This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 002621 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO DEPT OF HOUSING WASHDC 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON ELAB SF
SUBJECT:  SOUTH AFRICA: HOUSING WOES LEAD TO UNREST 
 
REF:  A. CAPE TOWN 301 
 
      ¶B. PRETORIA 1895 
 
(U) This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified.  Not for 
Internet distribution. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Over the past year, residents of poor 
communities have increasingly taken to the streets across 
South Africa to protest the lack of housing and local 
government service delivery.  In some instances, police have 
fired tear gas and rubber bullets at unruly crowds who were 
blocking roads, hurling rocks, or burning tires.  The 
crescendo of protests during the past few months has caught 
the South African Government off guard and resulted in some 
defensive responses.  While the ANC can point to the 
construction of 1.8 million new homes since 1994, the 
protesters do not see their municipal leaders delivering for 
them.  The Minister of Local and Provincial Government 
recently conceded to Parliament that 136 of 284 
municipalities in South Africa were "under-performing." 
National government is hurriedly organizing management "swat" 
teams to perform municipal triage.  Meanwhile, political 
leaders are working to diffuse local tensions.  The political 
ramifications of almost half of all municipalities being 
unable to deliver on national government promises are 
serious, and cannot be fixed overnight.  End Summary. 
 
Housing Protests Engulf Nation 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Over the past year, communities across the country 
have taken to the streets protesting corrupt local 
government, lack of housing, as well as inadequate water, 
sanitation, and power services.  In scenes reminiscent of the 
apartheid era, protesters have blocked roads, burned tires, 
and hurled rocks at the police in an effort to draw attention 
to their plight.  On a number of occasions, police have fired 
tear gas and rubber bullets at unruly crowds.  The most 
shocking confrontation occurred in Harrismith (Free State) in 
August 2004, when police wound up shooting one demonstrator 
who died of his wounds. 
 
¶3.  (U) The cycle of protests ignited in July 2004 when nearly 
3,000 citizens burned down municipal buildings and accused 
their mayor of corruption in the allocation of housing in 
Diepsloot (near Johannesburg).  In August/September 2004, 
residents of Harrismith (Free State) took to their streets to 
protest corrupt leaders, the slow pace of housing delivery, 
and the lack of basic services.  Similar protests sprung up 
in other parts of the Free State in late 2004.  In 2005, the 
protests continued to spread, engulfing Chatsworth (Durban), 
Phomolong (Free State), Mmamahabane (Free State), Embalenhle 
(Mpumalanga), Secunda (Mpumalanga), and Cato Crest (Durban). 
May 2005 was the worst month yet, with protests raging in 
Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape), Steynville (Northern Cape), 
Mamelodi (Pretoria/Tshwane) as well as Cape Town (Ref A). 
With national government finally mobilizing on the issue, 
June 2005 was calmer; no major protests have been reported. 
 
Government on the Defensive 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) In his State of the Nation address to Parliament on 
February 11, President Mbeki admitted that many citizens were 
still waiting for housing and public services and pledged 
additional resources to rectify the backlog.  However, he 
also warned that violent or illegal demonstrations would not 
be rewarded with additional resources, but be met with "the 
full force of the law."   In at least one instance, the 
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) took these words to 
heart by filing sedition charges against 13 Harrismith 
protesters, the first such charges since 1994.  Moreover, the 
South African Government (SAG) requested the National 
Intelligence Agency (NIA) investigate allegations that a 
"third force" was behind the protests, such as a political 
party or the ultra-conservative Afrikaner group the Boeremag. 
 
¶5.  (U) The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) 
has publicly objected to the SAG's reaction to the protests 
and to the criminalization of protesters.  COSATU also called 
for increased investment in housing and roads.  Some ANC 
officials have echoed COSATU's views.  ANC Secretary-General 
Kgalema Motlanthe commented that he was "astonished" over 
reports that the NIA was investigating the protests, stating 
that the government ought to focus on the issues behind the 
protests instead. 
 
SAG's Record on Housing 
----------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) After eleven years of democracy, the Department of 
Housing (DOH) touts that it has provided shelter to over 6 
million people by building 1.8 million homes.  During the 
past five years, the SAG has provided 150,000 to 200,000 
houses annually.  Despite these efforts, a backlog of an 
estimated 2.5 million houses exists throughout the country. 
The DOH attributes most of this backlog to the over 2% annual 
population growth rate and the 30% increase in number of 
households, in part because the average size of a household 
has fallen from above five to less than four persons.  Urban 
migration has only compounded the problem, as droves have 
moved to the cities in search of employment. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Given South Africa's historical challenges, the DOH 
views its housing program as a relative success.  In May, 
Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, daughter of late ANC leader 
Walter Sisulu, stated to Parliament that she was "extremely 
satisfied" with the progress that the department had made in 
the provinces.  At the same time, the DOH seems to be laying 
responsibility for the protests on the doorsteps of local 
government.  In a June 1 public statement, the DOH claimed 
that its conscience was clear because the protests were aimed 
at local government, and DOH had no jurisdiction over local 
government. 
 
Lack of Local Government Capacity 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Lack of capacity at the municipal level has been the 
major roadblock to housing and service delivery (Ref B). 
After a 2004 assessment of the country's 284 municipalities, 
Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi 
announced that 136, or nearly half, of municipalities were 
"under-performing." (Note:  The exact definition of 
"under-performing" has not been made public, but is likely to 
include the inability to shrink the housing backlog, deliver 
on basic services, disburse funds, and file reports to 
provincial and national government on time in accordance with 
the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA). End Note.) 
The underlying causes of municipal failure rest with the lack 
of staff and the lack of trained staff. 
 
¶9.  (U) In an attempt to rectify the situation, the Department 
of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) initiated a 
two-year program to rescue failing municipalities on October 
29, 2004 called "Project Consolidate."  Teams of development 
professionals will assess each under-performing municipality 
and make specific recommendations as to what is needed to 
improve performance.  On April 1, 2005, the first teams were 
dispatched to the most critical 25 municipalities. 
KwaZulu-Natal is the worst offender, with 29 under-performing 
municipalities.  Gauteng was the least offender, with only 
five under-performing municipalities.  The other provinces 
have between 10 and 18 under-performing municipalities. 
(Note:  Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape each had 18, followed 
by the Northern Cape at 16, North West at 15, Limpopo at 14, 
Free State at 11, and Western Cape at 10. End Note.) 
 
¶10.  (U) Meanwhile, local politicians are trying to diffuse 
tensions by encouraging more public participation through 
engagement with local government.  Municipalities have sped 
up their plans to assemble ward committees comprised of 
community and government leaders that will prepare and review 
each municipality's budget, development plans, and 
performance goals.  Currently, ward committees are up and 
running in 80% of municipalities in seven provinces. (Note: 
Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have chosen not to establish 
ward committees. End Note.)  The pressure is on local leaders 
to produce results, as President Mbeki is keeping a watchful 
eye and plans to visit selected municipalities to assess 
efforts. 
 
Housing Strategy Going Forward 
------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  (U) The DOH realizes that in order to accomplish its 
goals, the department cannot ignore regulatory and municipal 
capacity issues.  The DOH wants to align the housing 
regulatory framework with the roles for national and local 
government.  As a first step, the DOH contracted Price 
Waterhouse Coopers to audit all housing waiting lists with a 
view to consolidating them into a nationally audited list. 
The DOH also wants to improve local government 
accountability, technical expertise, and coordination by 
working with "mini-housing" units located within certain 
municipalities.  The DOH's overall plan is to step up the 
quality of its housing program through the implementation of 
its "Comprehensive Plan on Sustainable Human Settlements." 
The strategy's focus is to move away the isolated townships 
formulated under apartheid, but continued after the 1994 
transition.  The DOH envisions creating communities with 
low-cost housing that have easy access to work, shopping, 
recreation, and education.  Its goal is to eradicate all 
slums by the end of 2015, in line with the Millennium 
Development Goals.  The budget to build housing tops R17 
billion ($2.6 billion) over the next three years. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Local protests throughout the country are more than 
a wake up call for the ANC government.  Local frustrations 
could have political ramifications as the government 
continues to experience problems in delivering on its 
promises in the run up to local elections in late 2005/early 
¶2006.  While these protests do not threaten ANC dominance of 
the political landscape, the government could exacerbate 
negative sentiment toward the ANC if it responds defensively. 
The use of the NIA to explore whether a third force was 
behind the protests and NPA's lodging of sedition charges is 
a worrisome display of raw power that is likely to only make 
matters worse.  However, capacity issues at all levels of 
government, especially the municipal level, may be even more 
worrisome.  Since there are no quick fixes to the problem, we 
expect protests to continue in the near term.  While the DOH, 
DPLG, and others deploy shock troops to help municipalities 
fulfill their responsibilities, ANC politicians will have to 
"hit the hustings" to keep the local dissatisfaction from 
continuing to boil over. 
 
FRAZER