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Nov 06

Community Voices: “Is BholoBholo a place we can call home?”

By Yolande Hendler CORC, FEDUP, ISN No Comments

By members of Bholobholo Informal Settlement (on behalf of ISN)*

For the SA SDI Alliance community-produced documentation is crucial. Engaging communities with such processes enables them to drive their own development interests and also positions them to share their experiences in community organization processes such as informal settlement upgrading. IN this way communities demonstrate the approach of the SA SDI Alliance: “Nothing for us without us”.

This blog was written by community members of Bholobholo, namely Nosipho Dzingwa,Masixole Siyaphi,Thabisa Kebe,Bulelwa Dunjwa, Thembela Spele,Nosiphathise Halile,Xolani Maqoko,Lulama Giyama,Zingiswa Tshwela and Mrs Duda.

Community Documentation Workshop with BholoBholo

History of the settlement

BholoBholo is located on a traffic circle intersection in Extension 6 in Mfuleni Cape Town. This is one of the smallest informal settlements in Cape Town with a land size of 912m².

We were backyarders in the surrounding formal houses. In 2006, we moved to an open space [which later became BholoBholo]. This was the time that plot owners were going to receive RDP houses. Since then we never moved back because the plot owners claimed that they did not have space for backyarders anymore. The church was built in 2007 and several more people joined as they saw an open space too. Some residents in BholoBholo bought shacks and joined the community in this way. To date we have 15 households with 33 people.

BholoBholo is an isiXhosa name for the intestine called ileum. The name came to the settlement because of the street vendors in front of the settlement that sell meat including intestines called uBholobholo. BholoBholo was an open space separating the meat vendors and the formal houses. This space was used for meetings and other activities such as a soccer field for kids.

This blog was written by the community of Bholobholo.

Bholobholo community leaders and community design team members

Our reality now

Like any informal settlement, BholoBholo community is faced with a number of challenges which include:

Electricity

The community of BholoBholo have used illegal connections for electricity, they pay a high amount to the nearest houses just to get their tap connected. These illegal connections are a danger to the kids that play in the area hence they might touch the wires and be shocked or worse, killed.

Toilets and Taps

There are a total of four taps in BholoBholo of which two do not work properly. There is also a strong need for taps in the community because we share the ones we have with the meat vendors.We don’t have proper toilets, we make use of the bushes or ask to use the toilet in the formal houses.

Multipurpose Hall and Park

We also need a hall to hold meetings and community events and a park for children to play in and be safe.

Proper road access

“I wonder what would happen if our settlement could be in a fire? Who would we turn to?”

Masixole Siyaphi, Community leader in Bholobholo.

We need roads so that emergency vehicles can be able to assist us in time of need. Having roads/streets would make the place look neat and easy to find because now it takes longer to find a house number when needed.

Another major problem we are faced with is the dirt caused by the street vendors who use the dumping site to dump meat that they cannot sell. This causes an odor that can be a health hazard and attracts mosquitoes and rats that later bite the children.

Writing workshop with the community of Bholobholo.

How did we meet ISN?

Nkokheli Ncambele is the one who introduced us to the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) when ISN came to mobilise our settlement. We then attended meetings and learnt the rituals of the alliance. After that we started with the community organisation processes. Our settlement was enumerated by 2 members of the community which we selected ourselves. We also profiled the settlement together as the community. To date we are waiting for reblocking because we have completed the designs together with the CORC technical team. These plans are important to us because

“we want our children to have a place to call home and be safe”

Nosipho Dzingwa, BholoBholo community leader

Community mapping supported by CORC technical team

*Blog compiled by Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

Sep 30

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Growing Partnerships with Local Government: Bulawayo visits Cape Town Learning Centre

By Yolande Hendler CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI No Comments

By Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

Recently, the Zimbabwe SDI Alliance spent four days on a learning exchange to the South African SDI Alliance in Cape Town (14-17 September). In the SDI network, Cape Town is one of four global learning centres for urban poor communities due to the capacity of FEDUP and ISN to operate at city scale and demonstrate productive partnerships with government. The team from Bulawayo included community, city and university representatives (from the National University of Science & Technology (NUST)) who are exploring the possibility of building a partnership between the Zimbabwean urban poor Federation and the City of Bulawayo. The Alliance introduced the group to a variety of its activities, foregrounding the value and approach of partnerships that place poor people at the centre of their own development.

Introduction to policy Questions

After a warm welcoming of the group by FEDUP members on the first day, the first presentation started by the Informal settlement Network (ISN) with the context of the SA SDI alliance and the work of Informal Settlement Network (ISN) from 2009 until 2015. The presentation showed delegates the work of ISN in In-situ upgrading, water and sanitation, area-wide upgrading, multipurpose centres and other activities that they have done so far. After the presentation the delegates from Zimbabwe were given an opportunity to ask questions:

“At what stage does the city get involved in re-blocking? What is the planning process and who does it? What is the participation between communities and the city?”

(George Masimbanyana, support NGO to Zimbabwe Federation of the Homeless and Poor)

After clarification by members of ISN and support NGO, Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) the Zimbabweans had an understanding of the particulars of re-blocking (including its adoption as policy by the City of Cape Town in 2012) and indicated they would consider adopting it as a process that they can also try. The Bulawayo group then gave a presentation about the work they have done to date. The presentation gave an insight into the Zimbabwean Federation’s total savings, income and expenditures, total number of houses they have built and what their projects look like. The Zimbabwean Federation has also signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the City of Bulawayo. The group expressed the challenge of a lack of implementation and practical partnership, despite the presence of a formal agreement. The next days allowed the visitors to explore this topic further. They experienced how FEDUP and ISN formed practical partnerships and implemented projects with two municipalities.

Partnership around Upgrading: Stellenbosch Municipality

On day two, the group travelled to Langrug informal settlement near Franschoek to meet with the local Municipality of Stellenbosch. Langrug community leader and regional ISN coordinator, Trevor Masiy shared the successes and challenges the community faced with regards to being recognized as an informal settlement in that area. Lester van Schalkwyk, a municipality official, spoke of the difficulty the Municipality experienced in engaging with informal settlement communities. This is when officials realized the value of social and technical intermediaries like ISN & CORC to support and speed-up implementation of community – government partnerships. In Langrug this partnership translated into the first ever MoU between a local government and community, which enabled direct access to municipal funds for upgrading and implementation of re-blocking, drainage and a water & sanitation facility.

Municipality official sharing challenges they encountered with Langrug Informal settlement

Partnerships around Upgrading: City of Cape Town

The third day was an upgrading site visit to Flamingo Heights in Lansdowne, Cape Town, a settlement that was recently re-blocked through a partnership between the community, SA SDI Alliance, City of Cape Town, and other actors such as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). Maria Matthews, community leader in Flamingo welcomed the guests and gave a brief history about the settlement and how they partnered with the city of Cape Town and the Alliance. She also gave insight about the challenges that they faced before upgrading where she noted that the community faced a high rate of crime because of the densification of their structures before re-blocking. She also cited that through the project the community managed to minimise the crime and now are safe. During an opportunity to ask questions, a Bulawayo official asked who owned the land that is now Flamingo Heights. ISN facilitator, Melanie Manuel, explained that the land belonged to an industrial company whom the City of Cape Town bought the land from. Maria Matthews, concluded,

“[Community] savings [contributions] are the core reason why we are here [in an upgraded settlement] today. We took the little we had and placed towards better living conditions.”

Community Savings as Negotiation Tool

The group then commenced to the FEDUP linked income generation group in Samora Machel. The visitors were welcomed with great hospitality and were given an overview of FEDUP`s income generation program. The visit highlighted the connection between regular saving and the ability to repay loans. This in turn enables access to further loan installments to expand a small business. In this sense, the power of individual and community saving became evident. In response to a question by the NUST representative on failed loan repayments, the loan facilitator explained:

“Saving group members are not given money that they don’t have in their savings balance, so if they fail to pay back the loan the money it is then subtracted from their saving balance.”

community leader sharing Flamingo Heights History

Area-Wide Upgrading as a result of negotiation

At UT Gardens settlement in Khayelitsha, the community came all out to support their leadership committee to welcome the visitors from Bulawayo. The Alliance shared the challenges and breakthroughs around upgrading the nearby wetland as a communal space. After giving a project overview, ISN & CORC members explained how they convinced the City to give them approval to use the land. A community leader, Thamara Hela, gave an overview of the recreational activities they envision for the upgraded wetland-park: a football ground, a gym facility and a park for the children to play where they could be safe. Read more here.

Meeting the Partners: City of Cape Town & Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Having visited a number of upgrading projects in Cape Town, the visitors met with the City of Cape Town to gain more insight into the process of partnership formation from a City perspective. The city explained how their department fits in the broader Human Settlements Sector, shared an overview of their partnership with the SA SDI Alliance, their role as service provider for ground works, engineering, topographical surveys and the Alliance’s role as technical and social support facilitator. The City shared the importance of an inter-departmental approach, which increases effective communication between various actors involved in ISU: the departments of solid waste, human settlements, water & sanitation. There was also an opportunity to observe direct engagement between communities and officials. Masilunge informal settlement leader, Lindiwe Ralarala presented the current ISU project process in her settlement, in particular the challenges of flooding, water & sanitation that the community would like to see the City address.

During lunch time the exchange moved to the architecture building at CPUT, where the group was briefed about the partnership the Alliance has with the university. It enables students to engage with the reality of planning with ‘informality’, and results in alternative practice and conceptual approaches in town planning and architecture. The lecturers explained how they want to see town-planning link with urbanization:

“Urbanization is not about building houses, it’s about human beings. We want our students to understand that they are not just planning houses but planning better living condition for the people who they work with.”

Through project modules or internships with the SA SDI Alliance students support the alliance with their technical skills in town planning or architecture. The meeting showed the visitors that strong partnerships with multiple actors can achieve more. Read more about academic partnerships here.

City of Cape Town partnership meeting

Ideas for Partnership Formation in Bulawayo

The exchange concluded on a high note. The support between community members from Bulawayo and Cape Town was clearly evident in their common desire to see a practical and community centered-partnership emerge in Bulawayo. As the details need to be fleshed out and implemented in Bulawayo, the South African and Zimbabwe SDI Alliance leaders will keep supporting and holding each other accountable on the path of establishing inclusive partnerships that are key to community-centered solutions. We conclude by sharing reflection points of exchange participants:

City Reponses

There is great value of strategic community organisation: “We need partnerships to really engage & resolve community problems in a manner that satisfies the community adequately. “ (Bulawayo City Official)
Value of Reblocking & Forward Planning: “the way to tackle the problem of regrouping people is beautiful: the communities are involved and they have a say in the way forward” (Bulawayo City Official)

Zimbabwe Federation Responses

Community Data Collection: “I realise we need to review our settlement profiles & use our data in a useful [strategic] way.”
Implement MoUs: “This exchange provided us with a way to figure out how to operationalize the MoU’s”
Joint funding for ISU: “We need to sit with the City and establish how we can use reblocking to deal with the issues in our country. Joint funding for ISU provides huge opportunities for countries like ours which are economically challenged”
Accountability: “ Let’s keep each other accountable on our progress with reports, and share our knowledge and skills”

SA SDI Alliance Responses:

Learning Centre: We find that as a learning centre we end up learning from you too”
Exchanges as Mobilisation: Exchanges are a mobilizing tool: wherever we take visitors, we gain trust from the communities. While the visitors learn, our communities learn as well.”

Sep 18

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What is Area-Based Upgrading? A look at UT Wetland Area, Khayelitsha

By Yolande Hendler CORC, ISN No Comments

By Yolande Hendler & Moegsien Hendricks (on behalf of CORC)

Over the last ten years South Africa’s human settlement’s sector has seen significant shifts in government approach and policy toward rapid urbanisation and the resulting proliferation of informal settlements. Initially informal settlement policy concentrated on clearing housing backlogs through government subsidised houses in the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP). With the introduction of “Breaking New Ground” (BNG), government’s Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements in 2004, the in-situ upgrading of informal settlements was introduced. BNG’s accompanying Upgrading Informal Settlement’s Program (UISP) “recognises the value of informal settlement upgrading as a viable strategy for addressing inequality” (Reference).

A view on to UT Wetland

While the implementation of UISP is varied and not without its shortcomings (read more here), informal settlement upgrading is establishing an increasing mark on governmental approach. Notably, national policies related to upgrading are not geared towards area-based or city-wide upgrading programs. Given that previous blogs have shared much of the Alliance’s work on informal settlement upgrading, this blog turns to the question of area-wide upgrading. In so doing, it looks at the SA SDI Alliance’s experiences in the upgrading of UT Wetlands area in Site B, Khayelitsha.

What is Area-Wide Upgrading ?

Area based-upgrading of informal settlements is about understanding how the informal settlement functions within the broader local area, city wide and even national context. The purpose of the area-based approach is to recognise informal settlements as part of the broader urban neighbourhood and not isolated islands which are spatially and socially disconnected.

The work that the SA SDI Alliance is doing through reblocking, includes projects with an area based approach such as the UT Wetland. This project focuses on upgrading the wetland to a park facility, a community hall, landscaping and improved access pathways. It impacts four settlements that directly benefit from this intervention. It also provides the foundation for the incremental upgrade of these settlements, building on the connectivity and integration provided by the shared facility.

Initial community site analysis and first phase planning for upgrading UT Wetlands (2014)

A look at UT Wetland as area-wide upgrade

Four settlements surround the wetland in UT section: UT Gardens, UT Litha Park, TT Section and TB Section. Thamara Hela, a community leader of UT Gardens, explains the leadership structure: each settlement is organised by a steering committee of 15 members, a total of 60 community leaders for the area. Through engaging with the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), each settlement conducted an enumeration, enabling each community to gather accurate data that it can use for community organisation and development purposes.

The wetland is not only integral to the landscape but also to community life: regularly used municipal toilets and taps surround its borders, as well as a network of main pedestrian paths. Due to structure density in the surrounding settlements, the wetland is often used as a meeting area, particularly by UT Gardens community.

In its current usage, however, the wetland also poses a threat to residents. Thamara speaks about the danger it poses for school children who use its surrounding paths to walk to school. Due to high reeds, visibility is poor so that children and pedestrians become easy targets of crime. The wetland also poses a health hazard: with many mosquitoes and large rats in the near vicinity (if not in structures themselves) cause illnesses. Many residents suffer from eczema and skin irritations.

Poor drainage and municipal toilets on border of Wetland

Due to inadequate meeting space, UT Gardens identified the need for a large community hall, potentially situated on the wetlands. Through its affiliation to ISN the community used the tools of the SA SDI Alliance to organise itself. Supported by CORC’s technical team the steering committee therefore developed a community-centred site analysis and plans for a potential hall in February 2014. Over the next months the steering committee shared these with its surrounding neighbours, Litha Park, TT and TB sections – sparking a discussion on community access and ownership of the land.

After a lengthy engagement with various municipal departments, the wetland was declared a Category Z, indicating that it could not be rehabilitated. With growing disillusionment among community members, the four leadership committees met in April 2015 and developed a joint plan for a “UT Wetlands Park”. This plan was developed with the technical support of the Alliance’s Community Organisation Resource Centre and conceptualised as an area wide development initiative. The plan incorporates reduced flooding in the area, ensuring a play area for children (including a soccer area), partial reblocking, and improved health and quality of life due to drainage and engineering services. All four settlements elected a UT Wetlands Steering Committee, consisting of 17 members, 4 representatives from each settlement and one member on behalf of ISN liaison and communication.

UT Gardens measures shack sizes in preparation.

UT Gardens community members measure shack sizes in preparation.

Profiling & Enumeration in UT Gardens Khayelitsha

With the go-ahead concerning zoning and land use, the Wetlands steering committee and Alliance engaged numerous stakeholders between April and August 2015. This included presenting the plan to UT’s four communities and assessing their willingness for participation. It also included engaging municipal actors, Councillors and relevant line departments such as City Parks and ensuring the source of funding.

Taking stock: Experiences, Challenges, Successes

At present a sizeable amount of groundwork has been covered: in August 2015 the wetland steering committee developed detailed plans with ISN, CORC, Jakupa architects and City Parks. Long consultation delays and uncertainty regarding required permits presented a core challenge in project preparation. Scale is a further factor: working in large informal settlements can be challenging. Through carefully considered social processes, these challenges can be dealt with effectively when communities in the settlements are actively part of the process. In this sense spatial integration afforded by the area-wide upgrading approach in UT wetlands is also facilitating social integration through the collaboration of all four settlements.

In addition, partnerships with local municipalities are an important success factor. In the wetland project, the City of Cape Town (CoCT) and in particular the City Parks Department played a critical role: the land is owned by the CoCT and they will take responsibility in partnership with the community to manage this facility. The Alliance Memorandum of Understanding with the CoCT provided the context for a successful partnership at a local level with the City Parks Department. The lesson is that partnerships with municipalities are required at both a strategic political level and official / project implementation level.

The next steps include appointing an environmental engineer, landscape architect and obtaining an official permit from City Parks for implementation.

Sep 04

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Sharing Knowledge from the Bottom-Up: SDI visits Cape Town Learning Center

By Yolande Hendler CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI No Comments

By Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

Horizontal learning exchanges form a significant pillar of bottom-up knowledge sharing and a mobilisation tool used by informal settlement dwellers across the Shack/ Slum Dwellers International network. Exchanges are a development tool, which

“help people deal with the root issues of poverty and homelessness and work out their own means to participate in decision-making which affects their lives, locally, nationally & globally. In exchange people are not being trained to do things. They decide themselves what to pick up and what to discard, by visiting others in the same boat. It’s learning without an agenda…on-site, direct from the source, unfiltered”

(Tom Kerr, SDI Secretariat)

In recent years the SDI network has streamlined learning and experience sharing from open ended exchange interaction to a city-level focus in which learning, capacity-building and monitoring is concentrated on four city-level centers of learning. These (Cape Town and Kampala, Mumbai and Accra) were identified due to their capacity to operate at the city scale and demonstrate productive partnerships with government. This blog focuses on a recent visit by the SDI management committee to the Cape Town learning centre, and engages with questions raised by community members around the nature of learning and knowledge sharing in the SDI network.

Joseph Muturi, from the Kenyan SDI Alliance poses a question to FEDUP / ISN leadership.

The first morning saw national community leaders from the SDI Alliances of Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe join the South African Alliance , SDI President, Jockin Arputham, and deputy president, Rose Molokoane, in exploring the approach of community-driven process in South Africa. The South African community movements, FEDUP and ISN, spoke about their involvements in respective community projects relating to land access and negotiation, People’s Housing Process (PHP), security of tenure, ensuring access to basic services, informal settlement upgrading, and income generation projects.

When asked what FEDUP and ISN see as particular achievements, FEDUP’s regional leader in the Western Cape Province, Thozama Nomnga, spoke of the Federation’s Income Generation Program (FIGP), which is funded through a revolving loan fund established through FEDUP’s national savings. As much as the FIGP funds are drawn from savings, the program also grows FEDUP’s membership and strengthens savings practice as personal savings are a prerequisite to accessing a loan.

Visiting a savings group and learning about FIGP in Samora Machel.

During the morning, the group visited a savings scheme in Samora Machel township in Cape Town as well as FEDUP’s Vusi Ntsuntsha group. After a warm welcome at Samora Machel, the savings group facilitator, treasurers and collectors spoke about the FIGP, how loan groups are formed, how loans are allocated and the respective finances are calculated. Savings group members showcased their small businesses – ranging from tailored shwe-shwe Dresses, to tuck-shop goods, beaded jewellery and crafts, fat-cakes and chicken. From Samora Machel the visitors travelled to Vusi Ntsuntsha group, hearing about the group’s successful negotiation for land, and the challenges ahead in terms of securing tenure and housing sites. Hassan Kiberu, from the National Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda (NSDFU) motivated the group to keep unity and hope:

“By unity we win. When you give up you won’t win. We joined the Federation in Uganda because we have so many problems. Like you, there are many that we haven’t tackled yet. It is important that you are firm, don’t lose hope and keep on saving.”

Income Generation businesses by the Samora Macheal savings scheme

FIGP businesses in Samora Macheal.

The remainder of the day was spent in a packed community structure in Khayelitsha where representatives from more than 5 communities had gathered to share their experiences in informal settlement upgrading, community generated data collection, design, mapping, planning and negotiation with local government. The visitors were introduced to an area-wide upgrading approach around a wetland and the accompanying lengthy negotiations with local government. They also heard about a completed reblocking upgrade in Flamingo Crescent informal settlement and the process of planning for reblocking in three additional settlements.

In conversations and questions posed throughout the day – a recurring interest occurred among community participants concerning the nature of ‘learning’, the necessity for transparent sharing during community exchanges and what it means to be an “SDI learning centre”. Joseph Muturi from the Kenyan Alliance’s Federation, Muungano Wa Wanavijiji, raised the value of sharing challenges as freely and as frequently as successes.

“How can we learn from each other if we don’t share our challenges? We know that we can learn from every SDI country. In learning centres there is something specific we can learn. But we don’t expect them to be perfect –there will always be challenges, and we need to learn from them.”

Community gathering in Khayelitsha on informal settlement upgrading.

On this note, ISN shared the difficulties of navigating tensions between steering committees and communities, the rivalry between different civic organisations, varying levels of co-operation from Councillors and long delays by city councils that cause disillusionment in communities. Kenyan representatives spoke about their ability to secure tenure for 10 000 informal settlement dwellers through bio-metric data collection, using mobile phones – learnt from the interaction between Ugandan Federation members and their City officials. In reflecting on the exchange, Nkokheli Ncambele, provincial ISN coordinator, echoes the value of bottom-up knowledge generation in exchanges:

“It was very beneficial to be exposed to savings and the FIGP businesses – we managed to send a successful message to community leaders in Khayelitsha about upgrading and savings. We learnt how other countries use their profiling data to engage with the City. We need to do the same”.

Aug 13

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Community Voices – “Welcome to Santini informal settlement”

By Yolande Hendler FEDUP, ISN No Comments

By Santini Community Members (on behalf of ISN)

This blog was written by Santini’s community documenters depicted in this picture: Veronica Lebakeng, Nwabisa Ndzendze, Bathandwa Yengeni, Loniswa Dumbela. Grace Lebakeng, Thobela Nqophiso, Thulie Lebakeng, Thanduxolo Bayibile, Melikhaya Nqopiso, Likuwe Bayibile

For the SA SDI Alliance community-generated documentation is an integral aspect of community-driven process. This means that communities are not only best positioned to take a central role in driving their own development interests but also to speak about and document their experiences in community organisation processes such as informal settlement upgrading . For communities it is evident that

“No one can tell our story better than we can”

In Mfuleni, Cape Town, community leaders in Santini informal settlement have been involved in pioneering a community-centred documentation approach in the Alliance. Through a series of workshops they have used ‘story-telling and writing’ to record and document their story. This includes Santini’s experience of community mobilisation and preparation for upgrading as well as personal accounts of realities, challenges and desired alternatives.By documenting their own experiences, community members are building a voice of the urban poor from the bottom up.

This is the first in a series of blogs entitled “Community Voices”, written by community residents, who introduce their settlement and share their story.

SAMSUNG CSC

History of Santini

Santini is called Santini because it was once an open space with a lot of sand [in isiXhosa “isanti” means “sand”]. We started living in Santini in 2004 with most people coming from the Eastern Cape. We were living as backyarders in the surrounding formal houses before they [plot owners] got RDP houses.

There came a time when the plot owners [formal homeowners] had to move to an open space (which was already called Santini) because their RDP houses were going to be built. The backyarders moved to Santini as well. We [backyarders] weren’t allowed back into their plots when the houses were done, some claimed that they didn’t have space anymore.

In 2004 there were 8 shacks in Santini, but today there are 43 shacks including the ones brought in by the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO). We don’t feel safe because people in [the formal houses] claim the land [Santini] belongs to their children and not to us [as former backyarders]. Apparently their children are in need of a place to reside, so the people in the formal houses approached SANCO to resolve the matter. It was agreed via SANCO that the residents’ children can reside in Santini too.

Thanduxolo, Santini community leaders with steering committee members record their memory of Santini’s history

Our Reality Now

These are the things we need:

Electricity

We don’t have proper electricity. We rely on connections from the formal houses, and we pay R150 monthly. If the electricity ends before the month ends, we are required to pay more. If we do not pay more money, our tap will be unplugged. The connections are dangerous. When a big truck passes by the wires break, and they can shock the children when they are playing.

Taps

In Santini we have only one tap and there are many people living here so we hold a long queue when we need water. We cannot get water at night because of safety.

Toilets

We have a total of 7 toilets, but only 4 are working and are far from us. We fear to use the toilets at night. We fear to be mugged because of the darkness.

Roads

We don’t have proper roads, so emergency services are unable to assist the community in times of need like when someone is sick or there is a fire.

Proper Houses

We don’t have proper housing, and the structures that we are living in is old. We can’t even extend because we have no land of our own. Some people have extended families, and it’s hard to live in a one-room house with everyone.

Streetlights

Since we have no street lights we fear going outside during the night because it’s dark. It’s risky to go because we fear being mugged.

Dust Bins

Our place is filthy because we don’t have a place or dust bins to drop unwanted materials.

Drains

We don’t have drains so people use toilets as an alternative and that results in the blockage of the toilets.

Solutions

We need electricity, water, toilets, and proper houses. The ideal solution is to get more toilets or each household to get their own toilet to avoid waiting for people when one wants to use the toilet.

Tracking and documenting Santini’s solutions thus far

We, as a community of Santini, decided to seek help from the Informal Settlement Network (ISN). We told them about our living conditions and challenges as a community.Nkokheli Ncambele [Western Cape coordinator of ISN] is the one who introduced us to ISN. After the introduction to the [SA SDI] Alliance, we attended their meetings [and understood the processes] . [After some negotiation] toilets were installed by the municipality. We then began [Alliance] processes like enumerating our settlements. ISN also introduced us to the tools of profiling, community designing and learning exchanges. During profiling, we measured the existing structures. We used the enumeration to record the number of people living in Santini and their activities. A group of us went on a visit to see Flamingo Crescent and to be educated about the re-blocking of Flamingo Crescent.

Jul 16

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How Sporong community negotiated service delivery in Gauteng

By Yolande Hendler ISN No Comments

By Kwanele Sibanda (on behalf of CORC)

According to how the Informal Settlment Network (ISN) demarcates Midvaal informal settlements; Sporong informal settlement falls under cluster 3. Sporong is a relatively small informal settlement with 17 households and holds a population of about 70 people. The settlement falls under Boltonwold that is about 10kms out of Meyerton. It is one amongst a number of Midvaal informal settlements located in secluded farm areas with residents living in abject poverty.

Many hands make light work – installing toilets in Sporong.

The first tenant of Sporong is Ntate Tladi Mokgobo. He has lived in the settlement for over 50years. He settled on the land when he was given permission by the owner to construct a shack and pay a monthly rental fee. The steady growth was experienced as more farm workers from nearby farms needed accommodation. Currently, all tenants pay R100 per month to the landlord, for the informal structures they reside in (shacks). The R100 per month rental fee might be viewed as affordable; however the recent eviction of one of the tenants suggests that affordability is not for all. The provision of informal structures by a private landlord to rent coupled with no basic services was insidious. The first settler expressed an in depth understanding of the alliance and its approach to ameliorating challenges in informal settlements. He furthermore asserted that any community’s failure to cooperate with such interventions makes a folly act.

From each one of the three clusters of Midvaal, one settlement was chosen for a pilot project. Out of the profiling exercise, prioritized projects were identified. The main objective of undertaking the pilots is that of demonstrating to the Municipality what is of interest to the communities and their efforts with the aim of negotiating and scaling up relevant service delivery.

Savings mobilization

In the context of Sporong, the prioritized project was that of toilets. The settlement of about 70 residents has been using a nearby bush as their toilet and they describe the situation as demeaning. The two pit toilets that were put up by the Municipality got filled up years back and have never been drained. The sanitation challenge is one that is mirrored in informal settlements across Midvaal.

ISN and FEDUP’s intervention was that of engaging the community leaders and community at large with the aim of motivating them to start working towards self-sustenance. Upon verifying with the leaders that the toilet project is a priority as indicated in the profile; the project was then scheduled. Community participation and resources in form of tools were put to good use and the top structures of the full pit latrines were repositioned. The toilet project ran concurrently with the savings mobilization. The savings team was led by Rosy and Nompi. With the women of Sporong, the two aforementioned; shared the history of the SDI alliance, savings and how they have personally benefitted from being members of savings groups. The FedUp leaders currently await a date for the savings implementation.

Full pit toilet dismantled

Repositioning and assembling the top structure

Jun 26

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Alliance and Community Architects Network plan inclusive cities in Philippines

By Yolande Hendler CORC, FEDUP, ISN, SDI No Comments

By Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

From 16-23 June 2015, the SA SDI Alliance joined community designers and architects for the third regional workshop of the Community Architects Network (CAN) in Metro Manila, Philippines. The Alliance team consisted of 3 FEDUP and ISN community members who are involved in managing community construction as well as two of CORC’s community architects. The workshop was hosted by CAN’s Philippine Alliance organisations of HPFI (Homeless People’s Federation Philippines Inc.), TAMPEI (technical Assistance Movemnet for People and Environment Inc.) and PACSII (Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives, Inc.),

The theme of the 2015 workshop was “Together we CAN! People Planning for future inclusive cities”, emphasizing that strong partnership can yield excellent achievements. There was an estimate of one hundred attendees from different countries (representatives from public institutions, academia, CBOs and NGOs). The workshop spanned eight days and involved several activities: getting to know the Philippine context, sharing various country experiences updates on approaches and experiences of community architecture, reflection sessions and exhibits.

The group split to do community fieldwork in two locations in Metro Manila, the heritage site Intramuros and Muntinlupa City. The SA SDI Alliance members had the honor to work on more than two groups and with different communities. The Alliance sent five members to attend with the aim of exposing them to the programme and gaining knowledge to apply in South African community upgrading. The alliance looked to build and strengthen partnerships and lobby potential stakeholders.

CAN Background

CAN is a regional network of community architects that focuses on improving the living conditions of poor communities in Asian countries through community-based projects under the Coalition of Community Action Program (ACCA) regarding people housing, city-wide upgrading and recovery from disaster . CAN has opened opportunities for interested young professionals, academic institutes NGOs, CBO`s to come and engage with design skills to support communities in finding solutions to their own needs.

CAN 2013 Workshop: PEOPLE CAN MAKE CHANGE

In 2013, a workshop of the same nature took place under the theme “People CAN make change and progress”, where communities were introduced to bringing about change through acquiring tools, skills and information. Communities were taught different skills from mapping and savings to profiling. After the ten day workshop, the community members and architects came up with solutions that would push local government towards building avenues that would represent the people as well as a building plan that would be community driven and understood. The network strongly believes that the role of community architects is to build the capability of people through participatory design and planning so that people themselves become the solution.

CAN 2015 workshop: TOGETHER WE CAN

On the opening day, the host city Intramuros held a number of talks that gave an overview of Philippines informal settlements and introduced city-wide development approaches in Asian cities. The delegates were split into groups and sent to different cities around the Philippines. The purpose was for delegates to identify and resolve issues and share knowledge around the communities.

A public forum took place on the eighth day, where all groups presented their findings and suggestions and were given the opportunity to select the best plan for each community and share their experiences surrounding their visit.

Challenges for the re-blocking group in informal settlement Sitio Pagkakaisa, Manila

Community members who don’t want re-blocking.
Critical challenge was the materials the houses were built in, which would not be easy to remove. In some informal settlements people have already secured land tenure with their subsidy money and their savings, they now fear that they will be unable to build houses once the re-blocking takes place

Challenges for the Intramuros, Manila

Finding a solution to better the high density of the settlements
The most challenging part was designing an upgrading plan that would address the needs and embrace the heritage of the Intramorous communities
Issue of land tenure and people living in private land deemed as a major challenge in upgrading –related processes.

Learning points

A community’s knowledge of its settlement is essential for drafting development plans and interacting with government officials about pressing issues in informal settlements. The community seemed informed of the development plan and where they are lacking in terms of services.
The partnership between local officials and the community is vital. It is kept strong to an extent that the municipality is willing to communicate and engage with communities regarding housing and informal settlement upgrading.
When community leaders have a good relationship with community members, they make informed decision together.
Savings is the pillar of creating communal consistency in the informal settlement
SA SDI Alliance members learnt how to engage with problem solving in the context of a different country, how to use existing SDI tools in a completely different setting and an approach to building communities with a strong heritage value who showcase this in their planning.

SA SDI Alliance Team

Outcomes of the exchange

Intramuros: Suggestions for sustainable and participatory options for informal settlements in Intramuros heritage site, in context of its revitalization plan.
Muntinlupa: Suggestions for holistic solutions for informal settlements located in high risk zones with insecurity of tenure
CAN delegates managed to advocacy for interaction between Muntinlupa City and its Barangays.
New CAN attendees were exposed to the practical implementation of SDI rituals
CAN delegates gained membership of the CAN

Jun 18

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From Re-blocking to Housing: Lwazi Park – CPUT Studio 2015

By Yolande Hendler CORC, ISN No Comments

By Yolande Hendler & Andiswa Meke (on behalf of CORC)

In April 2015, the community of Lwazi Park embarked on a four-week design studio that investigated affordable solutions for incrementally improving dwelling structures in the settlement. Through its affiliation to the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) and Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), the community partnered with fourth year students of Architectural Technology from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) as well as a visiting group of students from the Reunion Island arm of the Ecolé National Superier d’Architecture Montpellier (ENSAM).

CPUT & Reunion Students visit Lwazi Park.

Lwazi Park Informal Settlement

Lwazi Park is situated in Gugulethu, near the N2 freeway in Cape Town. The settlement is now home to thirty-eight households and a primary school adjacent to the area. Its first inhabitants are alleged to have occupied the space in the mid- 1990s, when they built informal dwellings near the Lotus River. In 2001 the informal settlement stretched from Klipfontein Road up to the Eastern edge of Gugulethu. Lwazi Park is characterized by canals that were built fifty years ago, with the purpose of draining the flood plains for communities who were forcibly removed from the city centre during the apartheid era. Today, these canals are polluted and flood every rainy season.

View of Lwazi Park canal

Past Studios Paving the Way for Lwazi Park

The relationship between Lwazi Park community and the SA SDI Alliance dates to 2011, when the community, Alliance and City of Cape Town began to address a pending relocation of the informal settlement. Click here for more background. CPUT’s architectural technology students first participated in joint design studios with ISN & CORC in 2011 working on subsequent collaborative design in Vygieskraal and Manenberg.

The 2015 Lwazi Park studio was convened as a response to the community’s desire to explore options for further in situ upgrading after re-blocking in 2011. This is one of the first Alliance studios focused on incremental housing typologies for a settlement that has already undergone re-blocking. The studio thus reflects the incremental and cumulative nature of informal settlement upgrading. Perhaps even more significantly it speaks to a context-specific and community-centred approach.

Lwazi Park after reblocking in 2011

Within the Alliance, studios play a significant role. On the one hand they support community negotiations with local authorities: through a collaborative approach studios bring about community-informed design typologies. On the other, they challenge and extend existing disciplinary norms in architectural thought and practice. CPUT Lecturer, Rudolf Perold, explains that such approaches are anomalies in

“the field of architecture, which often does not make provision for design in informal areas let alone consider the community’s lived context as informing appropriate and relevant design solutions*.”

In this sense collaborative design studios generate ideas and debate on alternative housing design and delivery options that address residential environments within existing and challenging urban conditions.

Lwazi Park Studio Content: incremental housing typologies

In practice, the studio comprised a site visit to Lwazi Park and two collaborative design instances between community representatives, students and Alliance representatives (ISN & CORC) who provided social support and facilitation. The students were tasked to develop a spatial development/master plan for the settlement’s in-situ upgrading to two to three story residential buildings as well as housing typologies that would respond to the social needs and spatial context of Lwazi Park community.

Lwazi Park community leader engages students around their questions.

During the site visit community members introduced students to the physical layout and context of their settlement, lived realities, daily challenges and needs. These include the lack of a multipurpose / community hall or a nearby school. A central concern was the lack of funding provided by the city to help improve the standard of living. The community also expressed a desire for a safe place for their children to play in. A further concern related to drug abuse by the youth and the unsettling rate of crime.

Once the site visit had been completed and some preliminary insight gathered from community members, the design process began. CPUT lecturer Rudolf Perold explains,

“Their [the students’] point of departure was the community representatives’ assertion that they were set on obtaining tenure security and upgrading their settlement. Having had to adjust their approach based on the input received (albeit not representative of the entire community’s wishes) the complexity of balancing the community’s needs with your own design intent became clear”.

Challenges and Learning Points

In reflecting on the studio, CPUT lecturer Rudolf Perold highlights learning points for the students

The relationship between designer and occupant was crucial to the design process and triggered an empathy which contributed to the success of the design outcomes
The situated knowledge of community representatives and the Alliance proved integral to the development of the site layout and housing typologies
Students were sensitized to lived realities in informal settlements
“These experiences show that designers require a broadened skill set if they are to prove themselves useful in a context of mediation between poor urban communities and local government…- acting, as Stephen Lamb of Design-Change says, as interpreter of community needs rather than the holder of professional knowledge”

CPUT-based studio with input by community representatives, ISN & CORC.

In addition a CPUT student added,

“Realising how people adapted to their living conditions in Lwazi Park and how these conditions push people to learn to survive, was a learning curve for me.”

For both the students and the Alliance a core challenge was experienced by the lacking attendance of enough community representatives in campus-based contact sessions. The students gained some community input during the site visit, which helped to contextualize and ground their work. The lack of community representation, however, speaks to a need for more social facilitation between the different actors involved so that the jointly designed plans can indeed be presented to the municipality.

CPUT quotations taken from “Perold.R., Devish, O., Verbeeck, G. 2015. Informal Capacities: Broadening Design Practice to Support Community –Driven Transitions to Sustainable Urbanism. Working Paper.

Presentations of master plans and housing typologies

Final Student Presentations

May 25

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‘An eye for an eye makes the world blind’ – FEDUP/ ISN say NO to Xenophobia

By Yolande Hendler CORC, FEDUP, ISN, News, uTshani Fund No Comments

Authored by SA SDI Alliance

Following the outbreak of xenophobic violence in Gauteng in April 2015, the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDUP) and the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) – both members of the SA SDI Alliance – hosted a dialogue on 24 – 25 April 2015 to say NO to Xenophobia.

“When Xenophobia broke out the Catholic Church approached ISN & FEDUP for support because people were fleeing their homes. We decided on a dialogue because we realised that there was a problem on the ground.“

(Sipho Vanga, ISN Coordinator in Gauteng)

ISN facilitators in Holomisa settlement, Gauteng (2014). Sipho Vanga (third from left)

The dialogue was titled, ‘Is it really xenophobia or violent protest?’ It brought together 32 informal settlement leaders from Johannesburg (COJ) and Ekurhuleni Municipalities (EMM) in Gauteng Province. Represented settlements included Sicelo, Slovo Park, Delport, Marathon, Makause, Ramaphosa, Holomisa (COJ), Holomisa (EMM), Mandela, Kanana Park, Meriting, Denver, Zacharia Park, Siphamandla, Tinasonke and Thembakhoza. In a press release statement, FEDUP & ISN explained,

“In order to try and avoid violent protest and xenophobic acts we will host a series of dialogues with the leadership of informal settlements AND those affected by xenophobia to discuss social ills with the aim to facilitate the integration of affected people back into our communities.

(ISN/FEDUP Press Release)

The program spread over two days and sought to find a common understanding of xenophobia and its causes in South Africa and to propose possible solutions to stop violence and discrimination. Topics of discussion included:

Xenophobia
Unemployment
Social Stereo Typing
Crime
Gender
Water & Sanitation
Upgrading
Land Tenure
Youth
Poverty

Day 1: Dialogue on Xenophobia’s Causes and Challenges

The first day engaged Gauteng’s informal settlement leaders who gave voice to their communities’ grievances, perceptions and concerns. Leaders shared first-hand experience of xenophobic violence, their respective perceptions of root causes and avenues of response.

As community leaders spoke about experiences and community perceptions in their settlements they highlighted some perceived frustrations relating to:

Crime

“Illegal immigrants commit crimes and cannot be identified because their finger prints are not in the system”

Lack of employment

“Capitalists employ foreigners over locals because foreigners are willing to work harder and earn below the minimum wage.”

“Foreigners operate … businesses without licences because they can afford to bribe… authorities that approach them.”

“South Africans cannot compete with foreigners who are in a position of purchasing bulk commodities that automatically reduce purchase prices.”

Drugs & Poverty

“Foreigner mostly bring in and deal drugs that make a huge contribution to the poverty cycle.”

Low service provision and development

“The government uses foreigners as an excuse to not develop a number of areas. Yet when foreigners are displaced from communities, it is the government that advocates for their re-integration.”

Dialogue participants explained that jealousy drives locals as they perceive themselves as unable to compete with skills, knowledge and experience brought into the country by foreigners. For leaders this easy influx was connected to poorly protected borders. As “government only listens when communities take extreme measures” leaders explained that xenophobia was a new discovery by South Africans to ensure that their voices are heard and to catalyse service delivery. Some leaders criticised government for using informal settlements as “refugee camps”. They attributed the lack of service delivery to government’s reluctance to undertake upgrading in settlements that are home to foreign nationals.

“It is crystal clear that informal settlement residents are ignored and side-lined by government at all levels. Government has failed us completely in all areas of service delivery. Yet, we are always trying our level best, no matter what, to meet, plan and partner with government AND we will never stop trying!”

(FEDUP-ISN Press Release)

As the discussion unfolded, leaders analysed the matter in terms of their own context and role within it, recognising that “maintaining peace should start with leaders themselves”. They acknowledged that foreigners did not invade their communities but mostly settled through negotiation with respective community leaders while others rented from South Africans. Despite initially expressed frustration, participants concluded that “an eye for an eye only makes the world blind” and adopted a stance of saying “NO TO XENOPHOBIA”.

Day 2: Supporting the Displaced

Day two’s discussions included members of the police, business forums, perpetrators and affected people. Those affected explained that they had come to South Africa to improve their lives and not to sell drugs. Participants agreed that community members would help each other to communicate openly about illegal activity.

Leaders furthermore agreed that no further violence should be experienced. They recommended that illegal immigrants try return to their home countries and apply for relevant travel documents. A further recommendation related to the need for consultative public engagements (between communities and relevant government officials) on integration plans for legal immigrants.

Dialogue participants had previously expressed a growing concern with government’s limited interest in engaging relevant community structures to identify the root causes of xenophobic violence in order to find ways of ameliorating it through community-led processes. Leaders decided that going forward, ISN & FEDUP should facilitate engagements with local authorities and jointly advocate for peace and integration in communities. Community leaders would draft a Memorandum detailing the grievances.

“We are apologetic for what happened in the country. That is why we held dialogues. ISN and FEDUP play an important role: we are not going to sit and watch xenophobia happen. Some foreigners – like our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe – belong to SDI [Shack Dwellers International), just like us. The solution is to create space for leaders to engage in dialogue. ISN&FEDUP should pressure government to deliver and CORC should be the middle man between us.”

(Sipho Vanga, ISN Co-ordinator Gauteng)

Outlook: Negotiation not Violence

For ISN National Co-ordinator, Mzwanele Zulu,

“The root cause of xenophobia is apartheid. It is something we can’t run away from – discrimination and apartheid realities are still present: people live in conditions where there is no transformation. There has been human rights transformation and perhaps some psychological transformation but no change in living conditions. Political, social and economic issues – especially the high unemployment rate – affect people and cause high levels of frustration.”

Mzwanele Zulu, National ISN Coordinator

When cities act as engines of economic growth based on neo-liberal policies and programs they result in more inequality and poverty. Access to serviced, well-located land becomes increasingly difficult, as urban land markets are exclusionary by nature. More people are forced to access land informally and experience diminished opportunities to access employment, health, education, basic services and housing. In addition people experience diminished levels of political and administrative accountability. It is in this particular political and economic context in which informal settlement communities are trying to make sense of the chaos, their inequality and poverty.

“To address issues relating to informal settlement upgrading, urban poverty and development, the state needs CBOs, social movements and NGOs to work with. The same applies to xenophobia. We need drastic contributions from the state in terms of human and financial support. But the state’s response needs to be exercised through partnership with local channels.”

(Mzwanele Zulu, ISN National Co-ordinator)

May 12

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Taps, Toilets & Beyond: ISN partners with Water & Sanitation Dept

By Yolande Hendler CORC, ISN No Comments

By Nkokheli Ncambele (on behalf of ISN)*

Nkokheli Ncambele is the regional co-ordinator of the Alliance’s Informal Settlement Network (ISN) in the Western Cape.

Emseleni Community leader, Nomfundo Lungisa

In Mfuleni, informal settlements have been without basic services for five years. People had to buy water from surrounding formal houses; at night it was difficult for them to get to a toilet. Last year, ISN started creating a partnership with the City of Cape Town’s Water & Sanitation Department. We kept reporting these problems to the City until we saw that there was a light: the Department came to us saying, “Yes we are going to do something in those communities”.

The City is very important as a partner because when they come on board we see results: in March 2015 they installed a total of 15 standpipes for taps and 57 flush toilets in five settlements (Tambo Square, California, Constantia, Strong Yard and Emseleni) in Mfuleni region which is one of four ISN sub-regions in Cape Town. Every settlement’s leadership sends two or more members to our weekly sub-regional meetings to discuss issues. After we collect all issues we decide where to start. This is how we chose these five settlements for Water & Sanitation installation.

ISN co-ordinators Nkokheli Ncambele and Melanie Manuel with Kuku Town community leader, City of Cape Town councillor and officials

From backyards to informal settlements

You will find that most settlements like Tambo Square, California, Constantia, Strong Yard and Emseleni were established when formal housing was introduced. When there is a big housing improvement project there are always people who move in as backyard dwellers. Why are there so many new settlements like these? Because backyarders are tired of paying rent and being mistreated by homeowners who cut off services without notice. That’s why backyarders move into nearby open spaces.

Constantia informal settlement is in close proximity to formal housing.

Constantia Steering Committee members, Nolusapho Thandela and
Phindiswa Payiti

The beginnings of ISN in Mfuleni

Before ISN, we as community leaders used to have a joint leaders forum in Mfuleni. When we heard about ISN, we decided to join because the movement was talking about what we were already doing for a long time.

“We realised that actually we are ISN – anyone who is staying in an informal settlement is ISN. Let’s take this forward”.

New sub regional leaders asked us to explain the ISN process to them. Other community movements, development forums and Councillors also know about us. I can say that 99% of informal settlements in Mfuleni have gone on exchanges to see what other ISN communities are doing. That’s why they want to be part of ISN and why Mfuleni is becoming an ISN base. Look at the people of Tambo Square – they want to be involved in their own project. When the ISN coordinators go to Emseleni, people just come out to greet us. We see that people are hungry to solve their problems.

“Tambo Square started in 2007 when backyarders moved here. We had no toilets or taps and used to get water from the formal houses. We took our problems to ISN who helped us go to the municipality. These changes came to us with ISN – they play a big role for us”.

(Nkosikhona Bangiso, Tambo Square Steering Committee Leader)

Tambo Square community leader, Nkosikhona Bangiso

Tambo Square community use back of newly installed toilets for mapping workshop to plan further upgrading initiatives in their settlement.

Building our partnership with the City

As ISN, we know that the Department of Water & Sanitation has an interest to deliver basic services to communities. The difficulty is that many settlements have little open space for services to be installed. When ISN started mobilising communities and speaking about the value of basic services, community members began thinking about how to create more space in their settlement. In Tambo Square, for example, it looked like there was no space. We suggested that the community remove a large container that stood at the entrance of the settlement. Now there are ten toilets in that space. In this way it was easy to convince Water & Sanitation to partner with us. I think I can say that they see us (ISN) as a solution. We told them,

“We’ve got the space, now you can come and install the toilets. Don’t say there is no space in our community”.

The role of ISN & CORC in partnership building

What is unique about our Alliance is that CORC created a space between ISN and the City. In 2009 there was opposition between communities and the City. Because of that CORC was there to neutralise the relationship. I can say that CORC was a bridge that connected us to the City. The City used to say, “We don’t want to go to meetings with the communities because they will swear at us and toyi-toyi (protest) and do all these things.” But CORC has a belief that communities won’t do that. Through the engagement with CORC we (ISN) understood that we need to go to the table, and not to the street. Then at the end of 2009, the City started saying, “This thing is working”. I think that is why they are happy to work with us.

Flamingo Crescent informal settlement community members with ISN facilitator Melanie Manuel, CORC Director Bunita Kohler (left) and City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille

Nkokheli Ncambele (second from left) with fellow ISN co-ordinators Mzwanele Zulu and Melanie Manuel (far left and right), CORC technical support, Sizwe Mxobo (centre) and Western Cape MEC for Human Settlements.

The bigger picture: taps, toilets & beyond

We recently met with an Mfuleni councillor and asked what he thought about Mfuleni as a whole. He said he has a bigger picture – that in the next 20 years he doesn’t want to see informal settlements. For that to be possible I see that he needs a movement like ISN that will make sure that his vision is pushed. What is our vision? That all settlements have basic services and that all people who are living in informal settlements have houses. Our vision and his vision are on the same page.

* Compiled by Yolande Hendler (on behalf of CORC)

Newly installed water & sanitation in Strong Yard settlement, Mfuleni

ISN Archives - Page 2 of 5 - SASDI Alliance

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From Re-blocking to Housing: Lwazi Park – CPUT Studio 2015

‘An eye for an eye makes the world blind’ – FEDUP/ ISN say NO to Xenophobia

Taps, Toilets & Beyond: ISN partners with Water & Sanitation Dept

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