If municipalities fail to supply services, communities cannot properly use their land
Residents in Pietermaritzburg protest against the failure of the
municipality to empty communal toilets. The writers argue that
municipalities must supply services for people to get proper use of
their land. Archive photo: Nompendulo Ngubane
The land
and property debate is deeply tied to dignity, a sense of place and
security. Land lies at the heart of poverty and inequality. But land
alone will not address these issues.
Land ownership has an impact on access to basic services such as
housing, water, sanitation, electricity, health and safety. Having land
does not necessarily mean all these needs will be met; many people
living own land, but are unable to live on it or use it.
In the Zondi area, Soweto, a group of people bought property between
2009 and 2014 through the City of Johannesburg Land Regularisation
Programme. But when they tried to build on the land, they found their
stands had not been connected to any services. Without water and
sanitation they are unable to live on the land they own. They have
instead been forced to rent accommodation further away from their
workplaces and their children’s schools.
On top of this, the City has started charging them rates and taxes
despite them not being connected to basic services and not occupying the
land. Worse still, their unpaid accounts appear to have been handed
over to debt collectors. This may affect their future credit worthiness.
They have tried many times to negotiate with the City through their
lawyers at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). But the City is
adamant that it wants to buy the stands back to use for a community
project. The owners don’t want to lose the land. They want to use it and
leave it to their children and future generations.
In October 2018, the courts agreed with the owners: the City was
ordered to reverse the billing of rates and taxes and to start
installing services within 60 days. But the City of Johannesburg has so
far failed to comply with the court order. The Zondi community will now
have to start contempt of court proceedings.
Households without water
Another example comes from five villages in the Sekhukhune district
of Limpopo. About 5,000 households around Elandskraal have not had
proper access to water since 2009. Before that they had a working water
supply. But when the old water plant infrastructure broke down, it was
never replaced by the municipality. Children and the elderly, who make
up the majority of the community, are forced to walk long distances to
collect water from rivers and springs, which they have to share with
animals.
The communities have done what they can to hold the municipality
accountable, reaching a settlement that ensures water is trucked into
the villages every week and occasionally supplied through the pipes. But
despite being back and forth to court, reaching agreement after
agreement, they still have no certainty for a long-term solution.
They may have the land, but they haven’t been able to access the
basic services to which they are entitled for the last nine years.
Having access to land, owning land, is only the first step. Without
basic services tenure remains insecure and people will not have the
necessary resources to make the land useful and productive. This goes to
the heart of government’s obligations and constitutional mandate.
Lee-Anne Bruce and Sithuthukile Mkhize are based at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Wits University.
We are taking an in-depth look at the issue South Africans are most concerned about
COSATU protestors march in Cape Town in 2017 as part of a national
strike against corruption and the quality and quantity of jobs in South
Africa. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
In survey after survey, South Africans rank
unemployment as the country’s biggest problem. Solutions to reduce the
high number of people out of work are not easy to find. Over the next
weeks, GroundUp will be putting unemployment in the spotlight.
Unemployed people will describe the hardships they face, and leading
economists will analyse the problem.
The unemployment rate rose from 21.5% in 2008 to 27.1% in 2018.
Long-term unemployment — people looking for work, but who have not
worked for a year or more — is consistently high: 4.4 million in the
fourth quarter of last year.
Professor Vimal Ranchhod, an economist at UCT, says, “Long-term
unemployment leads to unfulfilled human potential over a lifetime and
can affect people’s sense of self worth and cause depression. Poverty
rates are higher and this affects individuals, their families and their
communities.”
The long-term unemployment rate includes only people actively looking
for work. That it is so high suggests there is real awareness and
effort among South Africans to find work, and there is data that
substantiates this.
Afrobarometer asked a representative sample of about 1,800 South Africans
in August and September 2018 what they think are the most important
problems facing South Africa that government should address.
Unemployment was by far the most pressing issue. Well over half those
asked (62%) said government should make reducing unemployment its main
priority. This was ahead of crime, housing, and education.
South Africa is not faring well on a global scale either. According to Haver Analytics (as cited by The Economist), South Africa has the highest unemployment rate amongst the BRICS
nations, more than double that of Brazil (11.6%) and considerably
higher than that of India (7.1%), Russia (4.8%) and China (3.8%).
The five industries that employed the most people in the fourth
quarter of 2018 were community and social services, which includes
government employees (3.6 million); trade (3.3 million); finance and
other business services, which includes insurance, real estate, auditing
and such-like (2.6 million); manufacturing (1.8 million) and
construction (1.5 million). Together these five industries employ 76% of
the working labour force.
Despite this, millions of South Africans remain poor, unemployed and
desperate. Even many people with matric and tertiary qualifications are
not spared the hardship. Economists give many reasons for our high
unemployment rate: a relatively small manufacturing sector, inadequate
education, poor economic policies, and inequality. Over the coming weeks
we will delve deeper into these issues.
Useful definitions
Employed: People aged 15 to 64 who, during the week they are surveyed, worked for at least one hour Unemployed: Peopled aged 15 to 64 years who:
Were not employed in the week they were surveyed; and
Actively looked for work or tried to start a business in the four weeks preceding the survey interview; and
Were available for work, i.e. would have been able to start work or a business in the survey week; or
Had not actively looked for work in the past four weeks, but had a
job or business to start at a definite date in the future and were
available.
Labour force: People aged 15 to 64 who are able to work Unemployment rate: proportion of the labour force that is unemployed. Not economically active: People aged 15–64 years who are neither employed nor unemployed in the survey week. Discouraged work-seeker: A person who was not
employed during the survey period, but wanted to work but did not take
active steps to find work during the last four weeks. Informal sector (non-agricultural): The informal sector consists of:
Workers in businesses that employ fewer than five employees and that do not deduct income tax from salaries; and
Self-employed people (or people doing unpaid housework) who are not registered for either income tax or value-added tax.
Formal sector (non-agricultural): People not employed in the informal sector, agriculture or by private households Labour force participation rate: Proportion of the working-age population that is actually working. Source: Statistics South Africa translated into plain English
On Wednesday, Mayor Dan Plato met with the Sandvlei United Community
Organization (SUCO). His office reported that “both sides have plotted
the way forward amicably”. SUCO vice chairperson Maryam Salie echoed
this optimism. The meeting is a breakthrough, following years of
distrust and antagonism between the City and the community.
GroundUp visited Sandvlei, a rural community in Macassar near
Somerset West. We saw a steady stream of dark, murky waste water with
floating clumps of foam flowing into the Kuils River upstream from the
settlement. It was easy to access both the effluent stream and the Kuils
River.
Horses grazed nearby and we heard accounts of children
unwittingly playing in the mud and water. The City said it is not
possible to fence off the river, but, it has put up a sign warning
residents about the “potentially polluted” water.
Salie listed a bunch of health ailments she suspects may be caused by
the polluted river: E. coli infections, skin rashes, boils, joint
pains, migraines, pneumonia, diarrhoea and upset stomachs, tumours and
an increased risk of cancer. SUCO dismisses suggestions that there is no
scientific proof of the link between the treatment works and the
community’s health.
Salie wants the river to be clean. “We want the Zandvliet plant to stop pumping sewage into it.”
Maryam Salie wants the river running through her neighbourhood to be cleaned.
But, a recent test complicates claims that effluent discharge by the
Zandvliet plant is the cause of the Kuils River’s pollution. CSIR
researcher Bettina Genthe, who conducted this test, was interviewed for
the Carte Blanche segment. In her interview, she confirmed that the
adjacent section of the Kuils River was contaminated with chemicals and
high levels of E. coli.
But, Genthe said, her attempts to explain the complexity of making a
definitive causal link between the treatment works’ effluent discharge,
the poor water quality and the health problems in the community was not
included in the Carte Blanche segment.
She tested samples taken on four occasions at different locations:
from the Kuils River upstream of the treatment works, from the stream of
effluent flowing from the treatment works, from the Kuils River at the
Zandvlei community, and from further downstream.
The results show that the Kuils River, including the Sandvlei section
of the river, is seriously polluted. The levels of nitrogen and
phosphate, chemicals that feed the growth of algae and bacteria, in the
effluent were high. But the results also show that the Zandvliet plant
was not pumping untreated sewage into the river – at least not on the
four occasions that the samples were taken – and that it was not the
sole, nor perhaps even the primary contaminant of the Kuils River at the
Sandvlei section. The results showed that the E. coli level (807.75 per
100 ml) was within the limit (1000 per 100 ml) set by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs.
Dr Kevin Winter, a water quality expert at the University of Cape
Town, looked at the CSIR results and agreed that the E. Coli level was
“not alarming” and the treatment works were “doing a pretty good job” on
the days that the samples were taken.
The results show that the poor quality of the river at Sandvlei were
likely caused by a range of sources upstream from the treatment works.
For example, the levels of E. coli in the water sample taken upstream
were significantly higher than those in the effluent flowing from the
treatment works.
“The results show us that the poor water quality of the river cannot
be blamed on a single source. The effluent from Zandvliet is flowing
into an already contaminated river,” Genthe said.
Other sources of contamination likely include industry, agriculture, informal settlements and suburban areas.
This is where the Kuils River (left) meets the outflow of the waste treatment plant (right).
But, the fact remains: the Kuils River flowing through the Sandvlei
community is polluted and the community is suffering from health
problems. Whether the health problems are caused by the river is
unclear.
Proving causality, explains physician and infectious diseases
specialist Dr Sean Wasserman, is complicated. First, you have to show
there’s an outbreak of an infection; this means that the ailment is
occurring more than expected.
Once an outbreak is confirmed, government investigators have to test a
hypothesis about the cause of the infection. To do this, they must run
what is called a case control study. This involves comparing an infected
group with a similar group of uninfected people. By trying to find out
what the infected group was more exposed to than the uninfected group,
the investigators may be able to identify a cause of the infection.
Wasserman took issue with Carte Blanche quoting unqualified people
who jumped to a conclusion about the cause of poor health outcomes in
the Sandvlei community.
Carte Blanche executive producer Wynand Grobler told GroundUp that
the program only reported the Sandvlei community’s claims that the
pollution of the river was causing various infections. “At no point did
we say that [cyanotoxins] is the cause [of the ailments] and that it is
coming directly from the Zandvliet plant,” he said.
The CSIR results and the lack of proof do not exonerate the City or
the Zandvliet plant. Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Water
and Waste Services, maintains that the “biological activated sludge
processes” used at Zandvliet “are considered best practice for municipal
wastewater treatment and the same treatment process is still
implemented at new plants and plant upgrades the world over.”
But, experts, such as the ones who wrote the Daily Maverick article,
believe the facility is overburdened. Put bluntly: it has too much shit
to process.
Zandvliet is one of the city’s largest waste treatment plants.
The treatment works is long overdue for an upgrade. But a tender to
upgrade the plant got delayed by a plethora of appeals. Fortunately, the
deadlock has been broken, according to the City, and the R1 billion
makeover is due to start within months.
Dr Jo Barnes, a retired University of Stellenbosch epidemiologist,
told GroundUp that the “pong” of sewage from Zandvliet is proof enough
that the plant is not functioning well.
She said that the E. coli count found by the CSIR is not always a
reliable indicator. The plant’s chemical treatment may kill E. coli, but
it is possible that other dangerous but difficult to test for pathogens
in faeces remain.
Also, the results only show E. coli and chemical levels on the days
that the samples were gathered. Large variations are possible. The
scientists who wrote in the Daily Maverick said that in November
Zandvliet “discharged millions of litres of what we observed to be raw,
unfiltered sewage into the Kuils River” after storm water overwhelmed
the plant.
Professor Leslie Petrik, one of the writers of that article, said
that the regulations for effluent discharge are outdated. They do not
deal with some contaminants found in pharmaceuticals, industrial
chemicals and everyday household products. One of her recent studies for
the Water Research Council showed that many of these compounds are
found in marine life in False Bay. This shows a causal link between
Zandvliet and chemical contamination in marine life.
“Water quality guidelines and effluent discharge limits need serious
attention,” she said, adding that we can all do our part by shifting to
biodegradable products in our homes.
A serval captured on a camera trap at an industrial site in South Africa.
Daan Loock
Ever since the industrial revolution, human activities have resulted in rapid environmental changes including degradation, fragmentation, and destruction of habitat, climate change and biodiversity loss. Animals, such as large carnivores, are often among the first to disappear as human disturbance increases.
The fact that human activities have had catastrophic consequences for some species is undisputed. But there are also instances where wildlife has befitted from human interventions, such as raccoons and coyotes that flourish in urban areas. This is because they can exploit resources like food and low levels of competition from other species that are less able to adapt.
We made a startling discovery that provides another example of wildlife thriving in an industrial site. We found that servals, a wild cat, were living in the shadow of a huge petrochemical plant in South Africa.
Using repeated camera trap surveys we found that serval were present – and thriving – at the Secunda Synfuels Operations plant 140 km east of Johannesburg. Constructed to help cope with the fuel embargo imposed on apartheid-era South Africa, the plant processes coal into a petroleum-like product. As part of this production process it emits 20 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The plant, which covers an area of around 85 km², supports a serval population density - the number of animals in a given area - far greater than any other site on record across the entire range of the species.
The world’s largest coal liquefaction plant has some unusual neighbours: the densest population of elusive serval cats anywhere on the planet.
Over several years we also used live traps to capture and release servals at the plant, allowing us to identify their sex and age – something that was not possible using our camera traps. This showed us that the population structure appeared to be stable and normal. This suggests that the high density was not a temporary situation, but a long-term trend.
The cases of modified environments benefiting wildlife should not be taken as evidence that industrialisation is generally a good thing for wildlife. As humans modify natural habitats biodiversity tends to suffer, and it is of paramount importance that we curb our impact on the environment. But our findings suggest that even heavily industrialised sites can still have conservation value.
We should not overlook these areas when developing conservation plans as they can still play a role in protecting threatened species.
Why wildlife is thriving at an industrial site
We think that there are three main reasons why servals fared so well in this modified environment.
The petrochemical plant is surrounded by wetlands, which are home to a large number of rodents, the preferred prey of servals. This provides an ample prey base, which supports a large serval population.
Secondly, there is a fence surrounding the plant, for safety and security reasons. This protects serval living at the plant from persecution from humans. In other areas serval numbers can be controlled by persecution from farmers, who perceive servals to be a threat to their livestock.
Finally, while the fence is intended to restrict the movement of humans, it also stops other large carnivores from entering the area. This keeps competition low, allowing serval numbers to grow.
Silver linings of modified landscapes
Originally set aside as a diamond mine, Namibia’s Sperrgebiet exclusion zone is now a national park.Olga Ernst
Industrial installations often establish exclusion zones around their core infrastructure to improve security and safety. These can also benefit wildlife. Reserves were created around the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana and the Venetia diamond mine in South Africa, for example, which now support a broad array of large mammals such as elephants, African wild dogs, and cheetahs.
And some of these reserves set up to protect mines, such as the Sperrgebiet exclusion zone in Namibia, have now even been proclaimed national parks.
As well as protecting habitats, modified environments sometimes create entire novel ecosystems, that can sometimes increase local richness. Oil rigs, while being unsightly, can act as artificial reefs that offer protection from trawling and support diverse communities of marine life that would not otherwise exist in the area.
There is enough doom and gloom in conservation. Celebrating silver linings such as servals at Secunda will help us shift our focus from problems to solutions, as advocated by the Earth Optimism movement. This is key to moving from a sense of loss to a sense of hope in the dialogue about conservation and sustainability, which is critical for securing the public support, political will, and resources to stem the tide of biodiversity loss.
Sam Williams, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Venda, Researcher at IGDORE, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University and Lourens Swanepoel, Associate lecturer, University of Venda
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
