Tag Archives: cape town

Solar Water Heaters in Kuyasa, Cape Town

Posted on June 9, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Some of the solar water heaters installed across Kuyasa

Following on from Andre’s recent post I thought it would be useful to provide an example of how Solar Water Heaters (SWH) are part of the reconfiguring of the energy network in Cape Town’s low income communities to engage with the dialogue he began…

Kuyasa is located in Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest township and not far from Mandela Park (see previous post). The residents have lived here for 10 years with residents moving from informal housing with a lack of services including electricity or water to the Government built RDP housing that was built here. Kuyasa itself means ‘dawning’ in Xhosa and has come to represent a new dawn for the residents as they moved from their old challenging conditions to this new housing. But this is not the end of the story and Kuyasa has moved forward again as a community. The installation of 2,300 solar water heaters (SWH), insulated ceilings and energy efficient lighting has helped the community become an African energy icon, a project that is continually cited as a success of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and a vision of the energy futures across Africa.

This was not an easy process with over 10 years of work by a wide range of actors including the community, the NGO, SouthSouthNorth and the City of Cape Town struggling to raise the required capital for the project, deal with the verification process of the CDM and organise the installation of the technologies. Although over 2,300 households have received these interventions (through the Department of Environment and Tourism’s (DEAT’s), Social Responsibility Programme and Provincial Government’s Department of Housing) there are still many households waiting for the next stage of the project.

The impact of the ceilings and SWH is currently being evaluated and it will be interesting to see which retrofit technology the households value the most. Its clear that with water heating accounting for a third to half of the average South African households energy costs that the SWH system is a beneficial intervention across Kuyasa. Yet site manager, Zuko Ndamane hinted, when I visited Kuyasa that it could be the less glamorous ceiling that has provided a greater level of comfort for the households; “Kuyasa has changed but I think the real issue during the last 10 years has been not having a ceiling”.

I think this partly comes back to the problem of winter and the lack of enough solar radiation to recharge the SWH as Andres has mentioned. For energy poor households the need for hot water is greatest in the periods of coldest weather and thus the SWH can provide only a limited level of support for families during the cold Western Cape winters. So although I like the idea of the poetic dance between technology and nature that Andres describes when considering the SWH I think there is a need to interrogate this from a social justice perspective. Thus my questions would include; does this seasonal variability make the technology redundant in the face of the energy needs of poor households? Are there better suited technologies that can provide a constant source of hot water? Furthermore, when we consider the idea that the SHW reinforces a low water consumption practice is this limited to poorer households as middle and high income houses are able to rely on electricity to heat water when there is not enough sun?

I think these questions raise some interesting pathways when considering the role of the SWH across urban energy networks of the global South and it will be interesting to note the similarities and differences that both South Africa and India will present as our research progresses.

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Retrofitting Cape Town: Insulated ceilings in Mamre

Posted on May 31, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Mamre is on the northern boundary of Cape Town.

We arrive at the Mamre community hall on a bright morning and slightly late greet a number of residents who have come out to tell us about the retrofitting of insulated ceilings in the area. The work in Mamre is one of the first steps for the City of Cape Town in addressing the needs of over 40,000 RDP households without such protection against the cold and wet winters of the Western Cape.

Mamre is part of the Cape Town municipality but only just. Situated on its northern boundary the place feels sheltered from the frantic pace of the Mother City. In its recent history many of the residents of Mamre have suffered from conditions of poverty including a lack of basic housing and access to services. By 1997 the waiting list for the housing of over 500 families began to to be addressed and over the proceeding years many homes were built.

The building of these homes was welcomed by the community, situated within the Southern Cape Condensation Problem Area and thus prone to conditions of damp and cold, wind and rain. These climatic conditions have been recognised as particularly challenging for low income households. In fact the Western Cape region has received extra subsidy from Government since 2003 for RDP house building to ensure that ceilings are built into any new development to provide extra protection against the climate. The problem for households in Mamre was that this subsidy was activated after the construction of their homes. This meant that the households, alongside thousands of others across Cape Town, were experiencing health problems such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, colds and flu and the financial burden of trying to keep their home warm as one resident explains, “electricity is big problem in the community as its very expensive”.

The City of Cape Town has over the last couple of years begun to consider this challenge of retrofitting the RDP houses with insulated ceilings. Mamre was chosen as one of the first areas to receive a retrofit and thus to act as a pilot study in how successful this relatively cheap technology intervention is in tackling health, livelihood and energy issues in low income households. The work on around 240 homes took place over 2010 and was funded by international donors as the City is unable to use its money on what are now private homes.

Those households that have received a ceiling insulation agree over the course of the morning in the community hall that this has been a positive intervention for Mamre. The main impact of the insulated ceiling is to keep the house warm as a resident explains, “its much better now not so cold in the house”. This has had a dramatic effect on the health of families in the area as one mother explains, “A lot of changes have taken place since the ceiling installation. Children don’t get sick now, the dampness that used to be in the house was bad, it gave them colds now the cold has disappeared”.  As we are about to leave a lady, who has a ceiling insulation, approaches and suggests, “They must do this for everyone in Cape Town, in all the RDP houses”. The question that the City of Cape Town is grappling with is how to achieve this goal and how it sits alongside other priorities such as providing basic shelter and services for other vulnerable families.

Thanks to the Mamre community, ICLEI Africa and City of Cape Town.

The research into the impact of the ceiling intervention is ongoing and will be published on this blog when complete.

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Alternative campaigning in the Cape Town municipal elections

Posted on May 16, 2011 by | 2 Comments
Mandela Park Anti Vote Summit took place on Saturday with activists and community members from across the township. (Picture by Carole Guilloux)

What do communities do if politician after politician fails to deliver their election promises of new homes, electricity supply or clean water. On Saturday I joined activists in Cape Town who are articulating a new response to the crisis of service delivery in the city.

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It is early on Saturday morning in Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s fastest growing townships located on the windswept and sandy Cape Flats area of Cape Town. Amongst the government constructed houses and informal settlements that make up the township the Cape Town of five star hotels and Michelin starred restaurants seems even further away than the 10 mile journey to get to this vibrant part of the city.

With municipal elections less than a week away campaigners from the main political parties, the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), are out in force in their brightly coloured t-shirts handing out leaflets, waving flags and attending rallies in the hotly contested race to control one of South Africa’s largest local authorities. The City of Cape Town is currently under DA control but the margins are slim and Khayelitsha could provide a key battleground for the parties.

Like townships and rural areas across South Africa the main election concern for voters in Khayelitsha is around service delivery issues. The building of new homes to tackle the housing crisis, the connection and supply of water and electricity and a range of related issues have all become paramount concerns for the party’s strategists as voters patience evaporates.  These attempts to engage with voters around service delivery issues show how politics in South Africa is beginning to move away from older racially orientated voting patterns. This election has been described as the service delivery election with the DA presenting its record over the last few years to show how well run the city is compared to its national equivalents and the ANC hitting back with counter promises, accusations and lorry loads of leaflets.

Yet not everyone is caught up in this Saturday morning election fever. At the community hall in Mandela Park activists and community members have come together at the Anti Vote Summit in a riposte to the serial promises of service delivery that the electioneering in other parts of the township is presenting. Many have come to express their dismay at the political system that has failed to address their basic needs since the first democratic vote in 1994. With the housing waiting list in the city of 3.5 million at over 400,000, spiralling electricity costs and rising disconnections and a growing number of evictions the attendee’s feel that the politicians time has run out. Mandela Park Backyarder activist Loyiso Oanya elaborates, “Any disregard of the people’s conditions calls for necessary measures, until the dire and excruciating conditions of the people are properly addressed. As such, this anti-vote call is simply one of them we reiterate, no house, no vote”.

In South Africa where the struggle to vote took many years and many lives this refusal to vote until essential services are delivered is not necessarily a popular position to take. The groups involved in the campaign have taken criticism from many directions seeming to unite bitter election opponents in condemnation. But as another Backyarder activist, Mabhuti Matyida, explains, “As long as we live in these sub-human conditions, we shall find our own way to redemption without the help of any political party. As long as parties are part of the architects of our condition, we will not vote”

During the summit attendee’s hear from community members struggling without electricity, others in debt to banks and facing eviction and some whose homes have been demolished. The common theme seems to be a loss of faith in any party to deliver basic services and the need for people to make a statement at the election. Xola Skosana, an outspoken pastor who has received international attention after his ‘Jesus has HIV’ sermon was also at the summit and agreed with the sentiment of the activists and community members, “A vote is a vote of confidence, a no vote is a vote of no confidence in the political system”. In a few weeks the Mandela Park Backyarders will begin a new brick making project that will provide employment and cheap building materials for the area and show that politicians risk becoming nothing more than a side show for people forced to build their own futures.

Later in the afternoon in Gugulethu, another township near Khayelitsha, a gathering is hosted by political artists Gugulective and underground hip hop performers Soundz of the South. This event, including performances, debate and the launch of the book No Land! No House! No Vote: Voices from Symphony Way, further illustrates the rising tide of anger and action against both the DA led municipal government and the ANC led national government. Whilst the No Vote campaign retains a low profile amongst many voters in the city it nevertheless reflects a growing frustration at the promises of the post apartheid democratic era and the likelihood of a low voter turnout for the municipal elections in Cape Town and across South Africa.

Thanks to the Mandela Park Backyarders for the invite on Saturday.

You can find out more about them here

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