Review of No Land! No House! No Vote! for Amandla Magazine

Amandla Magazine, South Africa – Jun 1, 2011

by Martin Legassick

On 19 December 2007, encouraged by their Democratic Alliance (DA) councilor, backyarders in Delft illegally occupied unfinished houses in the N2 Gateway scheme. After battling in court, they were evicted on 19 February 2008. Many of them decided to remain across the road from the N2 Gateway houses, and built shacks along the pavement of Symphony Way. After a further 20 months of contestation these people were evicted again, to the nearby Blikkiesdorp Temporary Relocation Area (TRA).

Media: State turns against shack dwellers

by Jeanne Hromnik – The Weekender
Published: 2009/10/10 09:03:17 AM

THE appellants in the Joe Slovo shack dwellers’ case against Thubelisha Homes might be forgiven for thinking the law is an idiot and an ass (and a bachelor, no doubt) after a recent ruling of the Constitutional Court.

Duarte and the housing racket

ADRIAAN BASSON, ILHAM RAWOOT AND GLYNNIS UNDERHIL – Oct 02 2009 07:03 – M&G

It was supposed to be a flagship housing project. Eleven years later, Thubelisha Homes is the albatross around the neck of Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who inherited the flop from his predecessor, Lindiwe Sisulu, now defence minister.

Read the document

We all know the Human Settlements department has been lying, but now they were caught by parliament:

See 3 articles published below:

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Auditor-general praises stance taken on N2 defects

September 11, 2009 Edition 1
ANEL LEWIS Metro Writer – Cape Times

THE strong stance taken against housing officials accused of having misled Parliament about repair work at the N2 Gateway by the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) has been praised by the auditor-general.

Media: Service delivery protesters ‘need voice’

September 03, 2009 Edition 1
Beauregard Tromp – The Mercury

The recent service delivery strikes were a result of a lack of consultation.

This is said in a report compiled by the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Sociological Research, which undertook “rapid response” interviews with the residents of four townships affected by the protests.

Media: Evictions suspended – shack dwellers reprieved

04 September 2009
Anna Majavu – Sowetan

THE Constitutional Court has suspended its order upholding the eviction of

FLASHBACK: A cart carrying corrugated sheets out of Joe Slovo informal settlement. The Constitutional Court has suspended its own ruling that called for the eviction of Joe Slovo residents. PHOTO: MARK WESSELS

10000 residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa, Cape Town.

In March 2008 controversial Cape Judge President John Hlophe ruled that the Joe Slovo shack dwellers must be evicted to make way for the N2 Gateway Housing project.

But community leaders from the Joe Slovo task team took the matter on appeal to the Constitutional Court. In June the court upheld Hlophe’s ruling but ordered that the Joe Slovo residents be removed in phases and placed 20km away in Delft.

Media: Court bid to evict Delft dwellers postponed

September 03 2009 , 11:33:00 – SABC News

The City of Cape Town’s application to evict a group of pavement dwellers in Delft has been postponed to October 7. The application was supposed to be heard in the Western Cape High Court this morning, but the group failed to file answering papers in time.

Opinion: The Western Cape housing crisis can be solved

an emergency effort is needed

August 12, 2009 Edition 1

Martin Legassick – Cape Times

It is good news that Tokyo Sexwale and Helen Zille have decided to bury the hatchet on the petty squabbling between the ANC and DA (largely, let it be said, initiated by the ANC) over the N2 Gateway project and land allocation in the province.

The spat has hampered housing delivery in the province. We are now told “the three spheres of government are to sit around one table to decide on the future of the project.” (“Sexwale, Zille and city to decide on N2 Gateway,” August 10).

But Sexwale, Zille, Dan Plato and their officials would be making a big mistake if they believed the future could be settled without involving beneficiary communities, through their representative committees, at the decision-making table.

Opinion: Cut the stunts and do something real

11 August 2009 – Sowetan
BOLEKAJA! – Andile Mngxitama

MINISTER of human Settlements Tokyo Sexwale spent one night with the Diepsloot poor – then he wrote a blow-by-blow account for the newspapers.

Apparently he is now armed with the views and concerns of that communities’ poor and will be handing in a report to the cabinet.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this comical political posturing.

Cape Argus: Sexwale puts eviction to Delft on hold

Note: As usual, the media ignores the actual people of Joe Slovo.  No one bothers to ask what they really think about the billionaire turned politician.

Joe Slovo residents ‘must be given time’

August 07, 2009 Edition 1 – Cape Argus

Andisiwe Makinana

HUMAN Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has promised the residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement a reprieve, saying they will not be immediately removed from the area to Delft.

Sexwale, who visited a number of the city’s informal settlements yesterday, told a meeting of about 500 people in Joe Slovo that despite the Constitutional Court ruling in favour of the housing department to remove the residents to Delft so that the next phase of the N2 Gateway project could start, he will have the implementation of that judgment postponed.