http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3896579

June 22, 2007 Edition 1

Sibusiso Mboto

A KwaZulu-Natal group representing informal settlements has accused the provincial government of neglecting the needs of its constituents after the passing into law of the Elimination and Prevention of the Re-emergence of Slums Act yesterday.

Local Government MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu said in Pietermaritzburg that the Act was not aimed at “the inhumane eviction” of people from where they lived, but was a revolutionary and long-term solution to the challenge of slums.

“(The Act) does not contain any provisions for the eviction of persons from land or buildings. Instead, it provides that any eviction must be carried out in accordance with the applicable provisions of the constitution and any other national legislation protecting the housing or occupation rights of people,” he said.

Mabuyakhulu said that the Act would protect poor people who had fallen prey to unscrupulous people who had built slums and given rise to the phenomenon of “shack farming”.

However, the vocal Durban-based Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers’ movement) likened the new Act to Zimbabwe’s notorious Operation Murambatsvia, which saw the destruction of many homes in Harare.

“We will fight this Act in the courts, in the streets, in the way we live our lives. We will not be driven out of our cities as if we were rubbish,” said Abahlali President S’bu Zikode.

He said the Act amounted to a legal attack on poor people by the government and accused the Housing Department of pretending to listen to other people’s views while theirs were not considered.

“We knew that the public hearings were just a window-dressing exercise, and that our views never really mattered because the decision had already been taken,” said Zikode.

An urgent meeting by the movement would be held to discuss ways of fighting the Act, including taking the Housing Department to court.