People from Imizamo Yethu who are in temporary shelters say the City must make good on its promises
By Thembela Ntongana
3 July 2017 Residents protest the lack of progress reblocking Imizamo Yethu. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Protests in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay continued for the third
day on Monday. Residents displaced by the devastating fire earlier this
year have spent months in a temporary relocation area (TRA) on a sports
field and are now demanding better living conditions. Protesters said
they would not stop until Mayor Patricia de Lille addressed them.
The City had said reblocking of the informal settlement would take
three months and it was essential in order to prevent future fires.
From the outset, there were people who said they did not trust the
City to complete the reblocking in the prescribed time. They referred to
people who moved in 2004 to make way for roads for the community
but who are still living in TRAs. A protester carries corrugated iron sheets used for housing to block a road. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Residents say protests on Monday started at 3am when hundreds of
people cut down trees and used their house building starter kits,
which have been standing at the sports field for months, to barricade
the road. A metro police van at one of the TRAs was turned upside down
and another one was torched.
Monica Makhonxa, who lives in a TRA with her two granddaughters, said
she was meant to go to the hospital for treatment but there was no one
to take her because of the protests. However, she said, “I feel their
pain. I also stay here and it is not a nice place to stay. It is wet and
cold.”
Another resident, Thembela Makhiwane, who stays with four of her
children, said, “I was willing to stay in this small place for three
months because I wanted myself and my children to go back to a safer
community … But no work has been done to the area.”
Chairperson of the Imizamo Yethu Movement Mkhululi Ndude said the
City promised water, electricity and roads. “Now we are demanding those
promises.”
Ndude lives with his wife and three children. “We are tired of empty
promises. We told them [the City] we want a memorandum of agreement.
They still have not provided us with one,” he said. Police use stun grenades to disperse protesters outside the SAPS office. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
De Lille arrived on Monday but police told her it was not safe.
Ward councillor Bheki Radebe had difficulties containing the crowd.
News that the mayor had come and gone did not go down well with
residents. Protesters demanded that before any further negotiations can
take place, several people arrested earlier in the day must be released.
Residents went to the police station to protest, singing songs and
blocking the door to the police station. Police started shooting rubber
bullets and fired stun grenades. More arrests followed.
Later, seven people were elected to go and meet with the mayor. De
Lille returned and addressed the residents. But Thembela Makhiwane said
that residents felt it was the same things she said four months ago.
In a press statement, De Lille said, “I am prioritising this matter
and I am personally leading this and unblocking any issues.” She
appealed to the police to arrest any “criminal elements”.
A statement from the City said: “The mayor committed to speeding up
all phases of the reblocking project to ensure that all phases continue
at a faster pace and simultaneously. … The mayor is meeting with senior
management in the City at the moment and will then have another follow
up meeting with the community leadership to update them later this
evening.” A burnt out vehicle in Imizamo Yethu. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
Published originally on
GroundUp
.
Re-Action Consulting’s claims about Optimum were widely known and probably true
By Nathan Geffen and Lilly Wimberly
3 July 2017 Optimum Coal Mine has failed to pay the final tranche to
finish building this clinic in Hendrina, Mpumalanga, pictured here
during its construction. It is now 95% complete. Photo supplied
The Gupta-owned company Optimum Coal Mine has issued a summons
for R10 million against a small company. Optimum alleges Re-Action
Consulting, which builds public health clinics, has published false and
defamatory statements in court papers.
The Daily Maverick, AmaBhungane, News24, TimesLive, and even
GroundUp, have between them published numerous widely circulated highly
damaging claims about the Gupta family, their companies, agents and
representatives, including Optimum. So did the Public Protector in the
report State of Capture.
Yet, as far as we are aware no litigation is active against these
institutions for defamation by the Guptas or their companies (we’ve
confirmed this with Daily Maverick and AmaBhungane).
Re-Action is litigating to get Optimum wound up
for being unable to pay its debts. This came after Optimum failed to
pay approximately R4 million to Re-Action for the building of a clinic
in Mpumalanga Province as part of Optimum’s social and labour
commitments under the Mining Charter.
Optimum’s response has been to sue Re-Action for statements in the
latter’s founding affidavit that merely repeat allegations that have
already appeared in the media and are well-known to the public.
Optimum’s summons to Re-Action is dated 11 May, well after these
allegations had appeared in the media or Public Protector’s report, and
over a month before GroundUp reported that Re-Action is litigating
against Optimum. Yet Re-Action’s founding affidavit, albeit a document
that is in theory available to members of the public if they go and get
it from the High Court in Johannesburg, has almost certainly been read
by no more than a handful of people involved in the court case.
The amount Optimum is demanding is also out of kilter with South
African defamation cases: R1 million in special and R9 million for
general damages. An advocate who specialises in defamation explained to
GroundUp that to win special damages, the plaintiff must provide proof
that the statements caused measurable suffering, such as contracts lost.
General damages are subjective and difficult to quantify, such as a
loss to reputation or “pain and suffering”. Courts are conservative when
it comes to awarding general damages. The advocate said that he is
unaware of any cases where more than R250,000 has been awarded.
Optimum did not respond to a request for comment.
Defamation cases are extremely hard for the plaintiff to win in South
Africa. Since most or all of the claims (see below) are likely true and
in the public interest (a standard defence against defamation claims),
it is improbable that Optimum will convince a court to find in its
favour.
The allegedly defamatory statements in
Re-Action’s court papers that Optimum is suing for include (quotes
lightly edited for length and to correct typos):
The Gupta family has “faced much criticism for their involvement in
business transactions which are the subject matter of scrutiny and
investigation by the press, public and the relevant authorities” that
are “to the detriment of the country”.
“Optimum has been dogged by controversy since being purchased by the Gupta controlled Oakbay Resources and Energy Limited”.
“As of 5 December 2016, Mr Johan Burger of FirstRand Bank Limited admitted
that the accounts had been closed because of FirstRand Bank Limited’s
suspicions that Oakbay Resources and Energy Limited have been guilty of
money laundering.”
The “lack of a bank account will ensure [Optimum or Oakbay] will inevitably and invariably become financially distressed.”
The founding affidavit references the Public Protector’s State of
Capture report’s description of how Eskom colluded with the Gupta family
to purchase Optimum at a reduced price, and how Tegeta funds are being
laundered offshore instead of being paid to Optimum.
Gupta-owned “Tegeta Resources & Energy was interposed as an
intermediary between Eskom and [Optimum] in order to artificially
inflate the price of coal sold to Eskom.”
Inmates at Pretoria correctional facility were protesting over parole backlogs
By Ashleigh Furlong
3 July 2017 An inmate at Barberton prison says a hunger strike over parole backlogs started on Sunday. Photo Supplied by inmate.
Violence broke out in Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria on
Sunday after inmates sentenced to life imprisonment (lifers) staged a
sit-in. Although eligible to be considered for parole they say they have
been ignored.
An inmate at Barberton said lifers at his facility had started a hunger strike yesterday.
According to an inmate at Kgosi Mampuru II there were sit-ins at a number of prisons around the country.
Inmates sentenced to life imprisonment before 1 October 2004 are
eligible to be considered for parole after serving 12 years and 4
months; inmates sentenced after that date have to serve at least 25
years before being considered for parole.
Last week, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha admitted that there are huge backlogs
in the processing of lifers for parole and that the situation was at
least partly caused by the absence of reports that are needed before an
inmate can be considered for parole.
An inmate at Kgosi Mampuru II told GroundUp that inmates were injured
during the protest on Sunday and that one inmate was taken to hospital.
He said they wanted the minister to address them. He said both lifers
and non-lifers at the prison had refused to go to a workshop on Monday.
GroundUp has also seen an internal communication from the Acting
National Commissioner James Smalberger, dated 23 June, that states:
“Reports have been received about offenders serving life sentences
threatening to cause havoc in correctional centres by embarking in
unlawful activities protesting about them not being considered for
placement on parole.”
The statement says the department is “acutely aware of the backlog”
and that the reason for the backlog is the large reduction in minimum
sentences meaning that many more inmates are eligible to be considered
for parole.
It advises that “heads of centres are requested to address all
affected lifers and explain the causes and remedies for the delays” and
to “urge and warn offenders not to vent their grievances in such a
manner that the order and security of correctional centres are
threatened”.
The Minister’s spokesperson, Logan Maistry, confirmed the Sunday
protest at Kgosi Mampuru II. He said the Department was not aware of any
similar incidents currently taking place at any other correctional
centres in the country.
“According to Kgosi Mampuru II MA officials, it is alleged that
offenders were refusing to go into their cells. They were requested
repeatedly to return to their cells, but refused to do so. The inmates
then started attacking officials, and in the process one official and
one inmate sustained slight injuries. In line with relevant legislation,
minimum force was utilized to restore order and the centre is now back
to normal,” he said.
He said the Department is taking a number of steps to eradicate the
backlogs, including task teams and filling vacancies for social workers
and psychologists whose reports are needed for the parole process.
Published originally on
GroundUp
.
Skid Row in Los Angeles, a city where rich and poor live in very close proximity – for better and for worse. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters The cities of the Americas are unequal places.
US census data and recent American Community Surveys show that in most modern American metropolises, resources are unevenly distributed across the city – think New York City’s lower Manhattan versus the South Bronx – with residents enjoying unequal access to jobs, transportation and public space.
In 2014, New York City’s GINI inequality index was 0.48, meaning that income distribution was less even in New York City than in the US as a whole (0.39). It was also higher than the most unequal OECD countries, Chile (0.46) and Mexico (0.45).
Between 1950 and 2005, the region’s big cities grew precipitously. Both Mexico City and São Paulo jumped from just under three million people to, in both cases, nearly 19 million.
Data on urban inequality is largely unavailable, but it is clear that this rapid urbanisation has been far from equitable. According to a 2012 UN Habitat report, the large majority of Latin America’s non-poor population lives in major metro areas, while the poorest live in rural areas.
What does inequality look like?
No matter where you live, measuring inequality is tricky, because its incidence and extent changes in different parts of the city.
Sure, there are rich neighbourhoods and poor ones: high-income and low-income households sort themselves across cities according to preference (for local public goods and neighbourhood composition) and needs (according to budget, job location and housing prices).
But not every neighbourhood is comprised fully of households with the same income. Income sorting across space is often “imperfect”, meaning that rich and poor households might live in the same neighbourhood and share common social ties and local amenities.
As a result, a very specific and local kind of inequality emerges within neighbourhoods. This phenomenon is sizeable in US metro areas, Census Bureau data shows. Not only do unequal households live very close together, but neighbourhoods also represent small communities where local inequality, on average, seems to track overall urban inequality.
For example, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles all have neighbourhood income inequality at least 20% larger than Washington’s, which matches the difference in the cities’ GINI indices. We found that inequality within individual neighbourhoods has also been rising precipitously over the past 35 years (even in very small neighbourhoods), indicating an increase of income heterogeneity at the community level.
This unexpected finding is likely related to the comeback of North American cities over the past decade – the so-called great inversion. Across the Americas, jobs and firms are moving back into major metro areas, attracting more skilled people, who are generally young, receive higher wages and prefer to settle down where their jobs are.
As high-income young couples buy up homes in historically distressed neighbourhoods long dominated by the working and renting class – and gentrify them – they push up income heterogeneity in those places. This is happening in cities across the Americas.
Gentrification has occurred in many North American cities, increasing local income inequality and, in some cases, tensions. Michael Premo/flickr, CC BY-ND
Keeping up with the Joneses
We wanted to better understand this phenomenon. Why is local income inequality rising? How can we quantify it? What are the trends in uber-localised inequality? And what does it all mean for city dwellers?
Those were the questions driving our study – So close yet so unequal: Reconsidering spatial inequality in US cities – which focused on US cities. Our preliminary findings were recently published in a Catholic University of Milan Working Paper.
Unlike traditional assessments of inequality, which accept administrative partitions of the city as the unit of analysis and measure income inequality in those neighbourhoods, we look at inequality among neighbours, putting people at the centre of our analysis.
The underlying thought experiment consists of asking individuals to compare their income with that of neighbours living within a given distance range (from few blocks to entire census areas), thus quantifying income inequality in that particular person’s neighbourhood.
In doing so for every person in a city – any city – one should be able to measure two aspects of spatial inequality: the average income inequality within individual neighbourhoods (is my neighbour richer than me?), and inequality among the average incomes of each neighbourhood (is that neighbourhood richer than mine?).
We found that these two indices define a typology of cities that mirrors what urban planners have found at the city level. Some places are “even cities”. Like Washington DC, they display relatively low income inequality everywhere.
Other metro areas, among them Miami and San Francisco, show high urban inequality, but high and low-income households are rather evenly distributed throughout the city. These are so-called “mixed cities”.
The largest US metro areas also have the most unequal neighbourhoods. In New York and Los Angeles, the way high and low-income households are distributed across the urban footprint reflects what planners call the “unstable city” model.
The Great Gatsby in the ‘hood
Such substantial and increasing inequality appears to imply several contradictory things for cities and their residents.
As shown in Figure 1, lower neighbourhood inequality is associated, on average, with large upward mobility gains for young people who grew up in poor families, a phenomenon reported in recent work by Stanford University’s Raj Chetty.
FIGURE 1: Upward mobility in America’s urban neighbourhoods
Upward mobility gains/losses for children living in poor families in 2000, by Commuting Zone.
Children of better-off families benefit, too, from living in a homogenous local community, thanks to “positive contagion” facilitated by social interaction among wealthy young peers.
Both findings are evidence of a “Great Gatsby Curve” in America’s neighbourhoods. That is, greater income inequality in one generation amplifies the consequences of having rich or poor parents for the economic status of the next generation.
Yet greater income inequality within individual neighbourhoods may actually be a good thing for poorer locals. Figure 2 shows that they experience life expectancy gains, perhaps due to positive health modelling and increased aspirations among poor adult residents.
FIGURE 2: Life expectacy in America’s urban neighbourhoods
, Author provided
Addressing inequality
For policy makers, then, our findings create an intergenerational trade-off. A “mixed city” model would seem to promote life expectancy gains for poor adults who live there, while the “even city” ideal furthers economic mobility of young people who grow up poor.
Lessons learned from such a policy debate in the US could have important international consequences.
No one has yet applied our neighbourhood-based inequality analysis to Latin America’s unequal cities. But we can see that in metropolises such as Mexico City, and São Paulo in Brazil, as well as in smaller cities, uncontrolled sprawl and lack of urban planning has increased the distances between high, middle and low-income households.
The view from the Rocinha favela, in Rio de Janeiro, where ‘urban renewal’ is now encroaching on some of the poorest parts of the city. AHLN/flickr, CC BY
This is the “polarised city” model, and our paper found little evidence of it in US cities (with the exception of Detroit and Washington). Such places have substantial heterogeneity in income across neighbourhoods and relatively little heterogeneity within neighbourhoods.
In Latin America’s polarised cities, the poor are separated from the rest of the population. As a result, they have lower access and opportunities for education, employment and services. This inequality has been exacerbated by gentrification and by the region’s growing global economic engagement. This has strengthened urban elites’ connections to the world while relegating Latin America’s poor further into the periphery.
In such cases, increasing the urban income mix seen in New York City might actually have beneficial effects for the city’s neediest residents. This is a relevant area for future study. It would be interesting, for example, to plot cities across the Americas on the same graph, examining regional trends in longevity and mobility based on neighbourhood-level inequality.
Such hyper-local analysis would offer both policymakers and international agencies the kind of information they need to improve the lives of today’s city dwellers, both now and in the future.
My friend Daniel Sutherland compiled a list of fake news sites -
My updated handy list of fake/satire news sites again. I forgot to add wmcleaks.com
the last time around. Please save the image on your computer or
cellphone. I did see quite a couple of shares from some of these sites
the last 24 hours. Let us distinguish between real news on the one hand
and fake/satire and hate speech propaganda on the other side please.
Such hyper-local analysis would offer both policymakers and international agencies the kind of information they need to improve the lives of today’s city dwellers, both now and in the future.