Court just wants city to care for the poor a bit better

13 04 2011

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=139916
KATE TISSINGTON and JACKIE DUGARD

THE government provides some subsidised housing for the poor and should be commended for this.

THE government provides some subsidised housing for the poor and should be commended for this. However, the housing subsidy scheme and roll-out of subsidised “RDP” houses is not a solution for everyone. Some — single men without dependants; people without identity documents, child-headed households, noncitizens and permanent residents — do not qualify.

For those who qualify, the supply is inadequate and the process is lengthy and dogged with corruption. Even then, all the “lucky” recipients get is a house on the urban periphery, far from where they need to be to make a living. In the interim, they seek shelter in informal settlements, backyard shacks or dilapidated buildings. This in itself is the consequence of unstoppable migration from impoverished areas to cities such as Johannesburg. Read the rest of this entry »





Landless People’s Movement Wins a Major Court Victory: Mnisi v City of Johannesburg

8 08 2009
Press Statement
Landless People’s Movement, Protea South
Friday, 07 August 2009

Winning Our Land Back – the Landless People’s Movement Wins a Major Court Victory

On Tuesday 4th August the South Gauteng High Court handed down a major victory for the Landless People’s Movement in Protea South, Johannesburg.

We have struggled long and hard in Protea South. Over the years our marches have been banned and we have been arrested, beaten, shot at with rubber bullets, threatened and tortured.

The judgment is a victory against forced removal. We have long been resisting plans to dump us in Dornkop which is far away from Protea South which is where we live and near to where we work and school. The City of Johannesburg have been insisting that we must accept forced removal to a human dumping ground whether we like it or not. They said that the land in Protea South is for the people that have money. Wozani security was a threat to us when the councillor called meetings to try and impose the relocation on the people. The judgment forces the City of Johannesburg to upgrade our settlement where we are living or to provide land and housing to us very near to where we are living. It bans the City of Johannesburg from evicting us until the next court date. Read the rest of this entry »








Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.