Armed De-Electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement

Update: 20 August 16:46 Word has just been received that another home, this one occupied by 3 families, is burning in Motala Heights….

19 August 2008
Press Release from the Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

Armed De-Electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement

This morning an eThekwini Municipal official invaded the Motala Heights settlement with a group of security guards. They drew their guns, said that they were there to disconnect what they call 'illegal electricity connections' and what every one else calls 'lifesaving community connections' and threatened to shoot anyone that resisted.

The Municipal Official is known to be a friend of local gangster landlord Ricky Govender and often drinks in Govender's bar. When the official was challenged he told the community that "you are living on Ricky's land and you must go." Municipal officials are always saying this but in fact AbM went to the City deeds office in 2006 and it is clear that the settlement is on government land . In a democracy government land should be the peoples' land. In fact all vacant land should be the people's land. During the attack Bongo Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo youth league whose shack burnt down on 31 July, was injured when the security guards deliberately rammed him with their car.

Immediately after the attack the entire community marched on Ricky Govender's offices to protest against the attack on the settlement, the injury to Bongo and the disconnection of electricity at gun point. Govender was informed that neither he nor the Municipality has any right to enter the settlement without the permission of Abahlali baseMjondolo. He agreed to this demand.

The Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo branch will call a mass meeting of all residents in the area to discuss this latest attack and will issue a more detailed press statement after that. But right now it is important to note that:

1. The last time the City attacked Motala Heights was in 2006 when their security guards, clearly acting under the direction of Ricky Govender and many of them drunk after drinking in Govender's bar, came to demolish the settlement. That attack was stopped by legal action because the City had no court order and were illegally destroying the peoples' homes. In the end the police chased the Municipal Security out of the settlement.

2. It is a disgrace that the Municipality chooses to make its self the servant of a well known gangster who is trying to drive all the poor, African and Indian, out of the area rather than to work to develop the area with and for all the people of the area.

3. It is a disgrace that in the middle of all the shack fires the City, the same City that is responsible for the shack fires because it decided to stop electrifying shacks in 2001, continues to send men with guns to disconnect people who have done the work of making their communities safe themselves.

4. It is a disgrace that the City sends out armed security guards to attack its poorest residents rather than negotiating with them to solve their problems.

For background information on Motala Heights please see: http://abahlali.org/?p=2377

For information on recent armed attacks on other settlements to disconnect the people from electricity see:

Kenned Road: (Clare Estate): http://abahlali.org//////?p=3342
eMagwaveni (Tongaat): http://abahlali.org//////?p=3490

To see the recent Abahlali baseMjondolo call for a City Wide Shack Fires Summit see: http://abahlali.org/?p=3882

For more information please contact the following residents of Motala Heights:

Bongo Dlamini, Chairperson, AbM Youth League: 0748756234

Lousia Motha: Treasurer, AbM: 0839504122

Shamita Naidoo, Chairperson, Motala Heights AbM Branch: 0743157962

Bheki Ngcobo, Deputy Chairperson, Motala Heights AbM Branch: 0785346007