Cape Times: Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections

8 01 2009
Note: The Anti-Eviction Campaign is in alliance with the Landless People’s Movement (its not called the Homeless People’s Movement)
January 05, 2009 Edition 1
Aziz Hartley
Source: Cape Times

THE Anti Eviction Campaign is planning to launch a national campaign calling on voters to boycott the general elections because, it says, the government has failed the poor and politicians cannot be trusted.

Mncedisi Twalo, a leader of the organisation in Gugulethu, said the campaign slogan would be, “No land, no house, no jobs - no votes”.

“We have been preparing for months and talking to our alliance partners, Abhahali Base Mjondolo in KwaZulu-Natal and the Homeless People’s Movement in Gauteng.

“The campaign is going to all nine provinces. As the poor people of this country, we will not be voting for our further suffering, joblessness and homelessness.

“We are going out there to convince all poor communities that elections are all about power-mongering and promoting politicians.”

Twalo said the Anti Eviction Campaign was active in 46 communities across the Western Cape and represented thousands of homeless and disadvantaged families left in the lurch by politicians.

“Our main message to politicians is that we feel, as the poor, we have been left on our own. We will not participate in what is now a neo-colonialist state. We will keep pressuring whoever takes up public office.”

Jane Roberts, an Anti Eviction Campaign leader in Delft, said about 130 families evicted from incomplete houses they invaded in December 2007 were continuing to live in squalor on the pavement of Symphony Way.

She said nothing had come of numerous promises made by housing officials.

“We are going out across the Western Cape … to urge people not to vote. Politicians make promises and not a single political party can be trusted.

“Some people were told by politicians that an election boycott meant their votes would go to some other party and would be lost, but we are telling them that this is not so.”

Roberts said five Symphony Way families had been given formal homes, but the others had a bleak festive season.

Symphony Way resident Karima Linneveldt said three of the shacks burned down on Saturday morning, leaving four families homeless.

“We can’t continue like this,” she said.

“About 24 babies have been born here in tough conditions.”





Legal Brief: Poor urged to boycott elections

6 01 2009

Date: Tue 06 January 2009
Category: General
Issue No: 2226

The Anti Eviction Campaign is planning to launch a national campaign calling on voters to boycott the general elections because, it says, the government has failed the poor and politicians cannot be trusted.

Mncedisi Twalo, a leader of the organisation in Gugulethu, said the campaign slogan would be, ‘No land, no house, no jobs - no votes’. According to a Cape Times report, he added: ‘We have been preparing for months and talking to our alliance partners - Abhahali Base Mjondolo in KwaZulu-Natal and the Homeless People’s Movement in Gauteng.’ Twalo said the Anti Eviction Campaign was active in 46 communities across the Western Cape and represented thousands of homeless and disadvantaged families left in the lurch by politicians. Jane Roberts, an Anti Eviction Campaign leader in Delft, said about 130 families evicted from incomplete houses they invaded in December 2007 were continuing to live in squalor on the pavement.
Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)





Media: Rights group to launch election boycott campaign

6 01 2009
January 05, 2009 Edition 1
Aziz Hartley
Source: The Mercury

CAPE TOWN: The Anti Eviction Campaign, an organisation that fights for the rights of the homeless, is to launch a national campaign to boycott the coming general elections because it says the government has failed the poor and politicians cannot be trusted.

Mncedisi Twalo, a campaign leader in Gugulethu, Cape Town, said yesterday the body was using “no land, no house, no jobs - no votes” as its slogan.

“We have been talking to our alliance partners, Abhahali base Mjondolo (shack dwellers’ movement) in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Homeless People’s Movement in Gauteng.

“The campaign is going to all nine provinces. We are going out there to convince poor communities that elections are all about power-mongering and promoting politicians,” said Twalo.

“We feel, as the poor, we have been left on our own and will not participate in what is now a neo-colonialist state. We will not vote, but we will keep pressuring whoever takes up public office.”





Mzoli helping ANC campaign through jobs at Gugs Mall

5 11 2008
Gugulethu AEC Press Statement
November 5, 2008

On Thursday November 6, 2008 at about 7:00am, Gugulethu residents will again protest the construction of the new Gugulethu Mall.

Local investor in the development, Mzoli Ngcawuzele, is giving local ANC ward councillors Andile Matshikiza and Belinda Landingwe the authority choose which residents will get jobs on the site.

We reject the politicisation of job meant for poor residents.  We will not allow ANC ward councillors to use the availability of jobs to campaign and by votes.  We will attempt to close down the mall on Thursday demanding that Mzoli increases the amount of local jobs being offered and puts the distribution of jobs outside the hands of the political parties.

For comment, call Mncedisi at 646

Click here for other information on the Gugulethu Mall, Mzoli, and his attempts to intimidate residents





Media: Motion of no confidence called in Drakenstein

23 10 2008
AEC Quoted at the end of article on their ‘No Land! No House! No Vote!’ policy.
Aziz Hartley
October 23 2008 at 07:41AM
Source: Cape Times

A former community safety MEC Leonard Ramatlakane joined the hundreds of people who have given up their ANC membership, more members are expected to leave the party this weekend while it is expected to lose its control of the Drakenstein Municipality. Read the rest of this entry »





Media: Employ local people, say protesters

17 10 2008

17 October 2008
Anna Majavu

Source: Sowetan

Scores of protesters yesterday disrupted work at the construction site of the R350million “Guguletu Square” mall, demanding that the developers employ local residents. Read the rest of this entry »





AbM Note: Irene Grootboom

10 09 2008

Abahlali baseMjondolo supports the struggle of Irene Grootboom who passed away last month and who won a landmark constitutional case on housing against the government.  After she had already died, the provincial government decided to hand over a house to the Grootboom family.  This action by government is not based on the fact that they respect the outcomes of the constitutional court but is a political ploy to pretend they care about the plight of families like the Grootbooms.  As we all know,  early next year will be the national elections and Lynne Brown, the new Western Province Premier, wants to use the injustice that befell Irene as a tool for promoting her party in time for the elections.

For Lynne Brown’s opportunistic address to the Wallacedene Community, click here.

ABM Western Cape
Contact:




Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Petition for the Release of Jerome Daniels and Riedwaan Isaacs

16 07 2008

The Anti-Eviction Campaign is demanding the release of two AEC activists, Jerome Daniels and Riedwaan Isaacs, who have been sentenced to 12 months in prison for their political activism in Delft.  In his statement, Magistrate Van Graan ‘argued that he needed to hold the defendants responsible and teach the Anti-Eviction Campaign a lesson’.

Please help Jerome, Reidwaan, their families and the entire Delft-Symphony community!

For the entire AEC press release, click here.

For comment, please call Ashraf at or Auntie Jane at .





Secret Joe Slovo rezoning plans

13 07 2008
PEARLIE JOUBERT | CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Jul 13 2008 06:00
Source: Mail & Guardian

Western Cape housing minister Richard Dyantyi has applied to rezone land occupied by the Joe Slovo informal settlement, even as the Constitutional Court prepares to hear a plea from residents to set aside their court-ordered eviction. Read the rest of this entry »





Taxes down the drain

11 07 2008

It’s winter, the rainy season in Cape Town, which means that thousands of shack dwellers’ homes have been flooded, again.

And as the water subsides the displaced folk will be out hammering up new makeshift shelters for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »