The Democratic Process in Action

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The Democratic Process in Action

by Jane Harley

When Abahlali baseMjondolo marched to present the mayor of Durban with a memorandum, they discovered once again, that the democratic process in eThekwini is less than perfect.

On Friday, 28 September 2007, shack dwellers from the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement marched in order to present a memorandum to eThekwini mayor, Obed Mlaba. The march had been approved in writing, marshals had been elected and trained and the leaders had met with the police to ensure that all went smoothly.

Despite having arranged with the mayor that he would receive the memorandum, on the day he was not there. The protestors felt that this was a sign of disrespect, and refused to move until the mayor had honoured their protest. The Sunday Tribune reports:“Then, without warning, police, armed with a water cannon, rubber bullets and teargas, tried to disperse the crowd. The Sunday Tribune witnessed the chaos as several people, including children, were injured and 14 people were arrested.”

Testimony by a number of church leaders says:“As leaders in various churches and ecumenical organisations, we were present in the march organised by Abahlali… The march was conducted in a disciplined manner, with the clear and stated intention being to deliver a memorandum of demands to the Mayor. Whilst the marchers were waiting for the Mayor to arrive to receive the memorandum, the SAPS chose to attack the people assembled at the agreed upon venue. We wish to state clearly, as eyewitnesses, that prior to this attack by the police:

no participant of the march threatened any violence,
or threw, or threatened to throw, stones or sticks or
any objects at the police, or any members of the
public; no orders were given by the police calling
for the dispersal of the people assembled, nor were
any instructions or warnings given by the police; no
“warning shots” or anything of that nature were given
by the police.

Mayor Mlaba was reported as saying that “he was not aware of a legal march taking place, but he did not see anything wrong with someone else receiving the memorandum… anyone could receive the memorandum, which was just a document raising awareness about something.” One of the issues ddressed in the memorandum is the “Slums Act”.

The KZN Elimination and Prevention of the Re-Emergence of Slums Bill 2006, which appears to supersede PIE, came into effect at the beginning of October, 2007. The stated objects of the Act are to eliminate slums; to prevent the re-emergence of slums; to promote co-operation between the department and municipalities in the elimination and prevention of re-emergence of slums; to monitor the performance of the department and municipalities in the elimination and prevention of re-emergence of slums and to improve the living conditions of the communities in the Province.

The provisions within the Act are largely tautologous and most things could have been quite adequately handled under other existing legislation. It would appear that the single reason that the Act came into being was to place a legal obligation upon landowners to make their land and buildings secure against illegal occupation, and to force them to evict the people on their land should it currently be illegally occupied.

Prior to the law being enacted, the spokesman for housing, Lennox Mabaso, said: “The Bill has nothing against poor people who have genuine need for housing and it says very clearly that existing informal settlements will not be demolished before people are allocated houses3. The Bill is against the shack farmers – people who have more than one shack for the sake of renting. It is also against people who rent out their RDP houses and return to shacks, and people who invade vacant land and build new shacks.” The idea of the bill being primarily to control slum lords, rather than slum dwellers, was much touted at the time. In the end, however, the single provision which prohibits the use of substandard accommodation for financial benefit, and a following provision which allows the municipality to force an eviction of tenants from such accommodation should the landlord not do so himself, appears to be hard to enforce within the shack scenario. There does not appear to be any penalty for a person who does hire out substandard accommodation. On the other hand, anyone who tries to prevent an eviction could be subject to a R20 000 fine.

In comment to opposition to the Bill, Lennox Mabaso said: “ignorance is a potent weapon for those who deliberately want to undermine the facts…The arguments provided by [them] … are a clear indication of the danger posed to the nation by a lack of reading.” Maybe Mr Mabaso didn’t read the press statement issued by Abahlali before the parliamentary hearings.

In his article, Lennox Mabaso lays the fact of slums on “previous oppressive governments” and says “[a]s for the charges that the bill is aimed at evicting people…ahead of 2010… this is just plain absurd.” It might be telling, however, that Mayor Mlaba, after the recent forced removal of street vendors in Durban, said that this was part of the council’s pre-2010 plan. He is reported as saying: “It is happening everywhere. We have cleaned many areas in the city and also townships. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to clean up areas that have become unsavoury.” Mabaso has stated that: “the promulgation of the bill will not result in a wholesale or apartheid-style eviction of people from informal settlements before alternative land has been found or secured for their relocation….The Elimination and Prevention of Reemergence of Slums Bill is not about the inhumane eviction of people from where they live. This is not ‘Operation Murambatsvina’, but a revolutionary and long-term solution to the challenge of slums and slum conditions.”

On the 5th of October, however, after shacks were demolished in the Sea Cow Lake area, he says: “We want to reiterate that it is illegal to erect new shacks at this stage, because it contravenes the Prevention of the Emergence of Slums Act, which states that, as from October 1, any shacks erected would be considered illegal. The only shacks recognised are those that were identified before the Act came into being.”

At a meeting on 9 October, Ma Nkikine, who was arrested at the September 28 march, and shot in the back 6 times with rubber bullets, said that she “remembered the names and actions of those who had continuously knocked down the shacks where she had lived during the apartheid times. The change since apartheid seems very little – and sometimes it feels like it was better before.”

The on-going betrayal of the poor is perhaps best summed up by S’bu Zikode: “My heart is torn apart when in my own country, in broad daylight like on Friday the 28 September 2007 it is made so clear that the poor are not Citizens. When they try to sweep us out of the cities it is clear that we are not citizens. When they beat us to stop us speaking it is clear that we are not citizens.”