Category Archives: Mpola

Shack Dwellers Strike at National Print, Pinetown ++ SHOTS FIRED ++

Update: 27 January 18:32 – the bosses have flown down from Jo’burg to negotiate with the strikers and the strike has been suspended while the negotiations are ongoing. So far things are looking very positive.

150 contract workers at National Print, in Westmead, Pinetown, have walked off the job. The night shift workers will also refuse to work tonight.

The contract workers have decided to go on strike in protest at the attempt by the CEO to suddenly reduce their working hours and, therefore, their income. January is the month when poor families struggle to pay school fees and to buy school uniforms, books and stationery. This is a very bad time for people to suddenly lose most of their income.

About 70% of the contact workers at National Print are shack dwellers, most from the Abahlali baseMjondolo strongholds of Motala Heights, New Maus and Mpola. We have successfully resisted eviction from our settlements and we will also resist eviction from our workplaces.

The economy is in crisis due to the extreme greed of the rich. We have worked hard and done our work well. We are not to blame for the crisis. It is common sense that no one should take more than they need for themselves and their family. It is also common sense that no one should be able to take less than they need for themselves and their family. Everyone in this world has a right to a decent income.

For comment from the scene of the strike contact Lindo (AbM Youth League and National Print Worker) on 074 460 5806.

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BREAKING NEWS

The strikers at National Print in Westmead, Pinetown, are currently under police attack. Rubber bullets and stun grenades have been fired. It is too early to determine if the police have also used live ammunition or how many people have been injured.

For more information contact Lindo at 074 460 5806

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Update on the National Print Strike

Twenty of the strikers at National Print in Westmead, Pinetown, were injured by the police yesterday. Some of the strikers who fled the police attack at the factory gates in Westmead were later accosted by the police in central Pinetown and viciously assaulted there.

The strike continues.

For more information contact Lindo at 074 460 5806

Cape Times: Guards demolish shacks

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http://www.capetimes.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20091126221515537C758842

Guards demolish shacks
26 November 2009, 22:47

By Nompumelelo Magwaza

Residents of Mpola informal settlement at Marrianridge, near Pinetown, spent Thursday rebuilding and repairing their shacks.

This was after a group of armed municipal security guards had ransacked and demolished more than 20 shacks, leaving about 100 people homeless.

The guards were acting on the orders of ward councillor Derrick Dimba.

The residents said that the evictions were illegal because the guards did not have an eviction court order.

One, Lindiwe Ndlovu, said the guards ordered people out of their shacks before breaking them down.

Sipho Hlambisa said he had to take time off from work to rebuild his shack.

“If they want to evict us, they must be prepared to take us somewhere else.

“They should not just remove our furniture and demolish our shacks.”

Dimba said he had sent the guards to demolish the shacks because the residents were occupying the land illegally.

“The people invaded that land.

“The area is not designed to be a residential area – the place is steep and it is near a stream.”

“The municipality has no plans to build houses or for any projects in that area.”

Dimba said eviction orders were necessary only where people had built proper houses.

Centre for Applied Legal Studies researcher Kate Tissington said, however, that an eviction without a court order was illegal, “and this most definitely is”.

“The occupiers of Mpola informal settlement are protected by the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act and if the municipality wants to evict those living there, it needs to go through the eviction application process and get an order of court.”

Tissington said the city had acted illegally by bypassing the act’s provisions.

The eThekwini council speaker, James Nxumalo, said he understood that the city had to obtain a court order to evict people. He said although councillors acted as the eyes of the municipality, they did not have the right to evict people.

Illegal Evictions Happening at Gunpoint in Mpola Now

Click here to read the article in the Cape Times about Derek Dimba’s unlawful and criminal evictions that have left a hundred people homeless.

Abahlali baseMpola
Emergence Press Statement 11:38, 26 November 2009

Illegal Evictions Happening at Gunpoint in Mpola Now

The eThekwini Municipality is currently illegally evicting families at gunpoint in Mpola. Thirty people already have been left homeless. The community requests all press to rush to the scene and to witness the rampant criminality of the eThekwini Municipality for themselves.

Five cars from the municipality arrived at 10am, with Blue Ants armed with rifles and shotguns. The demolition team is now breaking down brick houses. according to the demolition team the evictions were ordered by the notorious local ward Councillor Derek Dimba.

The evictions, happening now, are illegal and criminal acts. There was no notice, no consultation, no court order, and no alternative accommodation provided.

Some families, whose homes already have been demolished, are at school and at work, and will return to find they have nowhere to sleep tonight. The eviction team demolished all the materials of the houses, including the roofs.

Some of the registration numbers demolition team’s cars are: NDM6904, NDM6902, NDM6903. The demolition team says the municipal official overseeing the eviction is Mr. Zulu (076 354 8921)

Contact:

Lindy 0789940700
Mbongeni 0738162837

Councillor and eThekwini Municipality Illegally Demolish Homes in Mpola

Abahlali baseMpola
15 September 2009

Councillor and eThekwini Municipality Illegally Demolish Homes in Mpola; More Families Left Homeless

Six more families were left homeless early this morning in Mpola, Marianhill, when a demolition crew took pangas to their homes. The demolition crew said they had been authorized by the notorious Ward 15 councillor, Derek Dimba. Backing the crew was 11 eThekwini Municipality security officers, all armed with guns.

The crew and security went door-to-door instructing people to remove their belongings and leave their homes immediately. Some of those targeted were shack-dwellers; others were living in stone-and-mortar houses.

An elderly woman was praying inside her shack, when the crew banged on the door. They said that the councillor previously gave her orders to report to him about any new shacks that were being built in Mpola. They said she was not following orders, and that is why her shack would be demolished. They took pangas to her home. Now, she and the 8-year old child living with her are homeless in the bush. They have nowhere else to go.

Some families were already at school or at work when the demolition crew arrived at 9am. The crew broke the locks, removed some of the belongings, and demolished their homes. These families will return from school or work to find their belongings aside piles of rubble. They will return to find that they no longer have shelter for the night.

The crew also destroyed their building materials – tin sheets were systematically slashed with holes, so that rebuilding would be impossible.

Three other families were left homeless in demolitions that took place last week in Mpola, and the illegal evictions are expected to continue with impunity. Demolitions there have been ongoing for months.

The demolition crew and the security officers, the councillor and the municipality, are breaking the law. These evictions are criminal acts. They took place without notice or consultation, without a court order, and without providing alternative accommodation.

The community of Mpola held a mass march last month on 28 August 2009, to air their grievances and submitted a memorandum to Mayor Mlaba. They were told although the march was well organized and peaceful, but that the city would not respond because the person who read the memorandum and submitted it was not an ANC member.

The community of Mpola wishes to state that they demand an end to illegal demolitions, and want an interdict from the court. They also demand clarification about the reasons the demolitions are taking place, and why people are being left homeless.

Contact:
Lindy 078 994 0700
Nkanyiso 084 875 2923

Siyanda – Mpola – Macassar Village: The War on the Poor Continues


Siyanda, 19 May 2009

Update: Click here to read the front page story in the Cape Times on the illegal evictions, police violence and arrests in Macassar Village and here for a video interview from the Siyanda transit camp.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Tuesday, 19 May 2009

The Elections Are Over – The War on the Poor Continues

Four Shot in Siyanda with Rubber Bullets, Illegal Demolitions in Mpola, Martin Legassick Arrested in Macassar Village, Mzonke Poni on the Run, Others Arrested and Shot at with Rubber Bullets

Siyanda: More Illegal Evictions, Rumours of More Forced Removals and More Police Violence

Four people were shot with rubber bullets at close range after the police attacked protesters in C – Section of Siyanda, Durban, this morning. The four people are all in hospital. The doctors say that one person is very badly injured.

The protest was aimed at halting construction of houses in the notoriously corrupt Khalula Housing Project. The C-Section community took the decision to halt the construction in protest against the ongoing unlawful demolition of people’s homes and rumours that people from C-Section will be forcibly removed to amatins (also known as government shacks or transit camps) in Red Hill.

All requests by the community for clear information and negotiation have been refused. After lots of pressure municipal official Bongi Hlengwa eventually agreed to meet the community to discuss their concerns about unlawful demolitions and the rumours of more forced removals at 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. However he cancelled the meeting without explanation following which the decision to stop construction was taken.

For more information on the crisis in Siyanda contact Mama Kayiyaki 074 299 2898, Magama Makhanyi 074 756 6348 or Mama Nxumalo 076 579 6198

Mpola: Illegal Evictions

Seven shacks were illegally demolished in Mpola, Marianhill (near Pinetown), this morning. The Municipality is knocking down shacks to build houses – but the houses are being given to outsiders. There is no consultation. There is no court order for these demolitions and they are, therefore, like the demolitions in Siyanda, illegal and criminal acts.

For more information on the crisis in Mpola contact Lindiwe Ndlovu 078 994 0700

Macassar Village: Demolitions, Arrests and Shootings

Backyward dwellers occupied vacant government land in Macassar Village last night after being forced out of their backyard shacks due to extremely high and exploitative rents. Early this morning the police arrived in very large numbers to attack the occupation and proceeded to unlawfully demolish the new shacks (they had no court order). While a meeting was being held to inform the new community that any police attack on it would be completely illegal the police went ahead and attacked the people.

One woman and her baby have been shot with rubber bullets. Four people have been arrested. So far we only have the name of one them – Professor Martin Legassick was arrested while taking pictures. The police are currently doing a door to door search in the area looking for Mzonke Poni.The protest in Macassar Village is continuing. The occupiers still hold the ground. The press are urged to rush to the scene.

For more information on the crisis in Macassar Village contact Mzonke Poni 073 256 2036.

Now that the election is over and the politicians have finished hunting for positions they are running away from the people. It is impossible for a poor community to get a meeting with a politician. They only send in the police to break the people's homes and to beat and shoot and arrest the people. This is the reality of our so called democracy. This is what development really looks like – people’s houses broken down, people shot with rubber bullets, people in jail, people on the run.