Category Archives: Ravi Pillay

Dishonest statements by MEC Ravi Pillay

Friday, 1 March 2019

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

Dishonest statements by MEC Ravi Pillay

On 13 February the Durban High Court granted our movement an interdict against the eThekwini municipality’s repeated violent and illegal evictions against the eKhenana land occupation in Cato Crest. The interdict protects 109 named families against illegal eviction.

The roots of this occupation are in the corruption of the local ANC. When housing was provided in the area the process was corrupt and some people were left homeless.

After the interdict was granted to our movement the local the local ANC councillor Mzi Ngiba encouraged, and in some cases forced, his followers to occupy land to try and undermine the court process. This caused division in the ANC in the city with Ngiba supporting the new occupation organised to disrupt the court process and the Mayor and other senior people in the party opposing it. Continue reading →

The Times: Victory for KZN shackdwellers

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/10/19/Victory-for-KZN-shackdwellers

Shackdwellers clinched a victory in the Durban High Court on Monday when the court ruled against a proposed scheme to evict them.

The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works’ application to appeal the court’s decision to disallow the eviction of inhabitants of 1568 properties throughout the eThekwini Municipality was dismissed with costs.

The broad scope of the MEC’s scheme and his department’s failure to notify the vast majority of the individuals who would face eviction was cited as the main reason for the decision. Continue reading →

Land Occupations are Urban Planning from Below: A Response to Ravi Pillay, Mbulelo Baloyi & Nigel Gumede

Thursday 10 September 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Land Occupations are Urban Planning from Below: A Response to Ravi Pillay, Mbulelo Baloyi & Nigel Gumede

After apartheid the new Constitution (1996), and then the Prevention of Illegal Eviction [PIE] Act (1998), gave some protection to people occupying land without the permission of the state or the capitalists. It was still possible for people to be evicted but only after an order of the court had been issued. In 2005 the Constitutional Court insisted that the Act “expressly requires the court to infuse elements of grace and compassion into the formal structures of the law”. When evictions were allowed they were not supposed to be carried out violently or to leave people homeless. Continue reading →

M&G: Eviction ruling spurs on shack dwellers

Kwanele Sosibo, Mail & Guardian

Abahlali baseMjondolo, emboldened by its victory over the eThekwini municipality that stopped it from evicting shack residents without court approval, has taken its cause to Gauteng.

Abahlali spokesperson Ndabo Mzimela said the movement had been invited to visit high-density shacklands such as those in Germiston, Diepsloot and Soweto. It also wanted to “make public presentations about the movement so people don’t push personal agendas under its banner”.

This week the high court in Durban ruled in favour of Abahlali in a case that dates back to 2013, when the eThekwini municipality and the provincial human settlement department sought, and was granted, an interim order to halt invasions of government-owned land earmarked for housing. The provincial government estimated that more than 1 000 pieces of land were invaded at the time. Continue reading →

M&G: Battle lines drawn over eThekwini land

Kwanele Sosibo, Mail & Guardian

The KwaZulu-Natal department of human settlements and public works this week said it would forge ahead with plans to establish its own land invasion control unit. This follows a Durban high court ruling that forces the departments and the eThekwini municipality to obtain court orders to carry out evictions. The unit would survey and protect all land belonging to the department that has been earmarked for housing. There is already such a unit policing land owned by the municipality.

Mbulelo Baloyi, spokesperson for human settlements MEC Ravi Pillay said on Thursday they had already begun the process of identifying a service provider. Continue reading →