Solidarity: SAMWU Statement on Police Violence in Cape Town

31 01 2008
URGENT PRESS STATEMENT

CAPE TOWN, ­ SAMWU is disgusted and appalled that the police opened fire at close range with plastic coated steel bullets at our members in Cape Town one hour ago.

The march through the City ended at 1:30pm, after Helen Zille refused to receive demands of the workers¹ memorandum. Then, the marchers were walking back to Kaisersgracht, District Six to take their transport home, and three casspirs and eight vans full of police followed them. The SAMWU members had reached a field near Kaisersgracht, were slightly out of the public eye when the police suddenly threw a stun grenade at the marchers for no reason.

Immediately after this, police opened fire at close range with plastic coated steel bullets.

12 SAMWU members sustained injuries and have been rushed for medical attention.

The Chief Marshall and a senior SAMWU leader, Leon Johannes approached a senior police officer, Captain de Graaf asking him  to stop the shooting. The police then threw Johannes and two other workers standing with him to the ground and arrested them. These are unlawful arrests and SAMWU will challenge them.

Johannes now can be reached in prison on this number: 083 730 3114

SAMWU would like to issue a very stern warning to the Minister of Safety and Security and Helen Zille:

We will not accept police brutality at our marches. The police are well aware that firing plastic coated steel bullets at close range can be fatal. SAMWU intends to make a legal case for damages for this unprovoked attack. We are currently collecting evidence, affidavits and consulting legal counsel about this.


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FNB/Thubelisha Protest – 1 English

31 01 2008

Ashraf Cassiem from the Anti-Eviction Campaign presents a memorandum to First National Bank in protest of the Bank’s support for forced removals.


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Gympie Street residents to hold march against evictions Wed 30th January 2008

30 01 2008

MARCH AGAINST

EVICTIONS

NO LAND, NO HOUSE,

NO VOTE!

When: Wed 30th Jan 2008

Where: Magistrate Court, Cape Town (between Buitenkant street & Parade street)

From: Gympie Street, Woodstock, via Sir Lowry Rd, into Buitenkant Street, turn into Barrack Street, turn right into Parade Street to Court.

Time: Starting point depart 7h30am arrival at Court 8h30

BACKGROUND

For two years now the people of Gympie Street have been living under the threat of eviction from their landlord. Different people have been coming around claiming to be representing the landlord and wanting to collect rent. The residents want clarity on whuch the real landlord is and are quite prepared to pay a reasonable rent. The landlord had the people evicted in the middle of winter, just like the previous apartheid regime. The landlord has tried all sorts of intimidation, from sending the police, to having the water and services turned off. It is clear that the threatened mass eviction of families who have been staying there for decades, is part of the gentrification process to clear the centre of the city of the working class so that landlords and capitalists can profit. Now the landlord has again threatened court action against the residents.

For more information

Contact:

Willy Heyn 0731443619
Zehir Omar 0824925207


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Tafelsig Peoples’ Forum to March Against Evictions

29 01 2008

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement
Tuesday 29th January 2008
11am

MITCHELLS PLAIN – On Wednesday 30th January 2008 at 7 am, 100 residents from Freedom Park, Tafelsig will march on the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court.

The residents are marching from 112 Tafelberg Rd and marching on the court.

The march is against the pending evictions of four families from
shacks in the area. Each family has about three children and some are pregnant.

There are empty houses in the area but the council does not want to allocate these houses to the families. They say “they can’t help the people who live in shacks”. Yet these families have been living in the shacks for more than 10 years.

The entire community supports the families. “If they want to put them out then we will take action”, said Sharia Abraham of the Tafelsig Peoples Forum.

…/ends
For comment call Sharia Abraham on 083 896 6922


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Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement

28 01 2008
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement
Monday 28th January 2008 4pm

CAPE TOWN – About 1000 Delft residents who occupied “Breaking New Ground” homes in Delft on December 20th 2007 will appear in the Cape High Court again tomorrow.

As usual, all the residents will be coming to the court and will hold a rally outside.

The residents will continue to be represented by Ashraf Cassiem, Anti-Eviction Campaign Legal Co-ordinator, since they do not have money for an advocate. The residents are all demanding to stay in their homes that they have occupied. All residents have a moral and legal right to be in those homes, having been on the waiting list for as long as 20 years.

The Anti-Eviction Campaign also rejects Thubelisha Homes’ assertion that the Anti-Eviction Campaign is working with the DA. Our position is very clear “no house, no land, no job, no vote.” We don’t support any political party, we support the people. The Anti-Eviction Campaign has a long history of opposing both the DA and ANC’s identical housing, water and evictions policies.

For comment please call Ashraf Cassiem on 076 1861408


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Newfields Village residents angered at Cape Town Community Housing broken promises

18 01 2008

CAPE TOWN – The Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign is planning more protest action against the Cape Town Community Housing Company.

The residents from Newfields Village and nine other villages of “low cost housing” built by the Cape Town Community Housing Company already campaigned for years to force the government to allocate R46 million to repair the defects in their houses. These included crumbling walls, leaks, cracks and others. Their campaign included a massive and long running rent boycott.

The Cape Town Community Housing Company agreed in writing with the community that the workers employed to fix the defects would be 50% contract workers and 50% workers hired from the community. However, they have reneged on their own written agreement and only 6% of the workers are to be hired from the community. The Cape Town Community Housing Company says that these will be labourers only – artisans will be hired from companies.

The Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign has uncovered that the person in charge of the repair process has a 40% share in ABE, a company that has been suddenly hired to repaint all the defective houses.

The Newfields Village Anti-Eviction Campaign is very angry about this and demands an end to this corruption, and jobs for the community, failing which they have vowed to chase all contractors out of the area.

…/ends

For comment call Gary Hartzenberg on 072 392 5859


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Hout Bay shack dwellers plan resistance to forced removal

18 01 2008

Writer: Celeste Ganga
Source: Bush Radio

About 75 shack dwellers and one family living in a house in a section of Hangberg in Hout Bay, Cape Town are facing eviction from their land by South African Sea Products.

“The community is angered and intends to resist the forced removal because they say that some of the land belongs to the City and not to South African Sea Products, so the company does not have the right to evict them” says Chairperson of the Hangberg Solution Seekers Association (a community organisation), Michelle Yon.

She adds that most of the residents work in Hout Bay as fishermen and some work as casuals at the company itself. Yon goes on to say that they will not allow South African Sea Products to forcibly remove them without alternative accommodation being provided.

“The community tried already to buy the hostel themselves to set up a low cost housing project and were under the impression that the company would still sell it to them,” explains Yon.

The community will appear in the Cape High Court on Tuesday (29 January 2008) to oppose the eviction order. They will be assisted by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign.

Attempts to get hold of South African Sea Products were unsuccessful.


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Western Cape Anti-Eviction Statement Press Statement on Delft

10 01 2008

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement

CAPE TOWN – The High Court case involving the over 1000 Delft homeless and backyard residents who occupied the “Breaking New Ground” houses in Delft a few weeks back, has been postponed from tomorrow (11 January) to next Tuesday 15th January 2008.

The ANC MEC for Housing, Richard Dyantyi, Thubelisha Homes, Seakay Construction plus two other companies today served an urgent application to evict the residents from the houses. They were supposed to have served the application last Friday, according to a court order.

The residents who occupied the houses have all been on the housing Waiting List for up to 20 years and have been promised houses at each and every election by all the political parties but these parties have never delivered on their promises.

Ashraf Cassiem, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Legal Co-ordinator, is representing the residents because they do not have money for an Advocate.

According to Cassiem, “Again the companies and the government have disregarded the court order which said that last Friday they were supposed to serve the application. The court order also stipulated that we should have had a chance to respond by yesterday and the matter should be heard tomorrow but the companies and government failed to comply”.

Cassiem says that this is the second time the Housing Department, Thubelisha Homes and the other three companies have acted unlawfully. “The last time they used an unlawful 2006 order to evict residents and the court did not even chastise them but only set the order aside. They should be punished according to section 8 of the Prevention of Illegal Evictions Act which makes it a criminal offence to use unlawful orders to evict people. Now we want to know what the court is going to do about them taking their own liberties and why they are untouchable. However we are also happy that people are going to get the chance to say why they should not be evicted.”

The Anti-Eviction Campaign and Delft community are having a mass meeting at 7pm tonight to discuss the latest development and we will be ready by Tuesday 15th January to oppose the application” said Cassiem.

…/ends

For comment call: Ashraf Cassiem on 076 1861408; Pamela Beukes on 079 3709614; Mncedisi Twala on 078 5808646; or Mzonke Poni on 073 2562036 – all of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign


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Communities are placing their own stamp on the N2 Gateway project

2 01 2008

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement
January 2nd 2008

On 3rd January more than 1000 backyarders from Delft and other areas of Cape Town, who occupied N2 Gateway houses in Delft before Christmas and were granted a stay of eviction by the Cape High Court, return to the Court.

They claim that the order through which first the Cape Town City Council and then Thubelisha Homes tried to evict them was invalid and hence the evictions were illegal. They want to stop the evictions altogether.

Their occupation was sparked by a visit from Housing Minister to Delft on 16 December, when she handed over keys to former Joe Slovo residents for these houses, totally ignoring that 30% of them had been promised to Delft backyarders.

The backyarders plan a march from Kaisergracht to the High Court and will be joined by other communities. These will include residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement, for whom the N2 Gateway Delft houses were ultimately intended by government and Thubelisha, and who are resisting eviction to Delft. Joe Slovo residents want houses built for them in Joe Slovo and support the claims of the backyarders to the Delft houses.

Other communities, including residents of N2 Gateway Phase 1, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Athlone etc, are also supporting the Delft backyarders in their occupation. Everyone is welcome to participate in support.

Thubelisha Homes were refused a new eviction order by the Cape High Court on 24 December and may well try to apply for such an order again on 3rd January. This will be opposed by the Delft backyarders, just as Joe Slovo residents opposed the attempt by Sisulu, MEC Richard Dyantyi and Thubelisha Homes to get an urgent eviction order against them last year. This means that the Delft backyarders will not in any event face immediate eviction. The Joe Slovo case was eventually heard in December and the Cape High Court is likely to make a judgement on 15 January.

Delft backyarders also plan to sue the relevant authorities for damages for the illegal evictions.

N2 Gateway is proclaimed as a “pilot project” which is supposed to be susceptible to change when mistakes are made. As long ago as July 2005 the residents of Boys Town, Crossroads, occupied the N2 in protest against plans to move them into flats as part of the project. Since then, however, Sisulu, Dyantyi and Thubelisha Homes have been deaf to all the views expressed by affected communities and dogmatically proceeded with their own plans — even though one of Thubelisha Homes proclaimed values is “flexibility”: “Our ever-changing environment requires us to be adaptable, innovative, and bold in order to remain effective and to seize opportunities.” Now affected communities are placing their own stamp on events and demanding the housing that they require.

Already, in response to the mass protests by Joe Slovo residents, Thubelisha Homes has announced that it has reduced the number of FNB-sponsored bond houses that will be built in Joe Slovo from 200 to 35! With more flexibility, it would be possible to accomodate the demands of residents of Joe Slovo as well as the Delft backyarders. But for this, Sisulu, Dyantyi and Thubelisha must withdraw their eviction plans and engage in serious negotiations with all the affected communities.

For more information contact Ashraf Cassiem 076-186-1408

Mcnedise Twala 078-580-8646

Mzonke Poni 073-256-2036

Pamela Beukes 079-370-9614


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