No Land No House No Vote! Press release

SHACK DWELLERS' MARCH
27 February 2006

Houses First, the Man Later

No House! No Land! No Vote!

WHEN: 8:00a.m. Monday 27 February 2006

WHERE: The march will start at Botha Park and will proceed to the city hall where our demands will be presented to Mike Mabuyakhulu.

WHY: Why are people marching in their thousands? We need answers to our questions about housing – when, how, where and how many houses do they plan to build? How can we be sure that we can get houses after all these lies for all these years? The government must give us proof because they have been telling us lies for a long time.

ORGANISERS: The shack dwellers of this country. We invite all other poor people everywhere to join us and say "enough is enough!"

SUPPORTERS: This march is organized by Abahlali baseMjondolo and is also supported by, and will include representatives from community organisations including the Banana City Informal Settlement Area Committee; the Bayview Flats Residents' Association; the Combined Staff Association (UKZN); Eastwood Community Forum ('Maritzburg), Groundwork; the Mandela Park Anti-eviction Campaign (Cape Town); the Right to Work Campaign; the Socialist Students' Movement (UKZN); the Sydenham Heights Flats Resident's Association; eThekweni Eco-peace Party; the eThekweni Social Forum; the Wentworth Development Forum and the Westcliff Flat Residents' Association as well as people from Cato Crest, KwaMashu, eMandeni, Umlazi, Palmiet, Clermont, Puntan's Hill, the Reservoir Hills Taxi Association, the Clare Estate Taxi Association and Durban Informal Traders.

FOR COMMENT AND FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Philani Zungu 0729629312; Miss Fikile Nkosi 0842501446; Mr. Mnikelo Ndanbankulu 0735656241; Miss Thandi Khambule 0720979136; Mr. Moses Mncwango 0762250260, Mr. Chazumuzi Ngcobo 0722796588, Mr. M'du Hlongwa 0723358966, Mr. Lungisani Jama 0737634967

The Shack Dwellers' Struggle

Many promises to people living in shacks have been broken. Across South Africa shack dwellers have been blocking roads and saying 'Enough!' There were more than 6000 protests last year. In Durban, in Wards 23 and 25, thousands of people marched on councillors Yacoob Baig and Jayraj Bachu to demand that promises to provide land, housing and basic services like water, electricity and toilets be kept. People have also been marching against plans to move shack dwellers out of the city to rural places like Verulum far away from work, schools, clinics and police stations. The media have understood that people are suffering and have supported the marches very strongly. Other struggling communities have also offered strong support.

Mabuyakulu must know that our councillors are rouges.

We cannot continue to suffer like this. The time has come to say "Enough!" and to demand that the promises made to us be kept. The time has now come to march on Mike Mabuyakhulu. We must tell Mabuyakhulu that if we don't get satisfactory answers to the questions that we have asked about land, houses and basic services then we will not vote in the elections.

THEY ARE SELLING US!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

NO LAND, NO HOUSE, NO VOTE!