Category Archives: Nombulelo Damba

West Cape News: Pre-school closes as City demolishes Langa community hall

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http://westcapenews.com/?p=6252

Pre-school closes as City demolishes Langa community hall

by Nombulelo Damba

The demolition of a community hall in the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa by the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit on Tuesday has resulted in the destruction of a pre-school and left the community confused and divided.

On Tuesday morning five Anti-Land Invasion Unit vans arrived in Joe Slovo and proceeded to demolish a community hall made out of zinc that had been standing for about ten years and was used by the community for a pre-school, public meetings, church gatherings and emergency shelter in the wake of shack fires.

Although the Chris Hani pre-school is the only one serving Joe Slovo residents and housed about 200 children, the unit members told residents the hall was built on land identified as a road reserve.

However, shacks built around, and on the same line as the hall, remained untouched.

The incident has left residents speculating that community leaders who are refuses to step down despite the wishes of residents, were behind the demolition as they claim they were responsible for the erection of the hall and thus have the power to take it down.

Mzwanele Zulu, who has been a community leader since 2006, said the hall needed to make way for a housing project that was to deliver 2055 housing units.

Zulu said an agreement with the owner of the pre-school that a new school would be built and parents were told not to send their children to school on Tuesday.

The new pre-school has yet to be built by Zulu said parents who had no other option could send their children to the teacher’s house in the meantime.

He said some other community leaders disagreed with him over the management of the hall but he was the one who organised for an NGO called Khaya Lam to sponsor the building of it.

But residents said Zulu is only trying to prove a point that he is the leader of the Joe Slovo community, despite the fact that he no longer lives in the informal settlement since he received state subsidised housing in the N2 Gateway housing project upon whose steering committee he serves.

Newly selected Joe Slovo community leader Sydwell Mavume said Zulu used his influence to call in the Anti-Land Invasion Unit.

He said the community was never informed about the hall being destroyed and were surprised to see law enforcement in their area.

“We do not have a problem with them removing the hall but they should have found us another place to build a hall first before removing it,” said Mavume.

“We use this hall for emergencies, when we have fire or too much rain. We have people who use this hall as a church and for our public meetings. Those leaders who brought in the City Anti Land Invasion Unit are no longer staying here, they received RDP houses long time ago but they do not want to step down because they benefiting from the project.”

West Cape News: Marikana shacks were ‘unoccupied’ claims City

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http://westcapenews.com/?p=6231

Marikana shacks were ‘unoccupied’ claims City

Nombulelo Damba

The up to 125 shacks the Anti-Land Invasion Unit has repeatedly demolished in the Marikana informal settlement in Philippi East were unoccupied, says the City.

However, a number of Marikana residents, who have been trying to set up home on the city-owned land piece of land on Symphony Way for the last two weeks, say their shacks were demolished while they were still inside them.

Following the Anti-Land Invasion Unit having returned four times since April 25 – the last time being on Thursday last week – the homeless families are setting up makeshift shelters of plastic and cardboard at night and taking them down during the day.

Responding to questions submitted last week, Mayco member for Human Settlements, Thandeka Gqada said residents build shacks illegally on city-owned land then leave them unoccupied and carrying on living in their original dwellings.

But Xolani Mswabi said he was one of the Marikana settlers whose shack was demolished on May 1 – the third time the city had cleared the shacks after residents rebuilt them – while he was still inside it.

Mswabi said all his belongings were inside the shack when the ALIU pulled it down.

“My shack was destroyed more than two times and the last time on May 2. They took the material that was left to cover myself. No one was given notice and we’ve been telling City of Cape Town that we have no other place to live,” he said.

Mswabi came close to being arrested on May 1, along with Mzwamadoda Fingo, when he grappled with law enforcement officials in a bid to demolish his shack himself rather than let the ALIU officers do it.

“With anger I pushed them because the material was going to fall on top of my cardboard, one of the officials pushed me. They grabbed me, pressing me down but some police officers intervened and they left me,” said Mswabi.

Zoe Zulu, 36, a mother of two children, said her shack was also destroyed while she was inside, feeding her five year old daughter on May 1.

Zulu has since been given shelter at the St John’s church while searching for another place to live.

“I don’t understand why the city said we were not living in our shacks because I begged them not to destroy my shack.”

She said as her shack was pulled down her one-month-old son, who was strapped to her back was struck by a falling piece of building material.

“I only noticed later, because he struggled to sleep. Some of the people told me that he was hit,” said Zulu.

The informal settlement, which residents dubbed Marikana as they said like the platinum workers, they were prepared to die for their rights, was first occupied by about six shacks two months ago.

Late in April, the number of shacks increased drastically and the homeless rights organization Abahlali baseMjondolo took up the Marikana cause.

Marikana residents are predominantly former backyard residents who say they can no longer afford to pay the R500 per month rent their landlords demand.

Abahlali baseMjondolo representative Cindy Ketani said the City’s claim that the shacks were unoccupied was “totally rubbish”.

“People were thrown out of their shacks by the City Anti-Land Invasion Unit and pictures were taken of that, so I do not understand why they’re denying it because it’s very clear.”

She said the City was trying to ensure they were not prosecuted for conducting illegal evictions as they were supposed to provide the residents an alternative place to live.

Gqada confirmed that 125 structures were demolished on May 1 and 11 on May 2.

She claimed all the structures were unoccupied and thus the city had no legal obligation to obtain an eviction order.

Asked if the residents were warned of impending demolition, she said they were “verbally warned”.

She said the City did engage with the residents who said they had been living in backyards.

“The claim is that the people are living in backyards, and it is presumed that they will return there.”

Cape Times: We will rebuild shacks – residents

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This article fails to note that these demolition were unconstiutional, illegal and criminal acts on the part of the Anti-Land Invasions Unit.

http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/we-will-rebuild-shacks-residents-1.1509268#.UYJEIaIyZvJ

We will rebuild shacks – residents

Nombulelo Damba

West Cape News

FOR the third time in two weeks, the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit clashed with residents in the Marikana informal settlement next to Symphony Way in Philippi East, where 126 shacks were demolished yesterday.

Rubber bullets were fired and one person was arrested as Marikana residents opposed the demolition of their shacks, which they have since re-erected.

Anti-Land Invasion Unit spokesman Stephen Hayward said the city would continue to take down illegal structures in Marikana even though the residents had vowed not to leave the area until the city provided them with alternative accommodation.

The situation was tense yesterday when police arrested Mzwamadoda Fingo, 22, who wanted to take down his shack himself.

Then when resident Xolani Mswabi was seen being held down by police, residents started throwing stones at the police, resulting in the police firing rubber bullets.

Residents said they had nowhere else to go because they were unemployed and could not afford rent.

Fingo said police refused to let him take down his own shack, which he wanted to do to ensure his building materials were not damaged. When he insisted on doing so, two officers handcuffed him and took him to the Philippi police station. Mswabi said he was also trying to retrieve his building materials when a city official pushed him.

Mswabi fought back but police officers restrained him before letting him go.

Resident Zoe Zulu, 36, who is a mother of two children, said officials started demolishing her shack while she was still inside feeding her five-year-old daughter. She said the Anti-Land Invasion Unit officers first asked her for water, which she gave to them, before destroying her house.

When West Cape News arrived, Zulu was carrying her one-month-old son while the five-year-old was crying. She did not know where to go.

“This is very painful. I’ve been renting a shack in Lower Crossroads, paying more than R500 a month.

“Recently I lost my job, so I could not afford to pay rent, that’s why I decided to build my shack here. It’s not nice living here with a one-month-old child but I do not have a choice,” she said.

Zulu said she had not been able to save anything from her home.

Residents said they will simply rebuild their shacks again, while more than 100 residents marched to Philippi East police station looking for a place to sleep.

Yesterday afternoon Hayward said the situation was calm but the Anti-Land Invasion Unit would continue to monitor the situation.

West Cape News: Anti-eviction campaign takes a stand in Langa

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AbM believes that the committee is corrupt and is calling for a new process of allocation that is open and democratic to be followed. AbM is not demanding to monopolise the distribution of TRA structures as the anonymous source in this article claims.

http://westcapenews.com/?p=4954

Anti-eviction campaign takes a stand in Langa

The hundreds of Temporary Relocation Area dwellings initially erected in 2005 to provide temporary relief for victims of the fire in Langa’s Joe Slovo informal settlement that left about 12 000 people homeless, have become the centre of allegations of bribery and corruption.

With most of the original fire victims relocated to Delft or back into new developments in Langa, the approximately 500 dwellings are currently being used to house people from Joe Slovo who need to move to make way for Housing Development Agency projects in the area.

But the anti-eviction movement Abahlali BaseMjondolo allege that an HDA official and community leaders are taking cash in exchange for placing certain families in the TRA dwellings.

In what they claim is an effort to put a stop to such corruption, the ABM is placing its own members in dwellings that become available when a dwelling after a tenant is permanently relocated.

This has led to a showdown between ABM supporters and the City’s Anti Land Invasion Unit.

The last standoff was believed to have been on Friday last week when ABM supporters surrounded the TRA dwelling occupied by ABM member Tumi Ramahlele after the Anti Land Invasion Unit attempted to evict him.

Ramahlele was the first ABM member to occupy an available dwelling.

According to Langa ABM acting chairperson Cindy Ketani, there are more than 40 dwellings in the TRA being illegally occupied but Ramahlele is being targeted because he is an ABM member.

On Monday Ramahlele said several meetings with the HDA had been held in which the HDA were asked to move young adults into houses as they became available.

He said many young people who had been relocated with their parents in 2005 had now grown up and required space of their own.

Furthermore, Ramahlele alleged that some of the TRA dwellings were being sold by an HDA official and community leaders for R3 000.

The ABM made their own list of people who should take occupation of a TRA dwelling once a tenant had been relocated to an RDP house.

“These Abahlali BaseMjondolo people are telling people here that once they are re-located they must give their keys to them and not to community leaders. Once they get a key they put someone in from their list,“ said a TRA residents who asked not to be named.

Contacted for comment the HDA Cape Town office said questions needed to be directed to their head office in Johannesburg.

However, HDA deputy information officer in Johannesburg, Kate Shand said she would send the questions to the Cape Town office.

No response had been forthcoming before going to press. – Nombulelo Damba

West Cape News: Protest sparked by attempt to cut illegal electricity connections

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The Island settlement is not affiliated to AbM.

http://westcapenews.com/?p=3248

Protest sparked by attempt to cut illegal electricity connections

AN attempt by Eskom to disconnect illegal electricity connections in Khayelitsha’s Island Informal Settlement sparked violent protests yesterday.

A car was set alight by a petrol bomb and a shipping container was pushed into the busy Lansdowne Road throughfare as about 200 residents scattered rubbish, burnt tyres and stoned passing cars.

The protests, which started mid-morning and only began to simmer down in the late afternoon came after letters from Eskom were delivered to shacks in the settlement yesterday, ordering residents to disconnect their illegal electricity lines or face a fine of R5 000.

A web of wires illegally connecting the shacks to nearby RDP houses hangs over the informal settlement. Wires also run across the across the roads and are buried in shallow trenches in the sand.

But residents say they are not prepared to live without electricity and the City and Eskom need to provide proper connections in their area.

“We connected our lines in Site C’s D-section and some in TR section because Eskom doesn’t want to give us (electricity) boxes,” said resident Nomathamsanqa Kape, 36.

“Since 1989 we have been using illegal connections, every time when we ask Eskom for electricity they give us false promises. I’ve been living in this place since 1989, we never got any service delivery. We were only trying to help ourselves because Eskom doesn’t care,” said Kape.

She said Eskom handed out letters on Wednesday giving residents 24 hours notice to disconnect illegal wiring.

She said residents were prepared to pay for legally supplied electricity as they already paid R200 per month on average to people whose houses they connected to.

“We want power not police,” said resident Athandwe Ndlela, 45.

“We won’t rest until Eskom gives us answers. I have been living in this place for 15 years using illegal connections.”

He said he agreed with Eskom that illegal connections were dangerous, but they had no choice.

“People are dying because of it. Even my brother died last year because of illegal connections. The City of Cape Town and Eskom must provide us with electricity and we won’t stop until that happens.”

Provincial police spokesperson November Filander said two people had been arrested in connection with the protests and charged with public violence. — Nombulelo Damba