The Times: Shack dwellers celebrate Concourt victory

http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/local/article151537.ece

Shack dwellers celebrate Concourt victory
Oct 14, 2009 7:04 PM | By Sapa

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An association campaigning for the rights of shack dwellers on Wednesday
celebrated its landmark Constitutional Court victory.

“After being the subject of political violence and shameless slander
over the last two weeks, we have something to celebrate,” the Abahlali
baseMjondolo (ABM) said in a statement.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday declared the KwaZulu-Natal
Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act (Slums Act)

unconstitutional. The piece of legislation would have allowed mass
evictions in KwaZulu-Natal.

The court challenge was brought by ABM and its president Sibusiso Zikode
in the Durban High Court in February 2008. They lost the case and took
the matter to the highest court in the land.

“I conclude that section 16 of the Slums Act is inconsistent with the
Constitution and invalid,” deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke said.

Mbhekiseni Mavuso, general secretary of the Rural Network, which is a
member of Abahlali, welcomed the Constitutional Court ruling.

“We are very delighted because this proves that the Constitutional Court
does have room for poor people,” Mavuso told Sapa.

“They were thinking because of 2010, they were just going to go out and
evict people… but now poor people are protected.”

The association, with a 20,000-strong membership, argued the section of
the Slums Act would have forced land owners to evict all shack dwellers
by a certain date, regardless of whether they were willing to allow them
to live on their land. It also argued the definition of “slums” was too
vague and open.

“The Constitutional Court win affirms our interpretation of the Act and
means that a repressive and constitutionally inconsistent piece of
legislation is now inoperable and will not be replicated in other
provinces,” the organisation said.

The core focus of the Act was on facilitating eradication and not in
providing adequate housing, the organisation said.

The department of local government was not immediately available to
comment.