http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4646692

Shack evictions ‘illegal’

Claim by international report

October 06, 2008 Edition 2

IRENE KUPPAN and DASEN THATHIAH

DURBAN might be one of the top low-cost house builders in the country, but it has been accused in a scathing international housing report of evicting hundreds of shack dwellers illegally.

The report, released today, by the Swiss-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), claims that not a single eviction carried out by the municipality had been done legally.

These charges were vehemently denied yesterday by the city’s head of housing, Couglan Pather.

COHRE – based in Geneva but with offices worldwide – said it was alarmed by the situation in Durban.

“We have a deep concern about the high number of unlawful evictions carried out by the eThekwini Municipality.

“Evictions are a routine occurrence in Durban and COHRE researchers did not come across a single instance in which an eviction by the municipality had been carried out in accordance with the law,” said Salih Booker, the group’s executive director.

The council also came under fire for the size and quality of houses being built and its failure to provide sufficient levels of basic services to those shack dwellers still waiting to be placed in houses.

Higher costs

The organisation also noted the many deadly fires shack dwellers had to contend with and the lack of proper sanitation in the settlements, especially for women.

It claimed that houses being built were positioned too far away from the town, resulting in higher costs for transport to to work, school and hospitals.

Pather said decisions to evict were taken before a court and he called on COHRE to provide evidence of its findings.

“The allegations are totally untrue and factually incorrect. We have taken all necessary steps in the evictions and we take into consideration the guidelines of the Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act,” he said.

Pather said that the city provided adequate basic services to all informal settlements in Durban.

“We currently provide interim services – such as water and sanitation – to all shack-dwellers while they are awaiting houses. In some cases, we provide communal water and ablution facilities,” he said.

Pather urged affected parties to contact organisations such as the Legal Resource Centre and Legal Aid Board for free assistance if they felt that their rights had been infringed during evictions.

But the municipality also came in for some praise, particularly for making the effort to build a “considerable” number of houses every year.

Pather confirmed that the municipality had built around 18 000 houses last year, beating its expected target of 16 000.

COHRE also found that the council was working at its relationship with shack-dwellers.

“COHRE is pleased to note that since the research phase of the Durban Fact Finding Mission was concluded, relations between the municipality and shack-dwellers has improved significantly,” the report said.

There was also a “dramatic decline” in allegations of police harassment of the shack dwellers, said the group.