Category Archives: Se-Anne Rall

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

Council vows to get rid of shack dwellers’

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This article was originally published on page 4 of The Mercury on October 30, 2006
Available at
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20061030065705461C628258

Council vows to get rid of shack dwellers’

October 30 2006 at 09:39AM

By Se-Anne Rall

The eThekwini Municipality would continue to forcibly remove people from informal settlements and into proper housing, Housing and Infrastructure Committee Chairperson S’bu Gumede said, in the wake of the demolition of shacks at the Motala Heights informal settlement in Pinetown at the weekend.

“As long as there are people that need to be removed, there will be such removals,” he said.

He added that the council was battling to control the growth of slums.

‘People were not given court or written orders to move’
“We have adopted a zero-tolerance attitude to control the amount of informal settlements, and with the pressure of 2010, we are trying to eradicate such settlements. When there are houses built for people from informal settlements, they do not want them and yet, when such removals occur, we as the council are seen as the harassers,” said Gumede.

According to Philani Zungu, Deputy President of Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers’ Movement), houses had been built at Nazareth, near Pinetown, for the shack dwellers – and some people had already moved into them.

However, Nazareth was too far away from places of work for others, he said.

“People were not given court or written orders to move. They were only given verbal warnings and were told that their shacks would be demolished, regardless of whether or not they moved.

“The question we want to pose to the municipality is: What must we do for those people? They have been here for so long and will not have the money to travel from Nazareth,” said Zungu.

Derrick Fenner, of the Motala Development Committee, said the shacks destroyed had belonged to people who had moved to Nazareth and who had rented their shacks out to others. The police had later returned to demolish shacks that were being rebuilt.

Abahlali spokesperson Mnikelo Ndabankulu said the movement would obtain a court interdict against the municipality because it was illegal to forcibly remove the residents.

“We will continue fighting for the rights of the shack dwellers until the municipality listens to us.

“Why could they not have upgraded the place where the residents were? Instead, they are moving children further away from their schools, and parents away from their places of employment around the area,” Ndabankulu said.

se-anne.rall@inl.co.za

Council vows to continue eradicating informal settlements

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Available at http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3512014

Council vows to continue eradicating informal settlements

October 30 2006 at 09:39AM

By Se-Anne Rall

The eThekwini Municipality would continue to forcibly remove people from informal settlements and into proper housing, Housing and Infrastructure Committee Chairperson S’bu Gumede said, in the wake of the demolition of shacks at the Motala Heights informal settlement in Pinetown at the weekend.

“As long as there are people that need to be removed, there will be such removals,” he said.

He added that the council was battling to control the growth of slums.

“We have adopted a zero-tolerance attitude to control the amount of informal settlements, and with the pressure of 2010, we are trying to eradicate such settlements. When there are houses built for people from informal settlements, they do not want them and yet, when such removals occur, we as the council are seen as the harassers,” said Gumede.

According to Philani Zungu, Deputy President of Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers’ Movement), houses had been built at Nazareth, near Pinetown, for the shack dwellers – and some people had already moved into them.

However, Nazareth was too far away from places of work for others, he said.

“People were not given court or written orders to move. They were only given verbal warnings and were told that their shacks would be demolished, regardless of whether or not they moved.

“The question we want to pose to the municipality is: What must we do for those people? They have been here for so long and will not have the money to travel from Nazareth,” said Zungu.

Derrick Fenner, of the Motala Development Committee, said the shacks destroyed had belonged to people who had moved to Nazareth and who had rented their shacks out to others. The police had later returned to demolish shacks that were being rebuilt.

Abahlali spokesperson Mnikelo Ndabankulu said the movement would obtain a court interdict against the municipality because it was illegal to forcibly remove the residents.

“We will continue fighting for the rights of the shack dwellers until the municipality listens to us.

“Why could they not have upgraded the place where the residents were? Instead, they are moving children further away from their schools, and parents away from their places of employment around the area,” Ndabankulu said.

se-anne.rall@inl.co.za