Biography of Tokyo Sexwale

ZAR.co.za - Biography of Tokyo Sexwale: "Sexwale"

Once an ANC activist, political prisoner and populist politician, leading businessman Mosima Gabriel (Tokyo) Sexwale is a man with a personal history as fascinating as the changes that have taken place in South Africa. He was once of the ANC's most ambitious politicians and tipped for great things. Nelson Mandela named him premier of the country's largest Gauteng province. Apart from his other qualities, personal courage alone made Tokyo Sexwale an extraordinary premier. From the beginning, during his first days in office in 1994, he ventured into hostels in East Rand townships where, before the elections, death tolls had sometimes risen to over 20 a day. Hostels were no-go areas for everybody save Inkatha Freedom Party warlords. But Sexwale ignored the risks. He left the Inkatha hostel-dwellers singing and dancing and agreeing to make peace with their neighbouring communities - which they did. Three months later South Africa's most conflict-ridden province descended into a calm broken only by the clashes of criminal syndicates. It must also have taken considerable nerve to have walked alone in the dead of night into a darkened, mutinous prison, lit only by fires and with injured people littering the floors, to negotiate the release of a white warder. When Sexwale came out of Modderbee on the East Rand at dawn that day in the middle of 1996, he left a peaceful prison - and he had the young warder safely with him. His bravery, and a belief that if a job were difficult then he personally should do it, sometimes frustrated colleagues. But if there are reservations about his leadership style among the many people canvassed on the subject, their judgements have been tempered by more than equal measures of praise. A senior aide who worked closely with him says:

"He has tremendous leadership ability, but often has difficulty in translating good ideas into action. He can see what needs to be done, but does not always trust those around him to carry out his plans."
In 1977 Sexwale was sent to Robben Island to serve a life sentence. He recalls one of his first impressions on arriving on the island and seeing Mandela:

"There is Nelson Mandela - the tall man amongst all prisoners on Robben Island - figuratively and literally. He was also taller than the jailers. Here is a man who, for 27 years, had to reshape himself, to emerge as ... some people call him, a saint. He is not a saint. He is fallible. And he's quick himself to admit whenever he has been rash, that he is also fallible. But in full glory you find Nelson Mandela towering above Robben Island. You meet him in the position of chancellor of the university of Robben Island."
Fellow Robben Island prisoner and close friend of Sexwale, Mzi Khumalo, formed the Pan African Mining Group with Sexwale and involved them both in mining and oil across Africa. He recalls a time there when prisoners became angry with elderly Rivonia trialist Wilton Mkwayi whose practice it was to squirrel away food to feed the pigeons. The birds would repay this kindness by defecating over the small recreation area the prisoners shared. Mkwayi had back problems, however, and was too frail to clean up the mess.The prisoners decided that they had had enough. They called a meeting at which consensus was sought on compelling Mkwayi to stop feeding the pigeons. Khumalo recalled the mood of the meeting.
"Tokyo disagreed with us; he said this man had been there for 20 years, and that the birds kept Mkwayi sane. I did my nut. Eventually Tokyo won the day; he offered to clean up the mess."
But the saga did not end there, Khumalo recalls with a laugh:
"Now, if Tokyo has one serious fault it is this - he loves to talk. So when the time came to clean he began, but some new people came into the section, so he put down his spade and went to speak to them, and the rest of us did the cleaning. He cleaned on other occasions; he does not shirk responsibility but if he can delegate he will."
A former Gauteng cabinet colleague expressed a slightly different view:
"He didn't always delegate, particularly if he felt he could make a stronger personal impact. However, he wasn't scared to take the rap."
Another close aide said:
"One of his biggest frustrations was that he went into government as a hugely successful mobiliser of popular support and a shrewd tactician, but he could not use that effectively in a government context."
To see Sexwale at a public event like the launch of Johannesburg's Inner City renewal campaign was to see him at his best. Switching between English, Afrikaans, Sotho and Zulu, he had the crowd laughing, cheering, pondering and applauding. No other politician could compete. Thabo Mbeki, who shared the platform with him, was well spoken in English only, and lacked the easy charisma so typical of Sexwale and Mandela. His style has not found favour with Thabo Mbeki of whom he said, "The president's shoes are huge and Thabo has tiny feet." (In 2001 Sexwale was accused, along with Cyril Ramaphosa and Mathews Phosa, of plotting to overthrow Mbeki from power. Sexwale denied the charges and all three received the backing of Nelson Mandela.)In the end, government stifled Sexwale, aides say. He too has acknowledged that he became exhausted by internal African National Congress intrigues.Khumalo says:
"One day he phoned me and asked me to come and talk. On the island it was our practice when discussing serious issues, to walk. We walked up and down, talking for about two hours. He told me he was thinking of leaving government for business, and I said, "Tokyo, Gauteng is too small for you."
Sexwale's primary interests are oil and diamond mining, for which he has concessions across Africa and Russia in a company he established called Mvelaphanda Mining (mvelaphanda is Venda for "progress").Not long after Sexwale announced his resignation from government, Harry Oppenheimer, patriarch of the Anglo-American and De Beers corporations, remarked at the opening of a diamond college in Johannesburg that few understood the local and international diamond-mining industry the way Sexwale did.Trained by the Soviet army during his Umkhonto we Sizwe days, Sexwale is reported to have networks among some of the major industry executives in the Russian state diamond company and has been offered concessions in the Federation. He has finalised diamond concessions in a number of Southern African states including Angola and is negotiating oil and diamond concessions in other African states.Finnish president Martii Ahtisaari approached him to be Finland's honorary consul-general in South Africa, and after Mandela gave his consent - there is little Sexwale does even now, without seeking Madiba's approval - the Finnish flag went up outside his Houghton home.Sexwale is a firm believer in economic patriotism:
"Japanese businesspeople work for Japan, the British work for Britain. The success of the African renaissance in repositioning our part of the world, depends upon economic patriotism. South Africans have to work for South Africa. Black business people will have to become economic freedom fighters in the true sense of the word. There needs to be greater opportunities for all, particularly in rural areas. Marx says if capital does not grow, it stagnates. We must see opportunities - and not only crises or global meltdowns."
He has a range of suggestions - from corporations freeing up their training centres at weekends for skills training and education to harnessing non-governmental organisations more effectively in developmental work.Sexwale has not made himself available for any elected ANC position; but he iremains active in his branch.
"A good leader must also be a good follower and as a member of the rank and file, I am prepared to be led. I love the ANC, it is a lifelong commitment to me. However, I am not cut out for government politics, it's too restrictive." As a successful entrepreneur Mr Sexwale is deeply committed to pursuing the dream of economic prosperity of the country's black majority. Relaxing at his office at home, his guitar and piano on one side, books lining the walls - a thick volume on Che Guevara wedged between a tome on The Competitive Advantage of Nations and Who Owns Whom - Sexwale muses:
"The challenge of existence is to fall in love with life and come to terms with all its joys and sorrows."Other famous quotes by Sexwale:
"The liberation struggle of our people was not about liberating blacks from bondage, it was about liberating white people from fear."
"Associate yourself not only with success but with failure too. Know your limitations, surround yourself with experts and good critics."
"If blacks get hurt, I get hurt. If whites get hurt, that's my wife, and if you harm coloured people, you're looking for my children. Your unity embodies who I am."

Tokyo Sexwale Announced as Minister of Human Settlements

Pretoria - Tokyo Sexwale has been announced as the Minister of Human Settlements.Announcing his new Cabinet on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said the Department of Housing will be called the Department of Human Settlements to take on a more holistic focus.Going through the list of those who will take up seats in his Cabinet, Mr Zuma said: "Minister of Human Settlements - Tokyo Sexwale."A highly respected businessman, Mr Sexwale has held many senior positions in the African National Congress. He was imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island were he was expected to serve a life sentence.As President of South Africa in 1994, Mr Mandela appointed Mr Sexwale as Premier of Gauteng.In 1998 he left public office and entered the world of business. He formed Mvelapanda Group, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed BEE consortium.He also serves on the board of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee.Mr Sexwale was named Tokyo because he enjoyed karate as a youngster. - BuaNews

Minister Sexwale, we at moladi congratulate you on your appointment to head the Human Settlements Ministry. We assure you of our support in your task to address the backlog and quality issues that you face - Congratulations!

Housing need South Africa - 12 milllion people

Sexwale : 12 milllion people still in need of housing : South Africa

The SABC are reporting Saturday that Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale, has confirmed that there is a backlog of two million housing units in the country.According to the Minister government still has to provide houses for 12 million people in South Africa.He was speaking at the launch of Tau Village, an inner city Social Housing project, in Pretoria on Friday and acknowledged that the government needed to meet people’s basic needs.The report also confirms that the residents of Tshabho - a village near Berlin in the Eastern Cape - have called on the Minister to investigate their housing project. While a company had been awarded a tender the project failed to take off. In addition that they have documents claiming to have finished their houses which was not true. According to residents' chairperson, Sizwe Yaka, several meetings have been held with the provincial department without resolving the issues.

Keyword - Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, backlog, million, housing, moladi, concrete homes, sustainable development, South Africa, corrupt, fraud, SABS, basic need, job creation, houses, rdp, subsidy

RDP houses sold in contravention of Housing Act to be confiscated

RDP houses sold in contravention of Housing Act to be confiscated

RDP houses in the province transferred to beneficiaries less than eight years ago, which have been sold by their owners, will be confiscated and given to the needy, says Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela.
Location specific audits have revealed that in some cases, as in George, up to 90 percent of RDP houses have been sold by beneficiaries, and a visit by former housing MEC Richard Dyantyi in 2008 revealed that up to 60 percent of RDP houses in Du Noon had been sold or let.
But Madikizela said the Housing Act stipulated that the RDP housing beneficiaries were not allowed to sell their houses within an eight year period, and his department was to audit the 101 000 housing subsidies granted since 2002.
“The houses that are returned to the Department in terms of the pre-emptive right clause (in the Housing Act) will be reallocated by municipalities to qualifying people in terms of the relevant criteria,” said Madikizela.
“We will find a way that government reclaim the houses (RDP) and give them to the needy.”
But he said the magnitude of the problem had to first be determined.
To this end his department was busy drafting terms of reference to appoint a service provider to analyse the status of all state-funded housing projects.
He said the survey to be conducted by an appointed service provider would also establish how many title deeds still needed to be transferred to beneficiaries and, where title deeds had not been handed over, what the reasons for the delay were.
“It is anticipated that this survey of our projects will be concluded by the end of the financial year (31 March 2011). However, once we have some preliminary data from this study we will already be in a position to start to plot a way forward in dealing with this matter.”
In Du Noon residents were scared to speak about the sales and ownership of RDP houses, saying they feared being killed if they spoke out about what exactly was happening.
Community leader Madlomo Ndamane said the sale of RDP houses was “a hot business” in the township.
“Its a big problem.”
She said beneficiaries sold their house, and then once they had spent their money, tried to reclaim it.
She also said there were people who were approved RDP house beneficiaries, but never occupied their house, suggesting that money could have exchanged hands and other people were given the houses instead.
Meanwhile, the City has admitted that it was battling to issue title deeds to approved RDP housing
beneficiaries in the metro.
Land acquisition specialist in the city’s housing directorate, Marlize Odendal said in many cases the occupants of RDP houses were not the official beneficiaries, which made it difficult for the city to issue title deeds.
“It’s a general problem (issuing of title deeds) and its country wide,” said Odendal
A senior city official in the housing directorate, who did not want to be named as he was not sure he was allowed to speak to the press, said the process of issuing title deeds in Du Noon was suspended last year as city-contracted workers received death threats from residents.
Blaauwberg sub-council chair Heather Brenner confirmed that city efforts to investigate “approved beneficiaries” of RDP houses in Du Noon had been continuously disrupted by people who did not want the project to move forward.
Brenner said of about 1000 RDP houses in Du Noon, half of them had been investigated and were occupied by official beneficiaries, but the remainder were unknown and under suspicion because residents there had threatened city contractors.
“It’s been a very frustrating exercise, true beneficiaries have been waiting for ten years to get their title deeds. They deserve them.”
Odendal said similar problems had been experienced in Gugulethu and Langa. — West Cape News

Keywords - RDP, illegal, confiscated, MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, RDP houses, beneficiaries, Housing Act, human settlements, department, western cape, capetown

New designs for low-cost housing

New designs for low-cost housing - SouthAfrica.info

New designs for low-cost housing Nozipho Dlamini

South Africa's affordable housing market is looking to alternative building materials in a competition designed to foster innovation in the industry.
Seventeen houses have been built in Soshanguve Block XX, near Pretoria, using traditional and modern building technologies other than brick and mortar.
The 17 designs - using materials such as insulated precast concrete, brick and steel, and water-based resin - are all entrants in the National Housing Innovation Competition.
The competition is being run by the Housing Technology Innovation Hub, a joint venture sponsored by the National Homebuilders Registration Council (NHBRC) and Absa Bank.
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has tasked the NHBRC with building 1 800 houses using new designs, as part of the government's Breaking New Ground social housing programme.
Visiting the Soshanguve site accompanied by provincial housing ministers on Friday, Sisulu said they were "overwhelmed by the beauty, creativity and good quality" of the houses. Sisulu said the provincial ministers had a "great" chance to view the houses and decide which style they could introduce in their provinces.
"What we have seen here today is a typical example of integrated income dwellings that government is always talking about," she said.
NHBRC chief executive officer said the competition was a response to the minister's call to identify new housing products.
"These products have already been judged on all technical aspects, it is now the responsibility of the community to give their opinion of the products," he said.
Sisulu is expected to announce the winner soon.

Keywords - moladi, lightweight concrete home, house, human settlement, ABSA innovative housing, competition, winner, nhbrc, shack, rdp, developer, builder

Houses of horror - RDP housing corruption

Houses of horror - RDP housing projects corruption disappearance of millions intended for housing for the poor.

HIGH-RANKING Sundays River Municipality officials have been implicated in an extensive web of alleged corruption involving the disappearance of millions of rands intended for housing for the poor.



Allegations of gross mismanagement and fraud relating to four key RDP housing projects – for which more than R100-million was set aside in the once-thriving municipality – have been laid bare after a Herald investigation that was triggered by a government-initiated forensic audit in the newspaper’s possession.


So crippling has the alleged corruption been that the municipality’s accounts have been frozen.


The provincial administration has revoked its responsibility for any projects involving large sums of money, such as housing delivery, while it is placed under administration until it becomes functional again.


Government sources say arrests are imminent.


Tens of millions of rands have been paid to builders who were never authorised to become contractors on the RDP developments and who failed to complete the projects, while key officials have been accused of entering into “corrupt relationships” with councillors and their relatives by awarding them lucrative RDP home building contracts.


Top officials and councillors have also been accused of contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act by allegedly profiting from municipal building tenders – which they are accused of influencing for their own benefit – by awarding them to their families or companies they have shares in.


They, in turn, upped and left after completing only half the work.


Authorities are also trying to recoup up to R8-million which “vanished” from municipal coffers. The Herald has learnt the money was paid to contractors – who were never given the official municipal approval to work on the various developments – from a municipal account accessed by someone using the password of a former chief financial officer.


The projects at the centre of the cash scandal include those in Enon and Bersheba and Moses Mabhida in Kirkwood to which the Housing Department respectively granted R26.5-million to build 450 homes, and R45.7- million for 750 houses.


In Addo, a project in Nomathamsanqa township was granted R18-million for 300 RDP houses, while a stone’s throw away in Noluthando, R28-million was released for the building of 801 homes.


The projects, began between 2006 and mid-2008, should have been completed by now, but have ground to a halt. The Herald found hundreds of half-built homes throughout all four projects.


The figures are contained in a continuing forensic audit by the Housing Department, a report on which is in The Herald’s possession.


An inspection by the newspaper of the four housing projects revealed none were complete, with several hundred homes either half-built or mere shells with no piping or internal finishes such as ceilings. In many cases, houses lucky enough to have roofs did not have water or electricity or connection to sewerage pipes, effectively forcing the occupants to be reliant on a bucket system.


At least four councillors, two top municipal officials and several private contractors – some of whom are family of the councillors – are being probed in forensic investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), known as the Cobras, as well as the Housing and provincial Local Government and Traditional Affairs departments.


The Herald has learnt that the East London-based SIU – which two weeks ago seized and copied the hard drives of the municipality’s computers as part of its probe – has passed on its findings to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks.


Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi confirmed yesterday that the police unit was looking into three investigations regarding the municipality.


Former acting municipal manager Lungiswa Roji has also been suspended and is understood this week to be facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly turning a blind eye to major irregularities by councillors and officials implicated in the scandal.


In March, Local Government MEC Sicelo Gqobana placed the Sundays River Municipality under administration and sent in Vuyo Zitumani as acting municipal manager to solve all the problems which had crippled delivery in the area.


Zitumani acted in a similar capacity in 2007 when she was made acting municipal manager of Mthatha for nine months.


Sources close to the businesswoman said she was shocked at the level of corruption within the municipality when she arrived four months ago.


“When it comes to officials (found to be corrupt), we will be hard on them,” said Zitumani, who yesterday refused to disclose the names of those implicated in the various probes.


“There are serious allegations which the SIU has reported to the MEC,” she said.


“We want to wrap up the investigations as soon as possible. The communities want to see action and are very eager to see an outcome.”


Zitumani said the area’s housing development status – allowing the municipality to oversee developments – had been revoked and was now in the hands of the provincial department.


She has also cancelled five housing tenders which were awarded irregularly.

Keywords - RDP, housing, housing for the poor, housing tenders, Municipality officials, corruption, millions, corrupt, builders, contractors, RDP developments, Top officials, councillors, human settlements, Housing Department, Local Government, MEC Sicelo Gqobana

R100m housing fiasco - 470 houses are uninhabitable

R100m housing fiasco - 470 houses are uninhabitable: "R100m housing fiasco
Only four houses make the grade
May 30, 2010 10:33 PM By SIPHO MASONDO

More than R100-million has been spent on two massive housing projects in North West - but there are only four low-cost government homes to show for the money."

On the outskirts of Vryburg, near the Northern Cape border, the provincial government spent more than R86-million on building 470 houses, but only four have been satisfactorily completed.
Three hundred of the houses are uninhabitable - their foundations and walls do not conform to specifications and building standards.
The remaining 166 houses are being checked.
Vryburg's town manager, George Mthimunye - sent to administer the town in July by Co-operative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka and North West human settlements MEC Desbo Mohono - has ordered that the defects be corrected.
Vryburg municipality is now partially administered by the provincial government
About 300km away in Meriting extensions 3 and 4, in Rustenburg, the government spent more than R28-million on 1930 low-cost houses. But they were so shoddily built that they will have to be demolished.
Mthimunye said: "The foundations [of the Vryburg houses] are faulty, some of them are half-built and some are built up to roof level. But most, if not all, have defects according to a report I got from our building inspector."
Mthimunye said Khasu Engineering, which was contracted to deliver 3000 houses by the end of July, is taking the municipality to court, claiming that R4.7-million is owed to it.
This, Mthimunye said, is despite the fact that he discovered that Khasu was "erroneously overpaid" by R27-million.
He said he had given the company an ultimatum to fix the 300 houses by December 15, but Khasu had refused.
"They say they will only correct the [defective] houses at the end of the project," he said.
This, Mthimunye said, was unlikely to happen as Khasu had not been on site since October, claiming there was no money left to continue with the project.
"It's a major headache for me. I will terminate the contract and get a new company, and see how many houses we can get from the remaining money.
"We will have to look for another contractor, which will demand more money. We are starting the project afresh, two years down the line," Mthimunye said.
A government house costs R55000 to build, according to the department of human settlements website.
Mthimunye said the contract with Khasu was flawed from the start because it was not put out to tender. It was awarded in 2007.
The company was awarded the contract by the former municipal administration, which allegedly flouted procurement procedures.
As a result, Mthimunye said, he asked the National Prosecuting Authority's special investigation unit to investigate.
But the Vryburg municipality's council is far from delighted that the investigation has begun.
"There is no support. In fact, I am a problem to the council itself. Last week, they took a resolution that we must pay [Khasu the R4.7-million it claims]. They said if I don't pay, I will be in defiance and I will be charged," he said.
At least one councillor has threatened to charge Mthimunye with insubordination if he does not pay Khasu speedily.
"I told her to do as she pleases because I won't pay."
When The Times approached Khasu general manager Christo van Niekerk, he refused to comment, saying the case was sub judice.
Meanwhile, in Rustenburg, "not a single house has been completed" by another housing contractor.
"Something went terribly wrong. Along the way the [Rustenburg] municipality realised that the work was not of good quality. They were stopped, and the contractor took them to court," said Mohono, who was not able to identify the contractor.
"All the 1930 structures and the foundations will have to be destroyed. We have huge problems with almost all housing projects. The municipality must try to recoup the money."
Henry Hartley, a DA councillor in Rustenburg, said the builder had been paid about R28-million of the R45-million contract for 1950 low-cost homes.
"It is unsafe for any human being to occupy those houses, whether completed or not.
"We will now need about R71-million to rectify all the houses. The whole thing will have to be redone," he said.
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale last year said that it would cost R1.3-billion to rebuild houses that had been poorly built.
About 3000 of such houses were in North West and Eastern Cape

Question: How can any decent/reputable contractor ever compete with people like this? They are thieves

Millions of South Africans still live in shacks

'Some things were better under apartheid'



Millions of South Africans still live in shacks
When apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, many expected the lives of its black population would improve but promises of land distribution and new homes have not been fulfilled, as Hugh Sykes discovered.
In a community of shacks on a hillside near Johannesburg, a man complained to me:
"We didn't like apartheid, but some things were better under apartheid than they are now."
In a community of shacks on a hillside near Durban, a man complained to me:
"Life here under apartheid was bad, but now it is more bad."
I felt slightly unsettled hearing this.
Shack dwellers have to go out to public stand-pipes to fill up containers with drinking water
It seemed like questioning a sacred belief - that apartheid was an unmitigated, 100% evil system.
But there is less idolatry here now, as it dawns on most people that the new South Africa is still scarred by extreme poverty and high unemployment.
No paradise
Of course, Nelson Mandela continues to be lauded as the hero of the liberation of black South Africans from the oppressions of apartheid.

Building houses for all under one programme proved too costly
But he is also being criticised for changing the direction of the South African economy from active state intervention to neo-liberal, free-market economics.
During his presidency, the government switched from RDP - the interventionist Reconstruction and Development Programme - to Gear, which stands for Growth, Employment And Redistribution.
RDP promised paradise - clean water, mains drainage, land redistribution and a million homes - all in five years.
But paradise did not come. The economy of South Africa simply could not bear the cost.
So the finance system switched to Gear.
Part of the thinking was that it would help to develop a substantial black middle class, whose taxes would then trickle down to the poor.
The middle class did develop, but the problem with trickle-down is that it is just that - a trickle.
Houses 'an insult'
Millions of South Africans still live in shacks.

The ANC government now is simply an extension of the apartheid government
"Bricks" Mokolo, former ANC activist
Rain and dust get in, there is no security against burglars and shack dwellers have to go out to public stand-pipes to fill up containers with drinking water.
And there is no proper lighting which - quite apart from the obvious inconveniences - makes it very hard for children to get their homework done on dark winter evenings.
A former African National Congress activist, "Bricks" Mokolo, told me it is still very hard to criticise the government here.
He says everybody has been, as he put it, "made to love the ANC, made to love Nelson Mandela" and "made to feel small" if they dare to complain.
Mr Mokolo tells me angrily: "I didn't wait for Nelson Mandela. I too fought for my freedom. I was tortured in an apartheid jail."
He was tortured so brutally that prison officers thought he was dead. After leaving him in a mortuary fridge overnight, they dumped what they thought was his dead body in a field.
Mr Mokolo says that housing, especially, was better under apartheid than it is now.
He calls the new houses that are being built all over the country an insult because they are significantly smaller than the old matchbox homes that the apartheid government built in the townships.
"The ANC government now," he insists, "is simply an extension of the apartheid government. There's still separate development," he goes on, "there are still townships, 20 years after liberation."
His conclusion: "There were places for blacks in those days. Now they are the same places. They've just changed the word. They've changed black, to poor."

Defective old houses make way for new moladi homes

moladi homes replace old

HOUSING department workmen have demolished two defective 60-year-old government houses in Daleview, Despatch.

A third house still had to be flattened, officials said. The municipality has provided the owners with new RDP houses on the existing plots.

The action is part of a plan to replace old houses that are beyond repair with RDP houses.

Housing and land chairman Andile Mfunda said the municipality had to act quickly on houses that posed a danger to families.

He said there were other houses in Despatch that needed to be demolished.

The demolition project was separate from a government programme to rectify poorly built RDP houses.

Ward 52 councillor Zandisile Speelman said the demolished houses had serious structural defects.

“The owners are excited. They said the danger the houses posed to their children had been reported to the municipality several times.”

He said the house foundations had partially collapsed and been washed away and the side walls were not attached to the foundations.

“They were not fit for people to live in.”

The houses had been built in the early 1950s and had never been upgraded. Most of Daleview’s houses needed to be rectified, he said.

The owner of one of the demolished houses, Charles Hendricks, 46, said he had lived in the house for more than 20 years. The walls were cracked when he bought it, but he had fixed them.

“In time, the foundation started to crack and part of it collapsed. We lived in fear that the house might fall on us – it was even worse when the wind blew.”

He said he was happy the house had been demolished and proud of the new RDP house which was bigger and safer.

Siena Jack, 49, said they had to stuff newspaper in the wide cracks of the walls in their house to stop the wind and rain coming in. “I’m very excited about the new house.”
www.moladi.net

RDP housing projects - Where is the money?

RDP housing projects - Where is the money? : "Michael Sutcliffe"

Just three weeks after receiving R30-million from the eThekwini municipality, high-flying Durban couple S'bu and Shawn Mpisane have halted the completion of RDP housing projects in Umlazi, apparently because they have no money to continue the work.The R30m paid in December was part of a series of electronic payments amounting to about R219 million, which the company received from eThekwini last year.The last payment of R4 785 720 was made on December 14, two weeks before their A-list, bling party on New Year's Eve.

That's when the big-spending former metro officer and his politically connected wife dazzled friends at their luxurious La Lucia home.Top-end whiskies and champagne flowed, while they splurged on special thrones and showed off their new Rolls-Royce. Guests included national police commissioner Bheki Cele.

While Shawn Mpisane, daughter of the late ANC local councillor Dumazile Flora Mkhize, is the one who was granted the Umlazi housing contract, it is her husband, Wiseman Sibusiso (S'bu), who has been the focus of media attention. While working as a metro police constable, with a salary of less than R15 000 a month, Mpisane raised eyebrows by arriving at work in a Lamborghini and living in a R17 million mansion.This week, he made headlines of a different kind when The Mercury's news editor, Philani Makhanya, laid a complaint of intimidation against him. The alleged intimidation came after Mpisane became aware The Mercury was investigating his affairs.

On Monday, workers of Shawn Mpisane's Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport company (constructing homes?), as well as those employed by sub-contractors, in Umlazi, were told to go home because the company allegedly had no money to continue their work.An estimated 1 300 people, many from Umlazi, and their families have been affected, according to Ward 79 councillor Sthenjwa Nyawose.Mpisane had told him her company had received no money from the municipality since October. Despite repeated attempts to interview Shawn Mpisane, she failed to return calls to The Mercury as promised.As a result of the job and housing uncertainty, Nyawose described the situation in the township as "volatile but calm"."We are very angry, the councillors of Umlazi are fuming," he said. "As we speak, the project is not going on because the contractor has not been paid. The problem is the municipality is not coming up with the money."Contradicting this, however, documentary records in The Mercury's possession indicate that more than R50 million was paid by the municipality to Zikhulise in November and December.Municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe confirmed a total of "around R300 million" had been paid to Zikhulise over 18 months and said the project had been completed in mid-December.The project involved building low-cost cost RDP houses on 4 500 sites in Umlazi B10, KwaMgaga and Umlazi Infill.The Mercury has documentary proof that a total of R219 930 939 was electronically transferred from eThekwini to Zikhulise in 2009. In December alone, four payments totalling about R30 million were made. Nyawose said thousands of houses were still under construction or to be built in Umlazi, contradicting Sutcliffe's statement that all work had been completed.Sutcliffe explained that some funding was usually paid in advance. "Contractors submit claims based on work done; the city's professional team verify that and if such work has been done, payments are then made," he said.Like Nyawose, Sutcliffe confirmed that the development was initially a provincial project which the municipality was asked to take over. "In August, 2006, eThekwini municipality resolved to take over the project and become the developer and further agreed that the professional team and contractors... be kept for the duration of the project."But just months after construction, some of the houses were crumbling, The Mercury established during a field trip. The houses were not plastered or painted. Some had no toilets, taps, baths or showers. An eight-member family living in a leaking, three-roomed house said their biggest concern was how they would eat. Only two members of the family were employed, one by Zikhulise and the other by one of its sub-contractors. "Eish, school has started and we can't take the children to school because we have no money," said one woman. Another angry man said the houses were of a poor quality because workers were told to rush their work.

Wow - Michael , if you worked for me I would fire you! How do you not know what is going on in "your company (eThekwini) "? Would you wrongfully pay out R300 million if it was your money? Who are you going to blame? Maybe Tokyo will still fire you for wasting his money?

Abahlali Basemjondolo In Durban

Experiences Of Abahlali Basemjondolo In Durban

As S’bu Zikode points out, “We have seen in certain cases in South Africa where governments have handed out houses simply to silence the poor. This is not acceptable to us. Abahalali’s struggle is beyond housing. We fight for respect and dignity. If houses are given to silence the poor then those houses are not acceptable to us”.

How to build quality houses for R55 000

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has trudged the width and breadth of the country, demolishing poorly built RDP houses. In the process, he has gained praise as a minister who is now going to give the poor well-deserved decent houses. The Sunday Independent spoke to housing experts who say Sexwale's promise of quality is likely to run into problems. Among the challenges in his path will be:

Inflation
Whether he has to purchase land or not
Profit-taking by contractors

Inconsistency in provinces.Tito Khalo, a housing expert and professor in the public management faculty of humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology, said the government needed to find more money for quality low-cost housing and ensure consistency in respect of build quality throughout the country to avoid the costly problems of the past.

Khalo said he was not sure if the R55 000 allocated for the building of each house by the government would be enough, taking into account inflation."In 1994 the government allocated R25 000 for house and land, and if the strategy now is to build bigger houses, the amount is less than when the house construction began. Certainly, the strategy needs to change so that houses in every province match national housing standards," he said. Khalo said the government had sacrificed quality in the rush to meet the ANC's 1994 election pledge of building a million homes and, as a result, it had ended up building what Bantu Holomisa once described as "Unos" - one door and one window homes reminiscent of the tiny Fiat vehicle. Property analyst at Absa, Jacques du Toit said R55 000 was not "a lot of money to build a house" and shoddy workmanship should not be tolerated again. "Proper structures must be built, ones in which people can live. Given recent history, and past standards, along with rising building costs, it is possible to have properties built costing R45 000 but it is far more difficult," he said.Architect and promotions and communications executive at the South African Institute of Architects, Zola Kgaka, said the institute, which is involved in low-cost housing projects, had given the ministry reasons why architects should be involved in the planning. In the past they were not part of the process. While Kgaka said providing a view on low-cost houses would be subjective, building a suitable dwelling at a cost of R55 000 was dependent on several factors. These included whether the entire amount was for the structure, or if the land costs were excluded. "Since low-cost homes are built in bulk, due to the economies of scale unit costs come down," she said.Kecia Rust, the housing finance theme co-ordinator at non-profit independent Finmark Trust, which aims to make financial markets work for the poor, said: "If the minister is knocking down houses and building new ones, you can build something with R55 000. You can't make the money bigger because we have a backlog of 2.2 million units in the country. "In 2004, the cabinet approved a new policy, known as Breaking New Ground. The emphasis of that policy was that we must build homes, not merely houses. The houses demolished by the minister were most likely RDP houses, built before 2004". Special advisor to Sexwale, Chris Vick, said a national audit task team appointed by the minister was both a punitive and a corrective measure. It would identify people in the public and private sectors who were involved in wrongdoing, and ensure they were brought to book. It would also identify loopholes in processes, and make recommendations on how to eliminate them. "This applies particularly to questions of quality. The task team is expected to come up with recommendations for ensuring that we avoid quality problems in the future, by outlining preventative measures that can and should be taken throughout the home construction phase."Vick said it was envisaged that the task team would make recommendations on ensuring that only qualified construction companies were awarded contracts, and would outline steps to enforce all the quality control measures involved in home construction.In addition, the Department of Human Settlements is increasing its capacity to monitor and evaluate the quality of home building by making more frequent visits to housing projects and working more closely with provincial and local government, where delivery takes place. He added that the National Home Builders' Registration Council was in the process of appointing building inspectors who would focus more directly on issues of quality, and monitor the roll-out of government home-building projects.
moladi - www.moladi.net

low-cost homes - top politicians and businessmen building hundreds of shoddy RDP homes

Low-cost homes - Top politicians and businessmen building hundreds of shoddy RDP homes



Badly constructed poor quality RDP homes


SEVERAL top politicians and businessmen in Nelson Mandela Bay have been implicated in building hundreds of shoddy, low-cost homes in the 1990s that will now have to be demolished and rebuilt at a cost of millions.
Among them are businessman and top city Cope member Mkhuseli Jack, former ANC council chief whip Mike Nzotoyi’s wife, Karen, and Eastern Cape Nafcoc construction sector president Welcome Gawu.
While Jack and Nzotoyi denied building any sub-standard houses, Gawu openly admitted to building shoddy RDP houses in Motherwell, Soweto-on-Sea, Veeplaas and Zinyoka (Govan Mbeki).
Gawu, owner of Old Man Construction, says that many sub-contractors at that time were forced to build poor quality homes because they only received R15000 a house.
“Out of that money, about half had to pay for services and land, while the other half was used for building material,” he said. “We mixed a lot of building sand with little cement in order to complete the houses.”
While government earlier this month vowed to blacklist unscrupulous contractors, Gawu said he was surprised the government wanted to punish them now as “they knew about the problem at the time the houses were built and did nothing about it”.
“It would have cost more than R20000 to build one house in those days, but, because they pressured us to build houses so that they would gain votes, we tried to deliver.”
Gawu told The Herald that some of the contractors who had built shoddy RDP houses in the region had not been qualified and it had been easy to get a building contract in those days as no background checks were made.
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said earlier this month his department would have to put aside R800-million for the reconstruction of badly built, free low-cost houses in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.
About 60 housing projects – a total of almost 20000 homes – in all the municipalities and districts in the province are now under the rectification programme in the Eastern Cape.
In Nelson Mandela Bay, the government will spent more than R33-million rebuilding and repairing 1852 houses. These include RDP homes in Mathew Goniwe township, Soweto-on-Sea, Veeplaas, Motherwell and Walmer.
“These are houses that either have no roofs or were built incorrectly and pose a danger to the beneficiaries,” said Housing Department spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha.
People whose houses needed to be demolished or rectified would be allocated temporary structures.
Stocks and Stocks sub-contracted Ilinge Development Service – chaired by Jack – to build RDP houses in Mathew Goniwe township in 1999.
When The Herald team inspected houses there, some were falling apart and residents say their homes leak during wet weather.
One beneficiary, Zola Msisi, said the contractor did not finish building the toilet, while the bricks at the front door of the house were loose.
“I’m scared that one day this house will fall while I’m inside,” he said. He had tried to patch up some of the cracks but they kept developing as the bricks were loose.
Jack said his company had hired professionals to build the houses 10 years ago.
“I’ve never been in those houses myself. We built them 10 years ago and, if they are not properly maintained, they will fall apart,” he said.
Jack said his company received a certificate of completion and no one had complained about the condition of the houses when they were built.
Abafazi Contractors, owned by former ANC city council chief whip Mike Nzotoyi’s wife, Karen, built houses in Langa in Uitenhage and Wesley Estate in Motherwell.
She said the company was the first to build RDP houses in Walmer, and was still building low-cost houses in Nelson Mandela Bay.
A team from The Herald visited some of the first RDP houses built in Walmer township. Many had no ceilings, others bore cracks and residents said most of them leaked.
Karen Nzotoyi refused to discuss the issue when asked for comment.
Several residents told how their badly constructed homes quickly deteriorated.
Govan Mbeki resident Khonzile Thweyi said his house had collapsed 10 years after it was built.
“A few years after it was built in 1996, the house kept cracking and the windows fell down without anyone putting pressure on them.
“I patched some of the holes, but three years ago when I was closing the door, my house fell down, damaging all my furniture.”
He now lives in a shack nearby.
When a Herald team visited Govan Mbeki this week, almost all the houses had huge holes in the walls and no windows.
Resident Twayile Masumpa’s house has developed huge cracks and he has had to use wood to try and cover them.
The home is less than 15 years old, but half of it is now a shack, with only a few bricks left to show that it was once a brick-and-mortar house.
“It was not built according to standard,” Masumpa said.
“Even inspectors did not come to monitor if everything was right. A year after it was built, my house starting falling brick by brick.”
Another Govan Mbeki resident, Toby Tolo, said his uncle had to move out after his RDP house became too dangerous to live in.
“The house kept falling apart. Even when he tried to fix it, it kept on falling,” Tolo said.
“He was scared that one day the house would fall down and hurt him and his family, so he moved out.”
Municipal spokesman Luncedo Njezula said the current municipality had not built any of the houses that had to be demolished.
He said most of the houses that needed rectification had been built under contract by the previous interim city administration before the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality came into existence.
Since its formulation, housing officials had a responsibility to monitor certain phases in the construction of homes and “no councillor is involved in the procurement processes of the municipality”, said Njezula.
The official said that any builder that was not performing according to prescribed standards was not awarded new contracts by the municipality. In addition, no builder was re-issued work once they had been removed from a job, Njezula said.

Keywords - shoddy, low-cost homes, RDP housing, Mkhuseli Jack, Mike Nzotoyi, Karen Nzotoyi, Motherwell, Gawu, Old Man Construction, reconstruction , waste, tax payer, Lwandile Sicwetsha, Abafazi Contractors, Njezula

Defence force bill for veterans mounts - Training skills development

BusinessDay - Defence force bill for veterans mounts:

CARING for military veterans of the anti- apartheid struggle could cost the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) more than expected, says Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla .
This comes after a task team, set up by Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to create an institution to cater for military veterans, received presentations from various groups asking that the plight of their former struggle heroes be addressed and their names added to the list of military veterans.
Makwetla, who is chairing the task team, says presentations have come from all segments of the community who were involved in the fight against apartheid.
Sisulu’s action is the result of a resolution at the Africa National Congress’s (ANC’s) Polokwane conference in December 2007. It claimed that the provisions of the Military Veterans Act of 1999 that established the veterans’ directorate in the Department of Defence were insufficient and did not cater for all veterans’ groups.
Makwetla says some people feel that the incorporation of various armed forces into the SANDF after 1994 may have left some liberation movement members destitute.
These include Umkhonto weSizwe of the ANC, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army — the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) — the Azanian People’s Organisation’s (Azapo’s) armed wing.
Since Azapo did not recognise the outcome of the Codesa negotiation process, it forbade Azanla to be one of the liberation forces to be merged with the old SADF into the new national defence force.
While SANDF soldiers are catered for under normal human resource regulations, including pensions, these former struggle soldiers and others are facing unique challenges that the task team must consider.
Some soldiers from the old SADF, especially from units such as the South West African Territory Force and Koevoet — which fought in Namibia and Angola and were disbanded by the De Klerk government, want to be included as they regard themselves as legitimate soldiers of the state at the time.
“Then there are also armies of erstwhile TBVC states (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) that should need help,” says Makwetla.
“There is also a group which participated in and survived the two world wars and the Korean conflict that was unevenly compensated on various grounds including racism. They, equally, deserve recognition, like their peers,” he says.
“We are been called on to also look at how the state can help those who fought in the township conflicts — especially between what was described as Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units and the ANC or United Democratic Front-aligned self-defence units,” Makwetla says.
“One expected that these issues were clearly defined and resolved during the integration process more than 10 years ago, but the task team does not wish to leave certain matters unresolved, with noises on the sidelines that could end up discrediting the process.
“We are revisiting these matters and finding out why there is still an outcry, and how they could be resolved once and for all,” he says.
With regard to the Azanla and Koevoet units, the task team would present its argument and recommendations to the Cabinet for a final decision. On various township defence units, a researched document would also be compiled and recommendations, based on social development necessities, would be submitted to the Cabinet. “Because they were not trained soldiers, they do not fall under the defence ministry,” he says.
Makwetla says in finding solutions that would alleviate poverty and improve the living conditions of former liberation fighters, the task team will seek to avoid creating an impression that the group is more privileged than ordinary poor South Africans.
“The team must strike a balance such that we do not create a problem of envy of soldiers from any military or political background by ordinary communities who fought tough battles in the townships against the apartheid security forces,” he says.
“This is a special situation about short-term needs that will be addressed with the help and the co- operation of other departments within the social development cluster such as human settlements, social development, health and even labour’s special skills training programmes,” Makwetla says.
Asked what was the likely long- term solution, he says the task team believes that all state soldiers will be adequately catered for “through an all-encompassing defence force human resource policy framework” that will look at building and securing their lives “from recruitment to retirement to the grave”.
Makwetla says a draft document addressing all these issues would be discussed at the stakeholders’ forum involving related state departments, non governmental organisations, policy institutions, civil society and parties next month.

This is what we have requested the Minister to recognize - Training veterans to build moladi houses...

RDP houses from hell

RDP houses from hell - DA

Parliament for the People: Visit to RDP housing projects in Limpopo
On Monday, we visited a number of RDP housing projects in Limpopo along with DA Limpopo Provincial Leader Desiree van der Walt and DA MP Mpowele Swathe. We were also accompanied by DA MPLs Jacobus Smalle and Meisie Kennedy, DA Councillors Danie van Heerden and Moses Matlala, as well as a number of DA members and activists.
We visited three RDP housing projects across the province namely:
an urban RDP housing project in Mokopane in the Mogalakwena municipality;
a rural RDP housing project in the Motwaneng village in Marble Hall;
a rural RDP housing project in the Makurung village in Lepelle-Nkumpi.
Visit our Parliament for the People webpage on the DA Media Centre where we have uploaded a detailed report and photos
By far the most disturbing things we found at the three housing projects we visited were the following:
Houses have been built below ground level which results in sewage from higher lying extensions and rain water flowing into these houses;
Houses have been abandoned by beneficiaries due to this flooding;
Toilets have not been connected to sewerage pipes resulting in residents having to use the fields outside their houses and sewerage flowing into their houses through these open pipes;
No running water or electricity supplied to the houses;
Holes in the roof sheeting and no window panes in many of the houses;
None of the resident's have signed "happy letters" when allocated their houses - a prerequisite which beneficiaries are meant to sign before occupying their houses;
Slabs cast by contractors as far back as 2006 with no building taking place since then;
People who were thrown out of their houses, which were demolished and have not been replaced;
A number of RDP houses that have been half-built and are standing empty as a result;
A family of seven orphans who have been promised a house four years ago are still waiting for their house which has been standing for years without a roof or windows.
We spoke to many of the people living in these three housing developments who told us how government officials visited them before the elections and made numerous promises including supplying them with candles on a regular basis and also that it would start building houses for them from 1 May 2009 - which has not happened.
The situation we found in Limpopo means the following:
The housing backlog in the province continues to grow on a yearly basis;
Money is wasted on building houses that are never completed or occupied;
More money has to be spent to repair or rebuild houses that have not been properly built, resulting in houses costing way more than what was originally budgeted;
A large number of contractors are paid despite reneging on their contracts and no action is ever taken against them.
The people worst affected by the current situation are the ordinary South Africans we met during our visit who continue to live without proper shelter and access to basic services such as running water, proper sanitation and electricity.
It is imperative that both the National Department of Human Settlements and the Limpopo Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing urgently intervene in this regard to ensure that the incomplete houses in the three areas we visited, as well as the rest of the province, are completed, that action is taken against contractors who fail to fulfil their contracts, and that money is spent efficiently and effectively when it comes to the provision of housing.
The DA will therefore be taking a number of action steps at both a national level in Parliament as well as a provincial level through the Limpopo Provincial Legislature to deal with the current housing crisis in Limpopo. We will also conduct a follow-up visit within a year to see whether any improvements have been made to these three housing projects.
We will provide continuous feedback on outcomes of our actions steps as well as what we find during our follow-up visit on our Parliament for the People webpage.

Joint statement by Athol Trollip, MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, and Butch Steyn, MP, DA shadow minister of human settlements, October 21 2009

Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein

Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein

Residents of Rietfontein are questioning the statement by the Local Municipality of Madibeng two weeks ago that they will not be moving more families into the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein. They have witnessed family after family moving into the project over the past weeks but the municipality says that the people moving in are doing so illegally. According to residents the families are moving in with the help of vehicles including bakkies. They told Kormorant that they and their children have witnessed the new residents of the low cost housing project using the veld as a toilet and doing their washing outside the houses. Another resident contacted Kormorant to say that her employees have told her that the houses in the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project are being sold to the occupiers. “We were opposed to the project at first and raised our objections as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. After assurances by the municipality that the project will not affect us in any way we decided to give it a chance. As things are going now we are sceptical that we will not be severely affected,” one resident said. He expressed his concern about the environment and thought that the residents now living in the project will soon turn to the mountain, which is within the Magalies Mountain Protected Area both for ablutions as well as firewood because there is no infrastructure within the project as yet.The residents’ concerns follows questions by beneficiaries and residents of the Popo Molefe informal settlement in Rietfontein two weeks ago about the status of the project and when they will receive the houses promised to them in 2002. They were even willing to take an empty stand from the municipality and to build their own houses because of the desperate living conditions in the Popo Molefe settlement. In response to Kormorant’s enquiries earlier this month the Local Municipality of Madibeng’s spokesperson, Mr. Patrick Morathi, said that the project was still the subject of a forensic investigation by the Department of Local Government and Housing and the NHBRC and that the municipality has not received the report on this investigation. According to him the investigation found that some of the 150 houses completed will have to be demolished while more houses needed some correction. Morathi said that the allocation of further houses, apart from the 10 families moved there by the municipality in April, will only be done once the status of the project has been clarified with the provincial department and this has not been done yet. Kormorant enquired about the new families that are moving into the project last week. Morathi said in response to these enquiries that these families are illegally invading the houses as there has been no official handover of houses to beneficiaries by the municipality. According to him the infrastructure, including the water and sanitation, have not been installed yet and that the municipality is only providing these services to the ten families moved into the front houses of the project in April. Mobile toilets have been provided for these families and water is taken to them by a water tanker on a regular basis. Morathi said that the municipality will not take responsibility for the provision of these services to the illegal occupiers and they would then logically have to make alternative arrangements themselves. He said that the municipality will be investigating the fact that vehicles used by the illegal occupiers are let in at the gate and will take up the matter with the responsible security company. Morathi said that the municipality is considering steps to remove the illegal occupiers.

Municipality in for high jump over RDP housing conditions

Municipality in for high jump over RDP housing conditions

PARLIAMENTARIANS were less than satisfied with the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality when they found water leakage in Veeplaas during their oversight visit to RDP houses in Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday.
Veeplaas resident Mkhuseli Siganga told them the water had been leaking for more than three weeks and they had alerted the municipality, but nothing had been done.
The chairman of the portfolio committee on human settlements, Nomhle Dambuza, said the municipality had to be accountable for the water leakage and she could not believe, given the water crisis, that it had not reacted immediately.
“We say there is not enough water in South Africa and our people live without water, yet our municipalities allow huge amounts of water to gush out in leakages without repairing them for weeks.”
The committee embarked on a week-long visit to Eastern Cape RDP houses and were in Port Elizabeth yesterday to assess the quality and quantity of houses delivered.
Areas which they visited with municipal and council officials included Matthew Goniwe, Kamvelihle, Veeplaas, Zanemvula in Despatch and Ramaphosa in Motherwell.
Dambuza said issues such as sanitation and water had to be rectified by the end of next year.
“The provincial Department of Housing is still using the old system of building houses where people do not have sanitation and water.”
Dambuza said progress had been slow and she had noticed problems with areas such as Matthew Goniwe still using the bucket system.
Matthew Goniwe resident Nokuzola Dlamini said: “We live without toilets and water. When I have to use the toilet I have to use a bucket then empty it on our grounds. This house that was built for us is not fit for human habitation.”
Dlamini lives with her husband and two children, aged five and eight, in a one-bedroom home.
“They (government officials) have come with promises so many times I no longer believe what they say.”
Siganga said: “We have had problems with our water supply for over six months and our living conditions are appalling because water leaks from the toilets to our front doors.”
Dambuza said: “People must be given water and proper sanitation.”
She said she would report to parliament the defects in the RDP housing system and ensure necessary steps were taken to hold the responsible municipal officials accountable.

Metro has R335m shortfall for housing projects

The Herald Online

Metro has R335m shortfall for housing projects2009/08/26 POLITICAL EDITOR

NELSON Mandela Bay has a shortfall of R335-million for the housing projects it wishes to implement in the current financial year, the housing and land committee was told yesterday.
Briefing the committee on the performance of the past financial year and looking ahead, executive director Seth Maqetuka said the metro had received R376-million but needed R711-million with the provincial department having requested motivation for the projects it wished to pursue and “realistic cash flows for the additional funding”.
Maqetuka said the metro had been promised additional funds that would come from the local authorities, whose performance to date had “not been very positive”.
He said the target for the past financial year ending in June had been 5 000 units and the directorate had delivered 8301.
With regard to the accreditation process, Maqetuka said the metro had level two and would submit a business plan by the end of next month.
An assessment of the municipality’s compliance with level one would be conducted by the province on September 9.
As far as social housing was concerned that sought to address apartheid residential patterns, Maqetuka said four land parcels had been identified and two social housing partners identified. Pipeline projects included the Walmer Gold site, Mount Croix and John Street, Uitenhage.
He said a workshop of social housing would be held on Friday when details of all projects would be released.
The committee was also told yesterday that informal settlements “will remain a reality for decades”.
A lengthy presentation on the subject listing the challenges in areas such as land invasions did not, however, satisfy some councillors.
Andile Mfunda (ANC) said he did not want to know about operational issues and administrative details but “time- frames in terms of which the people in shacks will be relocated. We want a programme of action”.
Mfunda warned that shacks were “a big issue”, adding that by 2014 “we must have dealt with shacks not only here but in the whole of South Africa”.
The committee was told that currently there were 105 informal settlements in the metro occupied by about 26950 households, of which 95 were on municipal land and 10 on private land. Of these, 13950 will have houses built where they are with the balance being relocated.
The housing backlog currently stands at 80 000.
With regard to land invasions, the committee was informed that during the three months to June this year, the land invasion sub-directorate patrolled 117 areas across all wards seven days a week.
During this period 963 illegal structures were demolished in Schauderville, Booysen Park, Tiryville, Kleinskool, Motherwell and KwaNobuhle.
In addition, 12 house invasion cases were investigated at Langa, Chatty, Walmer and Motherwell.
moladi is closer to its goal www.moladi.net or www.moladisouthafrica.co.za