Category Archives: Germiston

Shack Dwellers Movement Remains Defiant in Face of Police Assault

Pavan Kulkarni / The Dawn News
19 May 2018
South Africa
Several community members from the Goodhope informal settlement stand close to a burning pile of debris in Knights Road during a service delivery protest. Photo Credit: Germiston City News

 

The occupation of unused land by members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers movement) to provide housing for residents of the dilapidated Good Hope Settlement in Germiston, South Africa, met with police violence on multiple occasions this week. The police not only pulled down the shacks the movement had constructed but also used tear gas and rubber bullets to attack the residents in an attempt to ensure they did not return to occupy the land. Continue reading →

Metro police fire rubber bullets at residents in Ekurhuleni’s Good Hope settlement

Nation Nyoka & Dennis Webster, The Daily Maverick

Residents of the Good Hope settlement in Germiston have occupied vacant land on the border of Germiston and Boksburg, partly in response to lack of space at the existing settlement. On Thursday morning, Ekurhuleni Metro Police dispersed them with rubber bullets. 

New Frame witnessed a brutal attack by Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers on residents of the Good Hope shack settlement in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

At least one resident, Siyambusa Mpolase, was arrested.

The police action was in response to the occupation of a piece of nearby land which began on Friday 11 May.  Continue reading →

Residents of Goodhope informal settlement tired of empty promises and false hope

Leigh Hodgson and Stephan Lehman, Germiston City News
“Every day is a struggle here in the Goodhope informal settlement we have no proper toilets and no electricity in our homes.”

Several community members from the Goodhope informal settlement stand close to a burning pile of debris in Knights Road during a service delivery protest.

 

Residents of Goodhope informal settlement, tired of years of empty promises from the metro, took to the streets on Wednesday night, continuing into Thursday morning, to demand that things change and the metro delivers on its promises. Continue reading →

Unprovoked police attack on the Good Hope Settlement in Germiston

1:32 a.m., Thursday, 17 May 2018

Abahlali baseMjondolo Emergency Press Statement

Unprovoked police attack on the Good Hope Settlement in Germiston

Yesterday afternoon all the shacks on the Zikode Extension Land Occupation were demolished again. Tonight a large number of police officers, from various units, including a SWAT team, launched an unprovoked, violent and brutal attack on the nearby Good Hope Settlement in an attempt to prevent people from moving back to the occupied land. Rubber bullets were fired and tear gas was used. Individuals were targeted and threatened. There has been at least one confirmed arrest. Continue reading →

A New Land Occupation in Germiston

12 May 2018

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

A New Land Occupation in Germiston

Last night more than two hundred people occupied unused land in Germiston, on the East Rand in Gauteng. We laid out our design for the occupation in the afternoon, built throughout the night and slept on the occupied land. Around 350 stands have been marked out via a democratic and carefully planned process. The new occupation has been named the Zikode Extension in honour of S’bu Zikode. Continue reading →