http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4845942

Governments may change but things stay the same for shack dwellers

February 17, 2009 Edition 1

NTOKOZO MFUSI

WHEN it rains, as it did last week, the residents of the KwaMancinza shack settlement scurry around with buckets to catch the water leaking through the gaps in their tin roofs.

For Thokozile Mqayi, who is one of the oldest people in the settlement near Ntuzuma, this has been a way of life for 30 years. And for 30 years, he and others have been asking first the National Party government and now the ANC government for proper services, such as sanitation, roads and water.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20090210040909735C527490

Police fire rubber bullets at protesters

February 10 2009 at 06:26AM

By Ntokozo Mfusi

The police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters barricading a bus depot at Ntuzuma, north of Durban, on Monday.

Residents of Kwamancinza, an informal settlement near Ntuzuma, were protesting against the eThekwini Municipality's failure to provide them with housing and sanitation, and for a school to be built in the area.

About 300 residents barricaded streets and blockaded the Remant Alton bus depot, leaving commuters stranded in the morning. The protesters also stoned a car.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4069772

Site earmarked for developments linked to 2010 World Cup
Traders evicted from market

October 08, 2007 Edition 2

NTOKOZO MFUSI

Hundreds of informal traders have found themselves on the street and without a place to trade after being evicted from a Durban informal market yesterday.

The council-owned land on which the Soldiers Way Cabin Market has operated for more than 10 years has been earmarked for a hotel as part of the eThekwini Municipality's planned developments for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

About 1 200 traders arrived at 2am yesterday to find Metro Police guarding the entrance to the market.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4065350

Police fire rubber bullets
Chaos as shack dwellers go on rampage

The Mercury

October 05, 2007 Edition 2

NTOKOZO MFUSI

Chaos erupted in Durban's Sea Cow Lake area yesterday as police clashed with informal dwellers, who were burning tyres and logs in an illegal protest.

The protesters would not allow people to go to work.

The protest, during which roads were blockaded, was sparked by the demolition of the informal residents' shacks by the Housing Department and the municipality.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3904433

The day before the Seaboard Hotel fire drama, firemen and paramedics were out dealing with a major blaze in Lamontville's Sihlahla Road that raged through an informal settlement, destroying more than 40 shacks.

The midday fire started when a resident left his electric stove on while he went to visit friends on Sunday, unaware that it was overheating, which caused a fire.

The settlement was largely deserted at the time of the blaze. Residents returned home later to find that their dwellings and possessions had been reduced to ashes.

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February 12 2007 at 10:39AM

By

More than 15 Durban suburbs were without power on Sunday night after a violent electrical storm on Saturday night also caused flooding and damage to streets and homes in the city.

According to the South African Weather Service's Durban office, the storm is likely to have originated in the Drakensberg and moved towards the ocean, hitting Pietermaritzburg and Richmond before reaching Durban.

However, despite its origins in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, more rain fell in Durban (22,5mm) than in Pietermaritzburg (15,6mm).