http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4943041

Shack-dwellers ask Minto to revive protest era

April 20, 2009 Edition 2

Mercury reporter

A former anti-apartheid activist, New Zealander John Minto, has been approached by the Durban-based shack-dwellers' organisation, Abahlali baseMjondolo to help shack-dwellers in South Africa by talking to the government on their behalf, according to the SABC news website.

Minto attended Abahlali's meeting in Durban at the weekend.

The organisation invited Minto to witness the plight of shack-dwellers and use his international clout to assist them in getting proper houses.

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fArticleId=4646145

Housing 'a cause for concern'

October 06, 2008 Edition 1

Mercury reporter

A MAJOR housing study released today has raised concerns about apparently high levels of state repression and perceptions of political patronage and rampant corruption in the eThekwini's municipality's housing system.

While pointedly commending the municipality for its zeal in building a "considerable number" of houses for the poor, the 200-page report into housing rights and slum eradication in Durban raised several worries. These concern the standard and location of new houses, methods used in evictions and the municipality's reluctance to properly consult and communicate with those affected.

fires, rats, diarrhoea, cholera...the problem is always the poor - they knock over candles, fail to wash their hands, don't clean up after themselves properly....not the atrocious conditions that people are forced to live in due to government contempt....not the lack of clean water, the lack of electricity, the lack of adequate (or any) refuse removal...

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20080723055944536C565156&set_id=1&click_id=3045&sf=

Rats plague settlement