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Cape Times: Fears of more service delivery protests

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http://www.capetimes.co.za/?fSectionId=306&fArticleId=vn20090801124620390C894661

Fears of more service delivery protests
1 August 2009, 14:43
By VUYO MABANDLA

Protests could continue next week if the city authorities do not respond to a list of demands from a Khayelitsha community.

Simmering tensions in Khayelitsha’s informal settlements were diffused two weeks after people marched to Mayor Dan Plato’s office to hand over a list of demands for services.

The protesters laid down a two-week deadline but by yesterday Plato had not responded. If he misses Monday’s deadline residents from parts of Khayelitsha and Macassar Village nearby say they will take to the streets.

Mzonke Poni, chairperson of lobby group Abahlali Basemjondolo, said residents will “express their outrage”.

A shack dweller in Macassar Village, Andiswa Kolamisi, said, “Here in Macassar we live in the gutter in tattered structures, practically homeless. We live on a hilltop because we have no land to build anything on.”

Rulleska Singh, Plato’s spokesperson, said the city was working on assessing the memorandum and that they could possibly respond on Monday.

She added she was not aware of any potential protests, but “we have notified them that we are working on (the review)”.

But on Friday Poni denied that the Abahlali leadership had been contacted by the city.

“They are lying. They had not notified us of anything.”

On Thursday hundreds of Masiphumelele residents near Kommetjie took to the streets.

It was later revealed that they were refusing to move to a temporary site in Delft, to make way for a new housing project.

A violent clash resulted in chaos as police opened fire with rubber bullets on residents who threw rubbish and debris across streets.

Mayoral committee member Felicity Purchase was stoned while attempting to address the crowd. According to reports, she had to retreat under police guard.

Twelve people were arrested for public violence and will appear in the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court soon.

Sunday Tribune: Pain & Courage

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http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5099156

Pain and courage

July 26, 2009 Edition 1

Rough Aunties and A Place in the City are two documentaries that are showing at this year’s film festival.

They are two very different films about the strength and bravery of two different groups of people, but both films take place in eThekwini, and chronicle the pain and suffering of a broken society in which the state has failed dismally to fulfil its role as protector and guardian of its citizens.

Rough Aunties, which has already received much attention for winning the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, tells the story of five women who work for Operation Bobbi Bear in Amanzimtoti and have dedicated their lives to helping abused and neglected children in KwaZulu-Natal.

While anyone who watches Rough Aunties will no doubt find the commitment, bravery and compassion of these women completely inspiring, they will also be disturbed by the violent and uncaring society that the film depicts.

The film’s website talks about “a nation being transformed with hope and energy into a new democracy,” and while the film certainly contains hope and energy, it never shies away from the horror and pain which, to their credit, never seems to overwhelm the so-called “rough aunties”.

Beginning with the counselling of a very young girl who has been raped, the film follows Operation Bobbi Bear and the five rough aunties: Mildred Ngcobo, Eureka Olivier, S’dudla Maphumulo, Thuli Sibaya and Jackie Branfield, who started the project.

In the 10 weeks of shooting, British documentary-maker Kim Longinetto shadows the women through their daily work.

In one of the many candid scenes in the film, the women talk among themselves about why they have become “rough”.

As well as the catalogue of rape, abuse and neglect, the women themselves are also affected by horrific events which take place in their personal lives.

While Rough Aunties ends with notes of redemption, the film offers neither salvation nor resolution. The rough aunties of Bobbi Bear are going to carry on, because that’s what they do.

A Place in the City by director Jenny Morgan documents the struggles of another group of people in Durban, the shack dwellers of Abahlali Basemjondolo.

The shack dwellers’ movement started in Durban four years ago, and now has tens of thousands of members from 30 settlements.

Although Abahlali’s central demand is for land and housing in the city, it has also fought for access to education and the provision of water, among other things.

Most middle- and working-class Durban residents interact daily with the residents of the shacklands and squatter camps. Shackland residents clean our houses, guard our cars and houses, they clean our windscreens, work in our gardens and often even go to school with our children. Yet they live in appalling conditions, usually without even the most basic infrastructure. And yet, for the most part, we do nothing.

A Place in the City talks to members of Abahlali as well as other shack dwellers, detailing their disillusionment with the government that so many of them fought for.

As a documentary, it is too short for its subject matter. It also fails to engage with those who execute eviction orders against the homeless or fire rubber bullets at them.

But, while it could have been a better film, it should nonetheless remain compulsory viewing for all of us – both in government and broader society – who ignore, or help to exacerbate the plight of the landless poor.

Saturday Argus: ‘Rivalry and negligence’ to blame

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http://www.capetimes.co.za/?fSectionId=271&fArticleId=vn20090725062729698C847631

‘Rivalry and negligence’ to blame
25 July 2009, 08:47

By Vuyo Mabandla

Residents in Cape Town’s informal settlements say political rivalry and negligence by leaders over a number of years, – and not direct political influence – are behind the spate of violent protests in the city in the past few weeks.

Residents of QQ section in Site B, Khayelitsha, said provincial, municipal and local leaders dating to former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketho’s time in office, had done nothing but “fight over positions and not attend (to) the people’s troubles”.

Mzonke Poni, the chairman of lobby group Abahlali Basemjondolo, said the group had complained about lack of service delivery for years.

“But because of political rivalry between the DA and ANC nothing has ever been done to address problems facing people in informal settlements. I have lost count of how many times we went to (municipal offices in) Cape Town, to put forward the people’s complaints, who are, by the way, living like animals in this township,” he said.

There has been speculation that the protests were fuelled by party loyalists who were against the province’s new leadership.

Referring to the violent protests by residents at the section two weeks ago, Poni said he believed there had been no political influence, saying that “whoever said that is misinformed”.

The protests by QQ residents two weeks ago were one of many that have rocked the country recently.

This week, the ANC identified the 12 “hotspots” where protests broke out. The party claimed that only seven of them were “genuine protests about service delivery”.

But Poni disputed this, saying the fault lay with the ANC leadership.

“Whenever the ANC government fails to deliver, it comes up with excuses and blames it on individuals. It’s true that its councillors lack commitment and skills, but it is the national leadership that is also to blame – and meanwhile people have to suffer. The only way the government notices us is when we express our anger and rage, then they understand how we feel.”

But ANC councillor Elsie Kwayinto blamed the lack of service delivery on what she said were “constant changes in data lists and leadership at government structures”.

“We need a single, permanent list of people who the municipality can keep track of when services are delivered. Changes in leadership also add to the delays,” she said.

When the Weekend Argus visited the settlement on Thursday, uncollected rubbish dotted Lansdowne Road. The aftermath of the recent storms was still visible and some shacks were still flooded with water.

Resident Funake Mkhwambi, 57, who has lived in QQ section for the past 20 years, said she had to deal with flooding every year.

“My shack gets flooded every year. I have to move every winter to stay with my cousins elsewhere. We are a family of eight, including five children who often get sick because of the cold and the dirty water.”

Another resident, Nolufefe Nomakhohliso, said she lived in fear of being attacked by gangsters at night because they often drank at a tavern close to her shack.

“I don’t feel safe here – at all. And because of the noise and the brawling that goes on here at night, I have to sleep with one eye open.”

Community leader Bongisiso Magubudela said leaving for work in the mornings was a struggle.

“I leave at dawn and when I open the door, water comes rushing in – it never drains out.”

The settlement is on top of a small hill, there are no toilets, only three taps are available and shacks are built too close to one another.

Poni said: “Forty percent of the shacks are built in flood-prone areas.”

He also said during Kwayinto and Helen Zille’s visit in 2006, the councillor had promised to move them to developed land in Mfuleni in the same year but nothing happened.

However, Kwayinto denied ever saying this. She said she only knew of the plans once she had a meeting with Abahlali after the visit.

She refused to comment on whether the protests may have been politically motivated, only saying she would address the people at a meeting still due to be scheduled.

Kwayinto also said although she was not sure when services would be delivered to the residents, she, the housing committee and Dan Plato’s office, were in the process of doing something about the problem.

* This article was originally published on page 4 of Saturday Argus on July 25, 2009

Cape Times: Khayelitsha residents will protest ‘until Jesus comes’

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http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5091356

Khayelitsha residents will protest ‘until Jesus comes’

July 21, 2009 Edition 1

ANÉL LEWIS

DISGRUNTLED residents of 15 informal settlements in Khayelitsha say they will protest “until Jesus comes” if the City of Cape Town does not respond to their demands to be relocated to sites with better living conditions.

And they have threatened to continue with service delivery protests.

Mthobeli Qona of informal housing lobby group Abahlali baseMjondolo said protesters would “make Khayelitsha and the city ungovernable” until the city council responded.

About 150 informal dwellers marched to the Civic Centre yesterday to hand over a memorandum of concerns to Mayor Dan Plato. Each community included its own list of demands.

A representative from Plato’s office accepted the memorandum on his behalf. He said Plato was at a workshop. Plato has been given 14 days to respond.

Abahlali chairman Mzonke Poni said the group was disappointed that Plato was absent, despite being informed of the march. “The action is very arrogant. We don’t recognise Plato as the mayor.”

The memorandum listed residents’ concerns about living conditions in informal settlements. They asked the city to look at the conditions and provide a plan to resolve particular needs.

The city was also asked to finalise a city-wide housing plan for those living in informal settlements.

“Furthermore, we would like the city and its anti-land invasion unit to adopt a different attitude.”

Residents of QA section demanded land, better cleaning and waste collection services and the provision of toilets in informal areas.

The VW settlement is 21 years old, but still does not have essential services, residents complained. Residents from the TT section said they did not want to be relocated.

“We want the city to recognise the number of years that we have been staying here at TT section and we demand that this area be upgraded.”

Residents from the QQ section accused the city of “fooling our people”. They asked to be relocated to Bardale Farm “as promised” by former mayor Helen Zille.

The evictees of Macassar Village said the city’s demolition of their shacks was illegal.

Residents from the UT section Egadini said in a separate memorandum that the houses in their area were so close together that firefighters could not do their job in a fire.

They asked for streets and the relocation of some residents to de-densify the area, as well as better sanitation and improved lighting.

anel.lewis@inl.co.za

Cape Argus: ‘Meet our service delivery demands, Plato’

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20090721115218488C196931

‘Meet our service delivery demands, Plato’

July 21 2009 at 01:33PM

By Francis Hweshe

Disgruntled informal settlement residents have given mayor Dan Plato two weeks to respond to their service delivery demands.

The residents, drawn from various communities in Khayelitsha and Macassar Village, on Monday marched from Keizersgracht Street to the City of Cape Town to demand, among other things, relocation to higher ground, as well as better housing and serviced land.

The march follows several service delivery protests which have flared across the Western Cape since April’s general elections.

In song and dance, the protesters denounced the government and major political parties for ignoring their plight.

Council official Andile Mhlanga accepted memoranda on Plato’s behalf as the mayor was said to be busy.

Some protesters spoke about the squalor they live in.

“We live in flooding squatter camps. We struggle to survive. We have no toilets,” said Mzwanele Biko, 25, of TT section in Khayelitsha.

He said he had migrated from the Eastern Cape 10 years ago hoping to “improve my life… But nothing has happened, I have no job.”

Another TT section resident, Zandile Maliwa, 45, a father of four, said: “Rubbish is not collected. The whole community share two water taps.”

Vuyani Ntontela, 42, who lives in UT section in Khayelitsha, said there were no tar roads which made it difficult for emergency vehicles to gain access to the area.

“We also use the bucket system. We want the flush system,” said Ntontela.

Housing activist Mzonke Poni, who led the march, said residents did not want to be violent when demanding services, “but it it’s the only language that the government understands better”.

He called on Plato to convene a meeting with the affected communities to address their concerns.

Academic Martin Legassick, who was there to support the residents, said more protests over service delivery should be staged and that the city should explain how it planned to use available public land.