18 June 2022
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

KwaDukuza Municipality embarrassed in court

The KwaDukuza Municipality is persisting in trying to render people from our settlement in Salt Rock homeless. They have filed to evict the poor, who have nowhere to go.

Yesterday they filed against the community again, on a urgent basis, to have the electricity in the Salt Rock settlement disconnected. We contested the application in the Durban High Court and it was dismissed with costs. In delivering the judgment the judge said that there was no urgency in the application and that the electricity crisis is a national crisis. The judge raised concerns about the way that the municipality filed their papers.

This is a victory for the people of Salt Rock who have been facing constant harassment from the municipality that often disconnects water or electricity for the poor.

The municipality is planning to evict our members in the area yet they say they are planning to build houses in the area. The question we are having is who is this development is for?

The ANC hardly builds any houses any more but we know, for sure, that when the ANC does build houses they are allocated to those who belong to the ANC.

The residents of the Salt Rock settlement will continue to resist the attempt at eviction, and the harassment in the form of armed disconnections of water and electricity. One of the residents said that “We can longer equate ourselves to animals because the capitalists love their animals more than us”.

Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274
Snenhlanhla Mncanyana 073 832 3331