Category Archives: Abahlali baseKennedy

Statement on Last Night’s Road Blockade by Kennedy Road Residents

9 July 2013
Abahlali baseKennedy Press Statement

Statement on Last Night’s Road Blockade by Kennedy Road Residents

Last night, and again this morning, hundreds of us blocked road around the Kennedy Road shack settlement with burning tyres. There is still a heavy police presence in the settlement.

The reason for these road blockades is that Mayor James Nxumalo failed to keep his promise to meet with us. On the 25 of May this year we organised a major road blockade. More than 500 people held the road. At that road blockade we handed over a memorandum of demands which included (1) that the upgrade of Kennedy Road and the provision of housing at Cornubia for everyone that that cannot be accommodated in the Kennedy Road upgrade that was negotiated with Mayor Mlaba’s administration be implemented; (2) that formal electricity be provided to the settlement and (3) that Nigel Gumede be immediately dismissed from his post.

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eThekwini Municipality Shoots Sixteen Year Old Boy in Kennedy Road

Update: 5:03 p.m. A second boy of a similar age was also shot. He has also been admitted to hospital.

6 August 2011
Abahlali baseKennedy Statement

Sixteen Old Boy, the Son of Witness X, Shot by the State in Kennedy Road

This morning the eThekwini Municipality launched another armed raid on the Kennedy Road shack settlement to try and disconnect the people from electricity. As usual there was resistance, unarmed resistance, to this attack from the Municipality. The Municipality's security guards responded by firing live ammunition at the protesters.

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Incendio a Kennedy Road

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Incendio a Kennedy Road: tre morti e 3000 senza casa
Oggi alle 11.43

Alle due della scorsa notte, 3 luglio 2010, a Kennedy Road hanno perso la vita circa 3 persone, dopo che ottocento baracche sono state distrutte da un incendio. Si pensa che fra i morti vi sia anche un bambino piccolo.

Si stima che tre mila persone siano rimaste senza casa e che tutto quello che possedevano sia andato bruciato. Ora non hanno nessun posto dove andare. Gli automezzi dei soccorsi sono intervenuti senza riuscire a domare le fiamme.

Se terra, case, elettricità fossero date alla gente, non ci sarebbero questi incendi. Questi incendi accadono unicamente perché nelle baracche non c’è elettricità. Questi incendi accadono unicamente perché la Municipalità non è riuscita a fornire i servizi.

È dal 2005 che lo diciamo. Nel frattempo, la Municipalità ha reso illegale il processo di fornitura elettrica negli insediamenti informali. E dal gennaio 2010, la Municipalità ogni giorno stacca la corrente elettrica dalle baracche di Kennedy Road. Abahlali ha detto chiaramente che questa politica è in contraddizione con quanto scritto nella Costituzione della Repubblica.

Dopo l’attacco ad Abahlali nel settembre 2009, Nigel Gumede dell’Housing Department di e-Thekwini è venuto a Kennedy Road. Ha promesso che a Kennedy la gente avrebbe avuto case ed elettricità entro febbraio 2010.

Anche il Ministro dei Trasporti e della sicurezza della provincia, Willies Mchunu, è venuto a Kennedy Road. Ha detto che, dopo gli attacchi, l’insediamento era stato “liberato”. E ha promesso che lo sviluppo sarebbe iniziato nell’immediato.

Ma anziché portare case o elettricità, Gumede e Mchunu hanno portato gli Amatins, che la gente chiama anche “baracche del governo”, o campi di transito. Anziché portare lo sviluppo, per i pochi mesi della Coppa del mondo di calcio, il governo ha speso miliardi di rand per gli stadi, per i fan park, per gli aeroporti e i caselli dell’autostrada.

Il governo è riuscito a portare la Coppa del Mondo, ma non riesce a portare case, elettricità, raccolta dei rifiuti, acqua, servizi igienici o la terra ai poveri.

Abahlali ha organizzato una marcia di protesta in città il 22 marzo 2010, da principio non autorizzata dalla Municipalità. Durante la marcia, abbiamo espresso le nostre preoccupazioni, ma sino a oggi non c’è stata alcuna risposta da parte del governo.

Abahlali condanna la Municipalità per aver fatto quelle promesse senza riuscire a mantenerle e lancia un appello per dare sostegno alle vittime dell’incendio e perché il soccorso sia distribuito equamente.

In altri incendi precedenti accaduti nelle aree di Abahlali, solo gli amici del Consigliere hanno ricevuto soccorso. A Foreman Road, dopo che un incendio aveva distrutto 2000 case, il Comitato dell’ANC chiedeva alla comunità di mostrare la tessera di appartenenza all’ANC prima di consegnare coperte, cibo e ogni genere di aiuto.

Oggi, 4 luglio 2010, Abahlali è stata chiamata a Kennedy Road dopo l’incendio. Una delegazione, fra cui il Presidente di Abahlali S’bu Zikode, è andata sul posto. La Municipalità non ha inviato nessuno, troppo occupati tutti nella Coppa del Mondo di calcio.

Queste sono alcune delle preoccupazioni più urgenti degli abitanti di Kennedy Road:
– La richiesta per la fornitura di materiali da costruzione, in modo che la gente possa ricostruirsi le case da sola.
– La richiesta affinché venga ripristinato il progetto di sviluppo pianificato a Kennedy Road. Una squadra di tecnici di Abahlali aveva incontrato il 21 del mese scorso la Municipalità su questo progetto, chiedendo un intervento immediato.
– La gente di Kennedy Road è stanca di bugie e promesse del governo. È stanca e disgustata da Nigel Gumede, Presidente dell’Housing Porfolio della Municipalità di e-Thekwini. È stanca e disgustata dallo sfruttamento della sua sofferenza.
– La gente rifiuta gli Amatin come sistemazione adeguata. Rifiuta anche il sistema di appalti e appaltatori, all’origine di questi incendi.

Abahlali vuole ricordare agli organi di informazione che la Corte Costituzionale, capovolgendo lo Slums Act, ha emesso un giudizio contrario agli Amatins, dichiarandoli incostituzionali e una minaccia alla dignità umana. Abahlali non si darà pace finché ciascun abitante delle baracche non riceverà una casa.

Abahlali invia le sue condoglianze alle famiglie di chi è morto nell’incendio e negli incendi accaduti in precedenza. Sono stati ben cinque gli incendi di baracche avvenuti a Kennedy Road dal gennaio 2010. E in occasione di nessuno di questi incendi la Municipalità ha inviato un delegato. Infine, Abahlali vuole chiedere: quale figlio deve morire prima che le autorità agiscano?

Contatti
Busisiwe 078 191 3021
Nozuko 082 259 5492
Bandile (AbM General Secretary) 031 304 642

Uyishayile!

Abahlali baseMjondolo, insieme al Landless People’s Movement (Gauteng), al Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal) e alla Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, costituisce la Poor People’s Alliance – una rete nazionale democratica basata sui movimenti dei poveri.

Shack Fire In Kennedy Kills Three; 3000 Homeless

Click here to read this statement in Italian.

4 July 2010
Abahlali baseKennedy Press Statement

Shack Fire In Kennedy Kills Three; 3000 Homeless

At 2am in Kennedy Road last night, on 3 July 2010, approximately 3 people were killed after eight hundred shacks were destroyed in a fire. It is thought that one of those killed in the blaze was a young child.

An estimated three thousand people were left homeless, all their belongings burned. Now, they have nowhere to go. Emergency vehicles came to the scene but could not control the flames.

If people were given land, houses and electricity, there would be no fires. The only reason that there are fires in the shacks is because they are un-electrified. The only reason there are fires in the shacks is because of the failure of the Municipality to provide services.

We have said this since 2005. Meanwhile, the Municipality has made it illegal to electrify informal settlements. Since January 2010, the Municipality has been disconnecting shacks from electricity on a daily basis in Kennedy Road. Abahlali has been very clear that this policy contradicts the Constitution of the Republic.

After Abahlali was attacked in September 2009, Nigel Gumede from the eThekwini Housing Department came to Kennedy Road. He promised that houses and electricity would be brought to the people of Kennedy by February 2010.

The Provincial Minister of Transport, Safety and Security Willies Mchunu also came to Kennedy Road. He said, after the attacks, that the settlement had been “liberated.” He also promised that development would start anytime soon.

Instead of bringing houses or electricity, Gumede and Mchunu brought the Amatins, also known by the people as government shacks, or transit camps. Instead of bringing development, for the few months of the World Cup, the government spent billions of Rands on stadiums, fan parks, airports, and tollgates.

The government can bring the World Cup, but cannot bring housing, electricity, rubbish collection, water, toilets, or land for the poor.

Abahlali had a march in the city on 22 March 2010, which was initially banned by the Municipality. At that march, we raised our concerns. Up until today, there has been no response from government.

Abahlali condemns the Municipality for making these promises, and for failing to deliver. Abahlali calls for support for all victims of the fire, and for a fair distribution of relief.

When fires have happened in Abahlali areas in the past, it is only the Councillor’s friends who first receive support. After a fire that left 2000 homes destroyed at Foreman Road, the ANC Committee demanded that the community show ANC membership cards before receiving blankets, food, or any relief.

Today, on 4 July 2010, Abahlali was asked to come to Kennedy Road after the fire. A delegation, including Abahlali President S’bu Zikode, went there. More than 700 people openly attended an Abahlali meeting in the settlement that was addresed bu S'bu Zikode. The Municipality sent no one, as they were all too busy working on the World Cup.

Among the immediate concerns by Kennedy residents are the following:

– A demand for the supply of building materials, so that the people can rebuild their homes, for themselves.

– A demand for the reinstatement of the development project that was negotiated by Abahlali baseMjondolo and planned for Kennedy Road. An Abahlali technical team for this project met on the 21st of this month with the Municipality, calling for immediate action.

– The people of Kennedy Road are tired of the lies and promises from government. They are sick and tired of Nigel Gumede, the Chairperson of the Housing Porfolio in the eThekwini Municipality. They are sick and tired of their suffering being exploited.

– The people reject the Amatins as adequate housing. They also reject the tenders and tenderpreneurs that bennefit from building the Amatins. It is the focus on the teneders to build Amatins instead of giving the people what they need – land, hopusing and electricity – that is giving rise to these shack fires.

Abahlali would like to remind the media that the Constitutional Court, in overturning the Slums Act, made a statement against the Amatins. These Amatins are unconstitutional, and undermine human dignity. Abahlali will not rest in peace until each and every shack-dweller is housed in decent housing.

We invite all the footballs fans and journalists who are in Durban for the World Cup to come to Kennedy Road and to see for themselves the human cost of misdirecting resources into stadiums and so on in a country where the poor are still suffering. We are dying while you are celebrating and we are dying because of the way in which you are celebrating. This tournament should have been organised in such a way that we could all celebrate together.

Abahlali would like to send condolences to the families who have died in this shack fire, and in past shack fires. There have been a total of five shack fires in Kennedy Road since January 2010. In all these shack fires, the Municipality has sent no one. Abahlali, lastly, would like to ask: Whose child must be burned before the authorities act?

Contacts:
Busisiwe 078 191 3021
Nozuko 082 259 5492
Bandile (AbM General Secretary) 031 304 6420

Demolitions Continue in Kennedy Road

Abahlali baseMjondolo – Emergency Press Release
19:22 Friday 20 November 2009

Demolitions Continue in Kennedy Road

The same mob that attacked Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Kennedy Road Development Committee on 26th September; that trashed the Abahlali office and systematically destroyed the homes of Abahlali leaders while police and politicians looked on on 27 September; and that followed the violent purge of Abahlali from the settlement by installing an ANC committee is, right now, demolishing Mondli Mbiko’s home in the Kennedy Road settlement. A short while ago they demolished Mzwake Mdlalose’s home.

Mondile and Mzwake are both members of the KRDC, an elected structure, and long standing residents of the settlement. They were both members of the Kennedy Six. They fled the settlement under threat of death on the 26th but their homes survived the initial demolition. Numerous people have phoned the police to report the demolitions but, thus far, the police have made no attempt to intervene.

Mzwake Mdlalose 072 132 8458
Mondli Mbiko 073 1936 319