http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20081111111710380C561956

‘They gave our homes away’

November 11 2008 at 02:41PM
By Mpume Madlala

Desperate Clermont residents who waited 16 years for low-cost houses say
they have resorted to using force after seeing the homes allocated to
them being given to other people.

The residents accuse the local councillor, Neli Nyanisa, of putting
people on the list for the New Germany development Harmony Heights ahead
of people whose names were on the initial housing list registered with
the department of housing.

Nyanisa has strongly denied the accusation.

Mthokozisi Zuma, the chairperson for Sanco, an organisation that looks
after residential issues, said the situation was spiralling out of
control.

“What has led to these problems is that the councillor has been putting
people who were not on the list into these houses saying that they had
been registered by her, but those names are not on the database,” he
said.

Zuma said that the matter was under investigation by the local
department of housing.

“When people who had already been given their home numbers, saw that the
houses were being taken, they started breaking into any other vacant
homes,” he said.

Nonceba Khwela, who is staying in one of the homes, said she had broken
in after seeing her allocated house already being occupied.

“What was I supposed to do, I did what everybody else did, because our
homes were being given to other people by our councillor even though we
were on the database and had documentation that those were our homes.

“We won’t move out because we deserve to be here. We patiently waited
all these years and nobody has the right to just come and take our homes
away,” she said.

Qondile Khandayo said he was beaten up during the fracas after he had
been to look for his assigned home and found that there was someone
there already. He then tried to break into two houses.

“I gave up and sat next to the house that I wanted and in no time there
were Metro Police around me,” he said.

He said they had beaten and arrested him.

Nyanisa has continued to deny she had sold homes to people. The
councillor serves as the deputy chairperson of the housing committee.

“I want them to show me the homes that they broke into, because as far
as I know, the people put into those homes are rightfully there and they
have proof,” she said.

City manager Michael Sutcliffe said if people wanted to lay a complaint
against the councillor they were more than welcome to write to him.

* This article was originally published on page 2 of Daily
News on November 11, 2008

The notorious Lennox Mabaso strikes again….Once again the poor are blamed for failing to endure the consequences of poverty without accident or complaint while any attempt to hold the state accountable for the conditions in which people are forced to live is considered unacceptable….At least this time Mabaso doesn’t make wild allegations about the movement being under the sway of a ‘foreign intelligence agent bent on destabalizing South Africa’ and hasn’t issued any threats of arrest against the leadership….That’s his usual style. Maybe the Daily Sun needs to renew its call for Mabaso to spend some time living in a shack before he comments on shack life again.

News
Anger over ‘no housing’ comment

July 17, 2008 Edition 3

MPUME MADLALA

THE Department of Local Government, Traditional Affairs and Housing has been angered by comments made by the shack dwellers of Clare Estate’s Kennedy Road informal settlement after their homes went up in flames on Monday.

It is believed the fire was started by a paraffin stove that had not been switched off.

The residents said they were disappointed that after 30 years of living in the informal dwellings, they have no hope of getting proper homes.

Spokesman for the department, Lennox Mabaso, said the comments made by the president of the KwaZulu-Natal Shack Dwellers’ Association, S’bu Zikode, who said minister Mike Mabuyakhulu had failed his people by not giving them houses over the years, were misleading.

“Since the start of building low-cost houses, our department has built 500 000 which has exceeded the backlog,” he said.

However, Mabaso said there was still a great deal of work to be done and plans were being made to increase the number of houses being built.

“We would appreciate it if Zikode did something to educate his community on fire safety instead of talking the whole time,” he said.

However, Mabaso said they would still help those people who had been left destitute.

“Houses are not built overnight, because everything is done according to budget,” he said.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4506205

Blaze guts 80 homes
Settlement fire leaves 200 homeless

July 14, 2008 Edition 3

MPUME MADLALA

SCORES of shacks went up in flames in the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Clare Estate this morning, as firefighters battled to bring the blaze under control.

Black smoke billowed into the sky, drifting across Durban, and could be seen kilometres away.

By 10am, firefighters had doused most of the flames and had managed to contain the fire to a corner of the settlement.

eThekwini fire department divisional commander Alfred Newman said: “Between 60 and 80 shacks were totally gutted in the fire. There were no injuries or fatalities.”

About 200 people are believed to be homeless and Newman said the disaster management team would be helping them.

Shonaphi Nzulani and her four-year-old son were lucky to escape the flames.

She said the fire could have started in her dwelling.

“I switched off my paraffin stove, but I think my son switched it on again.

“I was at my sister’s house when I saw the shack go up in flames,” she said.

Nzulani said she tried to run back to save her valuables but she was stopped by an explosion. Her son was not hurt.

Dazed and confused residents watched in horror as firefighters tried to control the fierce flames.

Many residents risked their lives by running into their shacks to grab what they could. Some people were still sleeping while others were getting ready for work when the fire broke out.

Firefighters said they were confident they would be able to extinguish the fire soon.

Damage

Terry Goulding, the loss control officer for the fire department, said the fire caused huge damage: “Part of the settlement could not be saved and we will try to get blankets to those who have lost their homes,” he said.

Sanwell Nsingo, a spokesman for the shack dwellers’ movement, said they were tired of seeing their shacks go up in flames. “We don’t want temporary houses, we want a permanent solution.”

Firefighters were also kept busy at another location by a fire in Queen Mary Avenue near the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College Campus early this morning.

Some firefighters who were at the house fire had to rush across to Kennedy Road.

An officer at the Metro Police control room said the Glenmore fire was contained and there were no injuries.

The Kennedy Road settlement has been plagued by fires that have left many people dead and hundreds homeless. In November last year, a disabled woman was killed after her shack caught alight in a fire believed to have been caused by a candle that was knocked over.

In April last year a massive fire destroyed 100 shacks and caused the death of two people. Police also believed the fire started after a candle fell over.

In 2005, a one-year-old boy was burned to death. The cause again was a candle. The blaze also destroyed 16 neighbouring shacks.

Residents have been locked in battle with the eThekwini municipality, demanding the supply of water and electricity.