Click here to see some pictures.

Siyanda, 13/03/2010

Shack Fire in Siyanda

Around 2:30 am, the male occupant of shack 171 woke up with heavy smoke and heat. He left his shack and saw that the smoke was coming from the wall of shack 170. The three women, and young child, that lived in shack 171 were away that night.

He called the neighbours, and around 5 of them came to put out the fire, which they manage to extinguish in a very short time. The male occupant of shack 170 went back to his shack to bathe to go to work. In the meantime one of the neighbours called the owners of the shack 171 to tell about the fire and that the wall of the shack was damaged.

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=1245&catID=9

'The first night we had electricity was so exciting'

In South Africa's informal settlements, there are on average 10 shack fires a day, with over 200 people a year losing their lives. The one-room huts are assembled using plastic, cardboard and corrugated iron and built closely together, so fire spreads rapidly. In the eThekwini district of KwaZulu-Natal, which includes Durban, over 900,000 people live in informal settlements and, without electricity, people are forced to use parafin stoves and candles. Abahlali baseMjondolo, a movement which campaigns for decent housing held a Shack Fire Summit last November to raise awareness of the issues and to commemorate those who have died. Zodwa Nsibande lives in the Kennedy Road settlement and was burnt badly in a stove accident in 2006.

Click here for pictures of the rebuilding after the fire.

8 July 2009, 3:44 a.m.
Emergency Press Statement from Abahlali baseKennedy

Kennedy Road is Burning Again - The Fires Must Stop, the Settlements Must be Electrified Immediately

Our settlement is burning again. More than twenty shacks have been lost. It's too early to say if anyone has been hurt or killed in this fire.

The cause of the fire was, again, a paraffin stove which means that, in reality, the cause of the fire was again the eThekwini Municipality's inhumane refusal to provide electricity to shack dwellers or to allow us to access electricity on our own.

16 June 2009
Press Statement from Abahlali baseKennedy

Fire Devastates the Kennedy Road Settlement – At Least One Hundred Homes Destroyed

The Red Devil Must be Defeated

Today is the 16 June, Youth Day, the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. In Johannesburg and Cape Town our comrades are struggling for the people to take this day back from the politicians.

Stolen building materials on the truck, now impounded.

Update:Click here to read the Mercury report on this incident.

16 May 2009
Foreman Road Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

Four ANC Members Arrested for Corruption in the Foreman Road Settlement

At around 4:00 a.m. this morning the Sydenham Police, led by Supt. Glen Nayager, arrested 4 members of the Foreman Road ANC branch on corruption charges.

21 December 2008

50 Shacks Burn in Kennedy Road

About 50 shacks burnt in the Kennedy Road settlement last night. This is the 8th fire in the settlement this year.

The fire started when a candle was knocked over just after midnight. So far there are no reports of major injuries. The fire brigade, as is now (after years of struggle) routine arrived quickly and provided a good service. We appreciate that. We trust that the Municipality will, as they began doing this year (after years of struggle), support the people who have lost their homes with building materials.

Tuesday, 02 December 2008

Arnett Drive Resident Shot With Live Ammunition, by Securicor Guard

Nomhle Mkhetho, Thokozani Mkhotli & Nikiwe Zondi

On Tuesday last week (25/11) Thokozani Mkhotli, from the Arnett Drive settlement in Reservoir Hills, was shot by a Securicor Guard with live ammunition. The bullet entered his left buttock and emerged lower down in the front of his left thigh. The trajectory of the bullet shows clearly that he was shot from behind and from above. Thokozani is 33. He is from Bizana and works as a builder's labourer fixing ceilings.

http://www.khayelitshastruggles.com/2008/11/fires-at-rr-section.html

Fire At RR Section, Khayelitsha, Cape Town

More than 100 shacks burned down over the weekend at RR Section Site B and left more than 500 people homeless including women, children and disabled people.

It was early in the morning past one on Saturday when the fire started at RR Section and it started at one shack which is owned by a 30 year old man, according to the neighbour's he was drunk and left paraffin stove unattended and most people believed that he was the cause of the fire.

City Wide Shack Fire Summit, 22 September 2008

Wednesday, 08 October 2008

Abahlali baseMjondolo (KwaZulu-Natal & Western Cape)
Landless Peoples' Movement (KwaZulu-Natal & Gauteng)
Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal)
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign (Western Cape)
South African National Civics Organisations (eThekwini region)

The City Wide Shack Fire Summit called by Abahlali baseMjondolo was initially scheduled to be held in the Foreman Road settlement. It had to be moved to the Kennedy Road settlement after the Foreman Road settlement burnt down on 13 September leaving thousands destitute and homeless and Thembelani Khweshube dead.