Category Archives: Vuyo Mabandla

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.

Cape Argus: Bid to ‘extinguish’ attacks on Somalis

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http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5098856

Bid to ‘extinguish’ attacks on Somalis

July 26, 2009 Edition 1

VUYO MABANDLA

A meeting is to be held today in Gugulethu in a bid to reduce tensions and “extinguish” a rise in xenophobic abuse of Somali traders by locals.

This comes after a series of attacks in Samora Machel last week in which seven Somali shops were forcefully closed down by local traders.

The violence was sparked after a deal reached last month between local and foreign business people failed. In terms of the deal, local and Somali shops should operate at least a hundred metres away from each other. The other part of the deal was that certain products at the shops should be sold at the same price.

Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinator Mncedisi Twalo, who will be the mediator at today’s meeting, said it was also decided last month that no new businesses would be opened after the deal came into effect at the beginning of this month.

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato was reportedly aware of the violence in Samora Machel and said the city was on “high alert”.

Twalo said that at the base of the problem was a local hatred for foreign nationals.

“That’s one of the issues we will look to sort out. We want to find ways to extinguish xenophobia and prevent a thing like this from spreading to other provinces.”

The Anti-Eviction Campaign blamed the government, saying it was responsible for the problem.

A statement on its website says: “The unhappiness of local business people is justified, but this unhappiness is being directed at other poor people instead of at the government and the corporations who are the root cause of our problems.”

By late yesterday, the South African Association of Somalis had not confirmed it would attend today’s meeting. But landlords, church leaders, police representatives, local business associations, traders and shop owners, and councillors from seven communities said they would be there.

“We want to ensure that every part of agreements concluded by the concerned parties is implemented, until the situation is a thing of the past,” said Twalo.

Meanwhile, a service delivery protest by Khayelitsha informal settlers was being planned for the beginning of next month.

Mzonke Poni, also a member of the Anti-Eviction Campaign, said residents had been expecting a response from Plato to a list of demands delivered to him last week and were “becoming restless”.

He also mentioned the issue of foreigners occupying RDP houses, sometimes let to them by poor locals.

“People have to make money and that sometimes means people have to rent out their state-given property. But some people aren’t happy about that,” Poni said.

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 Argus: Samora Machel Protest

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http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5089407

‘It’s a shame elderly people are still living in such appalling conditions’

July 19, 2009 Edition 1

VUYO MABANDLA

Hundreds of Samora Machel residents took to the streets chanting songs directed at the government for its lack of service delivery – and carrying a cake to mark Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday.

This was the latest in a number protests held over the past two weeks that have highlighted the plight of the poor who are demanding that the government deliver on its promises to build houses.

Last week’s flooding sparked a series of demonstrations in Khayelitsha, Masiphumele and Du Noon by residents, mostly shack dwellers, and things turned ugly when they clashed with police.

Residents burned tyres, strewed rubbish across streets and threw stones at police, who reacted by firing rubber bullets and stun grenades at the crowd.

A number of people were reportedly left injured.

A Golden Arrow bus was set alight by residents in Site B, Khayelitsha.

Yesterday, Samora Machel community leader, Siyabulela Mafo, said they had been promised houses by former MEC for housing Richard Dyantyi before this year’s elections.

“(Dyantyi) came and promised to build proper houses for us – and we believed him.

Residents say they are tired of “these government people promising us services only when they need our votes.”

Nontyatyambo Lumina, 26, said: “I live in a very small shack with my child, and my house was flooded when it rained. I’m unemployed so I cannot afford a brick house.”

Another resident, Nontembiso Awuwa, said she was “sick of the way the government uses us to garner support and does nothing in return”.

She shouted to her fellow residents: “We want houses. Anditsho? (Isn’t that so?).”

Yesterday, residents used blankets given to flood victims by the municipal officials to roof a makeshift shelter, calling it “a house from our government”.

Addressing the crowd, Mafo said: “It’s such a shame that elderly people here are still living in appalling conditions.”

The residents then tore down the shelter, vowing to do the same with services, should they not be satisfied.

Mafo said representatives from Samora’s informal settlements and shack dwellers would draw up a memorandum of demands, which will be sent to the City of Cape Town.