Category Archives: third force

Vicious evictions continue in eKhenana

18 January 2019
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Vicious evictions continue in eKhenana

On Wednesday afternoon the Anti Land Invasion Unit waged a brutal attack on the eKhanana land occupation in Cato Crest. More than 35 homes were demolished and burnt by these thugs.

The attack yesterday happened despite the matter being before the court. On 27 December last year we approached the High Court for an urgent interdict against the repeated attacks on the eKhanana occupation. The lawyers for the Municipality asked the court for time to prepare their answering affidavit. The court specifically stated that there should be no further evictions until the matter had been resolved. These evictions were therefore in violation of both the law and the specific instruction of the court.  Continue reading

eThekwini says third force behind increased land invasions in Durban

This year our movement will celebrate fourteen years of existence. It will also be fourteen years of being called the ‘third force’ because the ANC can’t understand that our struggle, like many other struggles, is motivated by resistance to oppression. This language of the ‘third force’ is always used to justify repression, including murder.

Durban – The city believes there is a third force behind the recent spike in land invasions taking place across Durban.

eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela warned that invasions could increase in the lead-up to the general elections.

He was speaking to The Mercury following incidents of land invasion in Cato Crest, an area that borders Manor Gardens and Mayville.

In the past week, at least 13 shacks have been erected in Cato Crest. The recent invasion, coupled with violent protests on Mary Thiphe Road, have forced residents to pack up and sell their homes.

Mayisela said the city had to spend money on resources because of those who broke the law.

“You find that these people come from other parts of the province and country and want to build homes. They end up taking private land or municipal land that has been earmarked for other projects. The economic conditions are just not suitable for them.”

Mayisela said there were organisations and political parties that were encouraging lawlessness, and this posed a huge problem for residents, especially those in built-up areas who were then forced to sell their houses – sometimes at a big loss.

He said that while they were grateful to the city’s Land Invasion Unit for the work it did, it was unable to immediately attend to land grabs due to the rate at which these informal settlements were mushrooming.

“We need participation from the community. If residents notice shacks being erected, we need them to contact the land invasion unit so that the issue can be dealt with,” Mayisela said.

He added that the city had spent billions of rand building housing for people, but said that it appeared to be a moving target.

“We just cannot accommodate everyone, but we are trying our level best,” he said.

Mayisela said the issue of increasing the manpower of the land invasion unit remained a decision that needed to be made by the council.

On Wednesday, members of the unit accompanied by metro police demolished shacks in Cato Crest.

Se-Anne Rall, The Mercury

Makana Municipality Blames Xenophobia on the ‘Third Force’

Saturday, 21 November 2015

Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

 

Makana Municipality Blames Xenophobia on the ‘Third Force’

On Wednesday a number of the people displaced in the xenophobic attacks and their families decided to hold an all night vigil outside the City Hall. This decision was taken after they were told that the men had to leave the safe accommodation by noon on Friday as the municipality was unwilling to pay the bill. It was not safe for them to return to the community and they had nowhere else to go. They were in a desperate situation. This was why they decided that it was necessary to protest. Continue reading

Sweet Home: A Preliminary Investigation into the Socio-Political Character of Recent Road Blockades by Protesting Shack Dwellers in South Africa

Jared Sacks

For much of the winter of 2012, communities in shack settlements across Cape Town took to the streets in some of the most active civil disobedience protests since 1994. Knowing that the mainstream political terrain often seeks to obfuscate and mislead the public about the true nature of these protests, this paper investigates claims by politicians from the Democratic Alliance (DA) that these protests were being coordinated by the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANCYL). These big political players moralize the debate, shifting the focus from the perfectly legitimate issues of service delivery and demands for meaningful engagement. Speaking directly to community members of Sweet Home Farm, an informal settlement of 15,000 people in the Philippi area, revealed a yawning chasm between what official players are saying about Sweet Home and the actual realities on the ground.

Attachments


Road Blockades in Sweet Home Farm

M&G: Socialists accuse state of crackdown

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-07-12-00-socialists-accuse-state-of-crackdown

Socialists accuse state of crackdown

by Kwanele Sosibo

Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) executive member Liv Shange’s visa woes – which may see her barred from re-entering South Africa – are part of a “wider onslaught on democratic rights” and could be linked to attempts to salvage the faltering peace deal in the mining sector, she said this week from Luleå in Sweden.

The DSM has been actively organising mineworkers disillusioned with the National Union of Mineworkers for years – long before the Marikana massacre occurred last year. Its members advised several of the strike committees during the wave of post-Marikana strikes. Continue reading