A move to house hundreds of displaced shop owners at the Extension 6 Indoor Sports Complex has been cancelled.
A move to house hundreds of displaced shop owners at the Extension 6 Indoor Sports Complex has been cancelled.
Meanwhile, two local NGOs have slammed official efforts to resolve the crisis and, at a meeting attended by the Ethiopian ambassador, assured a group of displaced residents that they will look after their interests, scheduling a series of meetings during the period of the municipality’s proposed programme for public participation meetings for the 2015/16 financial year IDP and budget.
Tuesday’s meeting came as tensions between different groupings among the displaced people began to emerge.
Makana Municipality’s Disaster Unit manager, Khuselo Qupe, confirmed to Grocott’s Mail yesterday (10 November) that the displaced shop owners would not be moved to the sports complex.
“We are not doing that. There are lots of reasons around it,” he said.
Qupe said one of the reasons is that the looting took place all around town and in the township.
“You cannot return them to the same area without proper reintegration. We can’t risk that,” he said. Also, said Qupe, the centre itself is not very suitable as accommodation.
“Remember a place that people are going to live in needs to be partitioned for privacy purposes, and that is a hall, there is no partitioning,” he said. He added that municipality also has a duty to consider the risk to the facility, because it is was not built to accommodate people.
Qupe said the displaced families are also getting food aid from a number of NGOs which, he says, might create more tension, because there are destitute families living around the sports complex. The complex is also used by the community for occasions such as funerals, weddings and meetings.
“There are already bookings, so we would have to cancel those. This could also lead to the community saying you are prioritising them over us,” he said. Qupe said the plan now is to speed up the reintegration process while the families continue to stay in the safe zone. They themselves believe that’s the safest place in town and they have their own rooms, showers and a kitchen for preparing meals. “We are in contact with a number of NGOs – like Cape Town Refugee Centre,
Africa Unite and UNHCR which is part of the United Nations. They are on board in terms of assisting financially and otherwise. It’s not like we are using municipal funds to house them. There are NGOs that have an interest in this matter,” he said. Qupe said they had never dealt with this kind of situation before and as a result they have considered trying to establish a shelter.
They decided against that idea because it was too expensive. “We have agreed that the current arrangement is the cheapest.” The residents displaced by the looting and intimidation of three weeks ago, this week expressed frustration at what they see as a lack of communication by municipal officials about plans were for housing them safely, and when and how they were to be reintegrated into their communities.
Tensions
On 21 and 22 October, immigrant shopkeepers and their families fled their township spaza shops and homes, as mobs looted 300 businesses. Many left town to stay with friends and family; between 200 and 500 a night have since then been staying in a safe zone in the area. In a special Council meeting on Friday 6 November, it was announced that those being housed in private premises a short distance outside Grahamstown would on Tuesday 10 November be moved to the Indoor Sport Centre in Joza.
Leader of the group co-ordinating the displaced residents’ needs, Dr Naveed Anjum, said this week that most of them were uncomfortable about the proposed move. Anjum, chair of Grahamstown Anti-Xenophobia Committee, said, “When I spoke to them [Sunday] night, people were not comfortable to go that side. The environment is not comfortable. “There are huge windows, and privacy and security are a concern.
“And then, even if the NGOs bring food in, people from surrounding areas will certainly resent that, thus leading to more tensions. “Most of the displaced people have said they would rather stay with friends and families than there.” Anjum feels community leaders and councillors need to do more before they can be comfortable returning to their communities.
“Community leaders, councillors need to show unity, without even thinking about their political differences.”
One of the displaced shopkeepers expressed frustration about poor communication of plans.
“We were thinking maybe on Friday afternoon we would be taken to the Sport Centre. Then on Saturday, people were thinking, ‘Okay maybe it’s today’,” said the man, who asked not to be named. “But also, if you ask many of them, they will tell you they thought they would be staying where the screening was happening.”
Last Thursday, all the displaced residents needing assistance were asked to go to Fiddlers Green, where their details were recorded. Fiddlers Green was the site initially identified as a transit camp. “They have reservations about the Sport Centre. They say the place is hard to reach – we prefer being here [at the safe zone].”
Tensions among different groupings of the displaced people emerged this week over the distribution of food, with some claiming that others were controlling donations.
The Red Cross has said they will have to stop donating food and supplies, unless these are correctly accounted for.
Grahamstown representative of the organisation, Annerie Wolmarans, said she had received instructions from their head office that they are prepared to assist, but only on the basis of the local disaster management committee outlining its needs.
Among their requirements, Wolmarans said, were a control register including a proper list of displaced persons and their dependents, a means of identification, and a register for receipt of donations.
“They need to know where the food goes, and where the money goes,” said Wolmarans.
Feeling the pinch
A meeting at the safe zone on Tuesday 10 November was led by Unemployed People’s Movement leader Ayanda Kota, Masifunde Education and Development Project Trust’s Nomonde Kalipa, and Extension 9 Community Policing Forum chairperson Patricia May.
Kota told the group of around 80 people, mostly Ethiopian immigrants, that they were stepping in where the municipality had failed, and were embarking on their own reintegration plan for the shopkeepers to return to communities.
A member of the audience asked Kota, “If the permission is given by you to re-open our shops, who will protect us?”
“We have our ears to the ground,” Kota said. “We know which spots are dangerous. It is not advisable to open your shops in the township. Without a proper reintegration plan, the risk is very high.”
Kota explained that his organisation had, prompted by the complaints of the group called Voices of the Foreigners Wives, convened a meeting with landlords in Hlalani – people who had rented parts of their properties to the shopkeepers. Kota said at the 8 November meeting at the Apostolic Faith Mission, there had been opposing responses. He said one person who spoke at the meeting had said the shopkeepers should not come back because extended family were now occupying that place.
Another response, Kota told the audience, had been that landlords were feeling the pinch now that they weren’t receiving rent and free goods from the shopkeepers.
Kalipa said Masifunde and the UPM had developed a plan with the Voices of the Foreigners Wives. She said this was because they were concerned about the risk to their safety.
Kalipa said their coalition had organised a schedule of meetings beginning with simultaneous meetings in Vukani’s Luvuyo Hall, and BB Zondani Hall on Wednesday 11 November at 5pm. They had scheduled further meetings at municipal venues until 16 November. These meetings are scheduled to take place during the same time period as the municipality’s statutory IDP consultation meetings; however, according to the days and times given by both parties, there is no direct clash.
Kota said he would organise more food to be brought for the displaced people and that he would put pressure on the authorities to make sure they were safe. He said the fact that they hadn’t received food donations for three days, was disheartening.
“We will issue a press statement that no one is taking care of our comrades,” Kota said.
”This is the struggle. It is not for the faint-hearted. It is not a bed of roses. Ours is to lift the morale. These are the conditions of blacks in the diaspora and of the working class.” He completed his speech with a quote from Thabo Mbeki’s 21 September 2008 address to the nation the day after he was told to step down as president, quoting, “Those who complete the course will do so only because they do not, as fatigue sets in, convince themselves that the road ahead is still too long, the inclines too steep, the loneliness impossible to bear and the prize itself of doubtful value.”
Kota's speech preceded the arrival of the Ethiopian Ambassador to South Africa, Mulugeta Kelil, who addressed the group in their home language.
Break-in
Meanwhile, the reported break-in at a shop in Extension 9 on Sunday night casts doubt on the viability of shopkeepers being able to return to business.
Tadas Kifili Bebwata told Grocott’s Mail how he had restocked his Extension 9 shop with the help of friends and family.
He said he had replaced five fridges, along with a significant amount of stock, having repaired the windows and door broken in the looting last month.
On Sunday night, he said, thieves broke in and took everything.
Police had not yet confirmed the incident at the time of publishing.
Responding to a question about other shop owners re-opening their shops, Qupe said some are returning to their shops on their own.
“But there are a few who are still fearful and need reassurance,” he said.
Qupe stressed that they are on the move in terms of implementing the reintegration plan.
“We are spreading the word on different platforms,” he said.
Qupe said he had been in constant communication with provincial government in an attempt to try and get them to assist in coming up with a solution.
“I submitted an update yesterday to the province requesting their assistance as well. I have been submitting reports to the province from day one,” he said.
