TRC Final Report

Volume 3

Chapter 5

Subsection 57

Informal settlements: Development and destabilisation

385 In the wake of the scrapping of the pass laws and the Coloured Labour Preference Policy in the mid-1980s, local government in the Cape increasingly accepted the need to upgrade the many informal settlements in and around Nyanga and Khayelitsha. The first development projects, begun from 1987, were essentially rewards to Ngxobongwana in Crossroads and Hoza in Khayelitsha for their violent ejection of the liberation movements and their pro-government stance. This was in line with the McCuen ‘oil spot’ strategy, using development as a ‘hearts and minds’ initiative to win political compliance. Millions of rands were allocated to Crossroads for upgrading after the witdoeke attacks of 1986.

386 Ironically, these development projects became mired in political conflicts, struggles and rivalries that cost large numbers of lives and homes in the very communities they intended to develop. This was due in part to the piecemeal nature of these upgrading schemes. Crossroads and parts of Khayelitsha experienced the most serious conflicts. It appears that some squatter leaders were granted the status of ‘sub-contractors’ in the 1990s and given large sums of money to disburse for labour-intensive projects. Control over land and the development projects rapidly became the new currency of power, generating violent power struggles and shifting political allegiances. The construction companies themselves and the manner in which they interacted with particular leaders in the informal settlements became a subject of suspicion and speculation.

Crossroads

387 Between 1990 and 1993, conflict centred on the upgrading and development process, political allegiances and traditional leadership styles. From 1991, these issues increasingly intersected with the taxi wars. During 1989, early stirrings of rebellion against Ngxobongwana escalated into open warfare between Ngxobongwana and his former strongman, Jeffrey Nongwe.

388 The revolt was mainly fuelled by the crises generated by the upgrading process in the late 1980s. The local squatter community was angered by two circumstances that caused them to lose housing sites to which they were entitled. First, private developers built homes that were beyond the financial means of the majority of the local squatter community and were therefore sold to outsiders. Second, the homes in the CPA’s Unathi project were awarded to residents who had settled their unpaid service charges in full. Relatively few residents had done so, nor could they afford the rents. As a result, many of the Unathi homes also went to outsiders.

389 Residents were angered further when informed that the ‘Crossroads Housing Fund’, initiated by Ngxobongwana from 1986⁵⁸ was depleted, allegedly on lawyers’ fees and other administrative costs. All residents had been paying regular contributions.

390 In October 1989, Nongwe went public with allegations of corruption and charges of fraud were laid.⁵⁹ Fourteen of the nineteen headmen in Crossroads deserted Ngxobongwana for Nongwe, and fierce open conflict erupted from November 1989, continuing into 1990. In many attacks, there were allegations of police complicity. Fatal arson attacks were frequent and daylight killings commonplace. It was estimated that around thirty people were killed in this conflict and approximately 1 000 homes destroyed. In September 1990, Ngxobongwana was forced to flee to Driftsand near Khayelitsha with several hundred supporters. Nongwe, by then aligned with the ANC, took control of Crossroads.

391 The Commission received several statements relating to this period of conflict. In one flare-up in February 1990, Mr Nelson Mandla Mahlentle [CT01810] and his grandson Sonwabile, aged six, were burnt to death in their shack. Mr Thando Magwa’s [CT00912] shack was burnt and destroyed as were numerous others. Alport Singqoto [CT01558] was shot and injured in an attack and Mr Longo and Mr Twana [CT01557] were killed. Two men from Ngxobongwana’s group, Mr Allion Gxokwe and Mr Alfred Mano, were later convicted of two counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder and arson, and reportedly sentenced to twenty-four years. (Gxokwe, a PAC member, was subsequently released from prison in January 1994 when he was granted amnesty as a political prisoner.)