Mandela Complex in Newland West Community press statement

Monday, 29 December 2014

How Bandile Mdlalose betrayed us in Mandela Complex until we were evicted from Newland West flats

We the community of Mandela Complex have come from different back grounds before occupying these flats in Castle Hill, Newland West. Some of us came from Parlock, after we were removed for the road reserved and relocated into Polokwane transit camps. Some of us came from Siyanda and we were also removed to make way for Dumisani Makhaye Road. Some of us came from the surrounding shack settlements in the area and were authorized by a local councillor Lubhede to occupy these flats. When we got into transit camps the councillor told us that the city does not have land for us but we were going to live temporarily on the transit camps. Immediately after that we saw the construction of flats taking place but we were surprised because we were told that there was no land. We went to ask the local councillor Mr Lubhede if the flats were being built for us but Lubhede did not want to answer us and chose to distance himself from us and from the questions we have asked.

Few months later we heard that the councillor was taking names of the people who are working and earning better salaries in order to rent the flats. The community then got angry and decided to occupy them on 2 December 2014 as it seemed pretty clear that those of us who do not have money will never get any decent house to live with our families.

While we were living in the flats now we were visited by mama Beauty Ma Shezi Nxumalo and mama Busisiwe Mdlalose (Bandile’s mother). The two women introduced themselves as leaders of Abahlali baseMjondolo and told us how the movement was working to protect the rights of residents from evictions. They convinced us that if we join Abahlali we were going to be assisted in our situation. At that time it was before Bandile was expelled from Abahlali, so she was still with the movement. We took membership of Abahlali but on the day we were going to launch an Abahlali branch on the 20 April 2014, our Interim Committee which was dominated by ANC members collaborated with Bandile and her mom and mama Nxumalo and prevented Abahlali from launching. The two women came very early on the day of the launch and brought ANC t-shirts with them which we were all given to wear so that by the time leadership of Abahlali come they could see that they were no longer welcome in the complex as it is an ANC ward. We were not told of the this plot. When the leadership of Abahlali came they were not welcome and tension began but Abahlali left the meeting.

Most people were now wearing ANC t-shirts and after Abahlali left the two women then introduced to us the Community Justice Movement that Bandile was going to set up and lead. They explained how Bandile was knowledgeable and experienced leader from Abahlali. They also mentioned that Bandile’s organization will not work with political parties but with the ruling party, unlike Abahlali and the DA. In that meeting they explained that Bandile had left Abahlali and not expelled and that she left with all lawyers and all other resources that can help communities and that Abahlali do not exist without her. They then asked the community to pay R200 each as a donation in order to speed up a new launch for Community Justice Movement. They told us that the new movement has its offices here in our flats. Bandile was not at the meeting when her mom and maShezi introduced her and her organization. On the meeting that followed Bandile came and confirmed all that was said by her mom and maShezi and that indeed she had sent them to recruit on her behalf.

Each time we inform Bandile about threats of eviction, she would not boarder or take us serious. In one of the days when we were threatened with eviction Bandile phoned a man who was unknown  to us who later introduced him as Mr Elijah Cele from Provincial Department of Human Settlement. Mr Elijah Cele did stop Mr Singh whom we were told he is a landlord from evicting us, which is why we trusted him. Mr Cele assured us that Singh would never evict us without him as the Head of the Department. Mr Cele then asked us to compile our data base and warn us not to add people who do not live in the flats, which we did and gave it to him with a hope that he would find houses for us should we were evicted.

At all this time Bandile would come and bluff us that she meets eThekwini municipality quit often and ask us to collect money for her petrol because she represent us. She warned us that nobody has a right to phone city officials or Mr Cele without her. On the 25 November 2014 Bandile came to the community with some papers from the sheriff of the High Court that we are going to be evicted without our knowledge. She refused to hand over those papers to the community instead she told us to look for our own lawyers in Verulam and approach Probono which we did to no success. That is when we realize that she has betrayed us because she had promised us lawyers but when we needed them she never boarder finding them for us, she now sends us from pillar to poster.

On the 1 December Bandile sent us sms saying Mr Cele was asking for a meeting with our community representatives to be held at Durban Club at 14pm. We came for that meeting but Bandile was not there. Mr Cele and his lawyer Mr Mokoena and two other guys were there. Mr Mokoena asked if we have our lawyer and we said no but we have thought Mr Cele was representing us because he had promised us that we will never be evicted without his concern. But Mr Cele told us that he is only representing the Department of Human Settlement and his department has a lawyer and that we needed to find our own lawyer because on the following day the 2 December 2014 we needed to appear in court. They then dismissed us. When Bandile failed to pitch up at that meeting it became very clear to us that she had sold us out, that she had no lawyer for us in the first place, and that all the meetings she used to have may have paid her to betray us.

We were forced to find the lawyer within few hours as we were told to come to court with the lawyer the following day. We got the lawyer that wanted at least R10 000 to appear for us within such a short period of time. We were able to raise and collect that money from the community.

The following day 2 December 2014 we paid the lawyer and went to Durban High Court. In court we did not even enter the court doors but told that the court set on the 28 November2014 and Singh obtained an eviction order against us without our knowledge or representation. We believe that Bandile had known all about this as she attended several meeting with Cele and eThekwini municipality and that is why she is now avoiding us. It is our belief that she has met Mr Singh as well in order to sell us out, Bandile has betrayed us. We went back and reported to the community that Singh’s lawyers and our government collaborated and went only to fetch their eviction order against us. We were then forcefully and sadly removed and thrown outside the premises of the flats. A lot of us sustained injuries as those police men used brutal force to evict us and our belongings damaged. Bandile has not done any justice to us, she has collected a lot of money from us pretending to be doing something good for us. The meetings that she has been holding on our behalf with Elijah and Lawrence Pato of the Department of Human Settlement have contributed to our homelessness today, while they were also warning us not to speak to media about any of this mess.

Today we hear Bandile speaking a lot on media about us without our knowledge and without our mandate. Today we also hear that she is a big leader in the United Front, we ask ourselves where she gets her mandate from because we were her only newly launched branch. She got nominated in Johannesburg United Front National Working Committee we ask who had mandated her in the first place from Durban. We were only 96 families and she failed us but today she is joining NUMSA using us a her ladder. We wonder why NUMSA will welcome corrupt leaders in their formation. It is clear to us that Community Justice is not a movement at all but a family business and she thus get her mandate from her mom and her sister.

From today we are on our own, we are independent, we are just Dispalced Abahlali baseMandela Complex and no more Community Justice where there is no justice. Now Bandile is working close with the ANC local councillor and they both never come to visit us outside the premises beside turning our plight into building their own profile in the media. Some of us are getting very sick because of sunny weather, rainy and cold outside the premises. Some of us are pregnant, some have babies as young as six weeks old as we have nowhere else to go. We have seen how Bandile has made money out of our suffering and how she has worked with members of the ruling party to ruin our future. Can somebody intervene and help us.

Please contact Ms Buyile Jele on 081 0367842

Mr Sanele Mhlongo 073 6947615

Mr Sanele Xhakaza 078 5622523