CAPE TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014 INSIGHT 13 USING HINDSIGHT TO ORGANISE BETTER The itch in Madiba’s ear Grassroots service solutions signals the deafness of Paul Hendler prepaid basis, although there are some Rules require tenants people who can’t afford to buy electricity. A QUARTER of our population live in dis- Sanitation services are sometimes irregu- persed informal settlements which are to pay their rentals, lar and solid waste is dumped in contain- politicians disconnected from urban social services ers and the municipality is meant to col- and amenities, have lower service levels but... they provide lect these twice a week – often this is only than formal townships, are poorly main- once a week, and they do not supply tained and have a high fire and flood risk. rental relief; where enough bags. IN A Unsurprisingly, many protest (sometimes As a developer and property manager, STATE with destructive consequences), aiming to defaulters are able to Amakhaya Ngoku has facilitated a trans- improve and rectify the level of basic formation of the housing circumstances of Peter Wilhelm services as well as exercise their access to afford payments but a limited number of people – there is little social services and amenities. time for considering bigger issues like the In the 1970s and 1980s, similar large- do not co-operate, they integration of Masiphumelele with the THE RABBIT in the Madiba memorial scale protests included a demand for vot- nearby business, commercial and recre- statue at the Union Buildings has ing and other democratic civil rights have had once to ational centres. Its delivery model works – caused a furore. because there were political obstacles to an important lesson for informal settle- The late icon stands glaring out with changing material living conditions in evict people, which has ment communities attempting to make the peaceable determination – just as one segregated townships. Now, under a dem- transition from informal structures to for- would expect. However, tucked into his ocratic dispensation, primarily economic led to tensions mal, institutionally managed housing. ear is a tiny bunny, for which the sculptors obstacles to overcoming persistent poverty Both Amakhaya Ngoku and the Lan- (André Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van and degraded living conditions raise the grug Network face the risk of being cut off Vuuren) have apologised, on the basis that question whether there is another way for from their base constituencies as they the mini-mammal was by way of a communities to organise. structed to prevent wash-away of shacks develop into more formalised structures signature. Two grassroots organisations used during winter rainstorms. that assume co-responsibility with munic- Do I believe them? At least they owned negotiations with local municipalities for Technical assistance for the upgrading ipal authorities: up and immediately grovelled. In 1911 – improved basic services and housing. project was provided through two aca- First, Amakhaya Ngoku as a company when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Could this be a forerunner of more cre- demic institutions as well as the Commu- has shareholders that are also their cus- Louvre – the first suspects were Pablo ative interactions between local govern- nity Organisation Resource Centre (Corc), tomers, 21 households of which recently Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire. ments and empowered communities in an NGO supporting the ISN. Corc’s and refused to pay their rentals. They managed Neither did the deed and the painting was the future? A precondition is that munici- ISN’s organisation-building strategy this risk by a combination of talking and undamaged by the time it turned up a pal governments listen to and support – emphasises engagement with municipali- firm action that led to legal evictions. The couple of years later. with finances – the emergence of creative ties by grassroots community representa- fact that Amakhaya Ngoku survived this The shadowy thief did not, for and accountable organisation at tives at all crucial decision-making points, issue and is preparing to complete the proj- example, scrawl some celebrity’s name community level. to drive infrastructure and services ect for the remaining 120 families is an across the bottom – say “Leonardo After a fire had destroyed around 400 upgrading: the communities bring collec- indication of a strong organisation – DiCaprio”, though that’s a little snarky shacks in an informal settlement area in tive assets (organised, cohesive social net- many housing co-operatives in the Johan- and anachronistic. the community of Masiphumelele in one works, like savings collectives) as well as nesburg central city during the 1990s fell The disappearance made Da Vinci’s night in 2006, residents refused starter kits equity funds to the table, which then lever- apart, rocked by similar conflicts. Its chal- lady’s smile notorious. Theories about its provided by city officials and began to age community labour, building materials lenge is to retain its identity as an organi- origins are that (a) she was smirking organise their struggle for houses – called and further funding for the upgrading sation fighting to improve people’s living because she could inform her lover that “Amakhaya Ngoko” (Homes Now). development. conditions when households fall on hard she had a bun in the oven; (b) she had seen Through negotiations with the Cape Access to potable water, electricity, safe times, for which it needs reserve funds. a rival who appeared in public without Town Municipality and with support of a sanitation and refuse removal has Where will this come from? blowing her nose; and (c) nobody knows. local architect and a fund-raiser, a plan was improved significantly and there is fund- Second, rolling out the Langrug type of Note that these are all satirical reflections developed to house all families in the same ing to support six full-time organisers development elsewhere also requires on her succubus-like look. small area in 12 two-to-three-storey walk-up with a R1 500 monthly stipend – lending larger amounts of funding, a fact recog- Back then to the fractional rabbit. If blocks of flats for rent-to-buy tenure. organisational coherence. Sixty people nised by ISN and Corc, who are in the Prinsloo and Van Vuuren had intended it A few years later, another community were employed for three months to con- process of scaling up their Community as a ribald comment on the disorientated in Langrug negotiated with the Stellen- struct a stormwater channel paid for by Upgrade Finance Facility through a signif- leadership vacuum we all feel at present, bosch Municipality to upgrade their sani- the Expanded Public Works Programme at icant tranche of donor funding and trying why is it so small? Remember The Spear? tation, storm and grey water infrastruc- R90 a day. to get municipalities to augment city-wide Surely Mandela’s head should have been ture. In both cases communities invested The Amakhaya Ngoku Housing Associ- funds in return for co-ownership of these tucked into his ear while huge bunny ears time and effort into the delivery of infra- ation engaged in lengthy and challenging funds – co-ownership means that ISN par- listened to the awful society he (via a few structure and residential development, in negotiations with the Cape Town Munici- ticipates in structures driven by the inter- presidential loops) bequeathed us. Bugs stark contrast to the protest-demand mode pality and the provincial department of ests of donors and municipalities, and not Bunny has clearly had more influence on of organisations elsewhere, and demon- human settlements, and with a minority of simply by those of the grassroots, who the born-free cadres than Mandela. strating an engagement that was absent squatters initially refusing to vacate their could institute a top-down process which Scraping out the rabbit – which will from the insurrectionary social move- premises for the construction of the new could undermine (or complicate) the ISN’s give the statue the same status as the ments of the 1970s and 1980s. units – tension was exacerbated by local bottom-up approach. Mona Lisa’s Kinky Boots smile, sneered at Masiphumelele is a township between political party competition. ISN Langrug risks being cut of from its by AWB types who believe that Jacob Kommetjie, Capri Village and Noordhoek, Ultimately the housing association base if scaling up funding operations Zuma always has a large one stuffed in his first settled in the 1980s – in 1990 there were secured sufficient private donor funding reaches the point where corporate struc- ear – will not be easy. 8 000 people (mainly in shacks), 26 000 in as well as institutional subsidies to cover tures emerge that lose touch with grass- The monument is nine-metres high, so 2005 (many in brick homes), and 38 000 in the outstanding capital required for the roots needs. Strengthening the role of sav- that if, for example, a dentist is enlisted for 2010. Amenities are scarce – there has been first phases of the development. First vol- ings collectives in the decision-making the task, he would need a fireman’s ladder a very high HIV infection rate – next to a unteer-provided, later professionally paid around disbursement of larger, municipal- and a bunch of incomprehensible wires library, a children’s home and other places technical architectural and engineering sourced funding could mitigate this risk. (like a computer) to attach his hideous of learning and support by different assistance enabled physical implementa- Lastly, the consequence of these risks is drill. It could take time. NGOs. Also, a first flat building by the tion, and still partly provides oversight for the disintegration of grassroots organisa- At least the statue is not as high as the NGO Homes for Kids in South Africa operational management. tional power which enabled both organisa- proposed Shivaji monument in Mumbai – (Hokisa) was built.