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Cape Argus: Services plan for backyard dwellers

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http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/services-plan-for-backyard-dwellers-1.1132867

Services plan for backyard dwellers

BRONWYNNE JOOSTE and CLAYTON BARNES

Staff Writers

THE CITY of Cape Town’s plan to provide basic services to backyard residents has been met with mixed reaction.

Mayor Patricia de Lille launched the Backyard Essential Services Improvement Programme yesterday.

The pilot stage will start in Factreton next month and entails installing toilets and running water in structures in backyards.

Electricity would also be provided, and backyard residents would get their own wheelie bins. Other areas in the pilot phase are Hanover Park and Langa.

At this stage, services can only be provided to backyard residents living on council-owned land, said De Lille.

Cape Town was the first city in South Africa to launch such a project, she saidf.

”It is a first in the history of South Africa and the first in the chapter of Cape Town.”

But some backyarders were sceptical.

Adiel Bassier, from Cape Metro Backyarders Association in Factreton, questioned how logistically possible it would be to provide the services.

Laylah Ryklief, from the Anti-Eviction Campaign in Grassy Park, said the city did not consult backyard residents.

“They already made their own plans. They are saying this is what we are doing and if you don’t like it, just leave it.”

De Lille said no resident would be forced to agree to the plan. Mholbo Gunguluzi, from the Gugulethu Backyard Dwellers, said the plan showed residents they would never receive formal housing.

“You are going back to site and service. Instead of just telling us that we as backyarders are going to die before we see houses,” Gunguluzi told De Lille.

But Melanie Manuel, from Manenberg, said “backyarders’ prayers had been answered”.

“We realised a long time ago, we were going wait for houses. We are actually making ourselves comfortable. Today is the first time the city sits with us and tells us not to hide.”

Norman Grovers, from Scottsdene, said he had been a backyard resident for 18 years .

“Only a backyarder will understand how it is to live in my current condition …I really welcome the improvement.”

The ANC welcomed De Lille’s vision, but questioned the logistics of the plan. Xolani Sotashe, ANC chief whip in the council, said claims that the plan was the first of its kind in the country, were not true.

He said a similar initiative had already been launched in Soweto.

Sotashe also questioned whether the city’s “ageing” infrastructure would be able to handle the extra load.

“The sewage infrastructure is already not coping. We experience sewage spills across the city and now De Lille wants to expand.”

Meanwhile, shack dwellers’ association Abahlali baseMjondolo criticised De Lille for changing the venue of the meeting, accusing her of running away from the city’s poorest citizens.

The group planned a protest outside the O R Tambo hall in Mew Way, Khayelitsha, yesterday where De Lille was scheduled to meet with representatives of backyarders’ organisations. De Lille changed the venue to the city council at the eleventh hour, leaving protesters, many of whom had travelled from Elsies River and Kraaifontein, furious.

Abahlali baseMjondolo spokesman Mzonke Poni said De Lille must have got wind of the planned protest and “quickly changed the venue”. Abahlali was invited, but planned to boycott the gathering as the city made allowances for only three representatives per organisation to attend.

“To invite three people per organisation undermines the right of ordinary people to speak for themselves and find solutions to the problems,” said Poni. “De Lille should be ashamed of herself for running away from the poorest of the poor. It is an insult.”

Some 100 backyarders from Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Elsies River, Delft and Kraaifontein gathered outside the Abahlali offices during lunchtime yesterday before marching to the O R Tambo Hall, where the meeting was scheduled to have taken place at 2pm.

Slu Mzimkulu, chairman of the Mandela Park backyarders’ association, said:“All we want is a meeting, where all backyarders can express themselves.”

Mitchells Plain backyarders’ association chairman Charles Adams said: “De Lille has disrespected us.”

Solly Malatsi, De Lille’s spokesman, said the city had “become aware of possible disruptions” and the city was not willing to risk postponing such an important meeting.

All organisations who had confirmed attendance were notified of the change as soon as possible, he said.

bronwynne.jooste@inl.co.za

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus: The big job that awaits new mayor

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When the DA say that it will take 30 years to clear the housing backlog they mean the backlog as it currently stands but it is rapidly increasing. The bottom line is that the DA has no plan to provide housing for all in Cape Town and that if things continue as they do many people will live their whole lives in shacks. The situation is the same in Durban. When the politicians demand that people be ‘patient’ they are demanding that people accept defeat and betrayal.

http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/the-big-job-that-awaits-new-mayor-1.1066205

The big job that awaits new mayor

Blikkiesdorp residents say they won’t vote in next week’s elections because their living conditions haven’t changed despite promises made by politicians in election campaigns in previous years.

CLAYTON BARNES

Political Writer

A TOUGH task awaits the political party that takes control of the City of Cape Town after next Wednesday’s municipal elections.

And at the top of the new mayor’s to-do list will be the city’s housing crisis, with an estimated backlog of close to half a million.

Other challenges include:

* Developing and implementing a plan for Cape Town’s more than 240 informal settlements.

* Redeveloping Blikkiesdorp, a temporary relocation area (TRA) in Delft, or moving the area’s more than 7 000 residents to a new site.

* Ensuring job creation and small business opportunities. Enclosing more than 1 316 toilets in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

* Ensuring that the city’s multibillion-rand integrated rapid transit (IRT) system and the Cape Town Stadium are sustainable, and that the IRT project is rolled out to where the majority of the city’s public transport commuters live.

The city’s housing waiting list stands at 400 000. This excludes several thousand backyarders and street dwellers who are not registered on the city’s database.

In Blikkiesdorp, there is only one toilet and tap for every five metal structures.

In 2007, the Western Cape High Court ruled that 20 000 Joe Slovo residents relocate to Blikkiesdorp so that Joe Slovo could be developed. Most of those residents are still staying in the metal structures today.

Since its establishment four years ago, the sandy, fenced site with grim rows of grey metal shacks has become a home to evictees, vagrants and victims of xenophobic violence.

A few hundred shacks once housed families from Delft who had illegally invaded and occupied homes that formed part of the controversial N2 Gateway housing project in 2007.

Today there are more than 1 600 structures in Blikkiesdorp with electricity and communal toilets and water taps.

ANC mayoral candidate Tony Ehrenreich said it was a “disgrace” that the city continued to keep people living in a “concentration camp” when there was government-owned land available in Constantia.

“When the ANC takes over the city, we will build low-cost houses in Constantia and other areas where the government owns land,” said Ehrenreich.

DA metro chairman and social development mayoral committee member Grant Pascoe said Blikkiesdorp came about through an “irresponsible act” by a former DA councillor, but that the city was doing its best to provide services to the area.

The former councillor Pascoe referred to is Frank Martin who, in December, 2007, led the invasion of unfinished N2 Gateway houses.

Deputy mayor and the city’s finance mayoral committee member Ian Neilson admitted that housing was the city’s biggest challenge.

He said it was impossible to expect any administration to address Cape Town’s housing backlog in five or 10 years.

“That is a 30-year project,” said Neilson. “We have to be honest. We will not adhere to the housing needs of everyone in a short period. But what we can do is provide services – water, sanitation, electricity and basic health care facilities.”

The city is expected to launch parts of phase 1A of the IRT from Blouberg to the city centre today.

ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman said that should the ANC wrest control of the city from the DA, the party would assess the IRT strategy and reroute those buses to Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, “where it is needed the most”, and devise a route along the Klipfontein corridor into the city.

“The IRT along the Milnerton route will never be sustainable,” said Fransman. “The mere fact that they are launching the service in that area shows that the DA is only serving the wealthy. They have declared war on the poor.”

And the Makhaza toilet saga is also far from over.

The city is only likely to enclose the toilets after the elections, and residents vow they will not accept anything less than brick-enclosed toilets.

Last week, Judge Nathan Erasmus ordered the city to enclose the toilets, saying the city’s failure to enclose the facilities – part of the Silvertown housing project – violated seven sections of the constitution. However, the city says it is still studying the judgment and is still undecided as to how the toilets will be enclosed, and when.

The city said Judge Erasmus failed to spell out what kind of toilets needed to be built, and did not stipulate a time frame.

The ANC said the city should enclose the toilets before next Wednesday.

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus: This place is a dump – N2 residents

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http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/western-cape/this-place-is-a-dump-n2-residents-1.1022714

This place is a dump – N2 residents

By Clayton Barnes

Residents of the N2 Gateway housing scheme in Langa say they have been forgotten.

The once-secure government housing complex next to the N2 is now a dump, says Mbuyi Nogahtshi, who moved to the area in 2005, just after it was opened by former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu.

“I clearly remember the day I moved in here. I was so happy. My life had changed and I thought the government was finally delivering on its promises. But I didn’t expect just to be left here without any services. The first few months were okay, but now this place is a dump. Our kids are not safe and the houses are falling apart,” Nogahtshi said.

Started in March 2005, the N2 Gateway was the pilot scheme for a new Comprehensive Housing Plan (CHP) launched by former president Thabo Mbeki.

The CHP was envisaged as a joint venture by the national, provincial and local governments to prioritise housing.

The N2 Gateway planned to deliver 22 000 homes within six months. This was later downgraded in 2007 to just over 16 000.

To date, only 7 462 houses have been completed and handed to beneficiaries. A further 1 194 are at various stages of construction in Joe Slovo and Delft.

An auditor-general’s report compiled in 2008 and tabled in Parliament in April 2009 revealed that the project had “not been managed economically, efficiently or effectively”.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by the three tiers of government in 2005 to define roles and responsibilities.

However, the A-G found that the necessary legislation and policies were not in place when construction began. The memorandum was also found not to clearly define different roles, which led to uncertainties about accountability when things went wrong.

In March 2009, state-owned housing company Thubelisha, which had implemented the project, closed down and the Housing Development Agency took over.

During a visit to the N2 Gateway in Langa on Friday, residents complained about cracked walls, leaking roofs and ceilings that “gave in” a year after they moved in.

Thousands of residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement, across the road from the Gateway precinct, say they will accept anything, and have even considered moving into duplexes owned by FNB which have been empty for three years.

The 43 two- and three-bedroomed duplexes, only metres from the N2 Gateway scheme, were built in 2007. They had all been sold, according to Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, but home owners could not move in until the city reconstructed road servitudes.

Sophia Mhlangu, a pensioner who moved into the in 2006, said there were a number of building defects which she reported to the developers after moving in.

“It’s even worse now,” she said. “It’s a lovely place, but we feel forgotten. All we want is for them to fix the defects and have the roads fixed. There are potholes everywhere.”

Steven Lennox, who lives in a one-bedroomed apartment with his wife, pays R700 a month. He said he had complained to the Housing Department about the defects, but was still waiting for answers.

“It’s as if they don’t care,” said Lennox.

Madikizela said: “We are aware of the defects and are busy fixing them. That land belongs to the city, which has a land availability agreement with a contractor. That contract expires at the end of the month.

“The city will then have to decide on one of two options: either they ask us (the provincial government) to assist with funding and to appoint a service provider, or they transfer the land to us.”

Madikizela said the province and the city were waiting for the present land availability agreement to lapse before they took action.

“Next month, we will know for sure what our next step will be.” – Cape Argus

clayton.barnes@inl.co.za

Cape Argus: ‘People are prepared to fight for land’

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‘People are prepared to fight for land’
Evaluate impact of land laws – Zille

October 12, 2010 Edition 1

CLAYTON BARNES Political Writer-
http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5683370

PREMIER Helen Zille has admitted there are no easy answers and simple solutions to the province’s housing crisis.

“It is hugely challenging,” said Zille yesterday, after opening the Development Action Group’s national housing conference in the city.

“We need to work on solutions based on reality rather than ideologies,” she added.

Zille said teenage pregnancies in poor communities, where single parents eventually ended up on the housing waiting list, exacerbated the problem.

“There are two trajectories here,” she explained. “The tragically familiar one – where children fall behind at school, abuse substances, drop out of school, fall pregnant, are unemployable and end up on the housing waiting list; or the second trajectory, where the parent – also on a grant – supports the child through school, the child gets a bursary, goes to university, finds a job, buys a house and starts a family.”

About 41 000 families are listed as backyarders on the city’s housing waiting list. Many of the families have been on the list for decades.

Zille said the impact of national land policies and laws also needed to be questioned.

“It is easier to build a stadium that can seat 55 000 spectators in the centre of the city than to approve plans for a small housing development,” she said. “The public processes could drag on for six to 10 years.”

The City of Cape Town had applied for six major provincial land parcels to be transferred for housing developments.

Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela and Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle were also working on an inner-city regeneration housing scheme to reduce the backlog.

She said they anticipated an influx of 250 000 residents to the inner city, including Woodstock, Salt River and District Six, over the next 10 years.

But S’bu Zikode, president of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a social movement for urban poor based in Durban, warned that people could start occupying land on their own, by force, if the government failed to devise a plan soon.

He said the poor and homeless were becoming impatient, and would go to extreme lengths to secure shelter.

“People can only take promises for so long,” he said. “If land is not found, they will find it themselves. People are prepared to fight and pay with their lives for land.”

Human Settlements Deputy Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks, who also addressed the conference, said the provision of housing could not be the government’s responsibility alone.

She said housing had become a critical national issue, and that all stakeholders, from NGOs to civic associations, needed to form partnerships to develop a sustainable solution.

“We need all South Africans in this to fight,” said Kota-Fredericks. “The shortage of well-located land is at the centre of the problem. Cities have become a beacon of hope for many, but local municipalities cannot handle it on their own.”

By 2013, 50 percent of South Africans would be urbanised.

“This means that the cities will bear the burden of having to provide shelter,” she said.

“We need sustainable, quality housing. We have succeeded in providing 23 million housing opportunities since 1994.”

Kota-Fredericks said the department was addressing four priorities:

# Accelerating the delivery of housing opportunities in informal settlements.

# Upgrading informal settlements.

# Encouraging social inclusion when new developments were built, by making a percentage of units available to those on housing waiting lists.

# Encouraging the private sector and businesses to make affordable units.