Category Archives: Bonginkosi Madikizela

Backyarders to march today on MEC Madikizela

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10 October 2012
Mandela Park Backyarders Press Statement

Backyarders to march today on MEC Madikizela

The Mandela Park Backyarders will be marching in Cape Town to the offices of MEC for Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela today at 10am.

The march will demonstrate our disappointment in the MEC and his broken promise that he made two years ago.

Two yeras ago, Madikizela wrote us a letter telling us that 80 plots in Mandela Park were to be given to poor backyarders in Mandela Park for the purposes of housing. Now, two years since the promise, the community is still in possession of this letter of empty promises. Since the letter was written to us, they have never followed up with us and have refused to meet with us or given us a blueprint for this development.

At the same time, whenever we attempt to get his office to reply, they continue to ignore us. We are now sick and tired of begging him to fulfill the promise he has made.

We demand that his office tell us exactly when they are planning on building these 80 houses and handing the land over to our community.

For more info, please contact

Slulami @ 0736200781
Khaya @ 0780241683

The New Age: Gugulethu backyarders left out in the cold

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http://www.thenewage.co.za/28081-1011-53-Gugulethu_backyarders_left_out_in_the_cold

Gugulethu backyarders left out in the cold

A group of Gugulethu backyarders are fuming after human settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela failed to meet them on Sunday to iron out allegations of corruption in an Eersterivier housing project.

Madikizela had agreed to a meeting with 52 backyarders who were part of an initial group of 300 backyarders who in 2001 started pooling their savings in order to obtain houses in a People’s Housing Project.

Initially calling themselves the Gugulethu RDP Housing Project, they appointed Pumla Dlokolo as their chairperson and approached the provincial housing department with their savings in 2006.

Dlokolo had told them that R2500 was required for a two-room house, and up to R5000 for a larger house.

Upon their submission to the housing department, then under MEC Richard Dyantyi, ervens were obtained in Eerste Rivier and an 821-unit housing project, named the Our Pride Housing Project, was given the go-ahead; the first phase was completed at the end of last year.

However, 52 of the original 300 Gugulethu backyarders have still not received houses.

It has emerged that the housing department never required money from beneficiaries to be paid over.

When enquiries were made a month ago, Madikizela’s spokesperson, Bruce Oom, said all beneficiaries were expected to contribute was “sweat equity”, meaning they should play a part in the building of their houses.

He said no money had been received from Dlokolo. The 52, who now call themselves the Gugulethu Concerned Backyarders, claim Dlokolo kicked them out of the project, but had never returned their money.

Nocekisani Phangalele, 43, said she was kicked out of the project by Dlokolo a “few months” before the handing over of houses in December last year.

The backyarders claim Dlokolo has also replaced their names on the beneficiary list with those of friends and family who are now living in the Our Pride Housing Project, and is selling vacant houses and renting out others for R1000 a month.

Dlokolo has admitted that seven of her family have benefited from the housing project, but said they had applied “just like everyone else”. Asked why the 52 backyarders were not on the beneficiary list, she said “they were expelled from the project because they failed to adhere to the constitution of the organisation,” adding: “We pleaded with them many times and then we decided to expel them.”

A month ago, Dlokolo said she was paying money back to the backyarders and “most of them have received their money”.

However, on Sunday the backyarders said they had not received a cent from Dlokolo. “I have not received any money from Pumla,” said backyarder Malusi Msesi.

Yesterday Dlokolo said that she was reimbursing backyarders.

“People are claiming their money and it is given to them. The procedure is that people must bring their deposit slips for proof that they have been paying before money can be transferred back to their account.”

Meanwhile, the group strongly criticised Madikizela for contacting them “at the last minute” to tell them he would not meet with them.

“They are doing this deliberately to provoke us,” said Msesi.

“This is not the first time they have not attended to our meeting although they have promised to come. We are not satisfied the way Madikizela is handling us.”

Oom said “our team” offered to invite the relevant project manager and a contractor’s representative to “help bring clarity to the housing issue”.

However, he said the officials were “unfortunately” not available and this was communicated to the Gugulethu backyarders before the weekend.

“At no stage was minister Madikizela committed to attend or scheduled to attend the meeting,” said Oom.

But he stressed that the department remained committed to engaging with the Gugulethu group to find solutions to their housing needs. – West Cape News

We continue our call for Madikizela to resign

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1 August 2011
Mandela Park Backyarders Press Statement

We continue our call for Madikizela to resign

A few days ago, Madikizela attacked the Backyarders in a press statement after we found new evidence of corruption and calls for his resignation were published in the Cape Times.

First and foremost, it is important to give a clear picture that will clarify our position as the Mandela Park Backyarders for the benefit of those who don’t follow the housing crisis in Mandela Park.

Our response

We, the Mandela Park community, call for Human Settlements MEC of the Western Cape Bonginkosi Madikizela to produce the minutes of his supposed meetings with the Mandela Park Backyarders. We all know that those meetings with the Backyarders never existed. But he has lied and said that these meetings have recently taken place. He has continued to met with some of the Khayelitsha community, but never with us.

We, the Mandela Park community, call on Madikizela to not only do something about the Quick Project investigation into Project 493 (RDP houses) which found significant instances of corruption (which Madikizela refuses to do anything about), but also to investigate all other instances of corruption in all housing projects within Mandela Park. In his press statement, Madikizela claimed that the 12 houses that we have found to be corruptly allocated, were part of Project 493. He is wrong. The 12 houses which we found to be irregularly allocated are not part of the survey the MEC claims, they belong to a new project (unknown to residents in Mandela Park as we were not consulted) which began last year when beneficiaries were unlawfully allocated incomplete structures contrary to housing code.

Meaningful engagement

We must remind our the public and the media that the MEC is supposed to be a public servant to the people of the Western Cape. We are not his servants. We are protected by law which says that all public servants, including those that deal with housing, must meaningfully engage with affected community members even if that public servant doesn’t want to do so. This is the result of Concourt cases such as Grootboom, Olivia Road and Joe Slovo. In calling us hooligans, selfish and ignoring our legitimacy in the eyes of the community, Madikizela acting illegally and in contravention with the constitution.

We are convinced that his personal attack against the Mandela Park Backyarders is an attempt to stamp out the truth about his failure to deal with nature and complexity of the Mandela Park housing crisis. This crisis began years back, long before he became the MEC, but he continues with the same policies as his predecessors.

False promises and lies

In his public address in September 2009, Madikizela promised that in his next project in Mandela Park, the Backyarders will be accommodated.

Again in October last year the MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela sent a letter addressed to Mandela Park Backyarders via his developer, SEBRA, which said that in the next financial year (2011-12) Mandela Park Backyarders will be prioritized (we have the letter to prove this).

It must be made clear now, the above empty promises as well as other promises were never fulfilled by the MEC. He has refused time and time again to honor his words.

The MEC is misleading members of the public and those who don’t follow the whole story can easily find themselves on the wrong side.

Bond houses integrated with RDP houses

It seems to us that there is attempt by government to create what experts call ‘integrated communities’ with varying income levels living side-by-side. We see integration is a good thing because it counters segregation and separation of people.

However, what the Human Settlements Department is doing in Mandela Park is not really integration. The majority of those who live in bond houses in Mandela Park are only slightly better off than the poor Backyarders. They are still poor. Therefore, our government essentially has a policy of integrating the poor with the slightly less poor.

Yet, when we ask for houses to be built in rich communities such as Bishops Court or Camps Bay, this becomes impossible. The government is happy to lower the value of the cheapest bond houses by building RDP housing at its side. However, integration with rich white communities is off the table. Our government is clearly against meaningful integration and desegregation of our communities.

As a result, we have increased levels of corruption with a large number of unqualified people (such as bank managers, police officers, construction managers) occupying and renting out RDP houses in the hope that one day they will be able to sell this land for profit. You also have huge numbers of families who pay much more than the decreased value of their house to the banks who are not affected by these property prices. This is just another way to hand over profit to developers and banks.

Our position as a community-driven movement

We are social justice activists. This means our task is to hold those in power accountable for all injustices in our communities. If we see people excluded in a development happening in their community, we will to raise this issue that without any fear of being vilified by government officials.

The MEC is not only refusing to recognize the Mandela Park Backyarders, but the community in general has also been denied access to know what is going on. In refusing to consult the Backyarders, he is refusing to consult with the entire community.

We warn of such leadership style that focuses on selective memory. Madikizela is serving a system that had always benefited from the mystification of the way society works – this is of a serious matter. His attack of our leadership and attacks on our movement will only encourage us to work harder to protect our community from deceit.

Our leadership is the one our people have been waiting for. As Kwandiwe Kondlo has put it, we need the kind of leadership which cultivates bonds of solidarity and trust. This is the leadership that emerges from what we are building as the Mandela Park Backyarders. It is a leadership rooted among people and we shall continue to carry our mandate without fear of being labeled by those coming from above.

Call for resignation

We hear that MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela’s resignation or reappointment is imminent. We would welcome such a development and ask Helen Zille to consult with us on his replacement.

For all the reasons laid out above, we reiterate our call for Bonginkosi Madikizela to resign with immediate effect!

For more information, contact:

Slu @ 0714331101
Luzuko @ 0739662188
Khaya @ 0780241683

Open letter to Madam Mayor Patricia de Lille on the Mandela Park Land and Housing Crisis

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Open letter to Madam Mayor Patricia de Lille on the Mandela Park Land and Housing Crisis
19 July 2011

Dear Madam Mayor,

While the Mandela Park Backyarders continue to receive no attention from the Western Cape Human Settlement MEC (Bonginkosi Madikizela), private property owners continue to monopolise the land that is already in short supply in Mandela Park. It appears that some officials refuse to learn from their past mistakes of ignoring the poor solely because they have gained politically in the process.

We believe the MEC for housing (Bonginkosi Madikizela) held several secret meetings with the Gugulethu backyarders recently where ANC, ward 97(Councilor Mthwalo Mkhutswana) was invited to discuss the housing development which the department intent to commence in Mandela Park.

For your own information Madam Mayor, “SEBRA” (the company that was employed as developers to unblock both projects 497 and 823 in Mandela Park) once again misused the public funds and then vanished without any accounting of their finances by the department. We wish to put before your office that a few weeks before SEBRA’s disappearance last year in October, they presented us with a letter they claimed to have been written by Mr Madikizela to Mandela Park Backyarders. One of the highlighted sentences in the letter reads as follows:

“In the next financial year (2011/12) Mandela Park Backyarders will be prioritised. This meant with the next build order the MEC is committing himself to build houses for Mandela Park Backyarders.”

The said financial year begun on the 31 July 2011 and we assume prior to any execution of any work our community be consulted as part of normal processes. However, there has been zero consultation from Madikizela or his department.

No public meetings have been held to report to the community and all we see that our land being graded and levelled by new developers other than SEBRA. It is very clear to us that the department of human settlement uses a systematic strategy to further divide communities in the name of development. In the case of Mandela Park this is done by both the ward 97 councillor Mthwalo Mkhutswana & the MEC for Human Settlement Bonginkosi Madikizela.

We wish to inform you that the Mandela Park Backyarders are the only democratically elected and recognised structure in our community. We will now call a public meeting where the housing development will be discussed in depth, and then from there we will take action to ensure promises are kept and development does not proceed without us.

We have already written numerous letters to the Provincial Department of Human Settlements. We have no intention to write and further letters to the MEC’s office since they continue to ignore us. We write to your office hoping to achieve consultation, democracy and transparency that you once spoke of prior to recent local government elections.

For more information contact:

Slu – 0714331101
Khaya – 0780241683
Ndende – 0791578844

A Response from Bonginkosi Madikizela

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Attached is a response from MEC for human settlement, M.R Bonginkosi Madikizela

After Number of protest in front of the office of MEC for human settlement M.R Bonginkosi Madikizela, yesterday his office gave us a written response on our demand: i.e. calling on MEC to sign an undertaking that he will not ever again carry any illegal evictions and demolitions within the Western Cape Province or to step down as MEC for human settlement.

We must say it as an organization we are so disappointed with his response and we believe that through his response he is not willing to stop carrying illegal evictions.

This leaves us with no choice/ options but to mobilize communities and call on his immediate resignation as MEC.

in solidarity

Mzonke Poni
ABM WC
073 2562 036