Marie Huchzermeyer

Slums law based on flawed interpretation of UN goals

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Mon, 2008-05-19 07:21. Business Day | Marie Huchzermeyer | Op-Ed Piece

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A768901

by Marie Huchzermeyer in Business Day, 19 May 2008

NEWS that the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act will be replicated in other provinces comes as no surprise. Since 2001, national and provincial housing departments have been mandated with achieving this target, which stems from a fundamentally flawed South African interpretation of the United Nations’ (UN’s) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000.

» read more | add new comment

KZN Slum Elimination Bill: A Step Back

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Tue, 2007-03-13 10:32. Marie Huchzermeyer | newspaper_article | slums bill | The Mercury

KZN Slum Elimination Bill: A Step Back

Living in an informal settlement implies a constant struggle against forces working to eliminate one’s unauthorised and hazardous home. The most pervasive force is the constant threat of fire. It is an almost routine experience, one which residents collectively share in horror, but also with mutual assistance in the urgent rebuilding of shacks. Twelve days into the new year the Kennedy Road settlement in Durban lost 12 shacks.

Another force that shack dwellers have come to deal with routinely is violent eviction by the municipality. Here too, the response from the informal settlement residents is increasingly collective, with solidarity reaching beyond individual settlements. The experience of violence and destruction of homes has fuelled grassroots mobilisation, in particular the formation and expansion of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a Durban-based shack dwellers’ movement. In response to this mobilisation, the authorities appear to have devised a further routine, the ad hoc arrest of community leaders.

» read more | add new comment

A PIE in the Face - Comments on the Government's New Eviction Legislation

Here are three comments on the government's "Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land" Amendment bill. Shortened to PIE, the bill seems to be a manifesto for landowners, and a kick in the teeth for shackdwellers. These comments are by Stuart Wilson, of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University here, Jean du Plessis of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, here, Koni Benson of the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG) (here) and Marie Huchzermeyer of the University of the Witwatersrand (here).

Mercury: Uplift slums, don't destroy them

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Thu, 2007-07-12 16:07. Marie Huchzermeyer | newspaper_article | The Mercury

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3928976

Laws to reduce tenure security for millions in informal settlements have increased fear and uncertainty, writes Marie Huchzermeyer

July 12, 2007 Edition 1

The passing of the Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act by KwaZulu-Natal was preceded by seven years of slum eradication rhetoric.

Since the launch of United Nations Millennium Development Project in 2000, which includes a goal to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, President Thabo Mbeki has mandated the national Department of Housing to work towards achieving "shack-free cities".

» read more | add new comment

Comment on KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Bill, 2006

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Mon, 2007-05-14 09:22. Marie Huchzermeyer

Comment on KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Bill, 2006

By Marie Huchzermeyer, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand

Private Bag 3
Wits 2050
marie.huchzermeyer@wits.ac.za
Tel: 011-7177688
Fax: 011-7177649

13 May 2007

Marie Huchzermeyer is an academic who has researched and published extensively on informal settlements and evictions in South Africa, Brazil and Kenya over the past ten years. She has contributed to housing rights work of the organisation COHRE (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions), particularly its work in relation to informal settlement/slum eviction in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Abuja. She has also collaborated with the pro-bono unit of Weber Wentzel Bowen in response to eviction and relocation threats to informal settlements in Gauteng. She has analysed informal settlement relocation and eviction cases, including the high profile case of Bredell in 2001.

Intuthuko vs Ufuduko: Yini umasipala weTheku ephoqa ukuthi imijondolo ukuba ifuduke?

Submitted by abahlali on Sun, 2007-01-14 18:22. Marie Huchzermeyer | Zulu

Isibingelelo

Ukuqonda igama ukuthuthukiswa lapho ukhona nelithi ufuduko kanye nemithelela yalo kubalulekile kuyo yonke ingxoxo ngokwenziwa uhulumeni ngemijondolo.kulesiqeshana sizobheka kakhulu umgomo wezezindlu ka 2004, okuyiyona evuna intuthuko kunofuduko.

Amagama:Ukuthuthukiswa la ukhona nokufudulwa uyiswe kwenye indawo

Ukuthuthukiswa kuleyondawo ohlala kuyona,kodwa okuphikisana nokubuyiselwa komuntu obevele ehlala khona(In situ).Lokhu kusho ukwakhelwa lapho ukhona ungafudulwa.In situ up-grading of informal settlement kusho ukuthi imijondolo ithuthukiselwa lapho ikhona ngaphandle kokususa abantu la bekhona.Loluhlelo luvuna luhloniphe izidingo ngqangi zezakhamizizakuleyondawo.Ngokujwayelekile abantu abasuke befuna ukwakhelwa lapho besondelene nezikole, imitholampilo nezinkulisa.Lokhokuyaphoqa ukuthi ukufakwa kwamapayipi amanzi,ukuthuthwa kwendle,kufakwe behleli khona lapho. Kwakhiwe nezitubhe ezisuke zivele zilapho,imijondolo phela.Kuyilungelo lawo wonke umuntu ukuthi akhelwe lapho ehlala khona,kubalwa neziqashi .kuyenzeka ke uma umntu edliwe umgwaqo noma kunampayipi adinga ukufakwa aqondane nomjondolo waloyo muntu. Ngakho ke kuyenzeka ukuthi i( In-sutu upgrading) ihambisane nokuhambisane nokufudulwa kwabantu kodwa futhi babhekelwe umhlaba khona kuleyondawo ngoba basuke bengasuswa ngempoqo kodwa bedliwe umgaqo.Futhi akufanele bayiswe kude okwedlula amakhilomitha amahlanu ukuqhela endaweni abakuyo.

» read more | add new comment