September 21, 2009 Edition 2
Natasha Prince – Cape Argus
A FAMILY that had been living in a subsidised house in Delft – a part of the N2 Gateway project – was horrified when it was visited by police officers who told it to leave on Wednesday evening.
The owner was one of several thousands who had received a subsidised house as part of the government’s contentious N2 Gateway housing Project two years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Just My point of View!
Letter to the MEC for Housing WC
NOTE: Mr MEC, Mandela Park has More than 8000 Backyarders not 23 or 53 or whatever number you play around with!
First and foremost I would like to extend a word of gratitude to all that supported us in our struggle with the state law machinery that attempted to lock 23 landless people of Mandela Park behind bars. For your information Mr MEC, with the power of the people’s movement those comrades have subsequently been released with all the charges against them dropped. However there is still a cloud hanging because you have threatened to re-instate the charges. No one knows really how you are going to pull that one off because even your “trusted cops” are sick and tired of having to clean up the politicians’ mess after every service delivery protest. You and your political buddies fail to deliver basic services to the people, break promises made at election time and when the people uprise, the poor under-paid policemen has to run around chasing the so called “vandals”. I would suggest that you Mr MEC build decent houses for the police as well, because some of them are in fact Mandela Park Backyarders; maybe you will have a better chance that way! Read the rest of this entry »
September 24, 2009 Edition 1
Special Correspondent – Cape Argus
A GROUP of Mitchells Plain Town Centre traders, set to be evicted from a market undergoing an upgrade, have won a temporary reprieve until the end of next month. Read the rest of this entry »
By Ofentse Mokae – Bush Radio
23 September 2009
Traders at the Mitchells Plain Town Centre are pleased over what they call a “slight victory” over an eviction battle they have with the City council.
City of Cape Town’s Randall Strikker has announced that the eviction of over half of the Town Centre traders has been moved until the end of October. Read the rest of this entry »
23 September 2009
Anna Majavu – The Sowetan
Tenants await ‘their’ houses
Bonginkosi Madikizela
NEW Western Cape housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela is on a collision course with backyard residents from Mandela Park in Khayelitsha.
The tenants have accused him of breaking a promise to give them houses in a new development.
But Madikizela has counter-accused residents of causing a R1million worth of damage to houses during a weekend protest.
About 23 people were arrested during the weekend protest and freed on Monday after the state withdrew its case and the residents’ attorney, Sharfudin Parker, laid charges against the police for unlawful arrest. Read the rest of this entry »
By Nomava Nobumba
21 September 2009 – Bush Radio
A case of Khayelitsha residents has been dismissed in the Khayelitsha Magistrate court today due to a lack of evidence.
23 residents from Mandela Park were arrested yesterday on charges of public violence and malicious damage of property.
Harare police station assistance station commissioner, Superintendent Siviwe Somtsewu, says 23 residents were released after there was no witness was present in court.
Backyarders from Khayelitsha’s Mandela Park residents went on the rampage on Saturday in protest over housing allocations. About 100 residents, angered by news that their allocation of 23 of 57 state-subsidised houses in the Mandela Park Housing Project 823 had been lessened to 15 houses, vented their frustration on the completed, but as-yet-unoccupied houses. Read the rest of this entry »
September 22, 2009
There has been a slight and temporary victory today in the Mitchells Plain Town Centre. City Official Randall Strikker has announced that the eviction of over half of the Town Centre traders has been moved until the end of October. This postponement is a slight victory due to the pressures put on the city by the traders, but it still remains that the city will continue with evictions.
A UCT Masters Student Laura Huss has completed the an in-depth research report on the connection between the struggles of the Mitchells Plain Concerned Hawkers and Traders Association (CHATA) and South Africa’s economic system.
For more information on Mitchells Plain CHATA contact Mischka Cassiem 073 128 6657 & 074 525 7336
Contact the researcher, Laura Huss, at 0799 161 025 or MLaura.Huss@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: South Africa has become a player in the international system of capitalism that has enforced a core and periphery model of development. There are various ways to identify the structure of South Africa’s economy, but it cannot be ignored that there are informal and formal sectors that co-exist in creating jobs and income. The informal economy has been questioned all over the world for whom it benefits and fundamentally how it is even defined. This research will explore one area of Cape Town, South Africa: The Mitchells Plain Town Centre, which functions as an informal market for over 1000 traders and hawkers. This market has been subject to much objection by the City of Cape Town and has been under the threat of eviction for over 10 years. In order to understand informal trading in Mitchells Plain, I will question the fundamental structure of South Africa’s capitalist system. This research will attempt to understand the logic of capitalism on a broader scale in order to expose the contradictions for a society attempting to accept both informal economic practices and simultaneously appeal to the world system of capitalism. The analysis will then point to the fact that informal economies make up a large number of livelihoods within South Africa and cannot be ignored for keeping the social and economic system from collapsing.
AEC Recent News Feed
Stumble It!
