Category Archives: Ntokozo Mfusi

The Mercury: Global support for Kennedy Road 12

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5551391

Global support for Kennedy Road 12

July 12, 2010 Edition 1

NTOKOZO MFUSI

CIVIL society organisations from Germany and Japan have thrown their weight behind 12 men who will go on trial today following an attack at the Kennedy Road informal settlement, in Sydenham, Durban, in which two men died last year.

The 12 are all charged with public violence, while five are additionally charged with murder and seven with attempted murder in connection with the September 26 attack. Some also face other charges.

The shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo said its members had been targeted in the attacks and instead of arresting the perpetrators, the police had arrested 12 innocent members of Abahlali.

German organisations Basta! Witten Tenants Association and Akoplan were joined by the International Alliance of Inhabitants, Habitat International Coalition and individuals from Japan in writing to President Jacob Zuma, calling for a fair trial.

Mercury: Slums Act ‘now pointless’

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5236531

Defining section judged unconstitutional/
Slums Act ‘now pointless’

November 09, 2009 Edition 1

NTOKOZO MFUSI

KEEPING the KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act on the statute books has become pointless after its defining section was declared unconstitutional, say legal and housing experts.

Section 16 of the controversial act – which made it compulsory for municipalities to institute proceedings for the eviction of unlawful occupiers of property, where the owner or person in charge fails to do so – was ruled unconstitutional by Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke last month.

Justice Moseneke said the section made residents of informal settlements, who were invariably unlawful occupiers of land, more vulnerable to eviction. He also found that the power given to the government to issue an eviction notice was “over-broad and irrational” because it applied to any unlawful occupier on any land or in any building, even if it was not a slum and was not properly related to the purpose of the act – to eliminate or prevent the re-emergence of slums.

Compel

Centre for Applied Legal Studies researcher Kate Tissington said: “Section 16 was the centrepiece of the Slums Act. It allowed the (housing) MEC to compel municipalities and landowners to evict (unlawful occupiers of property). It was the only section of the act which did not replicate, or very closely resemble, provisions of laws already in force.

“Without it, the Slums Act might as well not have been passed. It does not matter that the remainder of the act remains intact because much of it simply parroted laws that already existed.”

Housing MEC Maggie Govender said she was committed to improving the living conditions of those in desperate situations, and the Slums Act had been aimed at that end.

“The objective of the Slums Act is to provide humane living conditions for the poorest communities.”

She said the remaining portions of the act remained intact, and the Constitutional Court recognised it as innovative legislation.

Govender said she would meet stakeholders once her legal team had identified options that would achieve the objective of the act within constitutional parameters.

However, Tissington said it was impossible to “achieve the purpose of the Slums Act” without section 16.

“It is not just the letter of section 16 that has been declared unconstitutional, but its very purpose. With it goes the purpose of the Slums Act as a whole.”

Organisation of Civic Rights chairman Sayed Iqbal Mohamed said he did not see how the government could now use the act for the purpose it was intended. He said the best way for Govender to deal with slums was to engage with shack dwellers to find an amicable way to address slums.

“The majority judgment (of the Constitutional Court) found section 16 of the Slums Act to be in conflict with the National Housing Act and the National Housing Code.

“In essence, the majority judgment protects the rights of the poor, upholds the constitutional provisions, guarantees the right to housing, strikes down the intended coercive power to local government and prevents the Slums Act from being replicated in other provinces.”

Mercury: Governments may change but things stay the same for shack dwellers

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4845942

Governments may change but things stay the same for shack dwellers

February 17, 2009 Edition 1

NTOKOZO MFUSI

WHEN it rains, as it did last week, the residents of the KwaMancinza shack settlement scurry around with buckets to catch the water leaking through the gaps in their tin roofs.

For Thokozile Mqayi, who is one of the oldest people in the settlement near Ntuzuma, this has been a way of life for 30 years. And for 30 years, he and others have been asking first the National Party government and now the ANC government for proper services, such as sanitation, roads and water.

Despite repeated promises, they are still waiting.

Last week they took their frustrations to the streets, blockading a bus depot and burning tyres to get the attention of a government which, they said, had failed them. The protests turned ugly when they clashed with the police.

“We have been fighting the issue of housing and sanitation since the late 1970s, when we were told not to extend our one-roomed houses because proper houses would be built for us, but nothing has ever materialised,” said Mqayi.

The National Party government designated the area as “Indians only”, but shack dwellers settled there in 1970 and it grew into a settlement.

Mqayi said shack residents had once been arrested in 1977 for staging a march to the then mayor’s office, demanding service provision. After the march, their homes had been numbered and they had been put on a waiting list but they were yet to be allocated homes.

“When Mandela came out of jail, we voted because we were told we would be taken care of,” he said. “But we have nothing, we don’t even have electricity because this place has never been surveyed and we need to have title deeds before we can get electricity.”

Another resident, Alpheus Zulu, echoed Mqayi’s sentiments, saying the issues that they had protested about last week were not new.

“Our houses are leaking. They always fall and we can’t even rebuild because we were told not to. We have no toilets or roads. We live in two-roomed shacks while people around us who came after us have houses with electricity and water.”

The community have lost confidence in their councillor, Skhumbuzo Ndaba, who, they said, had done nothing for them since being elected.

“He lives in Durban North while we are living here like dogs,” said one community member who wanted to remain anonymous.

Another community member who has been in the area for 30 years, Jabulani Shangase, said there had been money donated to develop their area but the projects had disappeared with no explanations.

“In 1994 we voted and received money to the amount of R3.2 million from Mandela, donated by the Malaysian government,” said Shangase. “They said they would build houses for working residents who would pay for the houses but, halfway through the project, stopped and we heard the money was used to build houses in Mayville.”

Ndaba defended himself against accusations of incompetence, saying when he had been elected as the ward councillor in 2000, there had already been problems in the area.

“It’s not because I don’t want development or I don’t care for the people of KwaMancinza, but there were already problems when I came to the area. There was an issue of housing because people were given money for individual housing subsidies, and some people squandered the money and did not build houses.”

He said the housing department was still investigating the matter and had said that once the investigations had been completed, there would be a budget for housing in the area.

“The problem is that every time I reported back to the community, all they wanted to know was when houses would be built and would not entertain the issue of the investigations,” he said.

He had done his part to ensure that rubbish was collected, roads were fixed and job opportunities created.

There had been stand pipes put in to provide water, but new illegal water connections stopped the whole community from getting water.

Last week eThekwini Council Speaker James Nxumalo met the community’s representatives at the Durban City Hall. He is to hold a follow-up meeting on February 22 to report on how the council will handle housing, water, toilets, schools and other infrastructure.

Meanwhile, KwaMancinza’s residents have vowed to continue protesting if their efforts fail to bear fruit. And they have threatened not to vote for the ANC in the election.

Mercury: Police fire rubber bullets at protesters

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20090210040909735C527490

Police fire rubber bullets at protesters

February 10 2009 at 06:26AM

By Ntokozo Mfusi

The police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters barricading a bus depot at Ntuzuma, north of Durban, on Monday.

Residents of Kwamancinza, an informal settlement near Ntuzuma, were protesting against the eThekwini Municipality’s failure to provide them with housing and sanitation, and for a school to be built in the area.

About 300 residents barricaded streets and blockaded the Remant Alton bus depot, leaving commuters stranded in the morning. The protesters also stoned a car.

Police Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said they warned the protesters several times and gave orders to disperse, but those were ignored. “We then called in the public order policing unit to disperse them.”

The unit fired rubber bullets, sending protesters and media alike running for cover. In the chaos, 13 people were injured.

A Kwamancinza resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We have lived here for 17 years and watched while areas around us were developed but we received nothing. We will not vote until this issue is resolved.”

The community protested for the same causes in September in 2008.

EThekwini Speaker James Nxumalo told the protesters that he had held meetings with community representatives since in 2008.

He said education MEC Ina Cronje had said she would send a team to investigate the possibility of providing a school for the area.

Nxumalo had also contacted eThekwini housing infrastructure committee head Nigel Gumede to see if there would be funds available this financial year to build houses for the community.

He said Gumede’s response would be communicated to them at a meeting on Wednesday.

o This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on February 10, 2009

Mercury: Traders evicted from market (for 2010)

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http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4069772

Site earmarked for developments linked to 2010 World Cup
Traders evicted from market

October 08, 2007 Edition 2

NTOKOZO MFUSI

Hundreds of informal traders have found themselves on the street and without a place to trade after being evicted from a Durban informal market yesterday.

The council-owned land on which the Soldiers Way Cabin Market has operated for more than 10 years has been earmarked for a hotel as part of the eThekwini Municipality’s planned developments for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

About 1 200 traders arrived at 2am yesterday to find Metro Police guarding the entrance to the market.

Some of the traders were forced to squeeze into a space for only about 100 traders, leaving most camped on the pavement outside with their goods.

Ntombiyenkosi Mazibuko, who has been trading in the market for more than six years, said the traders were being victimised for trying to earn an honest living.

“We are out on the street now and again we will be arrested and have our stock confiscated for making an honest living. This democracy of ours is a joke. When we ask for permits we don’t get them and now the government is taking away what little we have to feed our children,” she said.

Another trader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We pay R50 every Sunday to trade here. The city must not do this to us because we are low income traders. People from around the country come here every Sunday to buy our goods. We also contribute to the economy of the city,” she said.

The market operator, Global Village, received an eviction notice last month and last Sunday was the last day it could legally trade there.

Global Village’s Durban General Manager, Diven Pather, said Global Village would defy the eviction until the city found alternative land for it.

According to Pather, municipal officials said the city could not help the traders.

“The city is quite comfortable with evicting 1 200 low income traders, who depend on the money they make here to survive, regardless of the socio-economic impact this will have on the city,” he said.

eThekwini Municipal Manager Michael Sutcliffe said the site had always been earmarked for major development: government offices, retail and commercial establishments. In the short term it would be used for parking at the Durban International Convention Centre.

Sutcliffe said eThekwini was one of few municipalities in the world with a clear policy promoting informal trading.

Global Village claims that the city was reneging on that policy were nothing short of “scandalous”. “The city has not issued any notice to evict any traders on the Centrum site.

What has happened is that the city has terminated the short-term tenancy agreements entered into between the city and a private company, First Park Ltd. First Park entered into an agreement with Global Village, which as well may not be legal and it has nothing to do with the city directly,” he said.

Sutcliffe said some traders reported they were paying R200 a month to Global Village to trade every Sunday, while the city charged traders R39 a month, or R69 if they had stands.

“I will be reviewing all operations by Global Village in our city to ensure that we don’t let them benefit through the exploitation of impoverished people,” he said.

Sutcliffe had asked his Acting Head of Business Support, Phillip Sithole, to meet representatives of the traders, not Global Village, to assist them with opportunities to continue trading.