Well more than a hundred shacks burnt down in the Kennedy Road settlement this morning. This is the 7th fire in the settlement this year.

Abahlali baseMjondolo condemns the eThekwini Municipality's inhuman 2001 decision to stop electrifying shacks on the grounds that it is too expensive. There is a direct link between this decision and the fires as the fires are caused by candles and paraffin stoves.

Abahlali baseMjondolo condemns the eThekwini Municipality's regular and violent police attacks on poor communities in which lifesaving community organised connections are removed at gun point. These attacks have often been quickly followed by fires as people are forced to revert to candles and parafin stoves.

Text of a speech by S'bu Zikode at the Diakonia Council of Churches Economic Justice Forum - an audio recording of the speech, including the discussion afterwards, is available from Diakonia. Click here to read the report on the speech in the Sowetan.

Land and Housing

Thursday 28, 2008

I have been asked to speak on the burning issues of land and housing. I only get these invitations because of the strength of the movement of which I am part and so, on behalf of Abahlali baseMjondolo, I thank Diakonia for this platform.

Abahlali baseMjondolo has just won a major court victory against evictions. But outside the court the eThekwini Municipality is currently demolishing shacks in the Siyanda settlement. There is no court order and so, according to South African law, these demolitions are illegal and criminal acts. Media are urged to rush to the scene.

The shacks that are being demolished were built a month ago after renters in the area were left homeless when shack owners were moved to RDP houses and the renters illegally left homeless. This happens in every relocation or upgrade in Durban and in South Africa it is a completely illegal and in fact criminal act to leave someone homeless. The people who have been made homeless again today, just after being homeless last month, will rebuild again. What else can they do? This is the cruel reality of the government's plans to eradicate shacks: give houses to shack owners and leave shack renters, the poorest of the poor, homeless and desperate.

Sunday, 24 August 2008
Abahlali baseMjondolo eThekwini Press Release

Why are Shack Dwellers Excluded from the Discussions About the Cornubia Development?

Nothing for Us, Without Us!

There has been much discussion about the Cornubia housing development in the press. The City and the political parties have had their say. Tongaat-Hulett, the company that owns the land, have had their say. The technical experts have had their say. Shack dwellers' organisations have not had their say. We who live with the rats in the mud and the fires have not had our say. We who were publicly promised houses in this development in November 2005 have not had our say. We who have been beaten and arrested while defending our right to speak for ourselves, defending our communities from eviction, and defending our right to decent housing in the city have not had our say.

Update: 20 August 16:46 Word has just been received that another home, this one occupied by 3 families, is burning in Motala Heights....

19 August 2008
Press Release from the Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

Armed De-Electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement

This morning an eThekwini Municipal official invaded the Motala Heights settlement with a group of security guards. They drew their guns, said that they were there to disconnect what they call 'illegal electricity connections' and what every one else calls 'lifesaving community connections' and threatened to shoot anyone that resisted.

Video footage from the Cape Town High Court demonstration earlier in the year - from SACSIS

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Friday August 15, 2008
–
Date: 16th August, 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 14h00 - 16h30
Assembly Point: Mew Way Hall, Lansdowne Road

QQ Section - Tomorrow, the recently formed AbM Western Cape will be hosting a walkabout through Khayeltisha's informal settlements for Cape Town mayoral committee member Dan Plato and other city officials.

After assembling at Mew Way Hall, we will visit over a dozen informal settlements on foot, including QQ, RR, VT, VV, TR, AT, XA, QA, LB, and YA.

This walkabout will provide the residents of these communities with an opportunity to demonstrate directly to city officials the lack of even rudimentary services in their communities. Residents will be able to show officials what they have and what they lack, what they want and how they want it. It will offer our communities a chance to instil the accountability lacking in the process of upgrading informal settlements.

Tuesday, 19 August 2008
LPM Protea South Press Release

The Protea South Branch of the Landless People's Movement Has Won a Breakthrough Court Order Against the City of Johannesburg

Since 2003 the Landless People's Movement in the Protea South shack settlement in Soweto has been trying, without success, to engage the City of Johannesburg around the future of the settlement. The Protea South LPM branch has clear demands:

1. There must be no evictions.

2. Every effort must be made to build houses for the people in Protea South.

3. If it is genuinely not possible to build houses for all residents in Protea South then discussions must be held to find the closest possible alternative site.

Abahlali baseMjondolo (eThekwini) Press Statement
Friday, 08 August 2008

Let us Work Together to Stop the Plague of Shack Fires
Abahlali baseMjondolo Calls for a Shack Fire Summit

Obed Mlaba's house is symbolically burnt on 28 November 2007 in protest at the plague of fires.

This weekend the eight people that burnt to death in two shack fires in Cato Crest will be buried. This weekend we will continue to rebuild the Kennedy Road settlement after two fires in two weeks.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Friday August 8, 2008 - For Immediate Release

Date: 9th August, 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 14h00 – 16h00
Venue: QQ Revolutionary Community Crèche

QQ Section – Tomorrow, the newly formed AbM Western Cape will be holding a workshop for over 10 informal settlements in Khayelitsha on the City's 'Comprehensive Plan' for Informal Settlements.

Speakers at the workshop will include: Mzwandile Sokupa, Director of Informal Settlements for the City of Cape Town, Helen Macgregor from Development Action Group, Professor Martin Legassick, and others.

The aim of the workshop includes the following: