Category Archives: Pretoria News

Pretoria News: Residents ready to invade land

Leave a reply

Residents ready to invade land

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20080623055504594C635176&set_id=1&click_id=124&sf=

June 23 2008 at 07:29AM

Disgruntled residents in Atteridgeville have vowed to fight on until they have been allocated RDP houses by the Tshwane Metro Council. The residents had previously tried to occupy a stretch of land in Lotus Gardens, west of Pretoria.

Pretoria West police stepped in and stopped the residents from moving on to the land.

The residents, some of whom claim that they have been on the housing waiting list for the past 10 years, said they feared that the land could be sold to private developer who would then build expensive houses.

Joseph Ngoetjana, spokesperson for the residents, said they agreed at a report-back meeting on Saturday that they would continue to fight until the municipality had allocated those houses.

“The people want action. They want to invade the land to show government that they seriously want RDP houses,” said Ngoetjana.

He said they could not meet executive mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa as planned on June 17.

“Instead of meeting the mayor, we met with the mayoral committee member for housing, Absalom Ditshoke and his colleague Subesh Pillay (mayoral committee member for public works and infrastructure development),” said Ngoetjana.

He said the meeting with Ditshoke and Pillay was not fruitful.

“We are prepared to fight on until our demands have been met by the municipality.

“We are arranging a march to the executive mayor’s office.

“If we do not get any response from the executive mayor’s office, we will be forced to invade the land,” Ngoetjana said.

Pretoria News: Three-month-old baby dies in shack fire

Leave a reply

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080409054540301C857002

Pretoria News 9/4/2008

Three-month-old baby dies in shack fire

Staring blankly at his hands, Mamelodi resident Matthew Skosana shakes his head, trying desperately to understand why he couldn’t save three-month-old Lebogang Mashido from burning to death in a shack fire.

The fire left Lebogang’s brother, Blessing, 2, and sister, Mmatsjie, 3, seriously injured in Pretoria Academic Hospital.

They are believed to have sustained second and third-degree burns.

The three were alone in their Phomolong shack while their mother, Mamsie Mashido, went to fetch water to wash the dishes. The tap is less than 50m away from the shack.

The shack was engulfed in flames within minutes of her leaving.

Their screams alerted neighbours, who bravely fought the flames with water and blankets, dashing into the blazing shack in a bid to rescue the children.

Skosana will remember the screams forever.

According to neighbours he ran into the house twice in an attempt to pull out the three children from their burning home.

When the flames became too much, he tried to kick down the shack wall separating him from Lebogang.

“He tried everything. He was so brave. When he heard the baby screaming, he tried to kick down the shack wall, but it was too hot. He blames himself.

“You can see he blames himself for not rescuing the little baby,” said Joyce Mabula.

Skosana, when approached for comment, would only say: “I can still hear their screams. I can still hear the baby crying.”

Lebogang’s father, Duncan Maila, was at work when his wife called him to tell him what had happened.

“I didn’t know what to think. I thought that all my babies were dead.

“I didn’t know what I was going to find,” he said while comforted by social workers.

He said he didn’t know how the fire had started.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it is from a fire or a stove.

“I don’t know what to do. I am so sad. My world has ended.

“We have nowhere to go. No food, no clothing, nothing. My baby is dead. My other children are dying. What am I meant to do?”

Maila said although the community was coming forward to help, it wouldn’t bring back Lebogang.

He is convinced that if they had proper houses with fresh running water the tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

“If the council gave us houses, this would not happen. It is dangerous here. Our children are dying, but the council does nothing.”

However, local councillor Fatima Kgashane said the residents were land invaders and were not entitled to live there.

“This land belongs to Transnet. We are negotiating to buy the land so that we can provide these people with proper housing and services,” she said.

Pretoria Academic Hospital spokesperson Fredah Kobo confirmed that Blessing and his sister Mmatsjie had been admitted.

“Both are in a very serious condition at this stage,” she said.

Police said an inquest docket had been opened into Lebogang’s death.

The mother was too distraught to speak to the Pretoria News.

Pretoria News: Squatting outside the Union Buildings

Leave a reply

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4064565
Story with picture.

Plan to put end to squatting
Eradication of informal settlements by 2014 – state

October 04, 2007 Edition 2

Graeme Hosken and Xolani Mbanjwa

A group of squatters has made a home on the doorstep of the seat of government, the Union Buildings, but the government has vowed that this scenario will be a thing of the past by 2014.

The provincial government is promising an ambitious R8 billion plan to eradicate all informal settlements.

According to this plan, houses will be allocated to those priced out of the housing market. A housing subsidy, to be made available to anyone regardless of race, will ensure that people who earn between R3 500 and R10 000 a month are able to apply for government-subsidised homes. However, this will not mean more RDP-type housing.

This announcement was made at a National Press Club briefing yesterday by Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane, who said the department had realised that the “sea” of RDP housing was not the solution to the province’s housing crisis.

But, in the meantime, about 30 squatters wake up at the crack of dawn at the foot of the Union Buildings and go in search of casual jobs in Pretoria.

They bathe, cook, do their laundry and sometimes smoke their dagga with prostitutes on the sprawling lawns of the city landmark.

They hang their washing in the bushes or on top of their tents, leaning against the Union Buildings fence.

Edward Ntongwa (21) said he had been living there since he moved from Johannesburg three months ago.

Asked where the other squatters were, he said they were out looking for “small jobs”.

The Pretoria News found Ntongwa – originally from Cape Town – sitting on a broken chair surrounded by broken glass, beer bottles and a pile of rubbish.

Asked where he slept, Ntongwa pointed to a patch of grass, saying: “I don’t have a tent. When it’s cold we light a fire and people help each other.”

Some of the squatters – who refused to give their names – said they would appreciate “a government house closer to where we can find jobs and where we usually find casual jobs”.

They said they knew of many people who had been on the waiting list for houses for many years and did not believe they would ever get a low-cost RDP house.

“There’s no chance of us getting houses. We are not from around here, so we will never get government housing,” said one squatter.

They said they had been harassed by police on several occasions, who had threatened to throw them off the land. But they always returned to sleep there at night.

“It’s safe here and we know one another. We don’t want to live this life, but there is nowhere else to go,” said a young woman.

But according to Mokonyane, RDP houses are not the solution and are not sustainable.

“A sea of these houses will not work, as these houses will continue the vicious cycle of poverty leading to the creation of more poor areas,” she said.

“There will be mixed-housing areas where everyone regardless of their race or financial status have access to the same amenities and essential services,” she said.

Currently only those who earn less than R3 500 a month qualify for RDP homes.

The department has prioritised 20 townships, including Mamelodi, Atteridgeville and Soshanguve, for rehabilitation and is conducting maintenance programmes that include, among other projects, the retarring of roads.

Mokonyane said that by the end of the 2007/08 financial year, 10 informal settlements in Gauteng would be eradicated.

“We will speed up housing delivery and deal with the housing backlog ‘time-bomb’ by reducing the time it takes to acquire land to six months so that in a financial year land can be obtained and houses built.

“We will allocate houses to township residents ‘block by block’ instead of using the notorious waiting list, which is open to corruption.

“This will allow for quicker distribution of houses,” she said.

Mokonyane said Gauteng had many housing challenges.

“We are assessing 17 alternative-material homes being built at the Eric Molobi Innovation Hub outside Pretoria, some of which can be constructed within 48 hours.”

Pretoria News: Long arm of the law reaches Nqakula

Leave a reply

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20070830041014303C110679

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula on Wednesday felt the wrath of the law when he was found to be in contempt of a court order and committed to jail.

Not only was his department scolded, but the judge held him personally responsible for not complying with a court order issued last week.

In terms of the order, police were given 12 hours to rebuild the shacks of homeless people in Moreletapark.

Eight days later the homeless people, including women and children, are still destitute.

Pretoria High Court judge Bill Prinsloo ordered Nqakula should be committed to jail “with immediate effect, until such time as this contempt of the order is purged”. A fine of R10 000 was also imposed on him.

Prinsloo further ruled that a writ be issued, authorising and directing the officer commanding of Pretoria Central police station (or any person he may direct) to immediately arrest Nqakula and to commit him to jail.

The judge ordered the fine and imprisonment be suspended for 14 days from the date of his order, at which time Nqakula is “required to appear personally before this court” to show that he had complied fully with the order. Failing to do so, the minister will immediately be arrested and jailed.

Prinsloo, meanwhile, ordered that, within 12 hours of yesterday’s order, Nqakula had to see to it that the shacks were rebuilt. This gave the police until 1am this morning.

The judge further ordered that “because the respondent (Nqakula) is not present at the hearing today”, the order must be immediately served on him. The final nail in the coffin was a punitive costs order against the minister’s department.

The judge’s fury was sparked by an urgent application brought on behalf of the homeless people staying on vacant land on the corner of De Ville Bois Marquis and Garsfontein roads.

Their shacks were burnt down earlier this month and many of them claimed they were beaten up by police.

A week ago the court ordered the police to within 12 hours rebuild the shacks.

Judge Roger Claassen was at the time told that it was not the first time that police had gutted the belongings of these people and harassed them.

Earlier this year the Supreme Court of Appeal pronounced on the same issue (when their shacks were burnt down on a previous occasion).

The SCA at the time ordered the police to immediately rebuild the dwellings. Police at first denied they were responsible, but later admitted it.

In the current case the police once again denied they were involved and ignored the order to rebuild.

Counsel for the minister on Wednesday said it was not necessary to comply as the minister was going to ask for leave to appeal the order.

The court was on Wednesday told by Matthews Mojapelo, acting for the minister, that no affidavit of the minister was before court, as “his officials do not know where he is and whether he is in the country or not”.

The judge was told that it was impossible for the minister to rebuild the shacks within 12 hours, as the deadline would have been four o’clock in the morning “when everyone was asleep”.

Adriaan Vorster, acting for the homeless, argued that if the police could burn down the shacks at 4am, they could surely rebuild it at 4am.

Vorster asked the court to hold the minister in contempt and to order that the shacks be rebuilt, in spite of the pending application for leave to appeal. Prinsloo said it took no imagination to understand the plight of the applicants who were at present destitute and exposed to the elements.

He said not only did the minister not comply with the order within 12 hours, but more than a week later he had still not complied.

The judge said the minister gave no explanation about this to the court. He added that he found the minister’s intention to ask for leave to appeal “distressing”.

The judge further said: “I find the explanation that the minister’s officials do not know where he is, outrageous to say the least.”

Regarding the minister’s objection that if they complied, they would have to build the shacks at 4am, Prinsloo said: “I can’t see how they could be excused from complying with a court order because they would have to do it after hours… particularly a state department as large as that of the respondent (minister). Especially as the police had time to demolish the shacks at four in the morning.”

Prinsloo said the case was a “sad testimony” to the fact that some State departments did not seem to bother to adhere to the orders of court.

Late on Wednesday night Nqakula’s lawyers gave notice of their intention to appeal the sentence.

o This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on August 30, 2007

Pretoria News: Mamelodi all geared up for showdown with cops

Leave a reply

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20070619050250637C875452

June 19 2007 at 10:27AM

Hundreds of Mamelodi residents are bracing themselves for a showdown with police and council officials ahead of planned evictions.

Barricading roads with rocks and burnt-out car wrecks on Monday, Lusaka residents say they will not move.

“We have heard that the council is coming for us. Our response is let them come. We are ready for them and will fight them.”

This was the warning by several Lusaka residents following Friday’s violent clashes with council-hired shack demolition men.

‘We will be providing support to the affected communities’

The running battles left a guard dead, eight others injured and seven residents behind bars for the weekend.

The guard from the security firm Gaman 12 was killed and eight others were injured after residents turned on them.

The crowd also torched a truck and three bakkies belonging to the security company during the bloody confrontation.

The warnings by residents come as the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) pledged it support for residents of Lusaka.

The organisation said that it would be mobilising the township’s communities to stop the evictions.

‘Our view is that government cannot just evict people and throw them out’

Sanco provincial secretary Toenka Matila said the organisation would be opposing the evictions by mobilising communities to stop the evictions.

“We will be providing support to the affected communities by ensuring that government provides them with alternative accommodation should their houses be demolished.

“Our view is that government cannot just evict people and throw them out on the streets,” he said.

Matila said government should provide housing for people who have been occupying land for more than three months.

“Government should have provided housing for the people in the Lusaka section of Mamelodi a long time ago.

“People living in Lusaka have been living there for years. A lot of promises were made to them years ago which need to be kept.

“The promises were that the area would be developed and that housing would be made available for those living there,” said Matila.

He said Sanco’s position was that it was urging government not to evict people. If it did it should be providing those who were evicted with alternative housing.

“Government is aware that the majority of those living in these areas are either unemployed or under-employed and are earning well below the poverty line.

“We therefore believe that the only way to avoid conflict is by talking to them and providing them with new and proper homes,” he said.

Jean du Plessis, acting executive director of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, said the challenges facing urban centres in South Africa called for creative solutions by the relevant local authorities.

“The first response to poor people finding a place to live in desperation should not be to evict them.

“Forced evictions in our experience are not only morally and legally wrong, but also counterproductive to development.

“We call on the city of Pretoria to meet the people concerned and find mutually acceptable solutions.

“These would be in line with the requirements of the constitution and also international law,” he said.

Mayoral committee member for housing Absalom Ditshoke said the council’s programme of removing people in the affected area remained.

“We are going to remove these people because the area they are living in is unsafe. We have said so previously,” he said.

Ditshoke said the area where the people were living was unsafe as it was on the Magaliesberg slopes.

“If there are heavy rains the people will suffer. We are trying to prevent a disaster before it occurs,” he said.

Ditshoke said: “We want the message to be clear. People cannot live in that area.

“We are giving them the opportunity to remove themselves from the area, failing which we will remove them from the land.

“Land invasion is not an option. The issue remains: they have to move – whether it is voluntarily or whether it is through eviction.

“We have been granted a court order to evict the people and we will use it if needs be.

“We are available for discussions and are prepared to listen to the residents or any organisation’s concerns, but regardless of what they are these people have to move,” Ditshoke said.