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Housing allocation welcomed

February 23, 2007 Edition 1

Carvin Goldstone

HOUSING movements have welcomed the increased Budget allowance for housing but said the problem was not the availability of money but rather that available money was not being used and officials were not being held accountable.

The government has allocated R8.8 billion for housing in the 2007/2008 financial year, R2.7 billion more than in the previous year.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said R32 billion would be allocated for housing over the next three years.

Abahlali Base Mjondolo (shackdwellers’ movement) leader Sbu Zikode said the amount allocated indicated an increased awareness of the housing “crisis”. He said the problem was that available money had not reached the people who needed housing.

Orlene Naidoo, Chairman of the Durban-based Westcliffe Flat Residents’ Association, agreed with Zikode adding that while the government was building houses for some it was evicting others. This meant there would always be homeless people.

She said there was also much corruption in low-cost housing.

Desmond D’Sa, of the Wentworth Development Forum, said that money for housing was available but that officials managing the funds were inefficient.

He said the government also needed to create a link with communities to know where to build and what was required.

“National government needs to hold people responsible and ensure that, if the provinces don’t deliver, the officials responsible are fired,” D’Sa said.

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Frequency of shack fires sparks anger

Frustration over lack of electricity services
October 28, 2005

By Carvin Goldstone

The death of a 1-year-old baby after a shack fire caused by a knocked-over candle in the Kennedy Road informal settlement has brought into focus the lack of electricity services in Durban’s informal communities.

Little Mhlengi Khumalo was severely burnt last Friday when a fire gutted 16 shacks. He was taken to King Edward Hospital, where he died the next day. The frequency of shack fires caused by falling candles has left residents of informal settlements angry with the eThekwini Municipality’s apparent unhurried attitude to providing electricity.

At least eight shack fires caused by fallen candles have claimed the lives of six people, mainly children, over the past 12 months. The city management has come under fire from protest groups, which have accused the municipality of not providing basic services – housing, water, sanitation and electricity – to the city’s poorest.

The need for light has left residents of informal settlements dependent on candles and gas. Some have resorted to making dangerous illegal electricity connections. The city apparently does not provide electricity in informal settlements.

Ethekwini Electricity Department Head Howard Whitehead said there was a plan to bring electricity to people who lived in informal settlements. However, this could only be done “once the settlements had been formalised by the Housing Department”.

But informal settlement residents say they are fed up with waiting for housing and electricity S’bu Zikode, a leader of the Kennedy Road informal settlement, has warned that if there is no provision of basic services residents will resort to “Operation Khanyisa” – taking electricity by force.

In many areas across Durban people have already resorted to the dangerous practice of illegally connecting electricity to shacks.
Whitehead said the problem was rife throughout the city and there were around 1 000 new illegal connections or reconnections every month.

The problem of illegal connections, tampering with electric boxes and cable theft cost the city around R20 million every year, he said. The city was aware of the problem, he said, adding that it planned to combat it by building stronger doors to protect electricity boxes.

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Durban protests erupt in violence
Carvin Goldstone
November 15 2005 at 09:00AM

Violent confrontations between police and residents of two informal settlements in Durban on Monday led to 45 people being arrested.

In Clare Estate, police baton-charged a group of about 2 000 people marching on Mayor Obed Mlaba’s office over the lack of housing for residents of the Foreman Road Informal Settlement.

Several people were injured when police opened fire with rubber bullets. Durban South police spokesperson Rani John said eight people had been charged and detained. The others were later released.

At Jamaica informal settlement in Umlazi’s F Section, police clashed with angry community members who were blockading roads to stop the eThekwini Municipality from disconnecting illegal water supplies.

The Foreman Road development committee embarked on a “no housing, no vote” campaign and marched illegally after the eThekwini Municipality had refused to allow the protest to take place.

A small police contingent initially tried in vain to stop the march. A few minutes later more police with riot shields arrived to assist in holding off the protesters. Police walked slowly into the crowd, then they suddenly began charging at the protesters, arresting people at random. Those arrested were crammed into police vans while others armed with rocks attacked the police, damaging their vehicles.

One of the protesters apparently fired a shot, but nobody was injured. Police then fired rubber bullets into the crowd and chased the angry mob down Loon Road. Several protesters were injured. One man, nursing a head wound, sat on the side of the road, bleeding profusely. John said the man had been injured by another protester. However, the man told bystanders that he had been injured by police.

Umlazi police spokesperson Khepo Ndlovu said the Metro Police, private security guards and SA Police Service members had escorted a water department team to Jamaica informal settlement to disconnect illegal water connections.

“An angry mob of community members from the area started blockading the road,” he said. Ndlovu said shots were fired by the community. Security personnel returned fire. A senior water official was slightly injured and two vehicles were damaged, he said. No arrests were made in this confrontation. After the ordeal, the water department team abandoned the assignment and left the area.

The latest incidents follow several other legal and illegal protests this year over the pace of service provision in Durban. Protesters have marched on municipal offices and occupied the offices of ward councillors who they feel are not delivering on election promises. The plight of the Foreman Road settlement has attracted the attention of human rights and civic groups.

The Freedom of Expression Institute and SA Human Rights Commission have criticised the eThekwini Municipality’s decision to ban Monday’s march – calling the ban illegal according the Gatherings Act of 1993. After the march was banned, a meeting between Mayor Mlaba, Deputy City Manager Derrick Naidoo and the Foreman Road development committee was held.

Lungisani Jama, a member of the committee, said Mlaba had promised to hold a meeting with the committee on November 24. Jama said the committee had agreed, but later decided to go ahead with the march despite losing a high court application against the city’s ban. Members of the community and civic groups blamed Mlaba for yesterday’s events. “If Mlaba had permitted the march none of this chaos would have happened,” said Jama.

Mlaba said he did not deal with the authorisation of permits for marches and the matter was being dealt with by Durban City Manager Michael Sutcliffe and Nigel Gumede, the Chairman of the housing committee. Gumede said the march had been discussed and an agreement reached that committee members would hold a meeting at which politicians and officials would explain plans for the Clare Estate informal settlements.

He said that another meeting was scheduled for November 24, when a presentation with milestones would be unveiled. There had been no more communication at the weekend and the city had understood that the march was cancelled and a mass meeting would take place instead, he said. “In the interpretation of police, they (the residents) were not granted a permit, so they were marching illegally. “If co-ordination took place then we would have notified the police,” he said.

Apparently no city officials were present to address the crowd which had gathered before the march began. Gumede said the city tried to treat every community equally when it came to services.
Neil Macleod, Head of eThek-wini Water and Sanitation, said this had not been the first time that they had experienced problems trying to disconnect illegal water supplies in Umlazi. Macleod said yesterday that his team had managed to remove some illegal connections. He added that illegal water connections in Umlazi cost the city R30-million a year.

“These connections are pipes joined from the city pipes and some of the connections are shocking,” he said. He said some people had indicated that they wanted to have legitimate connections.