March Against Housing Corruption in Shallcross

20 February 2012
Unemployed People's Society Press Statement

March Against Housing Corruption in Shallcross

The Unemployed People's Society has, together with Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement S.A. and SANCO, been approached by the victims of the Savanna Park project and the Inkanyezi housing Project.

The Unemployed People’s Society will be marching to the Durban City Hall to demand an end to housing corruption in these housing projects such as Inkanyezi and Mawelewele, to demand road access and to oppose lazy and brutal police officials and the lack of services.

The march will start at King Dinuzulu Park (Botha Park) at 9:00am tomorrow – Tuesday, 21 February 2012. The memorandum will be handed over to the new eThekwini Municipal Manager Mr. Sibusiso Sithole, the Minister of Transport Mr. S’bu Ndebele and the Minister of Police Mr. Nathi Mthethwa. It will finished at 12 noon.

We all know that the provision of housing in Durban has been taken over by corrupt politicians and their friends to make them rich while hundreds of thousands of people in this city continue to live in shacks facing fires, floods, rats and evictions.

In Shallcross there are shack dwellers who occupied neglected RDP houses which were built over 2 years ago and then left uncompleted. The residents who have been waiting for more than 17 years for the houses promised to them decided to occupy these houses, including an old granny in her 80 years who lives with her grand children, after a heavy wind had destroyed their shacks last year. Another reason for these occupations has been that the housing officials have allegedly sold some of these houses to people from outside the area including those who do not qualify for the RDP houses such as teachers, nurses and police officers.

The local committee that was tasked to identify and allocate beneficiaries has been undermined by party structures that politicized the delivery of houses to their own families, friends and comrades (nepotism).

We wish to thank Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement of South Africa (AbM) and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) for supporting the victims of corruption in the Durban High Court where there was success in setting aside the interim eviction order. We also note that this matter will be returning to court on Friday the 24th February 2012. We will be laying our support and solidarity with this community for the justice to be done.

For updates and further information please contact:

Nompumelelo Shazi (co-ordinator): 078 282 5637