http://mediaglobal.org/article/2010-03-04/preparation-for-world-cup-disenfranchises-south-africas-poor

Preparation for World Cup disenfranchises South Africa's poor

By Allyn Gaestel

3 March 2010 [MediaGlobal]: South Africa is eagerly preparing to host the World Cup in June 2010, but the government’s preparatory development projects are negatively impacting the country’s poorest citizens.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe presented a keynote address on 1 March to mark 100 days to the start of the World Cup. He expressed the optimism and pride South Africa feels to be the first African host of the tournament. “It is time for South Africans to be proud of what they have achieved. It is time for South Africans to get ready to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

22 February 2010
Media Statement

Informal traders at Soccer city receive verbal eviction

The 12 informal traders selling fast food to the construction workers at Soccer City stadium were yesterday left distraught after being given verbal eviction notice to vacate their trading sites by the end of this weekend (28th February 2010).

The representatives who identified themselves as officials from the City of Johannesburg (2010 Directorate) convened an urgent meeting with the informal traders inside the Soccer City stadium yesterday to convey the verbal eviction notice. No explanation was given for the eviction to the traders, whom most started trading in the site since 2006 when the upgrade of Soccer City stadium began. Most of the informal traders at Soccer City are still coming to terms with an abrupt decision to force them to shut down their businesses, which are their own means of livelihood. The city of Johannesburg has neither showed any mercy by allocating an alternative trading space for these despondent traders, whom many are breadwinners in their families.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5103297

A cry for deep structural change
The service delivery protests that have swept the country are a demand for an end to the contempt of the ruling elites for the poor

July 29, 2009 Edition 1

Imraan Buccus

OUR country is burning, and the leading lights in the new cabinet are out shopping for expensive cars. The long-standing disconnect between the political class and ordinary people has become a chasm.

The rebellions have made it abundantly clear that we cannot go on as before.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5093475

ANC administration sows seeds of racial discord

July 22, 2009 Edition 1

Trevor Ngwane

SHOUTS of "Hamba khaya! Hamba uye eBombay!" (Go home! Go to Bombay!) rang out, seemingly crystallising the mood of some of those at the public meeting called by the Durban city fathers at the ICC on July 10. The meeting concerned the impending closure of the Early Morning Market, which is hotly contested by traders of all races.

Later that afternoon I returned to my Chatsworth flat a troubled person. Most of my neighbours are of Indian descent, and since I moved here a few months ago from Soweto, they have treated me like one of their own.

War over Warwick rages on
Traders get third court order to open market

June 16, 2009 Edition 1

Lyse Comins

The war of Warwick Junction rages through Youth Day after traders obtained a third court order against eThekwini authorities.

The Early Morning Market traders secured another Durban High Court order yesterday forcing the municipality to open the market to legal traders tomorrow.

This came in the wake of another violent clash with Metro Police and a day of lost trade yesterday.

The Early Morning Market Traders' Association chairman, Harry Ramlall, said his attorney was scheduled to meet the city's legal counsel in court again today to clarify the dispute over legal and illegal traders in the market.

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20090616052926246C772391

Market traders, cops clash
16 June 2009, 07:21

By Sinegugu Ndlovu

Five people sustained minor injuries on Monday when traders at the Early Morning Market in Durban's Warwick Junction clashed with metro police officers as tensions between the traders and the city continued to simmer.

The traders claimed they were attacked without provocation, while the metro police said they had been forced to fire rubber bullets to contain traders trying to force their way into the market.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20090615131411280C220198

eThekwini council in trouble with the law
15 June 2009, 14:56

The eThekwini municipality has been accused of defying a court order after it locked traders out of the Early Morning Market on Monday despite the Durban High Court ruling that they can trade.

Chaos broke out when metro police officers fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of people who wanted to break the market gate after the municipality prevented traders without valid permits from entering.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5001111

Warwick mall plan is bad news for informal traders

May 27, 2009 Edition 1

MANY informal traders and other citizens of Durban have sent a strong message to the city council that they are not happy with the strip mall proposed for our primary transport hub - the Warwick Junction.

At a public meeting last Wednesday, more than 600 participants sang protest songs voicing discontent. Yesterday, protesters demanded the municipality "find somewhere else to build their mall".