http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1100367Invaders take over vacant council land
Canaan Mdletshe
28 December 2009

Mayor says third force behind illegal invasion

UMTSHEZI municipality mayor Maliyakhe Shelembe has lambasted a massive Zimbabwe-style illegal land invasion in Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on Christmas Day.

About 300 people arrived at vacant municipal land and erected shacks and makeshift structures in a move Shelembe said was spearheaded by a “third force hellbent on destabilising the municipality”.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1035297

‘Give us a basic grant of R1500 or we’ll wreak havoc’
17 July 2009
Canaan Mdletshe

UP IN ARMS: Unemployed people have vowed to destroy shops in KwaZulu-Natal if the government fails to meet their demands within seven days . PHOTO: THULI DLAMINI

A GROUP representing the unemployed in KwaZulu-Natal has threatened to set townships alight and unleash an army of looters on shops unless all jobless people received a basic income grant of R1500 a month.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1022517

On the boil - angry residents clash with cops in protest
24 June 2009
Canaan Mdletshe - mdletshec@sowetan.co.za

DISGRUNTLED residents in Lindelani, north of Durban, went on a rampage yesterday blockading roads with burning tyres and forcing the closure of schools.

The residents are complaining about lack of service delivery, particularly the allocation of low-cost housing in the area.

Lindelani was in flames from the early hours as incensed residents became violent.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1018802

‘My shack was better than this house’
17 June 2009
Canaan Mdletshe

WHEN homeless people were moved from shacks and tin houses in Lamontville to newly built double-storey structures in the township, they thought their housing problems were finally over.

But it was not to be. The joy of the 65 families who were moved to the new homes between Friday and Sunday last week was short-lived. They discovered that the houses they were moved to were incomplete and too small even to accommodate a double bed.

Council lashed for ‘bulldozing’ houses

14 October 2008
Canaan Mdletshe

The Homeless People’s Federation, an NGO in Lamontville outside Durban, yesterday lashed out at the eThekwini municipality for demolishing homes it had helped locals to build.

The homes were flattened to the ground to make way for the municipality’s housing projects.

The NGO claimed this was in contravention of an agreement it had signed with the provincial and the national departments.

It says the homes built by the locals were superior to those planned by the municipality. Shacks were also bulldozed.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=844809

Residents threaten to destroy bulldozers

17 September 2008
Canaan Mdletshe

The Abahlali Basemjondolo movement has threatened to destroy any bulldozers sent to demolish their newly built shacks at the Foreman Road settlement outside Durban.

Municipal bulldozers were yesterday expected to demolish shacks that had been rebuilt by residents after more than 2000 were burnt down at the weekend. One resident died in the fire.

Abahlali spokesman Mnikelo Ndabankulu warned that the bulldozers were not welcome. He said residents had waited since Sunday for the bulldozers to clean up the area after the fire, but when they did not arrive, the residents started rebuilding their shacks.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=814858

5 siblings die in locked-up shack

04 August 2008

Five siblings burnt to death when their shack caught fire at the weekend.

eThekwini’s fire department divisional commander Dennis Govender said the children were unable to escape the shack in Cato Crest, an informal settlement outside Durban, because the burglar gate was locked.

“The mother had locked in the children and went out when the shack caught fire, ” he said.

The mother was too traumatised to give the ages of the children .

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=744974

Sowetan 10/4/2008

Amakhosi tell protesters to stop marching

Canaan Mdletshe

Traditional leaders in Ulundi have warned protesters in the area to stop or face their wrath.

Phumempini Josias Mtshali, head of the Buthelezi clan, told the “loose cannons” that there has never been protests in Ulundi and that there never will be.

Two service delivery protests took place in the area recently.

Mtshali said: “We have noticed with concern the recent protests. Protest leaders call us names.