The Gugulethu community experienced four major evictions yesterday and, according to the presiding Sheriff of the Court, there are many more evictions to come.

As of yesterday evening, three out of the four evictions have been reversed by community members with the support of anti-eviction activists. But the events are a wake up call to us – we need to unite and be on alert if we are going to be able to prevent further evictions in our neighbourhoods.

List of four evictions:

1. The Mgidlana Family – The Mgidlana household residing in NY28 #94 is a very large family that includes little children up to elder pensioners. Yesterday, the 27^th of September, the Sheriff of the Court showed up with the police and evided residents using a Notice of Ejectment. However, this eviction which came without notice or warning failed to follow the necessary legal proceedures laid out in the PIE Act. The eviction is therefore illegal, not to mention immoral. With the support of friends, neighbours and community activists, the Mgidlana Family has now been returned to their home.
2. The Dube Family – Yesterday, Lindelwa Dube and her household which resides in NY128 #8, were removed by police and the Sheriff. They were evicted around the same time as the Mgidlana Family. The family says that they never received any prior notice or any eviction papers from the Sheriff. This makes the eviction an illegal and potentially criminal act. The Dube family has now been returned to their home by the community.
3. The Tungata Family – The Tungata household was also evicted yesterday from their family home in NY130 #8. Vuyiswa Tungata says that they were not given any formal notice by the Sheriff either in advance or on the day of the eviction. This makes the eviction an illegal and potentially criminal act. The family, however, is now back in their home because of the actions of the community and anti-evicton activists.
4. Skhoma Butchery – On the same day, the seemingly busy Sheriff evicted embattled Skhoma Butchery from their trading location in the NY6 small business trading centre. Skhoma moved to their current location after being evicted by local business tycoon Mzoli Ngcawuzele to make way for the new Gugulethu Square Mall. This was dubbed a fight of ‘David and Goliath‘ proportions. Through a court settlement, Skhoma was eventually given trading space in NY6 with rent to be paid for by Mzoli Properties until a suitable alternative was found. However, Tuesday’s eviction came without warning, without notice and even without as much as a court order from the Sheriff. As of this morning, Skhoma’s equipment is still outside the premises thought their meat is still on-site in the fridge. Small businesses in the area fear that Skhoma is the first of many more small businesses slated for eviction in order to make way for an expansion of the Gugulethu Square Mall.

When we spoke to the Sheriff of the Court who was present to carry out the evictions, he boasted to us that he was going to step up evictions in Gugulethu in the coming weeks. Vulnerable Gugulethu residents are mobilising to stop any further evictions in their community.

We as the poor will not let wealthy banks and businessmen prey on us. We will stand up for our rights!

For more information contact:

Sindile Mgidlana at 0731672330 (NY28 #94)
Lindelwa Dube at 0733640100 (NY128 #8)
Thandi Koyana at 0799362625 (Skhoma Butchery)
Mncedisi Twalo at 0785808646 (Gugulethu Backyarders)

Protest: March to Gugulethu Mall to protest corrupt and anti-local job application process
Time and date: 09h00 on 1 December 2009
Venue: Assembly at Kwezi Hall. March to front of Gugulethu Mall on NY1

Contacts: Malibongwe @ 074-639-9551, Nomvuyo @ 082-687-8533, Mncedisi @ 078-580-8646, Sipho @ 078-589-7000

Tomorrow, the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign will again be protesting against the management of the new Gugulethu Square Mall. Despite efforts by the police to stop us from protesting citing 2010 events, the City of Cape Town has declared this to be a legal march.

When we marched two weeks ago, we handed over a memorandum to the manager of the Gugulethu Mall – Azania Landingwe. She told us that she would read the memorandum and respond within a week. However, to this day, we have received no response from the manager.As a response to the arrogance of the mall’s management, we are no longer demanding that 80% of the jobs at the mall be given to residents of Gugulethu. We are now demanding that 100% of the jobs at the mall be given to local Gugulethu residents.

We are demanding that, from now on, the job application process be open and transparent and that the local councillors are no longer in control of who does and does not get jobs.

The Gugulethu AEC has long said that local politicians – particularly Gugulethu councillor Belinda Landingwe – are selecting only CVs of its ANC supporters and throwing out the CVs of other residents. Even managers of stores such as PEP have refused to accept residents CVs saying that they will only take CVs the have been vetted directly by the councillors.

Indeed, the evidence of nepotism is obvious when one considers that the manger of the mall, Azania Landingwe is a close relative of councillor Belinda Landingwe. This is clearly political party corruption and rampant nepotism and must end immediately.

Our demands include the following:

1. That management of the mall respond immediately to our memorandum
2. That 100% of Gugulethu Mall jobs go to local residents
3. That councillors and the Gugulethu Development Forum be removed from the job allocation process
4. That police refrain from violence against us when we protest peacefully

We will continue our protests and continue to call for a boycott of Gugulethu Square Mall and all businesses owned by Mzoli Ngcawuzele until the community has more say in the mall and our demands are met.

For more information, contact:

Malibongwe @ 074-639-9551
Nomvuyo @ 082-687-8533
Mncedisi @ 078-580-8646
Sipho @ 078-589-7000

** Click here for the press release from the last Gugulethu protest **



Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign will be protesting at the new Gugulethu Square Mall tomorrow morning at 08h00am.

Residents are angry that most of the jobs at the mall are going to people who do not reside in Gugulethu.  Despite Mzoli’s assurances, very few of the jobs are going to locals.  Since the mall is being build on land that should rightfully be owned by the Gugulethu community, it is only fair that residents benefit from development happening on their land.
Last week, police under pressure from Mzoli and the local ANC councillor shot at peaceful protesting residents with rubber bullets.  They then went and arrested protesters and charged them for public violence.  The charges were dropped the next day for lack of evidence.

This happens all the time.  Police shoot and then realise they have to lie and say that protesters were violent and then they go and arrest protesters and attempt to frame them.

But this time, the march has gotten the permission of the City. If they try to shoot us, everyone will be watching.

For more information, click here for the previous press statement.

Contacts:

Yesterday we reported that the police tried to illegally ban our mass protest against the new Gugulethu Square Mall. After failing to ban our protest, they shot at us even though we were peaceful and the media saw that we were peaceful. Since then, a few details have emerged:

1. They brought in an entirely new police team on Thursday. From Monday through to Wednesday, Captain Brink and his team from the Gugulethu SAPS was accompanying us and protecting us during our march and peaceful protest against the mall. On Thursday, Captain Brink and his team was removed from working with us. Instead, a police team from Bellville South was brought in. These police officers were aggressive from the very beginning. They refused to talk to us. They refused to work with us. Instead the worked against us.
2. When we left the mall site at that morning after staging our protest, the police followed us. As we were crossing NY1 main road, they ordered us to disperse or they will shoot. Instead, we staged a civil disobediance sit-in on NY1. We sat right down on the road and continued our peaceful protest. Police immediately opened fire on us in full view of other journalists. Many people were shot with rubber bullets including many women and older people.
3. Residents ran for cover. We did not fight. We did not even throw stones in retaliation. But as we ran, police ran after us. They shot us as we hid in neighbour’s houses. When we came out, they shot us again. Dozens were injured. Dozens were arrested. Many had to go to hospital when they were shot in the face, in the neck, and in the back.
4. We also now know that the new group of police officers from Bellville came at the insistence of Mzoli Ngcawuzele and councillor Belinda Landingwe who have close connections with the police and have ordered attacks on our movement in the past.

This story is the truth. The police are lying when they say that we were violent and that there was no one hurt and no one arrested. Anyone who doubts this story can speak to any of the protesters themselves. We will be holding a mass meeting on Thursday at 17h00 and we will make time for the victims to be interviewed at this meeting. Anyone is welcome to contact us to attend.

For more information, please contact:

THE Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC) has vowed to stop the opening of Cape Town’s newest mall on Thursday – in Gugulethu – unless 80 percent of its employees were from the area.

But one of the developers of the Gugulethu Square mall said AEC activists protesting against the R350 million development were confused. “Yesterday they didn’t want the project. Now they are moaning about jobs, what do they want?” asked Mzoli Ngcawuzele, owner of the Mzoli’s Place eatery.

The AEC accused local ward councillors, tasked with collecting CVs in their constituency, of selling jobs at the project.

“Despite a Jobs@Gugs PR campaign by Mzoli, most of the jobs in the new mall are going to outsiders even though there are plenty of residents without jobs who are also qualified,” said the AEC’s Mncedisi Twalo.

The AEC had in the past been against the construction of the mall, claiming that it would “destroy local businesses, sideline informal traders and undermine the ability of residents to drive development projects in the township”.

Of the accusation that locals were being sidelined, Ngcaw-uzele said it was all a lie. “What we did was take an independent company to hire people from Gugulethu. We’ve done everything transparently. The first preference was to hire the youth from Gugulethu.”

He said the AEC had no proof that people from other areas would be employed.

Spokesperson for AEC Pule Hoeane said, “We don’t want people from Khayelitsha working at the mall. People from Gugulethu are attacked when they’re working in Khayelitsha?”

quinton.mtyala@inl.co.za

Contacts: Malibongwe at 074 639 9551 and Mncedisi at 078 580 8646

The Gugulethu police interrupted a peaceful protest by the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign this afternoon.  Without warning residents at all, they shot at us with rubber bullets injuring dozens and arresting many others.

The much of the crowd was made up of old women and there were a lot of children also present.  A 17 year old lady was shot in the face by the police and is now seriously injured and at the hospital.

At the moment we are not sure how many people have been shot and arrested.  We do know, however, that today the police attempted to illegally ban the public protest which has been going on since Monday.  From Monday through Wednesday, the police behaved respectuflly and helped escort us when we marched towards the mall.  Today, they would not let us march.  So a delegation of AEC activists went today to the Civic Centre in Cape Town to get a permit but we were prevented by police from entering the Civic Centre.

Why this sudden shift today in the way the police are treating us?

What we do know is that business tycoon Mzoli Ngcawuzele and councillor Belinda Landingwe have deep political connections and close friends within the Gugulethu Police.  They have oppressed our movement in the past and shot at us before.  They have arrested members of our movement and even physically threatened them through the use of local ANC thugs.

We believe that the police banned our march and then attacked us because we to big of a thorn in Mzoli’s side.  We believe that the police attack was orchestrated by Mzoli and Belinda to prevent us from exposing the truth about the corruption and nepotism at the Gugulethu Square Mall.  We believe that the police were ordered to attack us because we refused to work with the ANC’s Gugulethu Development Forum which plays party politics with our lives.

We believe that the attack on our movement corresponds with a dangerous trend in South Africa where the police are being militarised and being given political sanction to attack outspoken critics of the goverment such as the Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo (see Kennedy Road attacks).

Contacts: Malibongwe at 074 639 9551 and Mncedisi at 078 580 8646

GUGULETHU residents protesting outside the new Gugulethu Square Mall, demanded that they be given 80 percent of the jobs available there when it opens on Thursday.

The Anti-Eviction Campaign led a protest march at the new mall yesterday, alleging that corruption, bribery and nepotism had taken place in its tender and job-creation process.
Residents alleged that ward councillors had secured jobs for members of their families, and that the mall’s workforce was largely made up of Khayelitsha residents who had “bribed” their way into jobs.

The multimillion-rand mall is the first fully enclosed black township mall in Cape Town and is the brainchild of prominent city businessman Mzoli Ngcawuzele, the owner of popular Mzoli’s Meat and Grill.

The Western Cape’s Anti-Eviction Campaign was dissatisfied with the manner in which tenders and job opportunities at the mall had been handled, its co-ordinator, Mcedisi Twala, said.

He said the culprits involved in nepotism and corruption had been identified, and that residents were aware of who they were.

He vowed to lay charges if the parties involved could not prove that the process had been transparent and fair.

Thobeka Mali, a Gugulethu resident, said people from the area were being ignored by employers at the mall.

“We gave our names for jobs and we went for interviews. If we want a job here, we must pay R500,” she alleged.

Maria Mkhonto, 50, said people of her age had been at a disadvantage in the job application process.

“We don’t want to hear about CVs. I can hold a mop, I have 13 years of domestic work experience. Where will we get CVs at our age?” she said.

Ngcawuzele said all the allegations had been fabricated by an individual with “self-interests”.

“The process was properly monitored by community structures such as the (Gugulethu Development Forum), which made sure that Gugulethu residents had first preference (for jobs),” he said.

He said there was a registration office at the construction site where people from Gugulethu could register their CVs and that a website had been created specifically for them to apply for jobs.

Ngcawuzele also said that 37% of the construction workforce was made up of Gugulethu residents.

The Gugulethu Development Forum had met retailers at the mall on October 3 and told them what was expected of them, including that Gugulethu residents be given preference for employment, forum chairwoman Nikitta Bazi said.

“It was a constructive decision and we were given assurances that in (the retailers’) recruitment, Gugulethu residents would be given preferential treatment.”

Bazi said the forum had deployed two people at the mall to ensure that the selection of CVs was in line with those requirements.

She said retailers had been co-operative so far.

The development forum is due to meet Anti-Eviction Campaign leaders and Gugulethu residents at 6pm today.

On Monday, hundreds of Gugulethu residents marched in protest over the improper allocation of jobs at the new Gugulethu Square Mall which is set to begin trading this Thursday.

Yesterday, the 27^th of October, representatives from the mall along with local ward councillors and the Gugulethu Development Forum (GDF) convened a meeting to address the anger of community members regarding this issue. At 18h00, Kwezi Hall was packed with members of the Anti-Eviction Campaign and other Gugulethu residents with crowed estimates somewhere between 1,000-2,000.

The residents were furious at the entire job process despite PR efforts presenting the mall as a boon for the local economy. Residents complained of the non-response from employers after they had sent in their resumes online through the Jobs@Gugs program. Other residents complained that since the mall was support by local government, at least 80% of the jobs should be given to locals.

Ward councillors insisted that residents should use the Gugulethu Development Forum as a platform to speak with the mall’s management about the jobs.

However, after only a short time, angry residents walked out of the meeting saying that only a non-partisan organisation such as the Anti-Eviction Campaign can create a platform to fight for jobs for residents. Since the AEC was not associated with any political party, it could fairly represent the unemployed workers of Gugulethu.

The people don’t have confidence in councillors and their forums!

Since the ward councillors and the GDF are all associated with political parties, residents refused to work with them saying that they are against the politicisation of jobs and the distribution of jobs only to members of certain political parties.

This morning at 06h30, residents will assemble at Kwezi Hall and again march in protest to the mall construction site. The residents will continue to prevent the mall from opening and will disturb all functions associated with the mall until the employers agree that 80% of the mall’s jobs will go to Gugulethu residents.

Down with the politicisation of jobs! The mall must benefit all, not only a few!

For comment, please contact:

Mncedisi at 078 580 8646

Pule at 073 644 8919
Mbulelo 073 674 7077

Tomorrow (Monday) morning at about 09h30, the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign will be holding a mass protest outside the new Gugulethu Square Mall.  Mzoli Ngcawuzele, Group 5 and Old Mutual have ignored residents pleas for local job creation.

Despite a Jobs@Gugs P.R. campaign by Mzoli, most of the jobs in the new mall are going to outsiders even though there are plenty of residents without jobs who are also qualified.
We also know that some of the ward councillors have been allowing their friends such as someone named Sipho Kuse to sell jobs at the mall.  This mall is clearly a corrupt partnership between local government and big business.  First they sell off our land for 11.70 Rand as reported in the M&G; then the government helps rich men like Tokyo Sexwale (through Group 5) get even richer.

But if residents of Gugulethu are having their livelihoods destroyed by this new monstrosity of a mall, the least Mzoli, Shoprite, Cashbuild, etc could do is guarantee jobs for unemployed residents like ourselves.

This is why we are demanding that 80% of all jobs at the Guguletu Square Mall must be given to locals in a transparent (not in a corrupt) manner.

This is why we, the Guguelthu Anti-Eviction Campaign, decided in a mass meeting this afternoon, that we will stop the opening of the mall which we have heard is set for the 28th/29th of October.  If Mzoli continues to refuse to give jobs to local residents, the mass protest that will begin tomorrow will continue into the week preventing the mall from opening ontime.

This is why we say: No Jobs, No Vote! No Jobs, No Mall!

For more information, please contact:

Mncedisi 078 580 8646
Pule 073 644 8919
Mbulelo 073 674 7077

They had demolished the Butchery’s sitting area, their braai area, and the toilets before they were able to be stopped.

At 15h00 today, Skhoma Butchery’s legal representatives will sit down with the High Court Judge and attempt to set aside the eviction order because West Side and Mzoli Properties have broken most of the conditions dictated by the Western Cape High Court. 

According to the advocate representing Skhoma Butchery, West Side has broken conditions of the eviction order in the following ways:

1. That all costs of moving to the temporary premises be paid for by West Side.
2. That adequate alternative premises be provided until the mall is finished.
3. That the premises be of similar size to the original space (400sq meters) rather than the tiny building that was offered to them (60sq meters)
4. That the premises have adequate toilet facilities as well as space for braai and sitting for customers

We are confident that the order will be set aside this afternoon and that the Butchery will receive compensation for business lost as a result of the illegal eviction.

For more information, contact Mncedisi from the AEC at 078-580-8646

For comment, also contact one of the owners, Thandi at 082-495-8652 or her son Unathi at 073-201-6946.