Category Archives: Rizwana Sheik Umar

Daily News: Residents rebuild demolished shacks

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/residents-rebuild-demolished-shacks-1.1626999#.Usl1ffQW3Y5

By RIZWANA SHEIK UMAR

Durban – Three days after the eThekwini Municipality demolished more than 40 shacks at Cato Crest’s Marikana informal settlement, the residents remained hard at work rebuilding their homes, vowing to stay put.

Compared to the mood on Monday, just hours after their homes were demolished; the atmosphere was calmer yesterday when the Daily News visited the settlement.

Under the blazing sun, men got about their work of rebuilding their shacks with some still a long way to go while others were making final touches.

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Daily News: Bleak Christmas as dwellers are left homeless

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/bleak-christmas-as-dwellers-are-left-homeless-1.1626282#.UrlHfPQW3Y4

Bleak Christmas as dwellers are left homeless

December 24 2013 at 09:00am

By RIZWANA SHEIK UMAR and SIHLE MLAMBO

Durban – Two eggs and a loaf of bread, that was all a mother and daughter had left to share this Christmas Eve just moments after city officials, armed with axes, came to demolish their homes on Monday.

Christina Lebelo tried desperately to rebuild her home, piece by piece, nail by nail, plank by plank – but the reality was that she and her 18-year-old daughter, Christiphora, spent the night sleeping in bushes on Monday night. And they may not have a home built in time for Christmas.

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Daily News: Shack dwellers take city to court

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/shack-dwellers-take-city-to-court-1.1385328#.UFiB0LLiax4

Shack dwellers take city to court

September 18 2012
By Rizwana Sheik Umar

Residents of a KwaMashu informal settlement and the shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo have taken the eThekwini Municipality to court for failing to comply with a court order to provide homes for residents evicted from the area.

In 2009, residents of the Siyanda settlement near KwaMashu were evicted from their shacks by the Department of Transport and relocated to transit camps to make way for the construction of Dumisani Makhaye Drive. Continue reading