Mercury: Poor ‘left out in the cold’ for 2010

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3927354

WHILE shack dwellers in Durban’s Kennedy Road say they know little about 2010, they do believe the new Bill for the elimination of slums is a move by the government to clear them out ahead of the football showpiece.

“The soccer World Cup is a threat to our communities, in a sense, because it is putting pressure on the city to get rid of shacks.

“They think we are stupid and don’t know what they are up to,” said S’bu Zikode, President of the Durban-based Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers’ movement), who has compared the new Elimination and Prevention of the Re-emergence of Slums Act to Robert Mugabe’s operation Murambatsvia in Zimbabwe.

“The eThekwini Municipality’s idea that they want to develop a world-class city for the 2010 World Cup is sending a clear message to the poor – we are not wanted, and the illegal evictions, threats and brutalisation our communities are facing on a daily basis are proof of that,” said Zikode.

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Housing spokesman Lennox Mbaso has reacted angrily to the allegations, saying that if there was anything in the Bill relating to 2010, he would encourage the shack dwellers to take the matter to court.

Action

“There is absolutely nothing in the Bill that alludes to removal of shack dwellers by 2010,” said Mbaso.

“In fact, if they had read the Bill carefully, they would have seen it was designed to prevent any new informal settlements, rather than eliminating those that already exist.

“We are determined to prevent people from erecting new shacks on unplanned sites, and to take action against those who have five to 10 shacks and rent them out for financial gain.

“We also know of people who take ownership of Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, only to rent them out or sell them, and return to their dwellings in the slums. We are going to deal with these people,” he said.

Shack owners interviewed in Kennedy Road said they had heard about 2010 on the radio, but would wait and see whether it would help to uplift the poor.

“We have been excluded and know very little about opportunities or benefits for communities such as ours. I believe it is deliberate, because the government sees us an embarrassment and a hindrance to its plans,” said Zikode.

Fanning the flames of the movement’s anger are the strict requirements laid down by Fifa for the appearance of host cities during the World Cup, which will kick off on June 11 2010. With more than 26.3 billion global television viewers and 63% of Fifa’s income generated by TV rights, the football world body has leaned heavily on the South African authorities to comply with what it believes people around the world should be allowed to see of the country.

For example, according to Fifa, no cranes or building sites should be visible on any city’s skyline during the World Cup, and it was preferable for stadiums to be established in picturesque locations, effectively eliminating poorer communities – and essentially the greatest football supporters.

Backdrop

Cape Town is such an example, where the backdrop of Table Mountain and the ocean were considered more acceptable to Fifa than areas such as Athlone on the Cape Flats.

Cape Town’s 2010 spokesman, Pieter Cronje, said that Athlone was proposed as a match venue but Fifa, which made the final decision, had turned it down. “The application was not approved as the stadium did not meet Fifa’s requirements. The cost of an upgrade was regarded as too expensive, compared with the cost of a new stadium,” said Cronje.

“While our Mayor, Helen Zille, has said we will not band-aid our problems and that the shacks along the N2 going in to Cape Town will still be there come 2010, it was agreed that the Greenpoint Stadium site offered the city a marketing edge.

“International TV crews linked to 2010, which are descending on the city, have been enthralled by what they have seen and that is very important to us,” he said.

Like Zille, Mbaso said that most of the informal settlements in Durban would still be in existence come 2010.

However, Louisa Motha, an executive member of the shack dwellers’ movement, was not convinced.

“We are seen as dirty and poor, and a hindrance to the 2010 plans to showcase Durban as a tourism destination. This new Bill and the sudden increase in harassment is proof of that. We were born in these shacks and have lived in them most of our lives, and we are not prepared to be evicted or moved. I would rather live in the bush like an animal before they move me to a house somewhere else,” she said.

Mbaso said municipalities in the province had been instructed by the Department of Housing to calculate how many slums existed within their jurisdiction and how many people they housed.

“We have also instructed municipalities to stop selling land to private developers. Where possible, municipal land must be made available for government housing projects.

The Abahlali baseMjondolo movement has taken the contents of the Bill out of context and are ignorant of what it really says,” he said.