilet system be immediately eradicated.

Zille's spokesman Zak Mbhele said on Tuesday that the issues raised during the march and in the memorandum last month related entirely to local and national competencies.

“The city has responded to matters relating to municipal delivery and the Western Cape government cannot comment on others for which it is not responsible,” he said.

“It is ironic that the ANC laments not having received a response from the premier’s office when the ANC and Congress of SA Trade Union leaders of the march denied her the opportunity to speak on that occasion.”

Mbhele said Zille would have directed their grievances appropriately had she been given the chance to speak.

“The Western Cape ANC has no leg to stand on in their protestations when the matters in their memo, like policing, recognition of Khoisan traditional leadership and land reform rest principally in the national government’s jurisdiction.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Zille expressed concern that the planned march might not be peaceful because of the recent reinstatement of the ringleaders of last year's so-called “poo protests”.

Loyiso Nkohla and Andile Lili were welcomed back into the ANC on Monday following a successful appeal process with the provincial disciplinary committee.

They led protesters in dumping faeces on, among others, the steps of the Western Cape legislature and at Cape Town International Airport last year.

“The ANC is set to march to the provincial legislature tomorrow [Wednesday] and Mr Lili and Mr Nkohla, now full members of the ANC again, have been making repeated threats of ungovernability against the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government,” Zille said.

She said their reinstatement showed how disingenuous the ANC had been all along in trying to avoid blame for the rhetoric inciting violence and destructive riots that Lili and Nkohla were behind for months.

Mjongile reassured that the march would be peaceful.

“All ANC marches are peaceful. Don't worry about that. They [the Democratic Alliance] must sort their issues with their nemesis.”

Mjongile said it was not appropriate to ask him whether Lili and Nkohla would be attending the march.

“That's not important to us. The leadership of the ANC will be marching.”

The Cape Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday said that protesters who damaged property and disrupted business should be held accountable.

“We already have court judgments making union organisers responsible for the damage to property caused by their undisciplined members on protest marches and the same principle should apply to other demonstrations,” said chamber president Janine Myburgh.

People had a constitutional right to protest but this right did not include throwing stones at cars or blocking national roads, she said.

While it was difficult to sometimes identify individuals who had overstepped the mark, the police and City of Cape Town should look for “more imaginative ways” to deal with unruly protesters.

“There are usually organisers involved and I would like to see some of them in court and possibly being sentenced to perform community service,” Myburgh said.

“A bit of community service might give them a better insight into the problems of service delivery.”

The march would start in Keizersgracht Street in Cape Town at 10am.

- Sapa

Omission in ethics act creates ‘legal absurdity’ in Nkandla furore

A PROPOSED amendment to the Executive Members’ Ethics Act of 1998, which would have strengthened Parliament’s role in holding President Jacob Zuma to account for the spending on his Nkandla homestead, seems to have been forgotten after three years in the legislative process.

In her report on the scandal last week, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s strongest finding of direct wrongdoing by Mr Zuma was that he had violated the Executive Ethics Code for his "failure to act in protection of state resources" in the spending on his private home. However, the act, which should have been amended to provide a procedure for Parliament to follow in the event of a breach by the president, was never changed.

The upshot is that "it will be more difficult" to hold Mr Zuma to account on the ethics violation, says Lawson Naidoo, executive director of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) — a lobby group that promotes constitutional values and practices — as the act does not prescribe what Parliament should do.

The story around the amendment to the act dates back to a finding by Ms Madonsela in April 2010, in which Mr Zuma is found to have breached the code through a failure to disclose his business interests. At the time, it became clear the act was lacking in that it did not provide for a procedure in the case of a breach by the president himself.

In the case of a breach by other members of the executive, the president is compelled to submit the report of the public protector to Parliament together with his own report on any action to be taken.

University of Cape Town law professor Pierre de Vos on Monday described the act as a "legal absurdity", saying: "It assumes the president would act against members of the executive and … would never be in a position of breach. (It) contains a legal absurdity as it requires the president to decide what action to take against himself."

At the time Ms Madonsela recommended that the act be amended "to address all uncertainties or anomalies".

In May 2011, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development published a proposed amendment for public comment: in the event of a breach by the president, the public protector would present her report to the speaker of Parliament, who would refer it to a committee for further investigation. But the proposed amendment was never tabled in Parliament for processing.

The chairman of the portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development, Luwellyn Landers, said on Monday: "We have been told that the department is still considering inputs from various ministers."

The department did not respond to queries about the status of the amendment bill by the time of going to press.

The discussion on the possible remedies for holding a president to account comes as various political parties and interest groups try to unpack the legal and political implications of the Nkandla report.

While Ms Madonsela’s most direct finding of wrongdoing by Mr Zuma relates to the breach of the Executive Ethics Code, she makes a less direct reference to a violation of the constitution when she finds that his "failure to protect state resources … amounts to conduct that is inconsistent with his office as a member of Cabinet, as contemplated by section 96 of the constitution". Mr Naidoo says this is really "the core issue".

"The president has violated the constitution and the public protector indicates the areas that he has done so."

Casac argues that this places a responsibility on Parliament to act, rather than passively await the president’s response within 14 days. In a statement following the release of the report last week, Parliament indicated this would be its course of action.

In a statement on Monday, Casac said that as the president may be removed from office for violating the constitution, it would be "constitutionally intolerable" for Parliament not to convene to consider this.

Spokesman for Parliament Luzuko Jacobs said he hoped to provide a response to Casac’s statement during the course of Tuesday.

The search for constitutional and legal remedies also takes place in a context in which there is a keen awareness that several remedies available are not expected to fly in an ANC-dominated National Assembly. Both impeachment and a vote of no confidence, as suggested by the Democratic Alliance, while symbolically important, are unlikely to succeed.

In its response to the report, the ANC indicated last Thursday that it did not regard the public protector’s report as enjoying a status any higher than its own report by a team of ministers.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe implied in several instances that "an independent body" would have to deliberate over which report had the higher status.

This has raised fears that Mr Zuma, backed by the ANC, will argue that he is not bound by the findings of the public protector, which do not have the status of a court decision.

In particular, when asked whether the ANC would advise Mr Zuma to pay back a portion of the expenses, Mr Mantashe replied: "Well that is what is in the report."

But a minute later he added that the interministerial report had not made such a finding, creating a situation of ambiguity.

Whether a court could be asked to confirm the findings of the public protector and accord them the status of a court order, is not clear, says Mr Naidoo.

"That would be new legal territory," he says.

- BDLive

N2 set ablaze and ‘more to come’

Cape Town - The organisers of Monday’s rolling protests along the N2 have warned they will intensify and “cause a huge impact” across greater Cape Town.

On Monday night, Andile Lili, head of the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement, said the protesters had been “leading themselves”, but with the tacit encouragement of his organisation.

“You cannot separate our organisation from informal settlement dwellers, backyard dwellers or hostel (dwellers) – all of those people are standing in solidarity with Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement,” Lili said.

And he threatened that the protesters would worsen as his organisation began actively “co-ordinating” the protests.

Of their demands, he said: “First and foremost, the city and the province must unban our organisation.

CAPE ARGUS

“Second, we want to protest against the new logo – wastage of poor people’s money. Poor people from Valhalla Park or Masiphumelele could have benefited from that R8 million.

On the first matter, he threatened: “We want permission to march to the city. If they deny them their right to campaign for the elections in our areas, we will block them. We know it is their right to campaign in our areas, but it is also our right to march to the city.

“There will be a huge impact.”

Asked whether he condoned violent protest, Lili explained: “Of course we don’t want them to be violent. But communities agreed that we must make our grievances, must be listened to.

“We told them not to break robots or community facilities, but to close all major routes across Cape Town.”

Since 4.30am on Monday, protests flared up at almost a dozen sites – including N2/Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach Road, N2/Baden Powell Drive, Baden Powell Drive/Walter Sisulu, Jaftha Masimole Drive, Hindle/Fairfield in Delft, and areas in Khayelitsha and Delft.

Throughout much of Monday, police had their hands full keeping the N2 open – in relentless running battles to prevent protesters from scattering burning tyres, chunks of concrete, rocks, rubbish and portable toilet waste containers on the roads.

For large parts of the day, the key national arterial route between Somerset West and the foot of Sir Lowry’s Pass remained closed, as police attempted to keep the road raiders at bay.

The SAPS provincial media office reported that “at about 11:50pm Pops (Public Order Policing Service) members arrested four people at Onverwacht, Lwandle when they found about more than 50 people burning tyres, (after) these people were warned to disperse. Members took action with a stun grenade to disperse them and they dispersed between the shacks,” police reported.

“At 11.55pm Pops members went on foot patrols between the shacks at Borcherds Quarry where protesters were throwing stones at vehicles through the fence between Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach.

“No arrests were made. It is unknown if any private vehicles were damaged. The fire brigade extinguished burning rubble and removed it to the side of the road. N2 between Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach all lanes are open again.”

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille told the Cape Argus: “This is undoubtedly co-ordinated, as last week’s events were, by Ses’Khona, led by Andile Lili and Loyiso Nkohla.

“They continue to pursue their ungovernability campaign, and their strategy is to ignite this strategy across the Western Cape. They have made these threats, and carried them out, repeatedly, so I am not guessing or speculating.

“There are countless times that they are on record as saying their policy is to make the province ‘ungovernable’,” Zille charged.

Mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, condemned “the spate of illegal protests that have caused great upheaval in parts of the city over the past few days.

“While the city respects the rights of its residents to protest, it cannot condone the actions of parties that have not gone through the nationally prescribed Gatherings Act and received permission to protest,” Smith said.

“Where protests endanger or inconvenience other residents, the city will support the SAPS in whatever way we can to protect our residents.”

He warned the city would use “all means at its disposal, including reviewing CCTV footage where available, to identify the culprits”.

“It is unclear who is behind the protests, but the possibility that these actions could be politically motivated cannot be ruled out.

“We, however, have noted the repeated public calls by Mr Andile Lili to embark on illegal action and we trust that these and other utterances will be investigated by the SAPS.”

- Cape Argus

Nkandla architect was suspended

The architect who was paid R16.5 million to work on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home has been stopped from practising three times by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession, a regulatory body for architects.

Minenhle Makhanya who has, of late, become the hardest man in the country to find, has been suspended for non-payment of his annual subscription fees for the 2013/14 financial which ends on March 31.

He was named in the public protector’s report on Nkandla as having benefited inappropriately from work on the president’s Zululand home.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said the architect had been a go-between for government officials and the president.

“What is particularly disturbing in this regard is that minutes show Makhanya was often asked to design something more economic and he will come back with something more expensive and even more luxurious,” she said.

The architectural council’s spokesman, Pappie Maja, said on Monday that Makhanya owed it R4 067.35, including penalties.

His failure to pay his annual fees dated back to 2001 when he was suspended for non-payment; this happened again in January 2009, but he subsequently made a payment in February that same year.

This was the same year that upgrades on Zuma’s home started.

Maja said the council would be adding its annual fee, of about R2 120, to the outstanding amount at the start of the financial year in April.

“We will also add 6 percent in penalties for non-payment which means he will owe us more than R7 000 if he still does not pay,” he said.

Maja said that although Makhanya’s debt dated back to last April, he had had until the end of August last year to pay, an extension given to all defaulting members.

It was only when Makhanya failed to meet that deadline that he was suspended.

“Once a member pays, we issue them with a new certificate to say that they can practise in that year.

“Mr Makhanya’s current status means he cannot practise and should not be hired to do any work until he has paid his annual fees and has a new certificate to say that he can work,” he said.

Maja said that Makhanya was first registered as an architect-in-training on September 16, 1997.

He was then upgraded to the category of professional architect on November 5, 1998 after passing his professional practice examination, Maja said.

“The council has never received or investigated any complaints against Mr Makhanya,” he said.

Madonsela’s report found that Makhanya was brought on to the Nkandla job without it going out to tender. He acted as the principal agent for the Department of Public Works but was also Zuma’s private architect, which amounted to a “conflict of interest”.

“This is the period when the scale of work increased exponentially, leading to installations that were not authorised and costs escalated to R215m,” Madonsela said.

The Mercury has tried for several days to locate Makhanya to ask for his comment on the allegations against him.

mpume.madlala@inl.co.za

- The Mercury

Time to flush out evil legacy

Positive results will soon be felt by the people whose dignity has been assaulted by the bucket toilet system, says Human Settlements Minister Connie September.

On receiving the South African Human Rights Commission report on the state of water and sanitation, I promised deputy chairperson Pregs Govender that I would study and respond. I did so in the conviction that on assuming office I swore to uphold the constitution of this beloved country of ours and the SAHRC is an institution borne out of this constitution.

It gives me no joy to acknowledge the parlous state of sanitation in many of our communities, a fact brought home in my first meeting with the SAHRC on assuming office last year. I started a process in September to prioritise sanitation for the remainder of my tenure.

As we celebrate Human Rights Month it is apt to reflect on how far we have come in restoring human rights. That apartheid sought to destroy the dignity of black people is evident in the most degrading lack of basic sanitation services in general and the dehumanising bucket toilet system in particular.

In proactively responding to this evil inheritance, the Department of Human Settlements has implemented an intensive Bucket Eradication Programme (BEP) which will replace the bucket toilet system with water borne sanitation systems.

A partnership between the Departments of Human Settlements, Water Affairs and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, as well as the Department of Science and Technology, has been forged to ensure an integrated and sustainable approach to this complex legacy.

As government we have tirelessly worked in our quest to restore our people’s dignity, through, among other things, the BEP. As President Jacob Zuma pronounced in his State of the Nation address, phase one of BEP will see the eradication of buckets in formalised townships of the Free State, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape. These provinces have the highest volume of bucket toilets. Phase two will ensure the eradication of buckets in each of South Africa’s nine provinces.

BEP is buttressed by a financial allocation as announced by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan in his budget speech. A total of R40 billion in infrastructure grants has been made available for among other things, sanitation services.

The bucket system is the unwanted legacy of deliberate neglect. Daily the users of this unhygienic sanitation system as well as workers responsible for the collection and disposal of human waste from bucket toilets are subjected to dehumanising and unhygienic conditions.

Twenty years into our democracy, this inhumane sanitation legacy still poses a challenge. We still have fatal incidents that remind us of the death traps that these toilets can be. Recently 6-year-old Michael Komape died in a pit latrine at his school. Our country mourned with his family.

The integrated planning approach as well as implementation across departments ensures that sanitation service delivery is not reduced simply to a toilet at the expense of other matters related to sustainable sanitation services.

Because of the united approach, particular attention is focused on issues pertaining to environmental sustainability, community involvement, affordability, hy- giene, education, user education, operation and maintenance of wastewater treatment works. Part of the challenge facing the programme is the development of bulk water and wastewater treatment infrastructure where none exist, and the increase in capacity where infrastructure does exist but has not held pace with the growth of water borne sanitation.

The Troika of Ministries plus one (Science and Technology) have integrated working, as well as pooled resources, financial and technical, to ensure that the constitutional promise of the right to water and a safe environment is incrementally materialised.

Importantly this approach also sees that dignity is restored to communities robbed of safe and basic sanitation services. This marked improvement in co-operation between government departments and the three tiers of government not only proactively accords with SAHRC’s recommendations for improved co-operation but also provides a mechanism for speedily unblocking delivery and implementation blockages that may arise from time to time.

State-owned entities and institutions have been appointed as BEP implementing agents, in particular the Water Boards providing bulk water services in the various provinces and institutions like the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Their involvement constitutes the public/private partnerships required to address the prevailing complex sanitation issues. These entities, which report to the Department of Human Settlements, have in an integrated manner implemented the intensive and extensive BEP and have provided effective project management.

The integrated nature of BEP also ensures that local municipalities are involved in the programme at every step of the way thus avoiding a top-down approach. This model of delivery has the added benefit of ensuring that the system is owned at a local government level. This augurs well for future maintenance and operations of the infrastructure being installed.

Contractors on the ground are also being closely monitored for timeous and quality delivery by the BEP implementing agents and in certain instances are being penalised financially for failure. The latter monitoring and evaluation role at ground level that is being played by the implementing agents proactively harmonises with the SAHRC’s recommendations regarding contractors and the need for monitoring their performance.

Throughout phase one of the BEP implementation we have learnt lessons from the past and have heeded the calls from communities to engage with beneficiaries before starting these programmes.

Community engagement has ensured participation in the pre-design stage and also in the pre-sanitation technology choice stage. It is through community participation processes that a one-size-fit-all approach has been avoided and we have now been able to identify families with special needs when it comes to sanitation. So for example in Makana District Municipality, Eastern Cape, we have been able to install toilets which were modified to accommodate disabled residents as a result of comprehensive engagement.

In addition, beneficiaries were consulted on the positioning of the waterborne toilet structures to be erected. All-embracing community engagement is an example of participatory democracy in action. We are further unwavering in improving on our community engagement and participation processes as directed by the SAHRC in its report.

We’ve committed ourselves to giving further effect to its recommendations. We will stand by this pledge.

In the priority provinces significant progress has been made in removing the apartheid scourge of the bucket system. Significantly, in the process we have also been party to job-creation and the empowerment of local contractors, including woman-owned and operated contracting firms.

The BEP in the Western Cape has also progressed. Improved delivery capacity has been added through the appointment of additional implementing agents.

The positive results will soon be seen and felt by the people whose dignity has been assaulted by the bucket toilet system.

A major challenge in the quest to eradicate buckets is the accessibility and presence of water and the accompanying water infrastructure. This is a challenge which, with partners like the Department of Water Affairs, the CSIR, and with the patience and fortitude of our communities with whom we have had ongoing engagement, we are confident of finding workable solutions.

In areas where capacity of water and water supply infrastructure and wastewater treatment capacity are lacking, or where bulk infrastructure is still being developed, or wastewater treatment plants are still in the process of being built, interim, alternative solutions are being implemented and explored.

Improved sanitation, represented by the BEP has reduced child diarrhoea and has contributed to improving overall child health. For women and girls the improved sanitation offers greater dignity, privacy and personal safety.

The bucket eradication programme has brought with it improved health benefits, improved, cleaner and safer environments and the restoration of human dignity to long-suffering communities and this progress is cause for celebration in Human Rights Month.

* Connie September is the Minister of Human Settlements.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.

- Cape Times

Do You Know the Facts about Tuberculosis?

World TB Day was commemorated on 24 March 2012. Every year, the Western Cape Government's Department of Health creates awareness about the causes, symptoms and treatment available for this infectious disease.

What is TB?

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is caused by a germ that attacks and damages the lungs, and it can be easily passed to others through coughing or sneezing.

How Do People Get Infected?

When an infected person coughs, sneezes or spits saliva onto the ground, the germs are spread into the surrounding air and remain there for a long time. If you inhale that air, you can breathe in the germs and get infected.

What are the Symptoms?

• Constant coughing that lasts for over three weeks.
• Discoloured or bloody sputum (mucus coughed up from the lungs).
• Drenching night sweats.
• Tiredness.
• Mild fever or chills.
• Loss of appetite.
• Weight loss.
• Pain in the chest while breathing or coughing.

Where and How Do I Get Tested?

You can get free testing at your nearest clinic. Testing for adults is done by taking two sputum samples and the results are normally available after two to three days. Testing for children is done using skin tests and chest x-rays.

What Will Happen if I Have TB?

TB treatment is free from clinics. You will be started on TB medication, and the treatment is taken for six to eight months. A nurse at the clinic will tell you about the disease, how it is treated, the importance of adherence support that can be provided while on treatment, the diet to follow, the importance of screening your immediate family members as well as things to avoid when you are on treatment.

Who Can Get TB and What Can I Do to Protect Others?

Anyone can get TB. TB is NOT a disease for the poor only. Here are some things you can do to protect yourself and others from getting TB:

• Taking your TB treatment as prescribed by your health worker.
• Covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
• Open windows and let sunlight come through your house.
• Exercise and live a healthy lifestyle.
• Eat enough healthy food.
• Stop smoking.
• Avoid alcohol intake.

What Will Happen if I am HIV Positive?

TB is curable even if you are HIV positive. You will be assessed for anti-retroviral treatment and started if you qualify. You will also be given treatment to prevent opportunistic infections.

How Long Do I Have to Take My TB Medication?

You will have to take your TB medication every day for six to eight months. TB treatment is free and there are people who will assist you to take your medication. You will be tested after two months to monitor the progress. If the results are negative, you will be introduced to the new set of medication for four months. You will be tested again after six months to make sure that you are cured.

Can I Use Traditional Medicine to Cure TB while on TB Treatment?

No, you mustn't use traditional medicine together with TB medicine because this may cause other side effects or make the TB treatment not work properly. It is important to take your TB medication everyday for six months to be cured. You should NOT stop taking medication you received from the clinic, but you should stop the traditional medicine while taking TB treatment.

What Will Happen if I Don't Take My Medication Correctly?

If you don't take your medication correctly, the TB germ will develop resistance to treatment. You may develop MDR or XDR TB.

What is MDR and XDR?

MDR TB stands for "Multi Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis", which is a specific form of drug-resistant TB resistant to at least two of the most powerful first line anti-TB drugs. It is caused by the lack of compliance to treatment and incorrect use of tablets used to treat TB. The TB germ protects itself against TB drugs, which makes it difficult to kill the germ and different drugs need to be used. MDR TB is difficult to treat and may take 24 months to cure.

XDR TB, also called "Extensive Drug-Resistant TB", is where the germ is resistant to drugs used to treat TB and some of the drugs used to treat Multi Drug-Resistant TB.

Are XDR and MDR TB Curable?

Yes, there are drugs that can be used to treat MDR and XDR TB provided you complete treatment under supervision. These drugs should be taken for 24 months. If you have MDR or XDR TB, you will have to receive daily injections for six months or longer.

You may have to be admitted to hospital for many months. MDR and XDR TB diagnosis can only be confirmed by taking sputum samples to the laboratory and the results are usually available after three weeks. The body reacts to germs by producing the cells to fight off and destroy the germs. In some people the body's cells fail to kill the germs, which therefore continue to multiply and spread to other parts of the body.

What Should I Do if I Have been in Contact with a Person Who Has MDR or XDR TB?

If you have been in contact with MDR or XDR TB patient, it is possible to get the disease. You must go to a clinic for TB screening and testing.

What Should I Do if I Have TB and My Family Have been in Contact with Me?

All children under five years of age who are in close contact with a TB patient should be taken to the clinic to be screened. Adults who have symptoms of TB should also go to the clinic to be tested for TB.

TB is curable if you take your medication correctly for the full duration. If you feel better after taking medication continue until the nurse tells you to stop. TB is dangerous if you don't comply with medication and it can lead to even more serious complications like MDR and XDR and even death.

Useful Tips if You Have TB or Know of Someone Who Has This Disease

Respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette can prevent the spread of TB. If you have to sneeze, cough or spit, you MUST:

• Turn your head away from people when you cough, sneeze or spit.
• Try to sneeze, cough or spit into a tissue or toilet paper. Throw the used tissue or toilet paper into a bin.
• If you do not have a tissue or toilet paper on hand, sneeze and cough into your upper arm.
• Use a tissue or toilet paper if you need to blow your nose and throw the used tissue or toilet paper into a bin.
• If you have a cough, cold or flu, cover your mouth and nose by wearing a mask or scarf when you are in enclosed or crowded spaces, for example when visiting your clinic, travelling in public transport, or in your home.
• Continuously wash your hands so that you do not transmit germs.

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Additional Information:

• List of TB hospitals.
• List of TB facilities (Districts).
• List of clinics.
• TB pamphlet.

Western Cape Government

N2 protests cause morning traffic chaos

Cape Town - Widespread riots on and around the N2 on Monday caused a traffic nightmare during rush-hour.

The City of Cape Town’s traffic, law enforcement, metro police and cleansing departments had their hands full, and police rapidly deployed officers along the highway to maintain law and order and safeguard motorists.

City of Cape Town executive director for Safety and Security Richard Bosman told the Cape Argus that since 4.30 this morning, protest action was reported at the following locations: N2 Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach Road, N2 Baden Powell Drive, Baden Powell Drive/ Walter Sisulu, Baden Powell/Jaftha Masimole Drive, Hindle/Fairfield in Delft, various areas in Khayelitsha and several areas in Delft.

“In most of these instances, burning debris had been left on the roadways but there were very few protesters in sight. There were also sporadic incidents of stone throwing on the N2, in the vicinity of Lwandle, as well as the Borcherds Quarry bridge,” he said.

“Two lanes were closed in the vicinity of the N2 Borcherds Quarry and Airport Approach Road but were re-opened by 7am.”

Cape Town traffic services closed Baden Powell Road at the intersection of Jaftha Masimole Drive, while the City’s Solid Waste Management Department assisted with cleaning the debris from the roads in the affected areas.

For motorists, the traffic delays continued, however.

An Independent Newspapers staff member said: “There were rocks along the side of the road, with burning debris, near the airport. The traffic was incredibly slow at times – almost a dead stop for at least half an hour.

“But the police seem to have cleared the roads very effectively. But if you veered even slightly off the road, you were in trouble.”

* A truck overturned on De Waal Drive on Monday morning, resulting in the incoming lanes being closed to traffic during peak hour.

City traffic spokesman Richard Coleman said the truck, transporting bread, overturned at about 6.45am.

Initially the left lane was obstructed and cars could still pass to the right.

However at 8am both lanes were closed due to oil on the road and the extra space needed for the recovery operation. The lanes were still closed at the time of publication.

No injuries were reported.

Cape Argus

** Protests disrupt Cape Town traffic

Sporadic protests took place along the N2 highway in Cape Town on Monday morning, Western Cape police said.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said four people were arrested for public violence at Onverwacht Road in Lwandle.

Over 50 people were found to be burning tyres.

“Members took action with a stun grenade to disperse them and they dispersed between the shacks,” he said.

Public order police also attended to the stretch of highway between the Borchards Quarry and Airport Approach offramps, where people were throwing stones at vehicles through the fence.

Foot patrols made their way through shacks in the area but no arrests were made.

Van Wyk said it was unknown whether any private vehicles were damaged by stones.

The fire brigade extinguished burning rubble and removed it to the side of the road.

Van Wyk said all lanes were now open to traffic and there were “sufficient police” to combat any other incidents.

Metro Police spokesperson Deputy Chief Yolanda Faro said the protests were linked to service delivery issues.

- Sapa

‘City gave us expired food items’

Cape Town - Food items that expired as far back as August last year were given by the City of Cape Town to victims of a shack fire in the Agste Laan informal settlement in Valhalla Park at the weekend.

The city has confirmed the items had expired.

“We intend to lay charges with the police because we feel that it is negligent for a government to give people expired food,” said Rammi Sampson, a member of a community committee representing residents of the settlement.

“We fear that they are putting people’s lives at risk of food poising,” he said on Sunday.

“It is not right.”

“Because of their desperation some people are continuing to eat the stuff even though it’s expired,” he added.

Some residents of Agste Laan in Valhalla Park were outraged after discovering that some of the items in food parcels provided by the City of Cape Town expired months ago.

The city has been providing food parcels to Agste Laan residents after 1 400 people were left homeless by a shack fire on December 23.

Sampson said that on Saturday some residents noticed food items had expired in October, September and in November.

A city disaster management official was notified of this, but to demonstrate that “the food was fine”, the official opened a tin of baked beans in front of residents and ate it, he said.

Sampson said the food parcels were distributed to about 100 people.

He said some of the expired products included jars of peanut butter, packets of uncooked soup, baked beans, pasta and tea that expired in August.

Not all products distributed by the officials were expired, he said.

City of Cape Town disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes confirmed this and said the items had already been recovered by the city.

Solomons-Johannes said there were no reports of residents falling ill as a result of eating the expired food.

He said not all food items had expired.

He said there were about four items found to have expired and were “in between batches of consignments”.

They included a tin of baked beans, dried tomatoes and two tins of peas, Solomons-Johannes.

“It was not on a major scale or large quantities,” Solomons-Johannes said.

“I have immediately ordered that all consignments that are packaged be cross-checked irrespective of the expiry dates on the outside of the boxes to ensure that the city does not issue any perished foodstuff to the community.

“At times it happens that when dealing with large consignments that some items that are expired may be between those items that are within the ‘best before date’ for consumption,” he said.

He said the city had also told residents to return any expired food they might have received.

The expired food items will be disposed at one of the city’s landfill sites, Solomons-Johannes said.

ANC Youth League task team provincial convener Muhammad Khalid Sayed said he visited Agste Laan on Saturday after being called by residents.

“The ANC Youth League is disgusted that the city has stooped so low to insult our people, play on their poverty and put their health at risk,” Sayed said.

xolani.koyana@inl.co.za

- Cape Times