Category Archives: Matthew Savides

Sunday Tribune: Climate clash as groups hijack city rally

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http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/climate-clash-as-groups-hijack-city-rally-1.1191755

By Yusuf Omar and Amanda Khoza

Climate clash as groups hijack city rally

It was meant to be a rally to highlight civil society’s united demand for action against climate change, but tensions flared as political groups hijacked the Global Day of Action rally through the Durban city centre on Saturday.

Chants of “amandla” (“power” in Zulu) and “amalungelo ethu” (our rights) could be heard inside the International Convention Centre, venue of the COP17 conference as about 5 000 people took to the streets.

While civil society groups, trade unions, faith-based organisations and members of the public rallied against climate change, two political groups used the platform to push their own agendas.

It was a bitter twist to an otherwise peaceful event, which started at about 10am at the bottom of West Street. But shortly after the march began, the ANC Youth League, employed as COP17 volunteers and dressed in green, taunted the Democratic Left Front, a new political movement which carried posters saying “10 more years of Zuma” and sang anti-government songs.

The two groups burnt each other’s posters and fist fights broke out. Riot police had to intervene throughout the march. “The ANCYL are against our march. We are socialists,” said Democratic Left co-ordinator Alan Goatley. “We are a front for many different community organisations and interest groups. We want service delivery. They (the ANCYL) tore our placards and burnt our flags because we chanted anti-government sentiments.”

“I’m in solidarity with everyone here – but not them. They are insulting our president. These are not socialists. They are anarchists hiding as socialists,” said ANCYL KZN official Jomo Sibiya.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi led a group of Clicks workers and union members who demanded a R350 pay rise. Asked what this had to do with climate change, Vavi said: “It’s the right time and place to be discussing this. Jobs and climate change go hand in hand.”

Also part of the crowd was the Right2Know movement, rallying against the Protection of State Information Bill. The National Union of Mineworkers toyi-toyied for more mining jobs, contradicting environmental calls for the end of coal mining. There were also many NGOs and civil society marchers who blew vuvuzelas, calling for climate action.

No one cried at the New Orleans-style funeral procession for “King Coal”, as marchers carried his coffin. Others carried a gigantic inflated black-and-white octopus representing greedy multinational companies.

Durban-born Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace, laughed at how, in 1985, he was arrested during an anti-apartheid march on the same street. He said: “The turnout has been decent but we need much more. This is about the unions, and labour movements, not simply NGOs, because climate change affects everybody. We want the COP17 negotiators to listen to the people, not the polluters. Every year 350 000 people die because of climate change.”

Tasneem Essop, a spokeswoman for WWF International, marched in a black-and-white panda bear T-shirt. “We want to save the Kyoto Protocol. It’s not looking good, but we still have a week. We want the heads of state to be bold.”

However, many delegates say an extension of the protocol, or the signing of a new Durban Protocol, is looking highly unlikely. “COP17 does not represent the voices of the poor. We are here to tell people how we are living in the shacks and how climate change is affecting our lives,” said Bandile Mdlalose, secretary general of Abahlali baseMjondolo, the shack dwellers movement. “Our shacks have been demolished by the floods.”

Outside the ICC, leaders from each organisation made speeches before their statements were handed to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres.

Many delegates were in full support. “We are saying a lot of what these protesters are saying. We are in full support because public support is very important,” said a US NGO delegate.

Both UN and ICC security refused to open the gates when the Sunday Tribune asked to leave the premises.

Meanwhile, Sue Bannister, head of the city’s Strategic Projects Unit, said everything had gone “well”. “We’ve had no major problems.” The biggest challenge was caused by the weather.

“Any roof that could leak, did leak. So there were mop-up operations. But those have all been handled,” she said. She didn’t expect problems when state leaders arrived.

Mercury: Revitalising civil society

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4845939

Revitalising civil society

February 17, 2009 Edition 1

Matthew Savides

WHEN most political parties were banned and their leaders jailed during apartheid, it was civil society movements that took up the cudgels for justice and equality and pressured the Nationalist government.

However, since the birth of democracy, these movements have taken a back seat and many of their leaders have given up grassroots politics to take up positions in government or in civil society. The vacuum created by their absence, many analysts believe, is the reason why civil society movements have been ineffective in putting pressure on the ANC government to deliver services in many areas.

This has raised the call for civic movements to be reviewed, reinvented and revitalised to reach the illustrious heights of the 1980s and early 1990s.

A re-emergence of these bodies, analysts and civic organisations leaders believe, will make a difference in the run-up to this year’s national elections and the local government elections in 2011.

In recent years, however, community groups have been steadily organising into formal structures and becoming more vocal and active in their protests, especially against the lack of basic services like water, electricity and housing. But just how influential, if at all, these newly formed civil society groups will be in the April polls is unclear.

According to political commentator S’bu Zamisa, a director at the Centre for Public Participation, the results of more vocal civic movements in recent years are beginning to show.

When a decision was made to change provincial borders to move Khutsong and Matatiele out of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal respectively, residents were angry and protests against the decision turned violent.

Residents complained that services would diminish because of the decision. The matter was taken to the Constitutional Court.

Zamisa said that when the new ANC leadership took over, it heeded the residents’ concerns and realised the extent of their dissatisfaction – thus showing what a vibrant civic movement, whether formally organised or not, could achieve.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo was also forcing the government’s hand.

“They really are taking political parties and the government to task, and making them take notice,” Zamisa said.

Abahlali has previously taken both the eThekwini Municipality and the KwaZulu-Natal housing department to court over various issues, particularly eviction and, more recently, the Slums Act.

While the body, which represents shack dwellers from settlements across the country, recently lost its case over the Slums Act, it has won cases over illegal evictions several times in recent years.

Abahlali president S’bu Zikode said there was “a definite shift” in the way the organisation and its people were being treated.

Previously, he said, applications were not made to the courts ahead of evictions, but because of the organisation’s challenging of these cases in court – and the subsequent victories – applications were now being made beforehand.

He suggested that the muni- cipality had also taken on board many of the organisation’s comments regarding sanitation at informal settlements, and that these services were now being provided – sometimes after consultation with the movement.

“We are starting to see a definite shift in the way municipalities and the province are dealing with us, and are recognising informal settlements and their residents, and we are happy to see this shift,” Zikode said.

But while civic movements have made strides, they remain ed too weak or have links too loose to the government” to make any significant difference to this year’s election, said political analyst Protas Madlala.

“Under the previous apartheid regime, civil society was a strong voice. The groups were the voice of the underdogs and the disenfranchised.

“But since since democracy we have seen a slump in the civic movement, for a number of reasons. Under apartheid, these organisations had a lot of funding from abroad, but now much of the funding comes through the government – and people are not going to speak out and bite the hand that feeds them. Also, a large number of the strong civic leaders were absorbed by the government,” Madlala said.

While many civic groups might want to stand up, they could also be frightened to do so.

“They are in a dilemma if they do raise issues because they will be accused of siding with COPE or the DA. Very few will be like the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which doesn’t give a damn (about threats), to put it bluntly. The TAC has remained a shining example in civic society, and I wish all civic organisations behaved like the TAC. If they did, the government would be stronger,” Madlala said.

Zamisa agreed with Madlala that many civil society groups had forged overly close ties to government.

Sayed Iqbal Mohamed, chairman of the Durban-based Organisation for Civic Rights, said that when civic activists joined the government, they deprived the civil movement of much-needed skills and passion.

He said it was essential for civic organisations to work with the government to “find common ground and to avoid polarisation”, and to participate in government projects, especially those that improved the quality of human life. But they should not get too close, he added.

Zamisa said that as civic movements moved too close to the government, they moved away from their core functions of holding the government to task, and responding to the needs of communities and marginalised groups.

Mohamed said: “Independent civic movements are the blood vessels of society – monitoring, directing and protecting our democratic values. Civic movements must be people-driven and independent of the government, with people’s needs pulsating from the core outward.”

Other civic movement leaders highlighted the importance of having strong organisations.

Zikode said civic organisations, especially those involved in mass mobilisation, forced elected officials to listen to “the people on the ground”.

It was one thing, he suggested, for the ANC to listen to the complaints and objections of opposition parties, but it was a completely different scenario when these complaints came from civic bodies.

“Strong civic organisations are crucial in today’s politics, where leaders seem to be focused on party politics over the needs of communities.

“If you have such organisations, then you’re in a situation in which you can remind the politicians about the people,” Zikode said.

South African National Civic Organisation president and ANC stalwart Ruth Bhengu, speaking in Durban in December, said civic movements needed to rebuild to their former glory of the 1980s – as this was the only way to ensure that the government was held accountable to the people.

“We can keep the government on its toes and force it to listen. It is ordinary people – men and women on the street – who have the power to influence government policies and hold the government accountable at all times, to assess the impact of service provision, to tell whether their socio-economic position is improving and to reject what is not good for them,” she said at the Sanco national conference at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

But the over-riding question is whether these organisations can make a difference in the polls.

And the jury is out on that one.

Mercury: Cornubia ‘the way to go’

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4571305

Cornubia ‘the way to go’
Low-cost housing blueprint for future

August 22, 2008 Edition 1

Matthew Savides

INTEGRATED communities, like the proposed 1 200ha multi-use Cornubia development near Umhlanga, are “absolutely the right way to go” for future integrated developments in the country.

This is the view of KwaZulu-Natal Institute of Architects president Ivor Daniel, who said it was important that all low-cost housing developments were carefully planned so that employment opportunities were nearby and they promoted a sense of community.

He was speaking in the wake of an announcement at Tuesday’s eThekwini Municipality executive committee meeting that the municipality would consider expropriating the Tongaat-Hulett Developments-owned sugar cane field north of Durban if negotiations around the development failed.

In a newsletter, municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe said the development had huge potential for the municipality and it had to be carefully planned.

Fears

The development is near the Gateway shopping centre, Sibaya Casino and King Shaka International Airport, and has prompted fears that nearby properties might lose value when the 25 000 low-cost houses are built.

Deputy mayor Logie Naidoo said “buffer zones” would be created to ensure that there was no effect on neighbouring property prices.

Daniel said these areas should be used effectively. Parks, sports fields and other community-based facilities that all residents, irrespective of their income group, could use would be ideal.

Daniel added that it was vital that the low-cost houses were not developed in isolation, but that the planning was done so that people could work and play in areas easily accessible from their homes. Failure to do so would perpetuate apartheid separation policies.

Daniel said the type of housing built would also be important, and emphasised the need for efficient use of space.

To this end, double-storey or even high-rise housing could be developed, and some businesses could have flats built above them. This would also save on the infrastructure needed.

Sutcliffe said the size of the site meant it had huge potential for the future of the municipality.

“We must, therefore, plan it carefully and that is why it has taken some time to develop the conceptual framework to guide future development,” he said.

Light industry, retail and commercial properties would be included, and care would be taken to ensure environmentally sensitive land was protected, he added.

“It will ensure we become a more caring city, integrating people all across it.”

Sutcliffe said the process was not being driven by “political imperative” but rather “by how we can make the development most sustainable to the city and the land owner”.

“I am very excited that if we get it right, Cornubia will provide the first real opportunity to build a city based on the principles underpinning our constitution, and not those which defined our apartheid past.

“It will have a CBD geared up for mixed and high-density use, and has a spatial locational advantage which will allow the northern corridor of the city to continue to expand rapidly.”

Nathi Olifant reports that housing MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, speaking at the official opening of a R70 million low-cost housing development outside Pietermaritzburg yesterday, said the government had a constitutional and legal mandate to expropriate land where negotiations to transfer property for development failed.

He was aware of the ongoing dispute between the municipality and Tongaat-Hulett over Cornubia and hoped it would be resolved “in the best interests of our people”.

Mabuyakhulu said the government was open-minded on the matter and would not allow any friction between the parties involved to impede its public-private partnership goals.

The Mercury: Cornubia development treated ‘with urgency’

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buffer zones? no threat to houses prices?….

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4569476

Concern that project rushed ahead of elections
Cornubia development treated ‘with urgency’

August 21, 2008 Edition 1

Matthew Savides

UMHLANGA was important to the eThekwini Municipality, which would ensure that a proposed 1 200ha integrated development near the area was done responsibly and would not affect property prices.

This was according to deputy mayor Logie Naidoo yesterday, speaking in the wake of the municipality’s threat on Tuesday to expropriate the land from Tongaat-Hulett Developments to speed up construction.

Tongaat-Hulett said yesterday it was treating the proposed Cornubia development, which will include 25 000 subsidised low-income houses, as “a matter of urgency”.

Concerns were raised that the mammoth project was being rushed, possibly to garner support for the ANC ahead of next year’s general elections. This was denied by Naidoo.

It is envisaged that Cornubia will incorporate low-income, middle-income and high-income housing, as well as industry, business, schools, clinics, parks and other public service infrastructure.

While the final costs have not been released, Cornubia is expected to cost at least R10 billion.

The development zone is bordered by the N2 highway to the east, the R102 to the west and the Ohlange River to the north, and is also in close proximity to the Gateway shopping complex, Sibaya casino and King Shaka International Airport.

According to a report tabled at the municipality’s executive committee on Tuesday, the mixed use of land would ensure sustainability and create jobs.

Tongaat-Hulett issued a statement yesterday confirming talks over the development, and saying the company was committed to finding a solution “to the affordable housing needs of the region”.

Tongaat-Hulett land development executive Michael Deighton said: “Cornubia offers a unique opportunity to address the urgent need for affordable housing, city-building and job creation in the region.

“A development of the magnitude envisaged can only be achieved in partnership between the public and private sectors and to this end we have been planning jointly with the city to achieve an optimal outcome. This process is continuing as a matter of urgency.”

The statement made no mention of the municipality’s threat to expropriate the land, nor did it address any of the concerns raised about the project, including whether the development would negatively affect property prices in nearby affluent areas.

Naidoo said the northern areas of the municipality were “perfectly poised for phenomenal growth”, hence the push for the development. He said the city would not be “irresponsible” and only build low-cost housing, thus avoiding any risk to neighbouring property prices.

“We are not fools. We will not threaten our own rates base. Umhlanga is an important node for us. We will not build low-cost homes that will impact negatively on the area,” he said.

He said “buffer zones” would be created and the site developed so that low-cost regions were separated from upmarket areas.

Naidoo denied the urgency regarding the development was connected to the elections, saying the council had wanted the development from “years ago”.

ANC councillors said on Tuesday they wanted construction to start in the next few months. This is despite the need for rezoning that would have to take place and the drawing up of an extensive environmental impact assessment, none of which has begun.

matthew.savides@inl.co.za

Mercury: City threatens big land grab

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Abahlali baseMjondolo has been demanding the expropriation of Tongaat-Hulett land since 2005. But nothing came of the city’s announcement of a big housing development just before the 2006 local government elections. And if this does happen there are no assurances that it won’t just be more top down planning that doesn’t meet people’s needs and is riddled with the politics of patronage at every level, including the allocation of the houses.

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fArticleId=4567545

Low-cost housing at umhlanga becomes election issue
City threatens big land grab

August 20, 2008 Edition 1

Matthew Savides

THE eThekwini Municipality yesterday threatened to expropriate 1 200ha of Tongaat-Hulett Developments-owned sugar cane fields to fast-track a massive low-income integrated housing development near Umhlanga.

It emerged from a report presented to the municipality’s executive committee, and elaborated upon at a subsequent ANC press conference, that councillors are frustrated by the pace of negotiations over the giant development.

However, a property specialist warned that rushing into building thousands of low-cost homes, ahead of the 2009 election and without the balance of “mixed usage”, could have disastrous results on the values of surrounding properties.

Housing committee chairman S’bu Gumede said that expropriating the land would be an option “in the next two or three months” if an agreement could not be reached with Tongaat-Hulett over the huge Cornubia development.

However, he stressed, expropriation was not the first choice.

The proposed development area – which could accommodate up to 75 000 building units as well as many other property uses – is bordered by the N2 highway to the east, the R102 to the west and the Ohlange River to the north.

It is also in close proximity to the Gateway shopping complex, Sibaya casino and King Shaka international airport.

A property specialist, who asked not to be named, said if properly planned and handled, the Cornubia development could become a model for integrated living between people of various race and income groups.

On the other hand, if the construction of 15 000 low-cost “Smarties box-type” homes was rushed through and not properly planned, it would become a financial and human disaster – resulting in the value of other properties in the suburb plunging by as much as 50%. The opposition DA cautioned that apparent fast-tracking of the development was an electioneering tactic.

Municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe described the area as “bigger than many towns”, and indicated that he felt a fully integrated plan was the best way to go.

This would see low, middle and high-income houses being coupled with industry, business, schools, clinics, parks and other public service infrastructure. This would assist in job-creation and ensure the project’s long-term sustainability.

Sutcliffe said expropriation was an option, but the municipality and Tongaat-Hulett were close to signing a memorandum of understanding that would see the development take off. The final agreement could be signed in the next few months.

The issue hit the headlines in 2005 when eThekwini Mayor Obed Mlaba announced the development, saying it would cost about R10 billion.

Mlaba said yesterday the matter had dragged on for many years and it was now time to secure the land to get the development off the ground.

At least 25 000 homes were planned for the site, which could yield as many as 73 000 units. Fifteen thousand of the homes would be reserved for people earning less that R1 500 a month, with the remainder for those earning between R1 500 and R3 500.

The report said Tongaat-Hulett was insisting the land be used for more than just housing, to make it sustainable.

Mlaba said expropriation was “not only an option, but a must” if the company did not agree with the municipality.

DA caucus leader John Steenhuisen said it was wrong to negotiate while threatening expropriation as this was in bad faith.

He said the threat should only be used if negotiations broke down completely. It could also damage the relationship between Tongaat-Hulett and the municipality, which had resulted in other major developments, including Durban’s Point precinct.

Sutcliffe said the DA was misreading the situation, saying expropriation was contained in the report as one of the options available.

“This is a programme that promises development, (which) will come either through negotiation, or through us buying the land, or through expropriation. All it is is a case of us not putting all our eggs in one basket.”

If expropriation took place, some of the land would be developed for low-cost housing and the remainder sent out for public tender.

In a January Business Report article, Tongaat-Hulett Developments executive Mike Deighton said land sales for the property would take place towards the end of 2009.

But Gumede said the council would not be held to Tongaat-Hulett’s timeframes.

He said when people asked the ANC about promises it made, the party would be able to show them the work being done on the site, a hint that elections were a factor.

According to sources close to the negotiations, one of the biggest areas of contention was the municipality’s insistence on having 15 000 low-cost houses.

Tongaat-Hulett was insisting on a fully integrated development comprising many different land uses, and to do this effectively it was necessary to decide on the number of low-cost houses as the development was planned in greater detail.

Unless this was done, the people who moved into the low-cost houses would not have any chance of economic upliftment. In essence, the development would amount to the creation of another poor, informal settlement in the mould of neighbouring Waterloo.

Also, developers who were responsible for the bigger, more lucrative developments would be prepared to cross-subsidise the cheaper housing forms and public service infrastructure because of the money they stood to make.

Apparently there was agreement in this regard from city officials, including Sutcliffe, but the political officials were so focused on the housing numbers issue that they were not prepared to budge to make the project sustainable.

Sutcliffe said the final layout would result in some areas being residential while others were more integrated.

“We will test out different models and see what works best. This is a huge piece of land, and there are a variety of options for use,” he said.

Sutcliffe said it was difficult to estimate when the development would begin because of all the options. He expected basic details to be finalised “in the next few weeks”.