Solidarity: Report from the Court Hearing for the Zille-Raine Heights Eviction Case

9 02 2010

First impressions and feedback from the legal trial for ZRH eviction case

by Jessica Thorn

The appeal trial of the community of Zille Raine Heights v. the City of Cape Town case commenced at 10h00 and was concluded at 15h15. It was heard by a bench of three judges, including one woman who is a gender activist. The court was packed to the brim with community members. Outside throughout the day the children sang songs, danced and held placards and the banner of the settlement on the stairs of the High Court. We had good publicity, including interviews from E TV, the Cape Argus, the Cape Times, and Radio 786, who interviewed Gwendoline Botha and Layla Ryklief amongst others. The community also received strong support from organizations including the Anti-Eviction Campaign, UCT, UWC and Plaas. There were also a number of messages received in solidarity from ILRIG and other sources.
Read the rest of this entry »





Media: Government refuses talks with angry residents

6 07 2009
6 July 2009, 12:12
Source: Cape Times

Government leaders have branded service delivery protests in Happy Valley earlier on Monday as “purely political” and have refused to meet with the community. Read the rest of this entry »





Opinion: Listen to the shack-dwellers

24 06 2009
KERRY CHANCE, MARIE HUCHZERMEYER AND MARK HUNTER: COMMENT – Jun 24 2009 06:00
Source: Mail & Guardian

Tens of thousands of shack-dwellers in South Africa are doomed to be evicted to transit camps.

Last week the Constitutional Court gave the green light for the eviction of 20 000 people from Cape Town’s Joe Slovo settlement to make way for the N2 Gateway Project. Most residents are to be relocated to the Delft temporary relocation area (TRA).

In 2005, 2 400 families from Langa, Cape Town, were relocated to a camp called Tsunami. In Johannesburg, 6 400 families in Protea South, Soweto, fought a plan to move them to a decant camp in 2007. In Durban, 52 families in Siyanda, KwaMashu, were evicted in December last year and moved to a transit camp to make way for a new freeway. Read the rest of this entry »





This is not a game!

22 05 2009
Gympie St Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Release
Friday 22 May, 2009

Event: Gympie residents to meet with Shehaam Sims (Mayco Housing) at 09h00 today

This is not a game! People’s lives are at stake.

Yesterday, Gympie Street resident Lydia Portland passed away. She had a stroke even though she was only in her 50s. While she was not among the two families who were evicted earlier in the week, she was the head of one of the families slated to be illegally evicted next week.

As close friends of Lydia, we are very sad and many of us are wondering if stress from looming eviction might have lead to Lydia’s death.  While we will never know for sure, we assert once again: This is not a game! Read the rest of this entry »








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