The urban palimpsest: Part 3, building the grid
[Continued from yesterday's Part 2 and the previous Part 1.]
By: David A. Smith
Within twenty-four hours of a fire that destroyed more than 5900 homes in the Cape Town informal settlement of Joe Slovo, more progress had been made in community redevelopment than had been accomplished in the previous fifteen years’ of confrontation. The palimpsests had been scraped, but what would be written on the newly-clean parchment?
(A large set of pictures is here, from which this post’s images are drawn. My quotes are from a report, written by Tom Herbstein of the University of Cape Town’s African Security and Justice Program (ASJP), and circulated by SDI member affiliate FED-UP, South Africa’s Federation of the Urban Poor led by Rose Molokoane )
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Would, in fact, the government do what it said?
Tuesday 10th March 2009
On Tuesday, blocking continued throughout the day. A tense scenario unfolded around 09:00 when Disaster Management informed the community that only fire victims who were resident on the original Government “Thubelishe“ list, compiled many months previously, would receive a starter pack.
When free goodies are being handed out, everybody wants one … but not everybody deserves one. Residency is used as the proxy for entitlement, which can be a challenge because even if the slum is resilient, individual slum households emigrate and immigrate continuously. This challenge was solved in the usual way possible only after a disaster:
The Joe Slovo leadership, together with a large crowd of community members, held an informal meeting with members of the Informal Housing Department and after a heated discussion agreed that everyone who had lost a shack in the fire would receive a starter pack.
Incumbency defined as presence at the catastrophe; entitlement lubricated by another dollop of government money.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Although Ikhayalami’s efforts to reblock were often hampered by these sorts of issues, by the end of Tuesday there were two clear lanes of plots marked out, each 4m x 5m, back-to-back with three lanes each 1.5m wide in between. The leadership, together with the community, then began allocating these plots to the fire victims who had been in that area.
Just as
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Wednesday 11th March
blocking carried on throughout Wednesday, with iKhayalami continuing to work with the leadership and community to lay out plots and ensure people adhered to the lanes.
Traffic cops are useful if they are transparent and impartial.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
The first batch of iKhayalami material was delivered at noon, just enough for four shelters, but enough to show the community what was involved and what the upgraded areas might look like. The arrival of this material proved to be a key turning point as people now had a clear understanding of what iKhayalami, and the leadership, were describing.
As I’ve said repeatedly, the solution is its salesware.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Residents began to approach iKhayalami directly with requests to support blocking in their areas. In many instances people were willing to even dismantle their shacks and relocate in-line, in expectation that they would receive building material at a later stage, which speeded up the process considerably.
What a turnaround. In 2½ days, the same people who had spent fifteen years resisting calls for demolition and rebuilding were now eager to demolish their own homes, because they could visualize what they would be getting, they could grasp why it would be better, and they could trust that they would receive what they had been promised.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
People are suspicious, but people are smart.
This process led to greater community participation, and negotiating patiently with the community speeded up the process considerably. While all decisions as to the relocation of sites, and the allocation of materials, were handled by the Joe Slovo leadership, the Ikhayalami team assisted families in construction the panels. By 20:00 that night, 15 families had shelters in various stages of completion.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
It’s so critical to provide some short-term tangible progress. Words and personal credibility will take you only so far.
The community, now more mobilised, also organised nightly patrols, aimed both at guarding the building materials from theft and to keep order in Joe Slovo while people slept in tents. This resulted in almost no material going missing, even when considering the high degree of hands-on involvement by the community
Self-policing, Jane Jacobs’ “eyes on the street,” is a hallmark of a genuine community; it’s an index of formalization and citizenship.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Thursday 12th March
On Thursday, Disaster Management failed to arrive on site and announced their involvement in Joe Slovo had ended.
They would no longer be distributing food or government materials, even though 120 families remained without. This caused a serious problem for the partnership that not only had now to find materials for these remaining families, to supplement what iKhaylami could offer, but also to secure food for those still busy rebuilding and unable to work.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Here is Stone Soup at work, though. Everybody wants in on success. Get a project going, demonstrate that it will be completed and will be something to be proud of, and people come out of the woodwork bringing ingredients and seasoning.
While donations of both were eventually secured, this seriously slowed the process of blocking as the partnership was directed away from the negotiation and planning of the new township, critical in sustaining momentum, to one of logistics and emergency fundraising.
Nonetheless, blocking has continued in Joe Slovo, and by the end of March, 120 new iKhayalami shelters had been constructed, almost all in accordance with blocking.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
The community was transformed – physically in rational grids, socially in the development of leadership, and in network connection to the city and to assistance providers. All in three days.
Joe Slovo, March 2009
Was this a fluke? If not, why did it work?
[Concluded tomorrow in Part 4.]
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