Press Update:
We have now been able to confirm the following:
1. Mzonke has, probably as a result of the fantastic national and international solidarity, been able to receive medial attention.
2. The woman who was arrested, with her child, along with Mzonke was subject to intimidation at the hands of the police and threatened to never return to the occupation and then released without being charged. We cannot yet give her name. Read the rest of this entry »
Emergency Update (18h15 on 1 June):
Mzonke Poni has been charged with public violence and will appear in court on Tuesday with the mother of the 1 year old baby. We would like to thank everyone who called in for helping prevent further assaults and beatings.
Emergency Update (17h15 on 1 June):
1. mzonke sent an sms moments ago to say that a women has also been arrested and that she has a one year old baby.
2. immediately after that mzonke’s phone was taken from him while he was on the line to david ntseng of the church land programme.
its time to face up to the fact that in cape town the local state is habitually violent and criminal. moreover when the courts extend some protection to the poor that are also treated with utter contempt Read the rest of this entry »
The Abahlali baseMjondolo organisation in the Western Cape said early Monday morning that it would be approaching the Cape High Court for an urgent interdict against alleged “unlawful and criminal evictions.
The organisation said in a statement that they would apply for the interdict late on Monday morning to prevent alleged unlawful evictions in the Macassar village by the City of Cape Town.
“Macassar Village back-yarders have been made homeless by the extremely high rents that they are charged to erect shacks in other people’s backyards.”
The organisation also said for the past week, homeless residents occupied an empty piece of land owned by the City of Cape Town with the intention of apparently housing them and their families.
“Land is the building block of any healthy and sustainable community. We are merely fighting for our own livelihoods which have been denied to us by past governments and this current government,” it said. – Sapa
Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape
23 May 2009
The land at Macassar Village was first occupied on Tuesday. The shacks that were built that night were demolished very early the next morning. Every day since then the people have rebuilt their structures to protect themselves at night, sometimes in the rain. Early every morning the police and municipal officials come have come and intimidated people, demolished people’s structures and confiscated our building material.
Read the rest of this entry »
The defiant backyard dwellers who are continuing to illegally occupy a piece of land in Macassar should retreat, Mayor Dan Plato said.
Tension has grown over the past three days, with the protesting group not backing down on its intention of permanently occupying land close to the N2.
Read the rest of this entry »
Arrests made as violent protests erupt over dismantling of newly-erected shacks
May 20, 2009 Edition 1 Francis Hweshe Source: Cape ArgusMACASSAR Village housing protesters burnt tyres and stoned the police, who then fired on them with rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, arresting four people, including a University of the Western Cape professor, for public violence.
The informal residents had illegally cleared a piece of land alongside the N2 owned by the City of Cape Town and erected structures vowing not to move from the area.
The protest turned ugly yesterday, resulting in the arrest, and subsequent release of Professor Martin Legassick, along with three other men.
Furious backyard dwellers said they were fed up with the government’s promises of housing, and were tired of paying “exorbitant” rentals. Read the rest of this entry »
As we speak, members of Abhlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape from Macassar Village are occupying the land that they’ve been clearing for the past week.
Abahlali are taking the land because, as backyard dwellers, they’ve been clear victims of high rents which are resulting in their collective eviction. Residents say that they have no choice. In order to protect the livelihood of themselves and their families, they have to take this unused and empty government land for their community.
For an update on the current situation, contact Mzonke Poni at 073 2562 036.
For updates and photos tomorrow, visit Khayelitsha Struggles.
For more information on the cleanup campaign, click on the following press releases: 12th May and 13th May and 14th May.
For pictures of the cleanup campaign, click here.
For coverage in the Cape Argus, click here.
Abahlali tomorrow on the 14th of May will continue with its cleaning campaign on the land that we have identified by ourselves for our activities, and our cleaning campaign will continue till Friday.
Place: Macassar Village
Time: From 10:00 am till late
Macassar cleanup of empty land
Direction: use N2 towards Somerset West and park at the first Engine garage after passing Barden Powell turn off, and cross the N2 towards shell and after shell garage you’ll see us or call 073 775 5132 or 083 248 165 8 to be picked up at Shell garage.
While Abahlali baseMjondolo DBN tomorrow will be contesting the slums act in the constitutional court at Johannesburg (for more info about the slums act case visit www.abahlali.org), Abahali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape will be contesting it on the ground.
Abahlali Western Cape supports the ABM DBN in the struggle against KZN Government; while we note that the language that is being used in the court is not the language of the poor and is not the language that is understandable to us. Read the rest of this entry »
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