http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5307203

Land invaders vow to keep grabbing plots

January 10, 2010 Edition 1

NATHI OLIFANT

A young boy plays under a tree on land marked out by his mother. In his offices in town, Estcourt Mayor Maliyakhe Shelembe is still fuming after hordes of people invaded municipal property on the Christmas weekend.

The threat of invasion still hangs over the town, but the local council has been quick to take legal action to stop people carving up plots for themselves.

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5099156

Pain and courage

July 26, 2009 Edition 1

Rough Aunties and A Place in the City are two documentaries that are showing at this year's film festival.

They are two very different films about the strength and bravery of two different groups of people, but both films take place in eThekwini, and chronicle the pain and suffering of a broken society in which the state has failed dismally to fulfil its role as protector and guardian of its citizens.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090726065348756C454201

'Let them go to hell'

July 26 2009 at 10:19AM

By Doreen Premdev

"If they don't want the houses, then let them go to hell."

This is what eThekwini Municipality's head of housing said at an exco meeting this week.

Councillor Nigel Gumede was referring to the families living in the Tara Road Rainbow Barracks, in Merewent.

The 110 families have been given the option to move into the new Landsdowne Road Housing Project in Merewent, but most have refused, saying the housing development is shoddy and being built on swampy ground.

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.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4931848

No parties in these marquees

April 12, 2009 Edition 1

Noelene Barbeau

It is 4pm and the tent community in Joyce Road, Sea Cow Lake, is beginning to stir. Naked little boys are playing in the dirty sand while their mothers prepare supper on paraffin stoves in their cramped marquee.

The gas stove smell fills the air of the tiny living area. There are three marquees in total: two for the women and children and one for the men. The tents face the road, while across the open space, on council land in Joyce Road, some have built informal houses.

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4798288

Mlaba takes a back seat

January 18, 2009 Edition 1

Agiza Hlongwane

WITH his days as eThekwini mayor seemingly numbered, Obed Mlaba has been accused of taking a back seat in the running of the municipality, a job that pays him a handsome R840 000 a year.

Having begun his tenure with aplomb in 1996, he steered the city to its first Vuna award for governance in 2003. But he now runs the risk of undoing his legacy in the twilight of his role as mayor, according to observers.

Another (partial) victory....

Development plan sparks outrage

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20081205110201169C507038

5 December 2008, 12:52
By Heinz de Boer

There were howls of protest when the eThekwini Municipality resolved
that it would compel landowners to allow the city to provide toilets and
water to squatters who invade plots of land.

The decision on who will ultimately foot the bill has not been
finalised, although each case will be decided on individually.

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4540242

Front Page
Rats plague community

August 03, 2008 Edition 3

Rat poison was put down at the Kennedy Road informal settlement this week by health authorities, but residents are not expecting the rat plague to end.

Residents say the eThekwini health department had used poison previously but nothing had changed, and rats were now bigger and meaner.

The settlement was in the news recently after two-month-old Wandile Cikwayo's hand was gnawed by a rat. He is in a critical condition in Addington Hospital. Earlier this year a 4-month-old baby was bitten on the head by a rat. He later died from his wounds as his parents did not have money to take him to hospital and were waiting for the Clare Estate Clinic to open on the Monday.

http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4432483

Evictions loom for illegal low-cost home dwellers

June 01, 2008 Edition 2

Sibusiso Ngalwa

Thousands of people who have bought or are renting low-cost homes through the "black market" face imminent eviction. The government is poised to conduct an "occupancy audit" of all of the 2.6 million houses built since 1994 and to evict those not entitled to live in them.

Illegal occupiers either bought or are renting the state-subsidised houses from the original owners. It is illegal for the original owners to let or sell such houses for eight years.