AbM-WC: Second day of the cleaning campaign: The 14th May 2009

Abahlali tomorrow on the 14^th of May will continue with its cleaning campaign on the land that we have identified by ourselves for our activities, and our cleaning campaign will continue till Friday.

Place: Macassar Village

Time: From 10:00 am till late

Macassar cleanup of empty land

Direction: use N2 towards Somerset West and park at the first Engine garage after passing Barden Powell turn off, and cross the N2 towards shell and after shell garage you’ll see us or call 073 775 5132 or 083 248 165 8 to be picked up at Shell garage.

While Abahlali baseMjondolo DBN tomorrow will be contesting the slums act in the constitutional court at Johannesburg (for more info about the slums act case visit http://www.abahlali.org), Abahali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape will be contesting it on the ground.

Abahlali Western Cape supports the ABM DBN in the struggle against KZN Government; while we note that the language that is being used in the court is not the language of the poor and is not the language that is understandable to us.

The AEC alerts Whitey Jacobs to corruption in Mandela Park

Outrage as Mandela Park homes are given to ‘outsiders’

April 20, 2009 Edition 1
Quinton Mtyala

SOME of the people of Mandela Park in Khayelitsha have promised they will resist a plan to move in the legal beneficiaries of a controversial housing project in the area.

Yesterday, Housing and Local Government MEC Whitey Jacobs had to cut short his visit to the area to welcome the new beneficiaries, as local and backyard residents chanted slogans and vowed not to back down from their “struggle” for housing.

Residents claim that people from the area were supposed to make up 30 percent of the beneficiaries of the 1 823 housing units planned.

Those protesting the handover said they would not be accommodated in the units that had yet to be completed as these had been earmarked for people from other areas.

A large police contingent ensured that a crowd of almost 300 people, many of them backyard tenants, were kept away from Jacobs as he inspected some of the completed houses.

Jacobs said afterwards that when he took over the portfolio in August, he was alerted to problems in Mandela Park by beneficiaries and by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, whose members had illegally occupied the units.

KZN: 60 landless people arrested

22 April 2009

Source: The Sowetan

Police yesterday arrested 60 members of the Landless People’s Movement as they threatened to stage a sleep-in at the Department of Land Affairs offices in Pietermaritzburg.

They demanded to meet senior politicians, including ANC provincial chairperson Zweli Mkhize and Minister of Agriculture Lulu Xingwana.

The protesters said they were fed up with the “abuse being meted against farm dwellers”. They have threatened not to vote today.

The protesters occupied the department’s offices at about 11am yesterday and were ordered by the police to vacate the premises but in vain.

The activists were arrested and taken to Loop Street police station where they were charged with a number of offences including obstruction, refusing to disperse and for gathering illegally, said police spokesperson Henry Budhram.

They have been released on a summons with an option to pay admission of guilt fines of R100 each. – Mhlaba Memela

Photos: Five families from Symphony Way get their keys but refuse to move into their house

(1) Gathering in Symphony Way

(2) Looking for the houses

Housing MEC tells backyarders to keep up the pressure on the City; AEC obliges

Gugulethu AEC Press Statement

Friday 14 November, 2008

On the 2^nd of November, Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign met with Whitey Jacobs, the province’s Housing MEC. At the meeting, the ANC appointee (who is responsible to house shackdwellers like ourselves) continued the usual party politics – blaming the DA run city for our predicament.

While we know that the Province (not the City) is responsible for building houses for us, we were also happy to receive support from the MEC in terms of ‘keeping up the pressure‘ on the City to release land in Gugulethu for us to occupy. Jacobs claimed to support our activism and numerous attempts to occupy vacant land on Lansdowne Road next to the Fezeka in Gugulethu.

Therefore, with the support of the MEC for Housing, the Gugulethu Backyard Dwellers will again attempt to occupy the this land in order to pressure the City and Province into providing us with our constitutional rights: land and housing.

We hope that since we have the MEC’s support, that we will also have the protection of the SAPS so that we are not assaulted by the city police.

No more party politics! No Land! No House! No Job! No Vote!

Location: ELF# RR448 on Lansdowne Road next to the Fezeka in Gugulethu
Time: 11h00am
Date: Saturday 15 November, 2008

For more information, contact:

Mncedisi at 078 5808 646
Speelman at 073 9825 725

Kliptown: Occupation of Empty Houses

KLIPTOWN CONCERNED RESIDENTS
Press Statement
6th November 2008

OCCUPATION OF EMPTY HOUSES IN THE FACE OF CONTINUED HOUSING AND BASIC SERVICE MISERY

The residents of Kliptown (Soweto) under the banner of the Kliptown Concerned Residents are currently occupying the empty Pimville golf course townhouses. This decision was taken earlier in a mass meeting at the community center, where residents voiced their anger over poor service delivery and housing. The hundred year old informal settlement has been consistently ignored by the African National Congress government since it took power in 1994. Although Kliptown residents have undertaken many actions to highlight their plight, the government has chosen to play political games with the poor residents.

Media: Shelter for the poor in landmark eviction ruling

by Stuart Wilson

Source: Business Day

THE days of quick and easy money for property investors in the inner city may be over. The Johannesburg High Court recently handed down judgment in the case of Blue Moonlight Properties 39 versus the occupiers of Saratoga Avenue and another.

Judge Thokozile Masipa held that the High Court could not consider an application for the eviction of 80 desperately poor people living in disused warehouses and workshops in Saratoga Avenue, Berea. It could decide on the application only after the city of Johannesburg had reported to the court what it would do to rehouse the occupiers and when such action would be taken.

Backyard dwellers take their defiance campaign to social services

Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Alert

23 September, 2008 at 13h10

 

Gugulethu — Backyard dwellers from Gugulethu, Nyanga and Langa have now decided to occupy the social services building in Gugulethu to protest against the city’s refusal to release empty land for landless residents of the area and also to highlight the government’s refusal to provide basic flood relief for backyard dwellers in the area.

 

The scene is tense and backyard dwellers of all ages remain defiant.  Residents have already march to the MEC for Housing, attempted to occupy empty land three times, and march to the Mayor as well. 

 

Say residents: we know that we deserve services, that wedeserve land, that we deserve housing. We vow to stay in the building distrupting services until the government agrees to support our demands. 

 

We will not go down without a fight!

Amandla Ngawethu!

 

For more information, contact 078-5808-646

Media: Backyard dwellers moved at gunpoint

By Mandisi Tyulu

22 September 2008
Source: Bush Radio

About 300 backyard dwellers have returned to the open piece of land on Lansdowne Road, next to the Fezeka municipal buildings and are going to start building their shacks there.

The community has twice tried to occupy this land, yesterday and last weekend, and the dwellers were on both times driven away at gunpoint by the police and metro cops.

Anti Eviction Campaign co-coordinator Mncedisi Twalo says this is very unjust as they have with them their “red cards” showing that they joined the housing waiting list many years ago, and besides, they have been promised this piece of land as backyarders by many different politicians especially just before elections.

“The community has vowed to go to the land every day and try to erect their shacks, until they succeed in getting the right to live on the land permanently”.

Guguletu AEC marched today on Helen Zille’s office

September 9, 2008
Gugulethu AEC Press Statement

CAPE TOWN – The Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign marched on Helen Zille’s office at noon today.

We are angered that backyard dwellers in Gugulethu continue to live in overcrowded, inhumane conditions. Despite the fact that we have carried out an exhaustive audit of Gugulethu backyard residents who have been on the waiting list for housing for more than 20 years, we have yet to be offered housing.

We live in backyards, with up to 8 families in one backyard. We always get flooded out every time it rains but the city and province do not provide us with any relief because they seem to see us as private tenants.

We are demanding the same food parcels, blankets and building materials that are supplied to residents in informal settlements.

We also want back the building materials that the metro police stole from us on the weekend. This was when we identified an empty piece of land and tried to move on to it. We have every right to do this because the government has failed for 20 years to provide us with houses.

for more information contact Mncedisi Twalo on 0785808646