30 November 2011
Evicted Valley View Residents (Hillary) to Protest Realllocation of their Flats Tomorrow
Tomorrow the flats of the 77 people evicted from the Valley View flats in Hillary by SOHOC will be given to new tenants. The evicted residents will protest by holding a picket line in front of their flats. They will appeal to a sense of solidarity from the new tenants and they wish to make it very clear that crossing a picket line and moving into the home of an evicted person is no different to crossing a picket line and scabbing at a strike.
The evicted residents are demanding that they be allowed to return to their flats and they are warning that they will not give up this struggle until they have been able to return to their homes.
The evicted residents also wish to note that SOHOC has failed to govern these flats properly and that, therefore, the residents must be allowed to take over the governance of the flats on their own by forming a cooperative. The private part of this so called ‘public-private partnership’ must be expelled from the project and it must become a partnership between the state and the resident’s cooperative.
The evicted residents also wish to note that they are prepared for everyone to pay the same rent, the rent that was agreed to first, which is R850 per month (excluding lights and water) but that they cannot afford to pay the new rent.
The evicted residents also wish to note that each citizen in South Africa that is eligible for access to state housing gets a housing subsidy. That subsidy usually goes towards an RDP house. In their case it went towards the ‘public-private partnership’ that built the Valley View flats and collects the rent for the flats. But now that the 77 residents have been evicted they are told that they are not eligible for RDP houses because they have already accessed their subsidy. While SOHOC is making a profit and calling itself a ‘non-profit organisation’ they have been evicted and their right to housing has been taken from them. The capitalists that have invested in SOHCO have taken their subsidies but they are left homeless and with no other options.
If there have to be further negotiations the evicted residents must be allowed to collect their post from the flats and they must be removed from the credit bureau black list.
The evicted residents are also requesting that the public protector investigate SOHCO. Thuli Madonsela has won the confidence of the people and she can be trusted to investigate SOHCO fairly.
Comrades visiting Durban for the COP 17 conference are welcome to join the picket line at the Valley View flats in Hillary. If the police are bought in to break up the picket line the evicted residents will return their protests to the SOHCO offices.
Contact Details:
S’fiso: 079 818 1987
Nomfundo: 082 541 0855