Statement on Kennedy Road Informal Settlement by AFRA

30 September 2009
Press release on Kennedy Road

The Association for Rural Advancement is deeply concerned about the reports on the violence and destruction that has taken place in the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban.For people in KwaZulu-Natal the memories of the violent destruction of communities in the 1987 to 1994 period are all to fresh for this news not to cause utter dismay. In South Africa we are also increasingly conscious of the precariousness of our new found stability as local communities begin to express their resentment at inadequate service delivery and at the increasing inequality in society (the reality of which is rubbed in poor peoples faces with every act of conspicuous consumption by the rich and the elite). In this province the fractures of pre-democracy times could so easily be reopened and this must not be allowed to happen.

We call on the state to immediately institute a judicial commission of enquiry to uncover the roots of this mayhem and to identify how its causes can be eliminated. If the state in unwilling to do so the churches and other religious bodies should consider setting up an independent enquiry well resourced with legal and other expertise.

We must not go down this road to destruction again.

John Aitchison
Director – Association for Rural Advancement