If you qualify for a housing unit in Newtown, Johannesburg, you could be among the members of the first housing co-operative to be registered in South Africa.
For some years, Cope Housing Association, a Johannesburg-based NGO, has been involved in affordable housing in the Johannesburg inner city. In the past, it assisted tenants in run-down blocks of flats to buy these buildings and run them on a collective basis.
Cope has now started developing new buildings and is engaged in a recruitment drive to find residents for these projects. They are conveniently situated in Bertrams, Newtown and Belgravia and are all close to schools, shopping centres and transport. They are all two and three-storey walk-up complexes with studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Cope is hoping that the Newtown project will be the first to be formally registered as a housing co-operative. Co-ops have existed in other countries for many years and have proved to be a popular alternative to rental or private ownership.
The property management services provided by Cope ensure that the buildings are well maintained and all financial and legal obligations are taken care of
How much will you pay? |
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| The costs of the units are : | |
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| There is a savings club you can join to help you save for the deposit over a period of time. | |
Some of the finance for these buildings comes from an institutional subsidy from the government. To qualify for a subsidy:
If you are interested in finding out how you can join one of these housing
schemes,
please contact Cope Housing Association at (011) 339-6752.
The election campaign in the Western Cape raises a number of issues, both in relation to the role of the Alliance as an opposition until the next General Elections, as well as a analysis of the different contributions made by the key organisations of the Alliance in the ANC election victory.
COSATU identified the 1999 General Elections as a political event that would play a key role in building a popular movement for transformation. This would be done by ensuring that our people both realised and understood what transformation had been achieved by the ANC, and how these social advances had contributed to improving the lives of our people. The Federation's key strategic objective was to ensure that people took an informed choice with regard to which party they would support in the 1999 elections (our assessment was that, in 1994, people voted for the National Party as a result of ignorance - not understanding the RDP - which was fertile ground for the racist campaign of the NP)
The developments within COSATU can be captured under the following headings or legs of the campaign.
Leg 1: COSATU canvassing team (broadly referred to as the Dream Team') During this leg of the campaign, about 500 shopstewards and COSATU officials went out canvassing support for the ANC in the different communities during the day. This meant that these comrades had time-off from their workplaces and were essentially the only people doing daily political work. The objective was to ensure that people voted on 2 June, but also that they understood the key areas of transformation and what the political questions were that confronted Black working class communities.
Leg 2: Union Program of Action All the COSATU affiliates ran campaigns that were peculiar to their unions. Activities ranged from dedicated constitutional and mobilising meetings for shopstewards and general membership to newsletters that covered the key issues in relation to the elections and called on members to vote for the ANC. Time-off requests and other logistical arrangements could only be done by affiliates. Union programmes were closely linked to the programme of the Federation and the Alliance. The fact that coloured working class women had clearly changed their political views from one that was hostile to the ANC to one that said they would engage and understand the key issues confronting their communities was a demonstration of the exceptionally good work done by SACTWU.
Leg 3: Linked to Regional Election Teams The regional election teams were set up by the Alliance and really represented the structure that co-ordinated the elections in the different branches. Key COSATU leaders made dedicated contributions to these RETs. The biggest stumbling block in this area was the weak state of ANC branches throughout the region.
Leg 4: COSATU Factory Meetings COSATU convened meetings at the 300 most strategic companies across all the Unions. These meetings were addressed by Alliance leaders and played a crucial role in both persuading our members of the correctness of voting for the ANC and explaining the necessity for each of them to go out and mobilise their communities to vote for the ANC.
Leg 5: COSATU Special Events A number of special events were organised. These were directed at building capacity amongst shopstewards and worker leaders to mobilise for the ANC victory in their work places. Over 6 500 shopstewards went through training sessions where they workshopped the key issues and were provided with speakers' notes and a clear instruction to hold general meetings at their workplaces. Close to 6 000 factory general meetings were held, where our members engaged on the issues in a way in which they were empowered to take them back to their families and communities, effectively making an activist of each COSATU member. The areas of training included key areas of labour market reform, the content of the election manifesto and areas of reform that affect women.
The May Day event, while not well-supported, did contribute towards mobilising for elections. A Children's Day, which was attended by 1 500 children from various schools, was held at the City Hall. The objective was to educate children on the rights they have secured since 1994 under an ANC government and to urge them to encourage their parents to vote for the party that secured those rights. The last big mobilising event was a joint shopstewards' council, which was also held at the City Hall.
Leg 6: COSATU Locals Whilst COSATU members linked up with the ANC in the rural areas, we could not quantify their efforts in all areas. The reports which we have received indicate that good work was done by our shopstewards and structures. The common complaint, however, is that there is a need to assist the ANC to build organisation.
This was a special project aimed at reaching key rural areas and farms that were not catered for under the rural programs.
Once again, COSATU has shown that, even with all its difficulties, it is able to run campaigns that make substantial contributions towards achieving our objectives. A brief look at the ANC The ANC entered this election campaign substantially weakened:
We effectively denied ourselves the chance of using these to convince non-ANC supporters to change their vote.
This strategy was essentially designed to get prominent members of the National Party to defect to the ANC, in the hope that their members would follow. The election results indicate that members did not follow those leaders who defected. An example is Bonteheuwel, where Patrick Mackenzie, a National Party MP, defected to the ANC, but the ANC only got 15% of the vote. We should be encouraging people to come over to the ANC, but not necessarily in leadership positions. In most cases, they do not bring members, and they cause a fair amount of dissent within our own ranks. COSATU's view was that the ANC should campaign in a way that would win us the elections, not in a way where we hoped that the National Party would lose the elections.
The ANC's Provincial leadership, but more especially their National leadership, played a significant role in the ANC's victory in the Province. ANC structures also made a profound contribution to this victory. The way forward Our quest, as the biggest party in the Province, to lead the coalition government has been undermined by an anti-transformation alliance between the National Party and the Democratic Party. We have to accept that we will be the official opposition until the next election, or until the present coalition fails to such an extent that they bring about a motion of no-confidence in their government.
The view in COSATU is that we should focus on ensuring that our policy prescriptions drive the agenda in the Western Cape government. We can do this in a number of ways, both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary, through the use of section 77 of the LRA, where we force the present coalition to adopt a transformation agenda in the areas of governance that are provincial competencies. The deciding factor should always be the improvement of the lives of our people.
We should not get caught up in petty politics with the National Party. For this prescription to be successful, the Alliance, as the key motor force for transformation, must be strengthened in the Province.
However, central to this is acceptance of the fact that the ANC leads an alliance of equal parties. As the Alliance, we should draft a clear political programme to guide us during the next period. This programme should be guided by the ANC election manifesto.