Dunoon’s streets are running with raw sewage

City blames the mess on “misuse of the sewer system”

Residents of Dunoon in Cape Town say they are fed-up with blocked and overflowing sewers. Photo: Peter Luhanga

Raw sewage flowing in Dunoon streets has become an almost daily ordeal for residents, who say they are fed-up.

Sewer pipes in Dunoon are frequently blocked, resulting in sewage bubbling up through manholes.

Filthy water, used toilet paper and condoms flow past residents’ homes and the businesses that line the pavement.

The stench emanating is inescapable in this township which is home to 37,000 people.

Aphiwe Jezile, a mother of a child aged seven, has been living in Dunoon for 16 years. She says she has seen a child between the age of four and five dipping a comb into the raw sewage, raising it to her mouth and licking it.

“I felt angry and disappointed at the City, and I felt disgusted,” said Jezile.

Some residents have posted their complaints on social networking sites, publishing pictures of bubbling sewage and potholes.

The filthy living conditions are not new, says resident Nkhanyiso Ntweni. “It has always been like this. When it’s time to vote they always come to convince us to vote but they don’t fulfill what they promise during the campaign.”

Mayco member for transport Felicity Purchase said the City’s roads and stormwater department sent road repair teams to repair potholes across the metro, including Dunoon.

She said the City is aware of frequent sewage overflows in Dunoon as a result of “the misuse of the sewer system”.

Purchase said the main cause of blockages and overflows was the dumping of rags and cooking oil or fat into the sewer system, and litter which entered the system through manholes where the covers had been stolen.

In addition, she said, backyard shacks built over the manholes meant that teams could not get to the sites and clear the blockages.

But Kwanele Jezile, Aphiwe Jezile’s husband, said the City should provide general waste skips around illegal dumping hotspots in the township.

“Residents are at fault but that doesn’t give the City the right to leave people to live like pigs. We are not impressed with the City’s blame game. Everybody should play their role,” said Jezile.

Purchase said in Dunoon the City had attended to “at least 407 notifications” in the last six months, not including daily bucket cleaning and vacuum and jet cleaning.

Mayco member for water and waste Xanthea Limberg said the City spent about R120 million each year clearing illegal dumping hotspots, but battled to keep pace with the problem.

The City offered a reward of up to R5,000 for information leading to an impoundment, conviction, or arrest for illegal dumping. “We urge members of the public to help us catch these criminals who are polluting our communities,” she said.

Residents can report illegal dumping by phoning 021 480 7700 from a cell phone or 107 from a landline.

 3 April 2019   By Peter Luhanga
 © 2019 GroundUp.

Pietermaritzburg community gripped by fear as witnesses and police are murdered

“These murders are done by people who are known”

A spate of murders, including the killing of witnesses in important cases in Imbali and Greater Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, has put the competency of the Plessislaer police station under scrutiny. Photo: Nompendulo Ngubane

A spate of murders, including the killing of witnesses in important cases, in Imbali and Greater Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, has put the competency of the Plessislaer police station under scrutiny.

Residents complain about the inefficiency of the precinct and the way cases are being handled. The community has called upon Minister of Police Bheki Cele to intervene.

A recent multiple murder has gripped the community with fear. Senior traffic officer Sifiso Gwala, of Imbali Unit 2, was shot and killed along with two of his friends, Nhlanhla Zibula and Nathi Zondi, on 9 March. They died at the scene. A third friend who was also shot, Mfundo Mtshae, is fighting for his life in hospital.

Thandeka Gwala, the daughter of the slain officer, said the family is traumatized. She said her father was watching a soccer match in an outside building with his friends when they were shot.

“It was raining heavily and one could hardly hear … My mother heard many gunshots from the outside room. She took a few minutes before she went to check. When she opened the door … my father and the other two were already dead. One of them was still alive. He was then taken to hospital. That friend is the only one who survived,” she said.

Last month, ANC member in the Moses Mabhida region, Mhlengi Khumalo, was gunned down in KwaPata at night while alone in his house watching TV. His murder followed the murder of an ANC former ward councillor Musawenkosi “Qashana” Mchunu in May 2018. Arrests followed both murders.

Cele has visited the Plessislaer police station twice. In February, while visiting the families of victims, he told GroundUp he is aware that the community is unhappy with the station.
“As I’m visiting these families, they are telling me that the police are aware of things happening in the community areas. Residents are saying police are not doing anything,” said Cele. “I will be coming back for my third visit at the police station. I know what to do in that police station and I’m working on it … The aim is to try and fix things. We want residents to be able to work with the police station.”

He said a task team will work jointly with the Plessislaer police station to find the perpetrators behind Gwala’s murder.

In May 2017 the Pietermaritzburg community marched against crime. Residents said many cases opened at Plessislaer police station are not attended to.

In November 2018, the community marched to Plessislaer police station. A Caluza resident, who asked not to be named, said, “I joined the march in November because my family was saddened with the way my niece’s case was handled. She was raped and left under the bridge. Nothing was done ever since. We reported the case and we were given a case number. My niece knew the people who raped her. She shared the information with the police. Nothing was done. We have told ourselves that they won’t do anything. They are quick to respond on petty cases and ignore the serious ones.”
In 2016 Plessislaer appeared among the 63 precincts countrywide that had the most unresolved serious crimes.

In 2018, there were 104 murder cases opened.

A police officer at the station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The whole police station has three police vans … One police officer has to look after so many people. The precinct is short of investigative officers. The computers have aged and not been upgraded. They are very slow. They make the working process a snail’s pace … Some of our members retire or resign but no new police are being employed. The state resources such as cellphones are given to the managers. The police at grassroots level are isolated … the ones dealing with the community – but the managers receive the resources.”

“We need police from the outside to deal with these murders. We are scared for our lives. These murders are done by people who are known murderers. They might also kill us. We need members from Crime Prevention to work 24 hours.

“We are also angered about the conditions we are working under.

“Cele’s task team is only getting promotions. It doesn’t help us at all. They should be visible in our area to prevent crime. We are tired,” said the officer.

Community Police Forum chairperson Sfiso Mavundla said the delays dealing with reported cases is worrying. He said as the community they have lost hope in the police.

“Our witnesses are not protected and therefore the community is scared. We have about seven witnesses who have been killed … As the community we cannot sit back and watch the perpetrators doing as they please. We are requesting that the leadership sits down with the police staff. They must intervene by discussing with them the challenges they face,” said Mavundla.

He also said that the recent killings in Pietermaritzburg are done by people who are known to the community.

“The community knows those people, but they are scared to report them. They fear that they might be killed. We have had witnesses killed in this town. People are scared. The minister should call on Imbizo to hear what the community has to say. He should also give members of SAPS a platform to also share their frustrations,” said Mavundla.

© 2019 GroundUp.
 22 March 2019   By Nompendulo Ngubane

Dutch Reformed Church. Nederlandse Kerk - Same sex marriages

Dutch Reformed Church. Nederlandse Kerk.10 March 2019.

Same sex marriages.

I have noted that the South African Constitutional High Court has ruled that same sex marriages have to be recognized by the Church.

1. The South African Constitutional Court only came into being after 1994.

The Union of South Africa was in 1910.
The Republic of South Africa was in 1961.
The Dutch Reformed Church is much older than any of the above mentioned.
Christianity Stated more than 2000 years ago.

2. It is the Republic of South Africa and the South African Constitutional Court that has sinned, and sinned greatly.

The following needs to be considered.


Jeremiah 7:16-20
"Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place?on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched." 

Jeremiah 44:17-25
But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine." The women also said,"And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands? permission?" Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people?the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer?saying: "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and did it not come into His mind? So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day." Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ?You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her." You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!? 



Boys will be boys and girls will be girls.

Once a boy always a boy. Once a girl always a girl, and both act differently to each other.

They have different functions. The two together produce children.

A lock and a key are joined together and become one. They perform a function that is right.

Two locks can not become one. Two keys can not become one. Impossible.

There are consequences to force same-sex marriages. It is discriminates against those of opposite sex who marry.

Not even the Constitutional Court can change that. That the opposites is what the Great God created.

The Roman Catholic Church used the Queen of Heaven as the base to Worship Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ.

The Reformed Churches are not far removed from that!

An opinion by Peter, from Natal, South Africa
 

Land alone is not enough

  By Lee-Anne Bruce and Sithuthukile Mkhize

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.

Views expressed are not necessarily GroundUp’s.

© 2019 GroundUp.
 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unemployment: our biggest problem

  By Aidan Jones

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:

1. Were not employed in the week they were surveyed; and
2. Actively looked for work or tried to start a business in the four weeks preceding the survey interview; and
3. Were available for work, i.e. would have been able to start work or a business in the survey week; or
4. 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:

1. Workers in businesses that employ fewer than five employees and that do not deduct income tax from salaries; and
2. 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

More about Our biggest problem

• Reconsidering South Africa’s approach to waste pickers 22 February 2019
• Stats SA’s confusing mining employment statistics 21 February 2019
• Unemployed for three years, Thulani Ngwenya believes entrepreneurship is the way to go 20 February 2019

© 2019 GroundUp.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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