Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

Case no. 1874/08 Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA.

Abahlali baseMjondolo have been to the Durban High Court this morning to hear the judgment being handed dawn by the KwaZulu-Natal President, Judge Vuka Shabalala. On the 6 November 2008 the Movement had applied to the Durban High Court for the KwaZulu- Natal Elimination and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Act 2007 to be declared unconstitutional. Full details of the Act, and the reasons for our opposition to it, and can be found on the Movement’s website at http://abahlali.org/node/1629/

The Judge President had decided that the judgment would be handed down today at 9:30 am; however the judge did not come himself and sent another judge to give his judgment.

The judge has dismissed the Movement’s Application arguing that:

“The province of KwaZulu-Natal must be applauded for attempting to deal with the problem of slums and slum conditions. This is the first province to have adopted legislation such as the Slums Act. The Slums Act makes things more orderly in this province and the Act must be given a chance to show off its potential to help deal with problem of slums and slum conditions. This Court can not strike the Act down before it has even being (sic) properly implemented.”

Our view is that shack settlements are communities to be developed and not slums to be eradicated. Our view is that the Slums Act is a clear return to colonial and apartheid style attempts to turn poverty into a security problem instead of a question of justice. Our view is that this Act is a clear attack on the poor and on our right to access the cities. Our view is that this Act is an attempt to develop the country in the interests of the rich by banishing the poor from the cities instead of doing the right thing which is to democratize the cities.

We are not alone in our views.

Our comrades in the Poor People’s Alliance have expressed their deep concern about this Act. The United Nations have expressed their concern about this Act. The international human rights organizations have expressed their concern about this Act. Progressive NGOs and academics have expressed their concern about this Act.

When we first decided to oppose this Act in the courts we were well aware that his matter would be resolved in the Constitutional Court. Our approach to the Durban High Court was just the first step in the journey to the Constitutional Court. We respect the judicial process and have already instructed our lawyers to prepare our appeal of this judgment. We are ready to take the next step on our journey to the Constitutional Court.

However we do fear that those in government who seek to complete the removal of the poor from the cities, those who wish to sentence us to the prisons known as ‘transit camps’, will take this judgment as a greenlight for massive evictions – like those planned for Joe Slovo in Cape Town which are currently being contested in the Constitutional Court, and the smaller and better hidden evictions, like those in Siyanda here in Durban, that will now be contested in the Durban High Court on Friday.

The Movement still believes that Amandla is still Awethu and that there is no one that can take that away from us. We will continue to protest against the government’s ongoing attacks on the poor, against evictions called ‘delivery’, against government shacks called ‘transit camps’, against rural human dumping grounds called ‘housing opportunities’, against the failure to provide services to settlements resulting in fires, endless water queues, sickness and attacks in dark nights. We will continue to encourage discussion of these issues at all levels of our society. We will continue to form alliances to take our struggle on these issues forward.

Now that this judgment is out we can take the next step in the journey to the Constitutional Court. We are confident that the Constitutional Court will protect the rights of shack dwellers, rural and farm dwellers and the poor in general. We are confident that the Constitutional Court will give us a judgment prepared with elegance and grace.

We thank the Centre for Applied Legal Studies and all those who have supported us in the struggle against the Slums Act for their living solidarity.

It is the Movement’s mandate to fight for the right to the cities. This is why we exist. The order that we are living under does not accept our humanity. it does not accept our precence in the cities. It does not accept our presence in discussions about the future of the country or even in discussions about our own future. Therefore we are determined to create a new order from below. We realize that this makes us out of this order. We accepted that long ago when we determined to be out of any order that excludes us from discussions about our future and evicts us from the cities. Aluta continua.

Contact people:

Useful information about the Slums Act, including today’s judgment:

• Mabuyakulu plans for war on the poor Mail & Guardian article by Richard Pithouse
• Text of the KZN Slum Elimination Bill
• KZN Slum Elimination Bill: A Step Back Newspaper article by Marie Huchzermeyer
• Abahlali tell KZN government “No Land, No House, No Vote, No Bill!” by David Ntseng
• Outcry over slums bill Newspaper report by Fred Kockott
• A Review of the KZN Slums Bill Public Hearing Process Article by Zama Mkhize from the Centre for Public Participation
• Submission on the Slum Elimination Bill by Marie Huchzermeyer
• State’s cure for Shack Farms Newspaper report by Niren Tolsi
• Free Speach Radio Network report by Mpumi Magwaza
• ‘Laws Will Improve Horrible Lives’ Newspaper article on the Slums Bill by Greg Arde and Stephanie Saville
• Comment on the Slums Bill from activists in Cape Town
• Isolezwe: Bafuna ukuvikela imijondolo Abahlali ngoKwanele Ncalane
• Isolezwe: Imijondolo ‘izoba umlando’ KwaZulu-Natal ngoMlondi Radebe noKwanele Ncalane
• Poor people are not a threat to the social order Mercury article by Imraan Buccas
• Shack dwellers threaten mass action Daily News article by Bongani Mthembu
• Pictures of the 11 July illegal demolitions in Foreman Road
• Open Invitation to a Meeting to Discuss Legal & Political Strategies to Oppose the Slums Bill – Friday 13 July, 9:00 a.m., Kennedy Road
• Shack dwellers unhappy with act Mercury article by Sibusiso Mboto
• Letter to the KwaZulu-Natal Premier from the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions
• Isolezwe: Abadilizelwe imijondolo bathi bazophinde bakhe ngenkani 2010 Phili Mjoli
• Poor ‘left out in the cold’ for 2010 Mercury article by Colleen Dardagan
• World Class Cities? World Class Slums? No place for the poor in the KwaZulu Natal’s Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Bill, 2006 Leap submission to AbM Meeting Against the Slums Bill
• Uplift slums, don’t destroy them Marie Huchzermeyer in the Mercury
• Minutes of the meeting called by Abahlali to build an alliance against the Slums Bill
• Plea to Premier over Slums Bill Sunday Tribune article by Chris Makhaye and Luke Reid
• Shack dwellers to oppose ‘Slums’ Bill Witness article by Thabisile Gumede
• Shack dwellers in bid to change act Mercury article by Sibusiso Mboto
• Slums bill not a Zimbabwe-style ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ Opinion piece in the Witness by Lennox Mabaso
• Come and live here, Mabaso! Front page article in the Daily Sun by Anil Singh
• Official to join the poor! Article in the Daily Sun by Anil Singh
• Official must eat his words! Front page article in the Daily Sun by Mxolisi Mngadi
• Report on Public Participation Exercises For: “The Elimination and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Bill” by Kerry Chance
• The Slums Act: full text August, 2007
• 2nd Meeting to Build a Coalition Against the Slums Act – 14 September 2007 (Pictures)
• Abahlali attempt to march against the Slums Act on 28 September
  and are violently and illegally attacked by the notorious Sydenham Police
• Municipality & Province Justify Clearly Illegal Ongoing Evictions from the Siyathuthuka Settlement in the name of the Slums Act 5 & 7 October, 2007
• Mercury: Eradication of slums could hurt poor 5 October, 2007
• Municipality threatens Slums Act evictions in Arnett Drive 9 October, 2007 & the Legal Resources Centre sends a letter in response pointing out that the Slums Act does not supersede the PIE Act and that the City’s evictions are therefore illegal
• The African Executive: In defence of Slums A critique of the Slums Act from the right 31 October, 2007
• Basale benkemile bedilizelwa imijondolo Isolezwe, 6 November 2007 by Phili Mjoli
• Waze wanobuntu umshayeli wetekisi Isolezwe, 12 November 2007 by Mnikelo Ndabankulu
• Evicted Sea Cow Lake residents moved to what could be the first Slums Act ‘transit camp Daily News, 13 November 2007 by Heinz de Boer
• Some Evictions Followed by Successful Resistance in the Shannon Drive Settlement, (Probably Slums Act linked although the City has not replied to any demands, issued via popular mobilisation and lawyers, for explanation), December 2007
• Article on Abahlali and the Slums Act in GroundWork’s newsletter December, 2007
• Alan Gilbert, The Return of the Slums: Does Language Matter?, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2007
• Some Evictions Followed by Successful Resistance in the Arnett Drive Settlement, (The Mercury report says that the City tried to justify the evictions in terms of the Slums Act), January 2008
• Baphila kanzima emijondolo, Umbono weSolezwe, January 2008
• Umlando ngempilo nomzabalazo wabahlali basemijondolo eThekwini, David Ntseng & Richard Pithouse, February 2008
• Abahlali baseMjondolo Take the Provincial Government to Court Over the Notorious Slums Act, Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement Announcing the Court Challenge to the Act, February 2008
• Slum eradication Bill slated, Mercury article by Tania Broughton, February 2008
• Shack Dwellers Take on Slums Act, Mail & Guardian article by Niren Tolsi, February 2008
• Second look at the merits of shacks, Sunday Tribune article by Adrian Hadland, February 2008
• Dear Mandela, A six minute film by Sleeping Giant Films that includes footage of the possibly Slums Act related Shannon Driven evictions, February 2008
• Submission on Human Rights in South Africa to the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions (COHRE), February 2008
• Notice of Motion from Abahlali baseMjondolo, Case Against the Slums Act, February 2008
• Founding Affidavit from Abahlali baseMjondolo, Case Against the Slums Act,February 2008
• Abahlali Basemjondolo bayisa uHulumeni Wesifunda enkantolo ngokushaywa komthetho wokudilizwa kwemijondolo, March 2008
• Everyone Needs a Stake in Our Society, Mercury article by Imraan Buccus, March 2008
• Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing on his mission to South Africa, March 2008
• More Deeply Reactionary Legislation Looms: Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill, March 2008
• Replying Affidavit from the KZN Department of Housing, Court Case Against the Slums Act, April 2008
• Other provinces to implement their own Slums Acts…., Mercury, May 2008
• Slums law based on flawed interpretation of UN goals, article by Marie Huchzermeyer in Business Day, May 2008
• Evictions loom for illegal low-cost home dwellers, article by Sibusiso Ngwala in the Sunday Tribune, May 2008
• Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions Memorandum to the Attorneys for Applicants in Abahlali Basemjondolo Movement SA and Others v. Premier of the Province of Kwazulu-Natal and Others, 5 June 2008
• Replying Affidavit from Abahlali baseMjondolo, 13 June 2008
• Durban shack dwellers take KZN govt to court, SABC, June 2008
• Abasemijondolo sebefake uHulumeni enkantolo, Isolezwe, June 2008
• A National Slums Act?, Business Day, June 2008
• Supplementary Replying Affidavits for the State September 2008
• Abahlali baseMjondolo Heads of Arguments, 15 October 2008
• KZN Dept of Housing Heads of Argument, late October 2008
• Abahlali baseMjondolo Case Against the KwaZulu-Natal Eradication and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Act to be Heard in the Durban High Court on 6 and 7 November 2008, 3 November 2008
• Photographs of the Vigil Outside the Durban High Court on 6 November
• Slums Act Hearings Being in Durban, The Mercury, 7 November 2008
• Lusezithebeni zenkantolo elokuqedwa kwemijondolo, Isolezwe, 7 November 2008
• Call for consultants to implement the KZN Slums Act, January 2009
• Judge Vuka Shabalala’s judgment on the Slums Act Case, 27 January 2008