AbM HAVE WON THE CASE AGAINST THE SLUMS ACT IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT!

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
14 October 2009 – For Immediate Release

** Click here for a copy of the Constitutional Court Judgment **

** Click here for the media summary **

We have WON the Slums Act Concourt case and we have WON it with costs.

Statement by the Most Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane, the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town: “This indicates that we need now is an engaged citizenry. What we’ve tended to do is to stand back and allow things to happen to us, even in our own name. What Abahlali baseMjondolo have shown us is ‘not in our name and not on our watch’“.

For comment contact from the Constitutional Court contact:

Mnikelo Ndabankulu 079 745 0653

Zodwa Nsibande 082 830 2707

Mazwi Nzimande 074 222 8601

Bongo Dlamini 074 875 6234

Shamita Naidoo 074 315 7962

Stuart Wilson (The AbM lawyer) 072 265 8633

The Judgment

There is a summary of the judgment below and the full judgment can be accessed here.

Media: A welcome opportunity?

By Karen Breytenbach

3 September 2009, 19:43 – Cape Argus

In an unusual move by the Constitutional Court, a full bench of 10 judges has indefinitely suspended its own order for Joe Slovo residents and backyard dwellers to make way for the N2 Gateway development in a phased in, deadline-driven mass relocation.

Txaboletan bizi direnak – Video of PPA at the Concourt

Video of Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Poor People’s Alliance protest against the KZN Slums Act at the Constitutional Court.

Click here for the video: http://vimeo.com/5971780

Txaboletan bizi direnak from elkartasunbideak on Vimeo.

Qina!

Opinion – Joe Slovo eviction: Vulnerable community feels the law from the top down

Sandra Liebenberg – Business Day
Published: 2009/06/22 06:49:37 AM

OVER a period of 10 months commencing on August 17, the largest judicially sanctioned eviction of a community in SA’s post-apartheid period will take place. The 20000-strong impoverished community of the Joe Slovo informal settlement on the outskirts of Cape Town will be required to relocate 15km away to a temporary relocation area in Delft.

Report: The deficiency of reality in the Joe Slovo judgment

Click here to read this article in a word document and here to read previous entries on the Joe Slovo settlement.

Kate Tissington
15 June 2009

The highest Court in South Africa has decided the fate of the 20 000 Joe Slovo informal settlement residents to be evicted to Delft to make way for the N2 Gateway housing project, in what is a disappointing and frustrating judgment that orders their eviction, albeit on the proviso that engagement occurs and that certain mitigating measures are undertaken.

Concourt rules in favour of N2 Gateway informal dwellers

Source: SABC News

June 10 2009 , 11:30:00

The Constitutional Court has ordered the developers of the N2 Gateway project outside Cape Town to allocate 70% of the development at the Joe Slovo informal settlement to current residents. It’s also ordered that they be provided with temporary accommodation that must be electrified and serviced.

The residents had appealed to the Constitutional Court to overturn an eviction order granted by the Cape High Court. Thubelisha Homes, the national government’s housing agency, had wanted to move them 15 kilometres to Delft, to make room for formal housing. Joe Slovo is one of Cape Town’s biggest informal settlements, containing about 4 500 crowded shacks and nearly 20 000 residents.

Media: Court rules that Joe Slovo residents be evicted

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Jun 10 2009 10:43

Source: M&G

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that about 20 000 residents in the Joe Slovo informal settlement on the Cape Flats must be evicted.

Concourt Judgement on Joe Slovo to be handed down Wed 10 June

AEC Press Alert on behalf of Joe Slovo Liberative Residents

The Constitutional Court judgement on Joe Slovo forced removal is to be handed down 10am Wednesday 10 June after almost a year of deliberation.  The entire community of 20,000 residents will be awaiting judgement in nervous anticipation.  There will be a gathering of residents and various activities inside Joe Slovo.  The AEC will be there in solidarity.

For more information, contact Mzwanele Zulu at 076 385 2369.  For comment, call Mr. Zulu after 10am See also the following media summary:

Residents to challenge state on sanitation facilities

ERNEST MABUZA
Published: 2009/05/25 06:19:00 AM

Source: BusinessDay

THE government’s efforts to deal with slum conditions will once again be challenged in the Constitutional Court when a group of Gauteng slum dwellers asks the court to order the Ekurhuleni Municipality to build temporary sanitation facilities and provide high-mast lighting in their settlement

The group recently filed papers and the matter is set down for hearing in August.

M&G article on AbM’s challenge to the Slums Act

Source: M & G

Abahlali baseMjondolo was joined by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and other Poor Peoples Alliance members at the Constitutional Court.  Down with the Slums Act, Down!  Forward to Abahlali, Forward!