WCCA progress Report December 2007

Progress Report

World Class Cities FOR ALL! Campaign

December 2007

The World Class Cities for All (WCCA) campaign was launched by StreetNet International in Johannesburg at the COSATU boardroom on the 28^th November 2006. On 7^th and 8^th March 2007 a national strategizing meeting was held in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, where StreetNet and campaign partners developed campaign demands and a 4-year campaign programme. (Report available - ANNEXURE F WORLD CLASS CITIES FOR ALL (WCCA) SOUTH AFRICA DRAFT CAMPAIGN PROGRAMME 2007 – 2010.) The present document is the third progress report of this campaign, the second having been circulated in August 2006.

Reminder of campaign structure

The campaign is coordinated by StreetNet International but supported by campaign partner organisations accountable to StreetNet’s decision-making structures as well as their own members. The campaign upholds the following StreetNet policies and guidelines:

The framework which defines what we mean by informal workers is the “Conclusions on Decent Work and the Informal Economy” adopted by the 90^th session of the International Labour Conference of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in June 2002.

This was the stage of preparing, setting up campaign structures, gathering information about which authorities and institutions are most likely to have the necessary authority or mandate to make decisions about our demands. This has been going from May to September 2006.

This stage has done a big step forward in the two last months. Our campaign materials were quite effective in spreading the word about the campaign and in stressing how the urban poor is affected by the World Soccer Cup preparations. We have now increased the number of partner organisations up to 35 (see Annexure I), reaching to a wide-variety of sectors: street traders, women's groups, environmental groups, children’s rights, sex-workers, shack dwellers, trade unions and municipal as well as construction workers. During November, we have also started to reach to international organisations to broaden our partnerships, with the aim of widening the concept of World Class Cities for All and to strengthen our bargaining power on the South African FIFA Cup Host Cities.

StreetNet has been participating in a NEDLAC Task Team which is to negotiate a Framework Agreement with the FIFA Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2010 World Cup, as one of three members of the Community Constituency Task Team members, siding with the Labour Caucus. In October, the Task Team has agreed on a Draft Framework Agreement. It states that (clause 13) :

13.2. “The parties encourage relevant authorities to respect basic human rights and to attempt to provide affordable housing and proper social protection the parties agree that attempts to ‘clean the streets by forcibly removing the poor and disadvantaged people are not appropriate.’

(a) Note the World Class Cities for All (WCCA) campaign demands to municipalities as contained in Annexure A hetero;

(b) Agree to encourage the relevant authorities to engage fair processes (including proper consultations, social dialogue, and negotiations with the affected communities) when dealing with any pending evictions (land, housing, or street livelihoods).”

The negotiation process has now been engaged with the municipalities of Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Metro. Three preliminary meetings have been held in each city between the officials accountable for 2010 preparations and a WCCA delegation made of our concerned regional constituencies. EThekwini Metro is the only FIFA host city that has not yet responded to the WCCA approach for consultation.

These preliminary meetings first contributed to consolidating the partnerships between neighboring organisations in one same region. Each meeting was preliminary in the sense that it introduced the campaign purpose and objectives to the municipality. SAMWU (and IMATU in Johannesburg), took part in each delegation and expressed their concerns about their members becoming enforcement agents removing informal traders from the streets and thereby denying their livelihoods, as often happens in preparation for high-profile international events such as FIFA World Cup. They expressed their will to secure the relationship between their members and street vendors, and to play a particular role and mediate between them and the City. SAMWU and StreetNet co-wrote a working document for a Stakeholders’ Forum (Annexure II), which was presented by the WCCA delegation to serve as the basis for discussion of how to engage more systematically in the consultation process.

In Cape Town, the WCCA delegation met with Business Area Management and Economic Development officials, as well as with the Director of Operations for 2010, Lesley de Reuk. They responded in a positive but cautious way to the WCCA campaign’s request for consultation. De Reuk undertook to table this request for engagement at a meeting due to be held on Monday 12^th of November, and thereafter to come back with the City’s suggestions about how to take forward the engagement. Lesley de Reuk informed the delegation about the Host Cities’ Forum chaired by the Minister of Local Government. He also undertook to provide the delegation with the City Host Agreement signed between Cape Town and the FIFA LOC. Three weeks after, he changed his mind saying that he thought this document wasn’t available for public consultation. We are still in the process of finding out whether it is true.

After that meeting, an approach has been made to the Minister’s office requesting an engagement between the WCCA campaign and the Host Cities’ Forum. Approaches have also been made to SALGA and the SA Cities’ Network.

In Johannesburg, the WCCA campaign’s request for consultation was addressed by a larger number of officials and they stated more explicitly that they value such approaches by Civil Society groups. The WCCA delegation was briefed about the Charter Partnership Forum that is about to be established, a forum aiming the inclusion of Stakeholders’ motivations in the preparation for 2010. The Joburg delegation undertook to make all the relevant information available to the WCCA delegation, and to consider how the WCCA demands and Stakeholders’ Forum proposal could be integrated with the Charter Partnership Process. The WCCA delegation undertook to study this documentation and give consideration to whether or how this process could be merged/integrated with the engagement which the WCCA campaign is seeking.

In Nelson Mandela Metro the WCCA delegation met with Legal Services Officials, Mandela Bay Development Agency and Exec. Director of Economic Development, Mr Zolile Siswana. Mr Siswana stated that they are committed to creating an inclusive city beyond 2010. He also stated that the municipality is in the process of putting in place a new Informal Trade Policy and Bylaws. Regarding the inclusion of street vending in the CBD spatial planning, both parties agreed that the issue of the regulation of the coexistence between formal and informal traders can be best regulated through social dialogue. The relationship between the Municipality and the MBDA, a wholly-owned municipal company responsible for infrastructure development, was also discussed, and Mr Siswana clarified that this company should no longer take tasks on street vending regulation as the municipality will be creating a special unit to handle all matters of informal trade regulation. StreetNet undertook to forward some specific questions to the Nelson Mandela Metro regarding some of the specific concerns of street vendors, while the Nelson Mandela Metro undertook to send to the WCCA delegation the Host City Agreement between them and FIFA, the draft Informal Economy Policy, as well as information about organisations and persons who have been involved in the policy development process.

During this stage (after extensive Stage 2 awareness-raising activities) it was intended that a high-profile National Day of Action would be organized – and it was proposed that this should take place around October 2007. The campaign partners were not ready to do this in October, but as the campaign is now gaining a lot of momentum, we should be able to move towards it sometime next year.

1. SA Rail Hawkers’ Association (SARHA) confrontation with Transnet and Metro Police

After the SA Rail Hawkers’ Association (SARHA) members marched to the President's Office on May 16^th, the memorandum handed from the hawkers was referred to Transport Minister and his department. The key demand of the memorandum was a moratorium on evictions and the continuing harassment of hawkers mainly in the trains, stations and platforms. The Dept of Transport then acted as mediators between the hawkers and the state transport parastatal Transnet Management.

Meetings between the hawkers and parastatal Management, Transnet, InterSite and MetroRail, took place on July 27^th,, September 17^th and October 7^th. In each case, the parties couldn’t come to an agreement as the state could not compromise on trading in “operational areas”, namely inside trains and on the platforms. On 21 November 2007, the Iketsetseng Hawkers Forum marched to the Mayor of Johannesburg and to the SARCC and METRORAIL against evictions and the continuing harassment of poor people.

On November 22^nd, StreetNet organised a meeting with SATAWU and SARHA to ask SATAWU to assist in engaging with TransNet, MetroRail and InterSite, the same way that SAMWU is assisting the WCCA campaign to negotiate their demands to municipalities. (Annexure VI) SATAWU GS assured he would use the political relationship they enjoy with SRCC (which has now overtaken MetroRail) to push for its engagement with SARHA and other rail hawkers organisations if they their attempts to negotiate continue to be blocked. At a meeting between StreetNet and SATAWU Gauteng the next day, the officials undertook to start conscientising their members about the issues of rail hawkers, and about how to respond to illegal instructions from parastatals and the private security companies, particularly in regard to the evictions of vendors from the stations and the trains.

The residents of Joe Slovo Informal Settlement, located by the N2 Gateway near to the airport in Cape Town, are facing forced removal to make way for a housing project financed by the First National Bank (FNB). The discontent of Joe Slovo residents boiled over and they closed down the N2 freeway at peak time on Monday September 10^th. On September 20^th, an eviction order against the residents of Joe Slovo was issued by the Cape High Court. The residents came to the Cape High Court a week later to register thousand of individual objections to being forcibly removed. On October 4^th, the hearing was postponed until December 12^th to give the residents’ lawyers time to prepare a case against the eviction. The task team elected by the Joe Slovo residents, together with the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, has issued a national call to all FNB clients to close their accounts and use other banks in solidarity with the residents of Joe Slovo.

In KwaZulu-Natal, protests have also taken place against ongoing forced evictions from shacks. On 28 September 2007, various organisations representing shack dwellers in the eThekwini Municipality marched on the Mayor’s office to present a memorandum to the Mayor. According to reliable sources on the scene, the march was legal and peaceful, and no warning was given to disperse before the police attacked. Those who attended sought to publicly present their legitimate demands and concerns to the Mayor regarding a range of housing and land issues, including ongoing forced evictions. This response was denounced by the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) as unjustified and unacceptable in a letter to the municipality meant to express deep concerns regarding housing issues in the region.

These continuing concerns have also been articulated by the shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali Basemjondolo, who organised a big March on October 28^th. Among their demands was their opposition to the hosting of the 2010 World Cup on the grounds that: “we couldn't afford to be building stadiums when millions have no houses. But now that it is coming there must be an immediate commitment to declare that the World Cup will be an '100% Evictions Free World Cup' all across the province. ie: That there will not be any evictions of shack dwellers or streets traders.”

On November 6^th, the Parliament of South Africa finally adopted the Children’s Amendment Bill. The Act engages on the following fundamental issues with regards to the street children:

4. Solidarity with Construction workers

On Novemver 7^th, WCCA media person, Cheche Selepe, presented WCCA campaign purpose and objectives at the Launch of the Campaign for Decent Work Towards and Beyond 2010 in Johannesburg. The two campaigns have since then been engaging with one another, resulting in the building of a solidarity alliance with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the two weeks strike of the Moses Mabhida stadium construction workers in eThekwini at the beginning of November. On Nov. 19^th, the Group Five/WBHO/Pandev joint venture (JV) and NUM resolved the dispute that had led to industrial action at the Moses Mabhida stadium, cancelling the national secondary strike that was planned to start at other 2010-related projects the following week. NUM stated that a December bonus of R2 000 had been agreed on, followed by a second bonus of R4 000 at the end of the workers' contracts in May next year. It was also agreed that an additional health and safety officer would be elected by the workers from among the JV's hourly paid employees.

On November 28^th was launched the Sisonke Trader’s Alliance, an alliance or informal workers organisations aiming to unite the sector in the eThekwini municipality, and in the KwaZulu-Natal region in a further step. A Constitution was adopted and six members of the founding three street vendors organisations (The Eye Trader’s Association, Siyagunda Association and Phoenix Plaza traders Association) were nominated to stand on the Executive Committee. The new born alliance will address important issues such as the regularisation of the permit allocation system in eThekwini and has adopted the demands of the World Class Cities FOR ALL! campaign in their own Table of demands.

AFITO (African Federation of Informal Traders’ Organisation)
APF (Anti-Privatisation Forum)
Centre For Civil Society
Child Line
Children First
CORE (Co-operative for Research and Education)
COSATU
CUP (Coalition for the Urban Poor)
Eastern Cape Street Vendors’ Alliance
EMEP (Extra-mural education project) Cape Town
GASC (Gauteng Alliance of Street Children)
Industrial Organizational & Labour Studies Research Unit (IOLS-Research)
KwaZulu Natal Subsistence Fishermen Forum
Landless People’s Movement
Lawyers for Human Rights
MediaResearch SMME & PublicPolicy
Mennonite Central Committee
Molo Songolo
NACTU
NASC (National Alliance of Street Children)
NUMSA (National Union of Metal Workers of SA)
Phoenix Plaza Street Traders’ Association
Public Services International
School of Development Studies (University of KwaZulu-Natal)
SA National Traders’ Retail Alliance
SA Progressive Women’s Movement
SAMWU (South African Municipal Workers Union)
SATAWU (SA Transport and Allied Workers Union)
Shack Dwellers International
Siyagunda Association (Durban)
Social Movement Indaba
SWEAT (Sex Workers Education & Advocacy Taskforce)
The Eye Traders Association (Durban)
Workers World Radio Productions

Other organisations approached: (who have not yet responded and/or indicated/confirmed
their position)

Abahlali baseMjondolo
ACHIB (African Council of Hawkers and Informal Businesses)
AIDC
Anti-Eviction Campaign (Western Cape)
BEWUSA (Green Point Constr. Workers)
Black Sash
FEDUP
FEDUSA
Joe Slovo Task Team
Mennonite Central Committee (Refugees’ Network)
NACL (Network against Child Labour)
New Women’s Movement
NUM (National Union of Mineworkers)
RRR (Reduce Re-use Recycle) Hout Bay waste collectors
SACP
SAWID
UMTHOMBO (Street Children’s Rights)

International Organisations Approached: (who have not yet responded and/or indicated/confirmed their position)

ATTAC
Greenpeace
Human Rights Watch
International Alliance of Women (IAW)
ITUC- Africa
Jubilee 2000 Coalition
OXFAM
Shack Dwellers International

This document intends to inform and guide stakeholders that are committed to the social economic justice the socially marginalized urban poor (such as informal traders) are entitled to which our country, as a host of 2010, must uphold before, during and post the event.

The hosting municipalities and security forces have primary responsibility to ensure that whoever the person is engaged in economic activity, such as informal trade, is protected against any form of abuse or harassment and include necessary measures to realise this.

To promote solidarity amongst the working class in general and the informal traders and the urban poor in particular.

To promote cooperation and partnership amongst different informal traders and democratic institutions.

To strive for free and friendly environment and sustainability for informal trading to operate by means of participatory processes of regulation involving the buy-in of all affected parties.

To strive for the removal of obstacles that threaten the homes and/or the livelihoods of the urban poor, including informal traders.

3.1. The Forum shall be established in each of hosting municipality and shall be independent from any political organization which shall serve the purpose outlined in clause 2.

3.2. The decisions of the Forum shall be through consensus or majority (50 plus one) of representatives present which shall be binding and of effect to all stakeholders.

3.3. The Forum may establish or de-establish sub-committees for specific purpose and its role shall be limited to making recommendations only to the Forum. Paragraph 3.2 shall not apply to such sub-committees.

3.4. Notwithstanding the generality of this paragraph the Forum shall have the power to consult and agree on any matter including but not limited to the following:-

3.3.1. Support, training and development for each informal trader in pursued of his/her business before, during and after the event;

3.3.2. Provision of appropriate shelter and protection against any form of unforeseen disaster;

3.3.3. Improve positive communication and interaction between the municipality and informal trader.

4.1. Membership to the Forum shall be opened to organized informal traders, municipality and any organization that may be admitted per resolution. Each stakeholder shall be represented by not more than three (3) persons.

4.2. The chairmanship of the Forum shall rotate amongst stakeholders and no person shall preside for more than six (6) months consecutively. The Forum shall agree on the timetable for such rotation (see Annexure).

4.3. Immediately after the Forum is established in terms of clause 1 it shall ensure that within thirty (30) days it elects the chairperson amongst the representatives. The person designated in terms paragraph 4.4 shall preside during the nomination and election process.

4.4. The municipality concerned shall designate one employee amongst its employees to be the scribe and one interpreter, and shall be responsible for keeping all records and proceedings of the Forum and that of its sub-committee and shall include:-

4.4.1. Taking all the minutes of the meetings of the Forum and that of its sub-committees.

4.4.2. Circulating minutes of any meeting of the Forum or its sub-committee seven (7) days before the next meeting for their confirmation.

4.4.3. Ensuring that proper decisions are recorded and implemented regardless to or against who were taken.

4.4.4. Issuing timeous notice including the agenda for any meeting of the Forum or its sub-committee seven (7) days prior to the meeting.

5.1. Any stakeholder or its representative is entitled to submit an item for discussion at least twenty four (24) hours before the meeting of the Forum or its committee issued in terms of paragraph 4.4 above.

5.2. Only issues submitted contained in the agenda and those submitted in terms of paragraph 3.4 shall be considered unless the meeting decides otherwise on simple majority decision.

5.3. Only the chairman of the Forum and of its sub-committee shall preside over the meetings unless for whatever reasons unable to do so then the Forum or the sub-committee shall appoint acting chairman.

PRELIMINARY MEETING WITH MUNICIPALITY OF CAPE TOWN

Mansoor Mohamed (Economic Development) MM
Emlyn Hammond (Business Areas Management, Informal Trading) EH
Leslie de Reuck (Director of Operations for 2010) LDR

Pat Horn (StreetNet International) PH
Roger Ronnie (SAMWU Head Office) RR
Reggie Mpembi (SAMWU Western Cape) RM
Vivienne Lalu (SWEAT) VL
Edwina Smith (New Women’s Movement) ES
Thembeka Majali (AIDC) TM
Mzwanele Zulu (Joe Slovo Task Force) MZ – arrived later
Observer: Malorie Flon (intern working with StreetNet on WCCA campaign)

Introductions

WCCA participants introduced their organizations and their areas of concern in relation to the preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, including evictions of street vendors and shackdwellers leaving them without homes and/or livelihoods, marginalisation of women, bylaws that have a negative impact upon the poor, etc.

City

Cape Town has entered into a Host City agreement with FIFA (as have all the host cities). LDR undertook to forward a copy of this agreement to StreetNet. He also informed the WCCA team that there is a national Host City Forum, which is chaired by Minister Mufamadi (Local Government) – at which the host cities discuss the FIFA Guidelines, and there is a possibility that they want to develop “Host City Bylaws”.

The WCCA delegation were informed that we were two weeks too early – because the City has not yet decided on its preparations process for 2010. LDR said that in two weeks there would be a meeting of City officials to discuss the “softer” issues, meaning how would constituencies such as street vendors and street children be affected by the preparations for 2010. This would be followed by meetings with established forums representing these constituencies with whom the City has already established relationships.

PH suggested that this presents an ideal opportunity for the WCCA campaign partners to become integrated into the process from the start – as the WCCA campaign’s approach is to include as many affected constituencies and stakeholders as possible, including those with whom the City has already engaged.

LDR undertook to table the WCCA campaign’s request for engagement at a meeting due to be held on Monday 12^th November, and thereafter to come back with the City’s suggestions about how to take forward the engagement. PH undertook to forward a document with the campaign’s South African framework and demands, before Monday.

PH reported that the WCCA has been representing the Community Constituency of NEDLAC in the negotiation of a 2010 Framework Agreement, which is now due to be negotiated by the NEDLAC partners with the FIFA LOC (Local Organising Committee).

The City was presented with a copy of the 2010 Framework Agreement and the WCCA demands to municipalities, as well as a draft proposal for a stakeholders’ forum as envisaged in the WCCA demands. It is the intention of the WCCA campaign to negotiate with the City on the WCCA demands (including the proposed stakeholders’ forum) once we have agreed on the process to be followed in our way forward.

Conclusion

The meeting ended with a consensus to continue to engage after the Cape Town City meetings scheduled for the next two weeks where the WCCA campaign will be introduced by LDR.

LDR expressed a concern about the possibility of separate approaches by many different groupings, and asked if the WCCA group knew of any others. TM advised that there was a group called “Community Connections” which EH undertook to investigate whether they already had engagements with the municipality. PH assured LDR that the approach of the WCCA campaign was to try to work with all interested representative stakeholder groupings, and would be adopting an integrated approach to engagement with the City.

Pat Horn (StreetNet International)
Cheche Selepe (WCCA media)
Davd Morake (SAMWU national office)
Enock Sibiya (SAMWU Gauteng)
Stan Chokoe (IMATU Gauteng)
Rosy Mashimbye (CUP – Coalition of Urban Poor)
Aubrey Mposula (NASC – National Alliance of Street Children)
Sam Khasibe (AFITO – African Federation of Informal Traders Orgs)

Philip Harrison (Exec Director: Dev. Planning & Urban Management)&; Rashid Seedat (Head of Central Strategy Unit in Office of Mayor)
Graeme Gotz (Senior Specialist in Office of Mayor)
Yael Horowitz (Manager of Inner City Charter Development Process)
Yondela Silimela (Director Strategic Support in Office of P. Harrison)

Sibongile Mazibuko (Executive Director: 2010)
Jason Ngobeni (Exec Director: Economic Development)

Delegations of both sides introduced themselves and their portfolios (in the case of the Joburg City) and their concerns towards 2010 (in the case of the WCCA delegation). NASC has already engaged with the Dept. of Community Development around the plans for street children’s sanctuaries, and this engagement is continuing with Community Development having accepted the strategic plan that NASC put forward as a basis for ongoing engagement. CUP and FEDUP (Federation of Urban Poor) linked to SDI (Shack Dwellers International) have been engaged by the national Minister of Housing around housing alternatives for the residents of the Joe Slovo informal housing settlement in Cape Town. SAMWU and IMATU are concerned the relationship between their members and the street vendors who are earning their livelihoods in the City’s public spaces. They want to avoid making them the enforcement agents removing informal traders from the streets and thereby denying their livelihoods, as often happens in preparations for high-profile international events such as the FIFA World Cup. Since municipal workers are the city, IMATU and SAMWU are willing to mediate in the City’s relationship with street vendors and informal traders.

StreetNet International (the lead organization in the WCCA campaign) explained the origins of the campaign, its launch in South Africa in preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2010, and its recruitment of civil society campaign partners (including the trade union movement, street vendors’ organizations, social movements, NGOs and CBOs concerned with marginalized groups of the urban poor).

An engagement in NEDLAC has resulted in a 2010 NEDLAC Framework Agreement on the FIFA Soccer World Cup, which is about to be negotiated with the FIFA LOC. WCCA is represented in the Community Constituency component of NEDLAC’s FIFA Task Team. The four host cities of Cape Town, Joburg, eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay were approached for preliminary meetings about the WCCA campaign, of which this was the second, after a meeting with Cape Town on 8 November. A meeting with the Nelson Mandela Metro is scheduled for 10^th December.

After being informed by Cape Town about the Host Cities’ Forum chaired by the Minister of Local Government, an approach has been made to the Minister’s office requesting an engagement between the WCCA campaign and the host-cities forum. Approaches have also been made to SALGA and the SA Cities’ Network.

The following entities are part of Joburg’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup:

Joburg officials stated that they value such approaches by Civil Society groups and assured the WCCA delegation of their commitment to ensuring that Joburg should be an inclusive African city. The intention of the 2010 office is to engage in extensive stakeholder engagement in order to build social capital to maximize the society’s engagement in the FIFA World Cup. The WCCA delegation was briefed abut the Inner City Summit and Charter Process which started in mid-2006 leading to the Summit in May 2007. A Charter Partnership Forum is in the process of being established. Stakeholders’ motivations for inclusion have been invited until end of November 2007. The Joburg delegation undertook to make all the relevant documentation available to the WCCA delegation. The WCCA delegation will study this documentation and give consideration to whether or how this process could be merged/integrated with the engagement which the WCCA campaign in seeking with the City.

The WCCA delegation presented the WCCA demands, with a proposal for a Stakeholders’ Forum (linked to demand no.6) to serve as the basis for discussion of how to engage more systematically than a series of ad hoc bilaterals and one-off consultations, for the consideration of the Joburg City in preparation for subsequent discussions. The demands were explained but neither responded to nor discussed. The Joburg delegation will consider how these proposals could be integrated with their processes. Once they have had discussions with the relevant departments and entities of Joburg City, they will notify the WCCA campaign (via StreetNet International) of their initial responses.

The Joburg City will send the following documentation to StreetNet International, who will circulate it to WCCA campaign partners including those who attended this meeting:

Joburg will co-ordinate with StreetNet International regarding the next meeting to follow up the WCCA campaign engagement. The WCCA delegation expressed the hope that this would result in active engagement during the course of 2008.

Pat Horn (StreetNet International)
Mr Rasi (SAMWU Port Elizabeth)
Mr Gwadela (SAMWU Uitenhage)
Nico de Jager (IMATU) – standing in for Fay Meltz
Ndileka Tshekela (AFITO – African Federation of Informal Traders Orgs)
Fundile Jalile (Eastern Cape Street Vendors’ Alliance)
Neliswa Mfenqele (Eastern Cape Street vendors’ Alliance)
Nkosinathi Jikeka (SACP)

Mr Zolile Siswana (Exec. Director, Economic Development)
Pierre Voges (Mandela Bay Development Agency)
Nomonde January (Legal Services)
Job Malobela (Legal Services)
Kennedy Motaung (Legal Services)

Delegations of both sides introduced themselves and their portfolios/organizations.

An engagement in NEDLAC has resulted in a 2010 NEDLAC Framework Agreement on the FIFA Soccer World Cup, which is about to be negotiated with the FIFA LOC. WCCA is represented in the Community Constituency component of NEDLAC’s FIFA Task Team. The four host cities of Cape Town, Joburg, eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay were approached for preliminary meetings about the WCCA campaign, of which this was the third, after a meeting with Cape Town on 8 November and Johannesburg on 22 November 2007.

Mr Siswana stated that they are committed to creating an inclusive city, beyond 2010. As such they have an Executive Director specifically responsible for social dialogue, i.e. Dumisani Mbebe. The municipality is in the process of putting in place a new Informal Trade Policy and Bylaws, and this process is almost completed. The draft policy and bylaws will be sent to StreetNet for distribution to WCCA campaign partners, and are also available on www.mandelametro.co.za.

Asked about the WCCA campaign’s view about street traders and street children, StreetNet clarified that they would be working more closely with the street vendors in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in order to establish their specific concerns, and would support collective approaches to the municipality made by street vendors’ organizations. Regarding street children, one of the WCCA campaign partners, the National Alliance of Street Children (NASC) is already engaging with the municipality of Johannesburg around a strategic plan, and would be approaching other municipalities to do the same. The approach of the WCCA campaign would be to support this process, as NASC is an organization with expertise around children’s rights and street children’s issues.

The Nelson Mandela Metro has an advantage, in that there are plenty of disused buildings in the CBD and there is plenty of space to include street vending in its spatial planning. The important thing is to regulate the relationships between formal and informal traders, and to promote opportunities, including around shopping malls. The regulation of the coexistence between formal and informal traders in shopping malls hinges around the payment of rates (formal traders) and the appropriate levies (informal traders).

Both parties agreed that such issues can be best regulated through social dialogue. Mr Siswana referred to a social dialogue platform which has already been started in Cape Town, which we should look at in order to avoid duplication.

Regarding the relationship between the Municipality and the MBDA, it was established that the MBDA is a wholly-owned municipal company responsible for infrastructure development. It emerged in the course of discussion that in the course of certain infrastructure development projects (such as the “cleansing” of Govan Mbeki Avenue) the MBDA has taken on tasks of street vendor regulation, causing some confusion among street vendors as to who is responsible for the regulation of street trade in municipal public space. Mr Siswana clarified that this situation is about to be rectified, as the municipality will be creating a special unit to handle all matters of informal trade regulation. The MBDA is not responsible for the regulation of informal trade – only for specific infrastructure development projects.

Regarding the preparations for 2010, a new person (Mr Ndongeni) has been appointed in the Economic Development Department to deal with issues relating to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Nelson Mandela Metro is discussing about 2010 and the poor, in order to be able to present a genuine response. They are committed to transparency. Hence they have an open door and are willing to engage with any groups who have any concerns about the preparations and developments leading to 2010.

Presentation of campaign demands

StreetNet undertook to forward some specific questions to the Nelson Mandela Metro regarding some of the specific concerns of street vendors, including concerns about:

The Nelson Mandela Metro will send the following documentation to StreetNet International, who will circulate it to WCCA campaign partners including those who attended this meeting:

The office of the Economic Development Development Department will co-ordinate with StreetNet International regarding the next meeting to follow up the WCCA campaign engagement during the course of 2008.

Randall Howard (General Secretary, SATAWU)
Pat Horn (StreetNet International)
Sam Khasibe (SARHA – SA Rail Hawkers Association)
Bheki Mnyele (SARHA)

StreetNet presented abut WCCA campaign, in which SAMWU as a campaign partner is assisting us with approaches to municipalities to negotiate demands to municipalities an establish stakeholder forums to ensure that engagements towards 2010 are not merely ad hoc bilaterals or one-off consultation exercises. Now evictions of rail hawkers from railway property and trains has become an issue, both in Gauteng and Cape Town. The WCCA campaign is now seeking a similar partnership with SATAWU to assist in engaging with TransNet, MetroRail and InterSite regarding the livelihoods of rail hawkers.

SARHA recounted their efforts and struggles to try to engage with provincial MECs of Economic Affairs and Transport with no results, then with the President’s office which referred them to the national Transport Ministry. They have tried to respond to the Vukuzenzele call to create their own livelihoods, only to be constantly harrassed and evicted from the places they are trading, without being offered any alternatives. Finally a meeting has been set up for the 23^rd November where the Rail Reserves parastatals are expected to engage SARHA and their members in response to their demands and memoranda, and to discuss an acceptable way forward.

A documentation of this process is being prepared for the meeting by SARHA General Secretary Augustine Mqaba, and a copy of this will be given to SATAWU and another to StreetNet International.

SATAWU enjoys a political relationship with SRCC (which has now overtaken MetroRail) in addition to their engagement with the as an employer, and therefore the SG undertook to ensure that they engage properly with SARHA and other rail hawkers’ organizations, if SARHA notifies SATAWU that they are continuing to be blocked in their attempts to engage. They would be able to facilitate joint meetings, also to deal with their concerns around non-compliance with conditions of employment in cleaning and security contracts.

SARHA undertook to raise at the meeting on the 23^rd November the possibility of the establishment of a stakeholders’ forum, mentioning their alliance with SATAWU. If there is no positive response SATAWU will be able to push for this.

Xolani Nyamezele (Gauteng Provincial Secretary, SATAWU)
Innocentia Tisane (National Sector Secretary, Security Sector, SATAWU)
Lusanda Dilla (Provincial Treasurer, SATAWU)
Pat Horn (StreetNet International)

StreetNet briefed SATAWU Gauteng about the WCCA campaign, its progress thus far, and the discussion with the SATAWU GS and SARHA in the previous day’s meeting.

SATAWU briefed StreetNet about the Rail Sector Indaba which had taken place in August 2007 around issues of rail security. Gauteng MetroRail had undertaken to continue engaging with SATAWU around all matters of rail security, as SATAWU members (including employees of private security companies) were experiencing lots of problems themselves. They had also agreed to meet SARHA when they were approached by them earlier to discuss the concerns of rail hawkers, but proper meeting arrangements had not been set up so far.

SATAWU also undertook to start conscientising their members about the issues of rail hawkers, and about how to respond to illegal instructions from parastatals and the private security companies, particularly in regard to the evictions of vendors from the stations and the trains.

StreetNet undertook to encourage SARHA to approach SATAWU for a follow-up meeting to report to them on the progress made in the meeting they were attending on the same day, and to jointly discuss the way forward in Gauteng.