KZN Premier tries to use shack settlements as election-time window dressing

Saturday, 14 January 2006

(Kennedy Road Shack Settlement, Durban.) Without warning, and without attempting to understand their circumstances or engage with their communities, KZN Premier S’bu Ndebele will today hold an election rally in the middle of Durban’s poorest communities: the informal settlements. During a meeting yesterday evening in the Kennedy Road settlement, representatives from settlements across Durban’s wards 23 and 25 rejected the attempt to misrepresent their communities, instead of meeting with them.

“This comes as a shock,” said S’bu Zikode, chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’ movement in Durban . “We wrote to the Premier last year, asking him to meet with us to answer key questions about the municipality’s proposals to upgrade our housing, questions like when will we be able to live in proper homes?, where will they be?, how many of us will be able to live properly?”

“But our issues are not being addressed. He never replied to us. Instead, he now comes into our community barely announced, and he will bus in people from 9 wards, so that our homes, our shacks can be in the background when the media take pictures of people saying ‘Viva ANC Viva’. In fact, it is true to say that he is waging war on the poor.”

The war on the poor isn’t metaphorical The shack settlements have come under attack before. On November 14, 2005, a peaceful march by the shack dwellers in nearby Foreman Road was illegally and unconstitutionally repressed, on order from City Manager, Dr. Mike Sutcliffe. In the words of a statement by the Freedom of Expression Institute, the banning of the march was “”a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Regulation of Gatherings Act”. The statement went on to explain that the reasons given by the municipality for banning the march were “absurd” and without any legal basis.

In violation of the law, the Sydenham police, headed by Superintendent Glen Nayager, launched an illegal attack on the protests, in scenes reminiscent of the apartheid era. At the time, 50 of the world’s leading constitutional lawyers asked Ndebele to conduct an enquiry into these constitutional violations. Despite this petition, and further complaints of harassment and excessive force lodged against the police with the Independent Complaints Directorate, including a complaint laid by Durban’s The Mercury newspaper, no official investigation of any kind has proceeded.

Yet the world is watching. The Abahlali Base Mjondolo, South Africa’s largest movement of poor people, unfunded by any donors and politically independent, has caught the imagination of the world’s press, with recent coverage in the New York Times and by Agence France Presse.

The Provincial Premier seems determined to hold his rally in the middle of the Kennedy Road informal settlement. On Friday, a range of police vehicles, and unidentified black cars, cruised up and down Kennedy Road, intimidating the community. Yacoob Baig , the local councillor so deeply unpopular with the settlements that he had to enter the community surrounded by armed guards, demanded the keys to the Kennedy Road community hall. The residents were then told to get the hall ready and clean up for the Premier.

Said Zikode “This isn’t democracy, if they’re using all the strength that they have to oppress the poor. We know that our questions won’t be attended to today. Rally is not delivery. It’s not even a start. Instead, people will be bussed in with not even a full day’s warning. What about our democratic rights to our space, and our own voice? The irony is that we want to meet with the Premier. But this isn’t a meeting. It’s a dirty trick.”

Based on the settlements’ past experience in putting forward their agenda, the informal settlement residents have grounds to be anxious about their attempts to make heard their concerns about representation, democracy, service delivery, housing and dignity.

The rally is scheduled for Saturday, 14 January, 2006, at the Kennedy Road Community Centre.

For further information, please contact

S’bu Zikode, Chair, Abahlali base Mjondolo, 083 547 0474

Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Foreman Road Development Committee, 073 565 6241
Lungisani Jama, Foreman Road Development Committee, 082 259 5443
Philani Dlamini, Foreman Road Development Committee, 072 962 9312
Fikile Nkosi, Pemary Ridge Development Committee, 084 250 1446
Moses Mncwango, Jadhu Place Development Committee, 076 225 0260

Petition to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from Delegates to the Comparative Constitutionalism and Rights: Global Perspectives Conference

While in Durban we have come to learn that on the Thursday 10 November 2005 the eThekwini Municipality sent a fax illegally banning a proposed march on the Mayor organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee, the elected representatives of one of the poorest shack settlements in Durban. Two reasons were given for banning the march. The first was that “Officials from the Mayor’s Office have advised us that they have no feedback for your organisation”. The second was that “The Mayor’s Office labour is unable to assist you and there will be no representative there to meet you.” The respected Freedom of Expression Institute issued a statement condemning the ban as “a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Regulation of Gatherings Act”. The statement went on to explain that the reasons given by the Municipality for banning the march were “absurd” and without any legal basis.

On the day of the scheduled march, three thousand people met in the Foreman Road settlement, and decided to stage an act of passive resistance against this attack on their basic democratic rights in the form of a peaceful demonstration. It has been widely reported that the police responded with extreme force and that at least two police officers fired live ammunition. A number of protestors sustained serious injuries. Journalists and academics have stated that police officers threatened them with violence if they reported what they had seen and that cameras were confiscated by the police. The Freedom of Expression Institute issued a statement declaring that the Institute “condemns the eThekwini Municipality’s blatant disregard for the rights of marginalized communities to exercise their freedom of expression” The statement described the police action as illegal on two grounds. The first was that no warning was given to disperse before the police attacked and the second was that there was no justification for the degree of force used in the police attack. The Mercury newspaper lodged a formal complaint against the intimidation of one of it journalists by the police.

We, the undersigned, delegates to the Comparative Constitutionalism and Rights: Global Perspectives conference would like to register our deep concern at these reports of the eThekwini Municipality’s violation of various laws governing the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to peaceful protest. We strongly recommend that your office urgently conduct an official enquiry into these alleged violations of basic democratic rights.

Name Institution Position Country
D. Greschner University of Laverne Professor USA
Sandra F. Joireman Wheaton College Associate Professor USA
Q. Mirza University of East London Senior Lecturer UK
Beth Goldblatt CALS, Wits Univsersity Senior Researcher South Africa
Leslye Obiora University of Arizona Professor of Law USA
Erika George University of Utah Professor of Law USA
Emma C. Jordan Georgetown Professor of Law USA
Jeanne Woods Loyola University Distinguished Professor of Law USA
Mark Keude Drake University Professor of Law USA
Nicola Franklin Sydney University of Law Senior Lecturer Australia
Diane Geraghty Loyola University Chicago Professor of Law USA
Peggy Marsel Florida International University Professor of Law USA
Susan Bazilli International Women’s Rights Project Co-Director Canada/ South Africa
Brilliant Mhlanga Center for Communication & Media Studies Postgrad Zimbabwe
Khauyisela Moyo University of Ulster PhD Research Fellow Northern Ireland
Munyonzwe Hamalengwa Lawyer Canada
Patrick Bond UKZN Development Studies Professor South Africa
Paul Brietzke Valparaiso University Law School Professor USA
Angela Harris University of California Professor USA
Paul Gangsei New York Bar Association Attorney USA
Daria Roithmayr University of Illinois Law Professor USA
Barbara Stark Hofstra University Law Professor USA
Karl Klare Northeastern University Law Professor USA
Bernadette Atuahene Chicago-Kent Law School Assistant Professor USA
Meetali Jain Constitutional Court Law Clerk South Africa
Michael Osbore Cape Town Bar Advocate/ Barrister South Africa
Rosemary Lyster University of Sydney Associate Professor Australia
Chris Gale University of Bradford Professor, Director of Legal Studies UK
Carlton Waterhouse Florida International University Assistant Professor USA
W. Pettifer College of Law, London Solicitor, Practice Teacher UK
Jon Stubbs University of Richmond Professor USA
M. Lynch QUB Northern Ireland
S. Sibanda Wits University Lecturer South Africa
I. Nader Oxford University Student UK
A. Contsoudis Oxford University Student UK
M. Wesson University of Leeds Lecturer UK
A. Stewart UKZN/ Bar Advocate South Africa
K. Hofmeyr Oxford University Student UK
Jana McLean Lawyer Canada
Taunya Banks University of Maryland Law School Professor USA
Seth Racusen Anna Maria College Assistant Professor USA
Marilou McPhedran University of Victoria Co-Director, Women’s Rights Canada
David Hulme UKZN Senior Lecturer South Africa
George Devenish UKZN Hon R Assoc South Africa
Michael Plaxton University of Aberdeen Lecturer UK
Dwight Newman University of Saskatchewan Assistant Professor of Law Canada
Bevekel Selassi UNC- Chapel Hill Professor USA
Trevor Ngwane Centre for Civil Society, UKZN Student South Africa
Raj Patel Centre for Civil Society, UKZN Post-Doctoral Fellow South Africa