http://www.abahlali.org - Sekwanele! - http://antieviction.org.za/


27 November 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Occupy Durban!
Occupations Currently Underway in Hillary, KwaMashu and Pinetown

We are human beings, not dogs, and every human being has a right to a decent
home and a right, if they choose, to a place in the city. Economic, political
and legal systems that deny these rights are a threat to our humanity and must
be resisted. There is enough money and space in this world for every person to
have a decent home. The problem is that the money and space are being held by
the few to exclude the many. If the few continue to exclude the many then it is
our responsibility to ourselves, our families and our communities to resist
this oppression.

In South Africa the state uses violent demolitions and evictions to prevent
poor people from developing land and building informal homes on our own. The
economic system prevents those without money from buying or renting formal
homes. The state promises formal houses to the poor but the number of people
without houses is growing, most of the houses built by the state are unfit for
human beings and in the rural peripheries of the cities. For some people the
promise of a house has turned into the nightmare of forced removal to a transit
camp.

We are in the middle of the Sixteen Days of Activism to end violence against
women and children. Many conferences are being held. There are many discussions
on television. Yet who will stand with the poor, with poor women and their
children, when the state or private landowners send out the police or security
guards to evict them, demolish their homes and steal their building materials?
We do not see or hear from all these NGOs that are talking about the rights of
women and children when the state and private landowners use violence to deny
poor women and their children the right to a home.

As a movement we are struggling to build a society in which there is an
economic system where human beings come before profit and a political system in
which leaders take direction from below. We are struggling to build a society
in which there will be a fair distribution of land and decent housing for all.
But we are alive now, our children are growing now. We are living in the rain
and with shack fires now. Therefore it is clear that we also have to take
direct action to struggle for what land and housing we can get right now even
as we continue the long struggle for a more democratic and just world.

Occupy Hillary

Four weeks ago 77 people were evicted from the Valley View flats in Hillary.
These flats are owned by SOHCO which is a social housing company. Social
housing was set up to cover those who don't qualify for RDP houses but are too
poor to qualify for bonds. It is called a 'public private partnership'. But the
private side of this arrangement has taken over the public side. Tenants are
being exploited by paying rentals that will, over their lives, be worth much
more than the value of the flats and those that are falling behind are being
evicted. They remain unable to get RDP houses and unable to get housing through
the market and are therefore being excluded from access to housing. Social
housing is therefore failing and it will continue to fail until the alliance
between the government and private investors looking to make private profit is
abandoned and replaced with an alliance between the government and
co-operatives of people needing housing.

Last night 50 of the evicted people returned to the flats to occupy them. The
police succeeded in forcing them out again. Tonight they have returned to
reoccupy the flats. If they are evicted again they will return tomorrow night.

Contact Details for the Hillary Occupation:

S'fiso: 079 818 1987
Nomfundo: 082 541 0855

Occupy KwaMashu

The KwaMashu comrades were first evicted from eBhandeni, which was in Siyanda
in KwaMashu in 2009. They were evicted by Nandi Mandela as a road was being
built. It was said that the road was important for the 2010 World Cup and that
the poor people would have to make way. They were never given alternative
accommodation as demanded by the law and were just left homeless.

They have tried several times to engage with the councilor, Mr Lucky Mdlalose
who has neglected them. After a long time of failing to get any help from the
councilor they decided to occupy the vacant land which is next to the school
called Thobile Primary School. On Wednesday last week the shacks that they had
built on the land were demolished by people from the Municipality. The cars
that there were driving had these number plates: NDM 6902, NDM 6903 and NDM
6999. The comrades were brave and they rebuilt their shacks the next day.

On Friday the municipality came with cars that had these number plates: NDM
6963 and NDM 6903. They demolished the shacks again and this time they also
stole the people's building material. The community went to the police station
to open a case of theft. The police refused to open a case but one police
officer did call the councilor who responded by saying that as there is COP 17
coming the councilors have been given a mandate to make sure that no one is
dirtying the community and that they must take care of the animals and nature.
Later there was a debate on Vibe FM between the councilor and Bandile Mdlalose,
the AbM Secretary General. During that debate the councilor said that he would
make arrangements for alternative accommodation but he has not contacted them.
Around thirty people have now decided that on Monday morning they are going to
occupy the KwaMashu community hall with their children as there were all made
homeless by Nandi Mandela and then again by the Municipality and the Councilor
is doing nothing to protect them. The occupation will start at around 7 a.m.
Tomorrow.

Contact details for the KwaMashu Occupation:

Jabulile : 074 542 5939
Mama Mdlalose 073 501 4200

Occupy Pinetown

The eMmaus land occupation, in Pinetown, was founded in September 2010. These
people had previously been evicted by the Mahogany Ridge 2 Property Owners'
Association and before that by the Roman Catholic Church after it sold its land
to industry. They had been left homeless after these evictions and needed a
place to stay. Since then they have suffered more demolition and theft of their
building material. The Mahogany Ridge 2 Property Owners' Association has also
put an electric fence around the occupation which is very dangerous for
children. The land owners are currently trying to get the people evicted
through the courts. AbM is fighting the case in the courts and on the 19th of
October 2011 the movement organised a mass march on the landlords in defense of
the land occupation.

Contact details for the Pinetown Occupation:

Khanyi Dlamuka, eMmaus AbM Coordinator: 071 218 3007

It is clear that to many people in government, and to many rich people, the
poor remain dirt, something to swept out of the cities. If housing is to be
given to us it is housing that is unfit for human beings and will hide us away
in rural human dumping grounds. In Durban our attempts to organise and struggle
for land and housing have been met with serious and violent repression from the
state and the ruling party. Neither the economic system nor the political
system are working for the poor and therefore we will continue to struggle for
justice. We invite all the comrades who are in Durban for the COP 17 meeting to
come and show their solidarity for the occupations in Hillary, KwaMashu and
eMmaus and for our struggle for the right to organise for land and housing and
to be able to engage the state meaningfully.

For further comment contact Abahlali baseMjondolo at: 031 304 6420.
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