NIREN TOLSI | DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – Dec 23 2009 06:00
Among the debris of the Abahlali baseMjondolo president’s destroyed home lie the remains of freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Almost three months ago Sbu Zikode had to flee his shack in Durban’s Kennedy Road after armed mobs rampaged through the settlement in a frenzy of ethno-political cleansing that left two people dead. Read the rest of this entry »
South Africa: Failure to conduct impartial investigation into Kennedy Road violence is leading to further human rights abuses
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC DOCUMENT AI Index: AFR 53/011/2009
16 December 2009 – Download: HTML and PDF
Amnesty International deplores the continuing failure of the South African authorities to investigate impartially and fully human rights abuses which occurred during and after armed violence at the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement (Kennedy Road) in Durban last September. This despite repeated calls since October for an independent and impartial commission of inquiry into the surrounding circumstances and extent of the violence and its aftermath. Read the rest of this entry »
11 December 2009
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Today the five members of the Kennedy Thirteen who are still in detention returned to court for their 7th attempt at requesting bail. On each of the 6 previous occasions the state failed to provide any evidence against the accused and the Magistrate postponed the bail application to give the state more time to produce some evidence of their guilt. On each case the state has failed to produce this evidence at the next hearing. This has led Bishop Rubin Phillip to call this case a ‘travesty of justice‘. Read the rest of this entry »
‘we are like insects to them, or flies’
December 04, 2009 Edition 1Homeless residents complained yesterday that they were being forced from the streets of Cape Town to make way for a host of star-studded, glamorous events surrounding next year’s World Cup. Read the rest of this entry »
10 December 2009
Anna Majavu – Sowetan Political Notebook
Political parties dilly-dally while Zimbabweans suffer
XENOPHOBIC violence is on the rise again and political parties are proving themselves useless at even coming close to rooting out the causes or preventing future attacks. Read the rest of this entry »
for Development Planning Unit of University College London by Malavika Vartak
Click here to read an annotated version of this report in word.
Introduction
South Africa’s apartheid past has had a deep and enduring impact on housing, more so in the case of poorer communities. Colonial and later the apartheid era laws including the infamous Group Areas Act of 1950 ensured that housing was strictly along racial lines and attempted to confine communities to race-based zones. Segregation laws and policies thus led to large-scale evictions in the urban areas pushing black African communities to poorly serviced townships on the peripheries of cities. Read the rest of this entry »
WESTERN Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela has done away with former housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s N2 Gateway housing plans for Langa, Cape Town. Read the rest of this entry »
Tomorrow in L block (L38) of Blikkiesdorp in Delft, an HIV-positive mother of four is facing eviction by the City of Cape Town. The eviction will be happening from 8am onward. The city claims that she is illegally occupying a place in Blikkiesdorp and have issued eviction notices. The woman was part of the first evictions in Delft in the houses along Symphony Way. She then was put into D block of Blikkiesdorp by the city with another resident. The community committee then agreed she was to move into an abandoned shack in L block as she was in dire need of a home to raise her family and care for her self. The shack she is living in now was not being used and was in damaged condition. The same city that evicted her from a home and moved her to a shack is now evicting her and providing no alternative or help. The city is denying its own citizens a place to live and encouraging disregard for the health and safety of its own people. An openly HIV positive citizen is being ignored and denied proper care in the form of a home to care for her self and her family.
All press are encouraged to come to the evictions tomorrow as we act in solidarity and support for people being forced out of their homes and those living with HIV.
For more information please contact Jerome Daniels 0730850940, Willy Heyn 0731443619, Fatima 0780840116
While the government and FIFA are preparing to celebrate the World Cup draw with great pomp and ceremony, people in Woodstock are continuing to be evicted by parasitic slumlords. The other night, the 30th November, another 9 families were evicted from 61 Victoria Road by the owner Arnold Steenkamp on the basis that they could not afford the rent. The families are now living on the pavement. The City of Cape Town now plans to dump these families on the outskits of the City in Blikkiesdorp. Instead of spending millions on some stupid FIFA party why not rather build houses for the poor close to city centre and stop all evictions.
The arrogance of the rich and politicians is also becoming really absurd. This is highlighted by the fact that Dan Plato has claimed in the newspapers that Blikkiesdorp – where all people evicted from Woodstock are dumped – is some kind of paradise on Earth. If this is really the case, then we call on Mayor Plato and Arnold Steenkamp to leave these families in Woodstock and for them to rather move themselves to Blikkiesdorp along with holding the FIFA draw in Blikkiesdorp.
We call on all the international news media covering the World Cup Final Draw, to come to Blikkiesdorp and see the other, darker side of the World Cup…
For more information contact Willy at 073 144 3619
Themba Boyi | EyewitnessNews | 2 December 2009
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign on Tuesday claimed that employment issues at the new Gugulethu Square Mall were being politicised by managers there.
It claimed that residents were told to hand over their CVs to ward councillors if they wanted to be considered for jobs. Read the rest of this entry »
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