Protest against Cllr Bachu 4 October 2005 – Album II

[fsg_gallery id=”431″]PEACEFUL MARCH ON COUNCILLOR JAYRAJ BACHU ON 4 OCTOBER 2005

HAWU! HAWU!
BATHENGISA NGATHI!

WHEN: 7:00 a.m. (sharp), Tuesday, 4th October 2005

WHERE: Leaving from Asoka Park at Reservoir Hills and ending at Jayraj Bachu’s office in Clare Estate no. 574.

WHY: Thousands of people demand land, housing, basic services, democratic development and respect. We will give Jayraj Bachu two weeks notice. Our full demands are in our memorandum.

ORGANISERS: The Quarry Road Development Committee in connection with other democratic structures in informal settlements on the Clare Estate including Juba Plave, Emsahweni, Mpolweni, Anert Drive, Ethuleni, Palmiet Road Zone 1, Palmiet Road Zone 2, Rainbow Ridge, Pridie Park, Homely Road, Shukula, Umgudlu Freeway, L Section and uMgudulu.

SUPPORTERS: This march is also supported by, and will include representatives from democratic organisations outside of wards 23 including Kennedy Road, Banana City, Burnwood Road, Foreman Road, Jadhu Place, Lacey Road, Palmiet Road, Puntan s Hill and Quarry Road and Sydenham Heights.

COMMENT: William Bobore on 0733803026 or Angelina Mosiea on 0762921833.

A MEMORANDUM OF DEMANDS: TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2005

We the people of Ward 23, democrats and loyal citizens of the Republic of South Africa, note that this country is rich because of the theft of our land and because of our work for which we get very little pay from those who are rich. We are not recognized by our government for whom we voted. For too long our communities have survived in conditions that are intolerable. We have been promised many things and these promised have never been fulfilled. We now see that all they want is for us to vote for them. We cannot and will not continue to suffer the way that we do and so we have united behind the following demands:

• Our toilets have been taken away and we demand that they are returned within 5 days.
• We demand that houses are built for us and that they are built here in Clare Estate and not elsewhere. We will resist forced removals. We will not be evicted from the city and dumped in rural areas.
• We demand that Jayraj Bachu resign as councilor of Ward 23 within two weeks. We demand that he hand over the keys of his office to us as the sign of his resignation. We would like to make it clear that if Bachu does not resign then we, ourselves, will declare that Ward 23 does not have a councilor.

UMBHIKISHO OPHIKISANA NOMPHATHI SIGCAWU UJAYRAJ BHACHU NGO MHLAKA 4 OCTOBER 2005

Hawu! Hawu!
Bathengisa Ngathi

UMBHIKISHO OPHIKISANA NOMPHATHI SIGCAWU UJAYRAJ BHACHU NGO MHLAKA 4 OCTOBER 2005

Hawu! Hawu!
Bathengisa Ngathi!

NINI: Ngehora lesishayagalombili ekuseni, ngolwesithathu, zingu 4 October 2005.

KUPHI: Ukubhikisha kwabantu kuzosuka e paki yase Asokha eRisiva Hills. Ukubhikikisha kuyophelela emahiusini ake umnumzane Jayraj Bacju Eliku Clare Road.

NGOBANI: Lezinkulugwane zifuna imihlaba, izindlu, zomphakathi ezibalulekile kanye nenhlonipho. Baphinde banikeza amaviki amabili ashiye isikhundla umnumzane Jay Bhachu.

ABAHLELI: Abahleli balombhikisho Quarry Road Development Committee. Bazobe besebenzisana nezinye ezinambelana nentando yeningikuward 23. Lezizi nhlangano zihlanganise amanye amalunga (abahleli) omphakathi owadezindawe ezingekho emthethweni informal settlements eClare estate Kwi Ward 23 Quarry Road Juba place emsahweni Mpolweni Ekuthuleni ePridle Park. Homley Road Shukula, Umgudulu Freeway, Palmeit Zone 1, Palmeit Zone 2, L section Rainbow Ridge, Umgudulu Bologna settlement, Alexoles settlement.

Kuzobe kunezi hambeli zethu ezivela ngaphandle kwaward 23. Jadhu Place, Foreman Road, Burnwood Road, Kennedy Road, Puntan s Hill naseSydenham Heights, Lacy Road and Banana City.

INCWADI YEZIKHALO ZETHU IZOKWE THULWA NGOWESIBILI 4 OCTOBER 2005

Thina bahlali baseward 23 nabasekeli abahambelana nentando yeningi nabahlali abahambelana nentando yeningi nabahlali abahloniphekile base ningizimu Afrika siyazi ukuthi lelizwe licebe ngokutha. Thwa kewmihlaba yethu lapho imihlaba yethu esihlelikuyo siyasuswa siyeswe kolahlwa emapulazi angaphandle netheku koparkgate nase – Welbedacht eChatsworth. Angeke sikwazi ukuqhubeka nokuhlahe ka ngaloluhlobo kepha sizobumbana – kulezikhalazo zethu ezilandelayo.

Sesiside lesisikhathi imiphakatai yethu iphila emizini engekho emithekweni nenga phansi. Kwezinga futhi sesiside isikhathi sithenjiswa imihlaba esilungele nokuhlala emizini ephephile ezempilo nesizotha.

Imiphakathi yethu isidlavuzekile ukuhluphela ngakhoke sifuna uhulumeni asinikeze amathuba emisebenzi esiwudingayo – kakhuklu, kanti futhi okhokhela hgokwanele futhi onesizotha.

Ukholelwa wethu usibukelaphansi futhi ukholelwa ukuthi siyahlupheka angeke akwazi ukusihlonipha ngoba sizahlupheki abantu bayathanda ukuhlonishwa njeengoba sibusa ngentando yeningi.

JOIN THE MARCH ON COUNCILLOR YACOOB BAIG
ON 14 SEPTERMBER 2005

NINI: Ngehora lesishayagalombili ekuseni, ngolwesithathu, zingu 4 October 2005.

KUPHI: Ukubhikisha kwabantu kuzosuka ehholo lomphakathi kuKennedy Road ose 286 Kennedy Road, nase Clare Estate. Ukubhikisha kuyophelela emahhovisini akhe umnumzane Baig elisekhoneni lika Randles no Spark’s Road eSydenham.

ABAHLELI: Abahleli balombhikisho iKennedy Road Development Committee. Bazobe besebenzisana nezinye izinhlangano ezihambelana nentando yeningi, lezi hlangano zihlanganise amanye amalunga omphakathi owasezindaweni ezingekho emthethweni (informal settlements) eClaire Estate, Banana City, Burnwood Road, Foreman Road, Jadhu Place, Lacey Road, Palmiet Road, Puntan’s hill, Quarry Road, naseSydenham Heights neJimmy Carter Housing project eseSherwood.

On 13 May this year 5 000 people from ward 25 marched on their Councillor, Yacoob Baig, to demand his immediate resignation. Baig’s only public response was been to tell more lies and to claim that this legal and peaceful exercise of popular democracy was criminal. The poor of Ward 25 have no more confidence in Baig. After years of being promised land and housing in the city they are now being told that they will be forced out of the city. On 14 September they will march to tell Baig to go.

We in Quarry Road West in Ward 23 also need houses to be built in Clare Estate. Some of us have lived here for 20 years. But the council is trying to force us out. The police are harassing us. Even our toilets are being taken away by Councillor Bachu and the municipality. We need them back very soon! We will not vote if our toilets do not come back. Down with Councillor Bachu down!

Another Coffin for Another Durban Councillor: Quarry Road Marches on Jayraj Bachu

On Tuesday 4 October well over a 1 000 people, mostly from the Quarry Road settlement, marched to demand land, housing, the return of their toilets and the resignation of Ward 23 Councillor Jayraj Bachu. Quarry Road is a relatively small settlement perched on the muddy banks of the Umgeni River in the elite suburb of Reservoir Hills. The march was put to together in a few days and the organisers, the Quarry Road Development Committee, had only expected a few hundred people. But the message that the poor have a right to live in the city and should fight forced removals proved so resonant that participation exceeded all expectations.

In December last year the eThekweni Metro tried to force Quarry Road residents to accept ‘slum clearance’ followed by ‘relocation’ to the ‘rural periphery of the Metro’. Some people did agree to move but many others refused to move. There was a bitter clash with police and a number of injuries and arrests. A 17 year old boy is still in prison awaiting trial. Once people had shown that they were prepared to resist forced removals, and to resist them vigorously, there was something of a stalemate. The Metro couldn’t afford the spectacle of violent clashes between shack dwellers and police on a main road in an elite suburb. They still justify their development policy in the name of the poor and so prefer to avoid highly visible conflict . They decided on a war of attrition and removed the toilets that they had installed some years before. This is no small thing. People get sick when there are no toilets – sometimes so sick that they die. It is estimated that 3 million suffer serious diarrhoea and that 300 000 children die from diarrhoea every year in South Africa. The Metro’s attempt to force the poor out by removing their toilets is a potentially (and probably inevitably) fatal act of aggression.

The return of the removed toilets was the central demand of the march. Other key demands were for the right to live in the City and for land and housing to be made available in the city. Marchers also warned that they would “fight all attempts at forced removals” and would not allow the City to “dump them in rural areas”. The final demand was for the resignation of the Councillor and for the keys to his office to be handed over the people. The tone of the march was uncompromisingly militant. Speakers demanded that Bachu hand over the keys to his office immediately, forced him to take questions from the marchers and made it clear that they would not vote, for Bachu or anyone else, until their toilets had been returned and they had been given land and housing in the city.

This was the third large legal march by shack dwellers in Durban this year. Just over two weeks ago more than 5 000 people, mostly from the Kennedy Road settlement, marched to demand land, housing, toilets and the resignation of Ward 25 Councillor Yacoob Baig.

The Quarry Road and Kennedy Road marches carried mock coffins with their councillors’ names on the side and ended with mock funerals. The City has not taken this well. The very first public intervention of the new eThekwini Muncipality speaker James Nxumalo has been to slam the mock funerals as unacceptable. Nxumalo said that in a context where two councillors have already been assassinated this month and that a number of others have received death threats the mock funerals are “a serious matter”.

In response to the Kennedy Road march City Manager Mike Sutcliffe revived the racist agitator thesis and argued that the protestors are being ‘used’. Sutcliffe blamed the protests on a prominent white academic, Patrick Bond. Ironically that academic has never set foot in any of the settlements or even met any of the people who organised the marches. Evidently it is impossible for Sutcliffe to understand that poor African people can in fact think and act for themselves. Bachu tried to dismiss the Quarry Road march as the work of ‘outsiders’. But ANC hacks are going to struggle to explain away the Quarry Road march. It had the full and enthusiastic support of all political (and generally apolitical) groups in Quarry Road. The ANC civic umbrella body SANCO has a presence in Quarry Road and even SANCO supported the march fully and worked hard to make it a success. The SANCO rep, Angelina Mosiea, standing in front of a row of journalists and wearing a SANCO t-shirt and cap, called on people not to vote and demanded that Bachu hand over the keys to his office. Even paid up card carrying ANC cadres are in open revolt. The party is in as much disarray at the bottom as it is at the top.

Reservoir Hills has consistently been the safest ward in the whole country for the ANC. But if the Metro continues to try and force the poor out of the city the ANC will no longer get the votes of the shack dwellers and the rich will no longer be able to pretend to themselves that a vote for the ANC is a vote for the poor. The battle lines of the future are becoming clear.

Sifuna izindlu esamhlala la Clare Estate!
Asivoti ngoba asiboni ntuthuko!
Phansi ngobachu ngoba akasisebenseli!
Siyahlukunyezwa ngabomthetho amaphoyisa!

Click here to read Fazel Khan s article on the Quarry Road march.

Monday, 11 September 2005: Urgent Press Release

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS IN WARD 23 WILL JOIN THE MARCH ON COUNCILLOR BAIG ON 14 SEPTEMBER 2005 AND DEMAND THE RESIGNATION OF COUNCILLOR BACHU

Sifuna izindlu esamhlala la Clare Estate! Asivoti ngoba asiboni ntuthuko!
Phansi ngobachu ngoba akasisebenseli!
Siyahlukunyezwa ngabomthetho amaphoyisa!

WHEN: 8:00 a.m. (sharp), Wednesday, 14 September 2005

WHERE: Leaving from Kennedy Road Community Hall at 286 Kennedy Road, Clare Estate and ending at Baig’s offices on the corner of Randles and Spark’s Roads in Sydenham.

WHY: To demand land, housing, toilets, to oppose forced removals and to give Councillors Baig and Bachu two weeks notice.

ORGANISERS: The Kennedy Road Development Committee in alliance with other democratic structures in informal settlements in wards 23 and 35 on the Clare Estate including Banana City Burnwood Road, Foreman Road, Jadhu Place, Lacey Road, Palmiet Road, Puntan s Hill and Quarry Road as well as Sydenham Heights and the Jimmy Carter Housing project in Sherwood.

SUPPORTERS: This march is also supported by, and will include representatives from organisations outside of wards 23 and 25 including the Bayview Flats Residents’ Association; the Combined Staff Association (UKZN); Eastwood Community Forum (‘Martizburg); Groundwork; the Mandela Park Anti-eviction Campaign (Cape Town); the ‘Martizburg Social Forum; the Right to Work Campaign; the Socialist Students’ Movement (UKZN); the Wentworth Development Forum and the Westcliff Flat Residents’ Association.

COMMENT: William Bobore on 0733803026 or Angelina Mosiea on 0762921833.

On 13 May this year 5 000 people from ward 25 marched on Yacoob Baig to demand his immediate resignation. Baig’s only public response was been to slander this entirely legal and peaceful exercise of popular democracy as criminal. The poor of Ward 25 have no confidence in Baig and have no confidence that his superiors will hold him to account. On 14 September they will march to give him two weeks to resign.

We in Quarry Road West in Ward 23 also need houses to be built in Clare Estate. Some of us have lived here for 20 years. But the council is trying to force us out. Even our toilets are being taken away by Councillor Bachu and the municipality. We need them back very soon! We will not vote if our toilets do not come back. Down with Councillor Bachu down!

Sikhalela Izindlu!
Phansi amaphoyisa shaya abantu!

And, lastly, to see what the Sydenham Police think of Quarry Road visit – http://www.sydenhamcpf.org.za/SAPS/SAPSRaid20050729.pdf