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On the 18th of February 2011, Peter attended the Premier’s speech on the state of the province, at Bhisho. The Premier’s speech focussed on, among other things, Job creation, rural development, education, health, the need to fight crime and corruption as well as the importance of a developmental provincial state.

The Premier outlined a raft of policy actions aimed at addressing challenges in the key focus areas that she had mentioned. She highlighted the success of the rural development pilot project at Mhlontlo (where Afesis-corplan was involved in development/social facilitation for Asgisa) and reported that her government was setting aside R100 million to revitalise agricultural schemes. She also announced that her government’s purge on corruption had succeeded in netting and dismissing about 122 employees from government.

In general, while the measures that the Premier outlined largely sounded good and focused, it is possible that many observers will remain unconvinced until they start experiencing real change for the better and much less impropriety and ineptitude among public officials.

Afesis-corplan has been awarded a grant by the Foundation for Human Rights to promote public participation and the realisation of rights through Civil Society Action Groups (CSAGs) in the Buffalo City Municipality. The organisation’s contract with the Foundation for Human Rights was implemented on 1 January 2011 and extends to 31 December 2011.

Afesis-corplan has been awarded a grant by the British High Commission to implement the organisation’s Wind Trust Development Project. The project started on 1 January 2011 and runs to 31 March 2011. The purpose of the project is to identify role-players involved in the renewable energy sector that have a better understanding of how renewable energy projects and programmes can support community development though Community Development Trusts, as well as to set up a draft trust document.

Nontlantla and Zingisa facilitated workshops for the Local Strategic Partnership in KSD.

The workshops were as follows:
•    Tuesday, 1 February 2011: the People system workshop addressed the involvement, support and energy of the people of Mthatha towards the development programmes and processes taking place.
•    Thursday, 3 February 2011, the Market system workshop addressed the regional economic networks, which include  business activities, economic sectors, goods and services, freight and logistics of Mthatha.

Both these workshops were aiming at establishing these systems as part of the master plan for KSD and setting the functions for each of the systems.

World AIDS Day, observed on 1 December each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'.

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and UNAIDS estimates 33.3 million people worldwide live with HIV, including 2.5 million children, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

The vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income countries.

World AIDS Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

Isandla Institute is hosting a GGLN-supported Learning Event titled, ‘The Politics of Space: Putting Urban Land on the Agenda’ on 1 December 2010 in Cape Town. Issues related to the transformation of South Africa’s cities, urban development and, in particular, tenure security and housing are core programmatic issues for a number of GGLN members.  A range of GGLN members, and other interested organisations and professionals, were invited to participate in a dialogue about the politics of urban land and space, particularly Planact, Development Action Group, Built Environment Support Group and Afesis-corplan as well as South African Planning Institute, Urban LandMark, African Centre for Cities, Community Organisation Resource Centre, Legal Resource Centre, South African Cities Network, Arup, and practicing planners.

This Learning Event intends to identify those key factors that have prevented a clear and concerted approach to urban land and space from emerging and seeks to identify opportunities for collaborative innovation and activism around three key questions:
How do we ensure a more coherent, assertive approach to urban transformation?
How do we make space matter more in government planning?
How do we make planning and decision-making more accessible and participatory?

Ronald Eglin is attending this event.

Friday, 26 November Peter Kimemia presented a paper at a seminar organised by Mbumba Development Services on behalf of IDASA’s Afro-barometer Programme. The theme of the seminar was ‘Measuring Democracy and Good Governance: Different Tools and Competing Realities’. Peter’s paper focused on the experiences in the conduct of Good Governance Surveys in 20 municipalities across the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga and attempted to address the question regarding whether local government values feedback. Zenobia Ismail from IDASA presented a paper on the key national and local trends from the Afro-barometer surveys.

Nontlantla, Thembi, Gugu, Noxolo and Zingisa were in Nyandeni from 22 November to 26 December for situational analysis and social charters for the villages involved in the AsgiSA project.

Monwabisi Park is one of 5 Pilot Sites of informal settlements identified by the City of Cape Town to transform an informal area into a more permanent settlement. The Programme is lead and coordinated by Development Services in Cape Town. The vision of the programme is to build safe and integrated communities by transforming existing settlements such as Monwabisi Park (MP) without relocating people outside of the area i.e. in-situ upgrade. MP is home to about 24,000 people and has approximately 5,500 dwelling households. There is very limited infrastructure in MP at present. Poverty and crime are major challenges for the people living in the settlement. The programme aims to be an inclusive programme that works with the community, for the community. A community facilitator is employed to liaise with the residents of Monwabisi Park.

A key aspect to the upgrade of Monwabisi Park is the issue of land recognition. The intention is to recognise the land in such a way as to provide incremental tenure options and opportunity for the community of Monwabisi Park in suitable timeframes. This is a current challenge for the project. The intention of the workshop is for the City of Cape Town, SUN Development and land specialists to discuss creative solutions towards land recognition and alternative tenure options for Monwabisi Park as part of the programme in the pilot sites. 

Ronald Eglin attended the Land Tenure Workshop on 24 November 2010 in Cape Town. Presentations included the Importance of Recognition and Security of Tenure, Towards an Incremental and Holistic Approach of Security of Tenure, Current Land Status of the Settlement, Potential Routes Towards Legal Recognition and Potential Tenure Options (presented by Ronald).

Leap, PLAAS and Urban LandMark (ULM) hosted a two-day workshop (22-23 November) in Cape Town to explore the complexity of land tenure reform in a variety of contexts: urban, rural, and small-town South Africa. The aim was to create a learning space in which experiences could be shared regarding the embedded complexities of land holding and use and of local efforts to secure tenure rights. 

There has been cross fertilisation between the three organisations, and the workshop sought to bring these strands together. People who work on tenure in different contexts were invited to consider the work from specific localities, in all their complexity, while considering the broader arena of land tenure and housing policy and practice.

Ronald Eglin attended the second day of the workshop.