Various articles on this profound indictment of the lived reality of being poor in Durban are collected below.
In 2005 S’bu Zikode’s widely translated and republished article ‘We are the Third Force’ said: “You must see how big the rats are that will run across the small babies in the night.” One would have thought that the City would have responded by immediately scheduling an urgent meeting to discuss the rat problem with Kennedy Road residents. Instead Zikode was forced out of his job and arrested on trumped up charges and beaten up in the Sydenham Police station and widely slandered by politicians.
Now some officials are saying that the problem is the nearby municipal dump in a cynical attempt to misuse this tragedy to justify their plans to forcibly remove Kennedy Road residents out of the city. Others are saying that shack dwellers are not sufficiently concerned with cleanliness. In fact the rat problem occurs in all the shack settlements where there is no or insufficient Municipal refuse removal. It is not just a Kennedy Road problem and it is certainly not because shack dwellers are not clean enough. When people without proper access to clean water get cholera they are told that they must ‘learn to wash their hands’. The solution to the rat problem is not to give some NGO a contract to run cleanliness awareness workshops. The solution is refuse removal for all. Always the poor are blamed for the suffering forced on them by the rank contempt of the rich. If education is the right response to these kinds of tragedies it is the rich that need to be educated – educated in their common humanity with the poor, educated to understand that being citizen who has rights because you are a person and being a consumer who has rights because you have money are not the same thing.
In fact some academic interview based accounts of the break down in the relationship between the Kennedy Road settlement and Ward Councillor Yakoob Baig in 2005 point to the fact that Kennedy Road residents launched their own clean up campaign that year but the City refused to come and collect the rubbish that they had collected because they were not ratepayers and therefore were not supplied with the Municipal refuse bags which are the only refuse bags that the City will collect. The struggle to ensure that people who can’t afford to be consumers can still be citizens with a right to speak their minds freely and with access to decent land, housing, water, education, refuse removal, health care, child care, libraries, sports facilities and just policing continues. Bahlali bayanda.
http://www.isolezwe.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4226842
Ingane ilunywe yigundane okhakhayini yafa
Isolezwe
Front Page
January 28, 2008 Edition 1
PHILI MJOLI
SIDUVE endlini ubusuku bonke isidumbu somntwana onezinyanga ezine wasemijondolo ekuKennedy Road, eThekwini, okuthiwa ulunywe yigundane elikhulu okhakhayini waphetha ngokushona.
Kucishe kwaze kwaphela nosuku lonke lwayizolo isidumbu sikaNkosi Cwaka siduve emjondolo okuhlala kuwo abazali bakhe njengoba ubengayisiwe emakhazeni.
Ngesikhathi Isolezwe lihambele kule ndawo abazali bakhe bathe abanayo imali yokumyisa emakhazeni. Isidumbu sakhe besimbozwe ngengubo behleli eduze kwaso.
Kuthiwa lo mntwana ulunywe igundane elisabunzi nokuthiwa adlangile kule ndawo.
Isehlakalo sokulunywa yigundane kukaNkosi kuthiwa senzeke ngoLwesihlanu kusihlwa kanti uze wagcina eshone ngoMgqibelo ebusuku.
Ubaba wale ngane, uMnuz Mfundiseni Cwaka (25) odabuka ePort Shepstone, ubesadidekile ethi akazi ukuthi uzosikhokhela ngani isidumbu sengane yakhe uma esiyisa emakhazeni.
Uthe nakuba edidekile ngokumehlele, kodwa okuyinkinga enkulu wukuthi akasebenzi, ubamba amatoho, akanayo imali yokubhekana nezindleko zokungcwaba ingane yakhe.
Uthe wafika ngoLwesihlanu indodana yakhe yopha ekhanda nasesandleni. Uma ebuza kunina ukuthi ngabe kwenzenjani, wamtshela ukuthi ilunywe yigundane ngesikhathi bezicambalalele embhedeni ntambama.
“Umama kaNkosi uthi waphaphama ingane ikhala wathi uma ethi uyayibheka wabona igundane lisekhanda kuyo, wayithatha kodwa nalo laqhubeka nokuyiluma waze wayidonsa ngenkani,” kuchaza yena.
Unina, uNksz Ntombikayise Mzobe (22), obehleli eduze kwesidumbu sengane yakhe ubelokhu ebheke odongeni engathi vu, elokhu egobodisile.
UCwaka uthe indodana yabo ishone bengakayihambisi kodokotela noma esibhedlela ngoba bekuvaliwe ngempelasonto, bebelinde ukuthi kuvulwe namhlanje.
“Umtholampilo wakule ndawo uvalwa ngehora lesine ntambama ngoLwesihlanu uze uvulwe ngoMsombuluko. Ngenxa yokuthi besingenayo imali asikwazanga ukuhambisa ingane kudokotela ozimele,” kusho uCwaka.
Omakhelwane bathe amagundane amakhulu yinto ejwayelekile kule ndawo ngoba asuke ezifunela ukudla okuchithwa noma kanjani, kodwa akekho umuntu owake walunywa yilo.
Okhulumela amaphoyisa kulesi sifundazwe, uDirector Phindile Radebe, uthe isidumbu sigcinwe sithathwe ngamaphoyisa endawo sagcinwa emakhazeni kahulumeni izolo ntambama.
“Kuyaphenywa ngalesi sigameko,” kusho uDirector Radebe.
Ngo-2006 uMkhandlu weTheku wethula uhlelo lokuthi kuzanywe ukuqedwa kwamagundane agcwele emijondolo nokwakuhlelwe ukuthi luqale eMkhumbane, kodwa abahlala kule ndawo baluchitha lolu hlelo bathi bafuna kuhlanzwe indawo kuphinde kwakhiwe izindlu ezisemweni, ngaleyo ndlela azophela amagundane.
UNksz Neeri Govender, wophiko oluthatha imfucuza, uthe akanayo imininingwane ephelele ngokuthi lolu daba lwaphelelaphi, kodwa wethembisa ukuthi uzoba nayo namhlanje.
Iwebsite ye-Institute for International co-operation in Animal Biologic iyakuvuma ukuthi amagundane ayingozi futhi kungenzeka uthole ubuthi kuwo, ushone uma ungelashwanga ngokushesha.
Le website iveza ukuthi ziningi izifo ezidalwa ngamagundane noma engakulumanga. Phakathi kwazo kubalwa ileptospirosis okuthiwa isabalala ngokuthi igundane lichamele amanzi noma ukudla okuzosetshenziswa ngabantu. Lokhu kungagcina ngokukhubaza amasosha omzimba kubantu.
Kuthiwa ubuthi obudlulela kubantu ngokulunywa yigundane bungahlala emzimbeni izinsuku eziyishumi, kodwa ungasinda uma ubonane nodokotela ngokushesha noma uhlale eshisayo imizuzu engu-15.
http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20080129031842966C877842
Mercury
29 January 2008, 09:19
By Sinegugu Ndlovu & Phili Mjoli
An inquest had been opened into the death of a four-month-old baby who died on Saturday after he was bitten on the head by a rat.
Nkosi Cwaka, who lived with his parents at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban, was bitten on Friday but died on Saturday because his parents could not afford to take him to a doctor or to the local clinic, which closes at weekends.
Ntombikayise Mzobe, 22, Nkosi’s mother, said she and the baby had been taking a nap when she was woken up by the child’s cries. She said she had seen a huge rat bite into Nkosi’s head and took the child into her arms, but the rat would not let go. “The rat eventually let go and my child’s head and right arm were bleeding from the bites. We were waiting for the clinic to open on Monday, but Nkosi died on Saturday,” she said.
S’bu Zikode, president of the shack-dwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, said although Nkosi’s death was the first to have resulted from a rat bite, shack dwellers had often reported being bitten by rats.
He said shack dwellers had been complaining to the city about the problem, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.
“Shack dwellers and our children are not looked after. Rubbish is not removed, which provides a breeding ground for these rodents.,” said Zikode.
The eThekwini health department’s Urmila Sankar said rats were a problem across the city.
“The main problem is prevention. Our prevention capacity is limited because we can’t set rat and poison traps in residential areas because people could get injured or poisoned. We have clean-up campaigns for informal settlements, but people don’t keep up the level of cleanliness,” she said.
Sankar added that her department would visit the Kennedy Road informal settlement and reinforce the clean-up campaign.
Police Dir Phindile Radebe said an inquest docket had been opened.
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=693632
Sowetan
Front Page
Mhlaba Memela
29 January 2008
POVERTY: Children playing outside their shack at Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban, where a child is said to have died after being bitten by a rat. PHOTO:MHLABA MEMELA
MOURNING: Ntombikayise Mzobe, left, whose son Nkosingiphile died after being bitten by a rat. With her is her sister Smangele and her child Smangaliso. PHOTO: MHLABA MEMELA
The parents of four-month-old Nkosingiphile Cwera, who died after being bitten by a rat at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban, are still in shock.
Ntombikayise Mzolo, 23, and her baby were cuddled on their old iron bed on Friday when the rat is said to have bitten the baby.
The distraught father, Mfundiseni Cwera, 25, told Sowetan that despite their poverty, “my son was a blessing from God”.
“This evil rat bit my son on the head. We initially did not take it seriously because rats are common in this shack settlement.
“My son became very sick and died on Sunday,” said a grieving Cwera.
Police spokesman Michael Read said the matter was under investigation.
“We are still awaiting the results of a postmortem to establish the exact cause of the baby’s death.
“We have also been informed that the baby was bitten by a rat,” Read said.
The community was also shocked as they gathered in the small shack to support their traumatised neighbours.
“Since we stay near a dumping site, rats run straight into our homes. Some of these rats are as big as cats and are not scared of humans.
“They eat our food. It is not a healthy place for our children but we have no choice,” said a woman resident.
Thousands of impoverished people live in the filthy Kennedy Road shack settlement – a few metres away from a municipal dumping site.
Residents of this shack settlement are mostly unemployed and uneducated.
They are forced to scavenge for food from the nearby dumping site because they cannot access state grants.
Toddlers who should be in pre-school spend the day running around the dumping site.
Lindela Figlan, the local chairman of Abahlali Basemjondolo, was shocked by the incident.
“We are trying to help the family. It’s painful because these rats will kill more children.
“We appeal to the municipality to do something about this situation. We need homes,” Figlan said.
eThekwni Municipality manager Mike Sutcliffe expressed shock at the child’s death.
“We are the only city in the world trying hard to give decent houses to our people,” he said.
Sutcliffe urged the family to make an application to the municipality’s parks and recreation department for help to bury the child.
http://www.isolezwe.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4228565
Isolezwe
Babanga indawo namagundane, izinyoka nemfucuza
January 29, 2008 Edition 1
PHILI MJOLI
IPHUNGA likadoti, elendle, amanzi agelezayo, izimpukane, intuthu yikho okukuhlangabeza emijondolo ekuKennedy Road, eSydenham, eThekwini.
Le mijondolo kuthiwa ayigcini ngokuba yikhaya lezinkulungwane zabasebenzi abahola kancane nabadabuka ezindaweni ezikude neTheku, nabanye abangasebenzi kodwa iphinde ibe yikhaya lamagundane, izinyoka nesidleke samaphela odumo eTheku.
Ngempelasonto elinye lamagundane amakhulu azicanasela kule ndawo lilume ingane enezinyanga ezine ekhanda yagcina ishonile.
Yisigameko sokuqala sokuthi kushone olunywe yigundane kule ndawo, yize kwaziwa ukuthi maningi futhi ayabaluma abantu.
UNksz Nothando Chamane oneminyaka emihlanu ehlala kule ndawo uthe ngemuva kokuzwa ngalesi sigameko akasakwazi ukulala.
“Nginengane enezinyanga ezintathu, nginovalo lokuthi leli gundane elilume le ngane eshonile, kungezeka libuye lisihlasele nathi,” kusho uNksz Chamane.
Eduze kwale ndawo kunothango, ngaphakathi kwalo amaloli ayehla ayenyuka azothulula imfucuza, amanye athulula amakhemikhali okubulala ubuthi emfucuzeni.
Amakhemikhali kuthiwa yiwo abhebhezela imililo edlula nemiphefumulo yabahlala kule ndawo cishe minyaka yonke. Noma kunjalo kubantu abahlala khona, bayithatha njengendawo ephephile futhi eseduze nezindawo abathola kuzo amatoho.
UMengameli wehlangano yabahlala emijondolo eThekwini, eyaziwa ngokuthi Abahlali baseMjondolo uMnuz Sbu Zikode, uthe indawo ayinankinga uma nje kungathuthwa imfucuza.
Utshele leli phephandaba ukuthi iloli ethutha imfucuza ifika kanye ngesonto kanti uma seligcwele kukhona osasele alibe lisabuya.
Ngokwazi isimo abanye bomphakathi wakule ndawo ababe besalinda bavele bawushise kudaleke intuthu.
UZikode uthe bangaphe-zulu kuka-7 000 abantu abahlala kule ndawo.
UNkk Urmila Sankar wophiko lwezempilo eMkhandlwini weTheku, uthe inkinga yamagundane ivamile kuleli dolobha.
UMnuz Nkosinathi Nkwanyana wophiko oluqoqa intela okuyilo olucisha ugesi uma kwenzekile bazifakela ngokungemthetho, uthe akuvumelekile ukuthi uMkhandlu ufakele abahlala ezindaweni ezingakathuthukiswa ugesi.
UNksz Dora Zulu bathi baphila ngokuwagada kuhle kwezinkukhu amagundane.
“Siwagada nje ngoba siyazi ukuthi ngemuva kwegundane kunenyoka ecabanga ukuthi izolidla, amakati avele abaleke,” kusho yena.