No shacks in KZN by 2010

Mike Mabuyakhulu strikes again. The Kwazulu-Natal housing MEC again has publically announced that the department would 'eradicate all squatter camps' by 2010, evidently just in time for the World Cup. He made this statement as part of the launch of a multi-million-rand slum-clearance project in KwaMbonambi.

As reported in the Sunday Tribune, Mabuyakhulu said legislation would give "municipalities more powers to deal with the scourge of land invasion and to stop the proliferation of slums".

There will be dark days ahead for Abahlali as the pressure increases.

Read the article on the new Abahlali baseMjondolo website. It looks like Raj Patel and other Abahlali members have been working hard to collect an amazing amount of materials for the site. Very worth checking out.

close-up

Not entirely relevant to this blog, but this is a short experimental film I made. Can't say I totally understood this reading of the film, but this is what the good folks at the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival had to say:

"This film shows a clear portrayal of American foreign relations as depicted through the fractured prism that is feminine society. Just long enough to have re-occurring characters, the film uses them to seduce even the peripheral viewers, black widows speaking in tongues, they are of a fearsome level of coquettish beauty." - Roscoe Zipco

SHELL and BP "Pain of Africa" protest

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) & groundWork held a protest yesterday, pictured above, outside the Shell refinery in South Durban. They are continuing to urge communities to stand united against corporate power which puts profit over people’s health and well-being.

Over the last three weeks there have been accidents, fires and explosions coming from the Shell & BP (SAPREF) Refinery in south Durban, exposing residents to cancer causing toxins and other noxious elements. People's homes are literally feet away from the towering smokestacks.


The refinery is smack in the middle of poor Indian and black communities just outside of Durban. It is one of the most accident prone refineries in the region, and over the last number of years, it has been the cause of devastating environmental and health damage. (The picture here is of the Engen refinery in Wentworth)

SDCEA and groundWork held public discussion of the effects of the refineries on the health of people in the area in addition to holding this protest. They are calling for negotiations with Shell to respect their obligations to reduce pollution in Durban.

A picture of Sapref, the Shell and BP-owned refinery on "Black Wednesday", April 2004 .

This is a good background article (and also where I stole the picture from)

Major Crisis as eThekwini Municipality Violently and Illegally Evicts

As predicted, evictions worsen. Motala Heights is the latest target. This is the press release from the events of the last few days. Evictions are violent, and the police are treating people without dignity or respect. Pictures by Richard Ballard.

Major Crisis as eThekwini Municipality Violently and Illegally Evicts Shackdwellers in the Motala Heights Settlement (Pinetown)

On 1 November 2006, in Motala Heights, armed municipal security watched as municipal workers loaded building materials from shacks they had demolished a few days earlier and children played in the sites where their homes once stood. This was the fourth time the municipality had visited the area since Saturday 28 October and each visit had been devastating. They had fired guns, used spray guns on people, hurled insults, and threatened leaders. By sheer force the municipality had rendered more than 15 families homeless.

Abahlali baseMjondolo, a regional movement of shackdwellers for land and housing, to which the Motala Heights settlement belongs, is furious at these actions. Two months ago, Abahlali baseMjondolo used the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in order to request information on how the housing process will unfold for those living in informal settlements. The request was directed to the city manager on the plans for upgrading shacks in a number of wards, as well as for new housing developments. The government had 30 days in order to reply. Towards the end of this period, the municipality requested and extension of another 30 days, which was granted and is set to end this Monday, 6 November. Therefore, these demolitions occurred in spite of the fact that Abahlali members including those from Motala Heights were still waiting for information concerning issues of informal settlement clearance. Zandile Nsibande, Committee member of Abahlali, commented that

'It is amazing what they are doing in Motala heights because we are waiting for answers to our 'w' questions (what, when, where and how houses will be delivered) which the municipality promised to give us on the 6th'.



The ordeal began at 8:00 am on Saturday morning 28 October 2006, when about 30 metro security arrived driving vehicles with NDM number plates. They brought with them a further 15 unskilled labourers with large hammers. Shack dwellers reported that the demolition team was lead by Bhekani Ntuli and Kumbuzile Mkhize of the Housing department, while the security team was led by Mr Mthembu. Without any warning, the
demolition team set about demolishing shacks in various parts of the settlements. The shacks still contained furniture, clothes, groceries and other belongings. It was believed that the timing of the clearance (Saturday) was deliberately intended to stifle attempts to get court interdicts against the demolitions.

Shacks were not demolished in one part of the settlement but rather were scattered throughout. Owners of these shacks were transferred to Nazareth housing development in ward 16. Some of those remaining believe that the allocation of houses to these people was not done on a fair and transparent basis but was rather based on a close relationship with the councillor. As one resident said: 'If you have a connection to the Branch Executive Committee of the ANC, which is aligned with the councillor, you are allocated a new house. Others are not.'

Furthermore, even among those shacks that had been allocated housing, only one family per shack had been accommodated in the new housing development. Others living in each shack, therefore, were left stranded. Abahlali has been consistently critical of the municipality's one house, one shack approach to housing because it leaves many homeless.

'This is why Abahlali has been campaigning for one family one house, not one shack one house' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson of Abahlali). Many of those left homeless had been staying in these shacks for a number of years and in some cases for more than 12 years.

About 19 people slept either in other shacks or in the open on Saturday night. On Sunday 29 October, the settlement was filled with echoes of hammers as shacks were being hastily reconstructed by those left homeless. The municipality visited in order to check which shacks were being rebuilt.

On Tuesday 31 October, the municipality returned in order to re-demolish the newly erected shacks. Mr Ngcobo, an elected community leader attempted to present a letter that had been sent by Shanta Reddy, a lawyer acting on behalf of the community to the Mayor (Obed Mlaba) and City Manager (Mike Sutcliffe). The letter was intended to point out that such evictions would be illegal and the local authority should not
proceed with them. The security staff refused to look at the letter and proceeded to pepper spray Mr. Ngcobo from close range. Shots were fired and people scattered. Mr. Ngcobo then attempted to hand it to a SAPS member saying this was a letter to the mayor. He replied sarcastically that the mayor for the area was 'Mr Govendor', a neighbouring land owner. (Attempts to lay a charge of assault for being pepper sprayed the same day were stonewalled by police at Pinetown police station).

Although the land on which the Motala shack settlement is built is owned by the municipality, many report that Mr. Govendor is putting pressure on the councillor, Mr Dimba, to clear the shacks. All land adjacent to the settlement is currently undeveloped. Mr Dimba told the shack dwellers recently that they must go back to the farm where they came from.

On Wednesday 1 November, the team from the municipality returned in order to remove the timber and other building materials, and remained from 9-3pm. Abahlali brought a camera crew that day. A community leader asked if they could retain the metal from the rubble in order to take it to recyclers to sell it for money for food. The reply from a security staff member was that once the camera was gone they would assault him.

During the clearance, it was announced that the entire settlement was to be cleared. The settlement began 30 years ago and now consists of 227 shacks. Recent information suggests that demolitions will resume on Tuesday 7 November. There were also threats that the ablution block and water supply would be destroyed in order to drive away those who did not want to move. This ablution block was built by the government in 2004 and is the only sanitation other than self built pit latrines.

Many say that they are reluctant to move because Nazareth (the new housing development) is near Marianhill in ward 16 while they are in ward 15 near Westmead. Residents depend on living close to their places of employment, normally as domestic workers and gardeners in the nearby suburb of Motala Farm and as workers in the factories of Westmead. Many families also have children enrolled in the good local schools. They have not formally been shown the place of proposed relocation and have no idea what education and other facilities there will be. The spokesperson for Abahlali states that:

'Abahlali supports the National Policy called Breaking New Ground which states that in situ upgrading must be prioritised and relocation should be the last resort' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson for Abahlali)

Those who have seen it say that they houses are of poor quality. Houses at Nazareth are described by some Abahlali members as nothing more than 'Formal Jondolos', or formal shacks, because there is little difference between the new house and the old shack. There is no running water, which makes it impossible to use the toilets. There is no electricity and the floor is rough.

Furthermore, there is a concern by those living in Motala Heights that there might be friction in Nazareth, as a result of the fact that there are informal settlements nearby whose residents are desperate for the housing. Residents of Motala wonder, therefore, why they are being moved in from far away when there are local residents in Ward 16 who would prefer that accommodation.

The situation is currently tense as Motala residents anticipate further demolitions on this coming Tuesday, 7 November. All media are invited to witness the improper housing demolition expected to resume Tuesday. The Legal Resources Centre is attempting to secure a meeting with key people in the city with regards to these demolitions. Monday is also the deadline for the response for the access to information application which was submitted by Abahlali two months ago.

Abahlali believes the current actions of the municipality to be intolerable. 'The way they treat us reminds us of the way we were treated before democracy. This is why they say there is no freedom for the poor' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson for Abahlali). The affected community say they are angry:

'The people from Motala farm are angry and that could lead to friction similar to the clash in Umlazi recently. This kind of treatment makes it difficult for people to cope. A more consultative process where people have inputs on the process would make people less angry' (Bheki Ngcobo)

These events are taking place in the context of pronouncements from local and provincial government that they intend to clear shacks within the next few years. As reported in the Sunday Tribune,

'[The Housing Department's] aim is to eradicate shack settlements by 2010 ... Mabuyakhulu said he wanted the law to be passed before the end of the current financial year. He wants municipalities to employ special units similar to the so-called Red Ants - the shack settlement-clearing security guards in Gauteng which are used to demolish illegal settlements. "Our diplomatic approach is not working. We are now taking a stronger approach," he said.' (Mbanjwa 2006).

(see Mbanjwa, Xolani (2006) 'KZN push for an end to slums' Sunday Tribune. 23 April 2006. Also see article by same journalist on p five of Sunday Tribune 5 November 2006)

In response to the slum clearance policy of the government, the spokesperson for Abahlali states:

'What does this mean? Does it mean that everyone will get a house or that shacks will be demolished even if people are not allocated a house? If everyone is allocated a house we will appreciate that. But if not, it means that the street kids will be joined by street families as the government throws people out of their shacks.' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu)

As it waits for the response of the municipality to its diplomatic and legal request for information, Abahlali continues to mobilize shackdwellers to ask questions and demand answers from the municipality.

The Fear of Umbrellas and the Handcuffed Homeless

Below is a great article by Heinrich about the evictions in Crossmoor and the wrongful arrest of Sbu Zikode and Philani Zungu. Evictions have been really picking up by eThekwini. The months ahead will likely to be filled with many more scenes like this and visits to the courts.

The Fear of Umbrellas and the Handcuffed Homeless
by Heinrich Böhmke, 15 September 2006

Much of the academic and activist reporting on social
struggles in Durban is overblown, sentimental (in the worst
sense of the word) and serving more to promote the
reporters and display their eloquent indignation than to
build these movements or nurture their autonomy. As
Desai's timely Harold Wolpe lecture showed, this style of
operation - and style of being - is silly and dangerous.
It prevents a proper assessment of where we really are,
what we are capable of, how power operates between 'us'
and, importantly, what is to be done. As we have seen
recently, we can't even ask these questions without
hysterical turf-wars erupting and all that goes with it:
the e-mail slanging matches, sulking, lies,
self-righteousness, paranoia.

So it is with trepidation that I add to the noise coming
from Durban, either by sounding sentimental myself or
provoking the wrath of whatever band of commentators has
already staked claim to the groups I am going to speak
about.

This week, after months of skulking and shirking, I went
with a friend to the site of an eviction. Where wooden
homes had been, there were only soft indentations in the
soil now. I observed an elderly woman in one of five small
family groups gathered around a fire in a pit in Crossmore,
Chatsworth, in terrible weather, open an umbrella. As she
performed this precise and tiny act, she was watched over
by 8, 24-hour security guards and two 4x4 Protection
Services vans filled with armed men. This woman was part of
a group of homeless people who had earlier been living in
20 shacks erected on that piece of land for two week
already. This original act was illegal, alright, but since
they had occupied this site for a long enough period,
according to the law they could not be evicted without a
Court order.

When the Durban Council sent their men to evict them, the
community rustled up some lawyers and achieved an interdict
to stop the demolition last Friday. On Sunday, the very
day their victory was noted in the press, the City Council
demolishers arrived anyway and broke half of these same
structures down, including the shack of the granny with the
umbrella. I got this stuff on tape. It was ugly. The
city's men were shown the interdict. They read and
understood it. They apparently consulted with Sutcliffe as
it all happened. But, it is fair to say, they took the
tactical risk that it was better to completely flout the
law and risk censure from essentially toothless courts (in
matters holding government agents accountable) than to
allow this idea, this methodology, this proliferation of
even flimsy parasols, to spread.

Some people see rank evil in the Council men's acts. It is
hard not to. But, for the first time in a long while,
there was a whiff of desperation mixed in there too. I've
seen the tide turn against me enough to recognise the first
squints of hesitance creep into the gaze of others. Back
to the tattered umbrella. Sitting out in the open, with
her shack newly voided and the material charted away and
with her worldly goods and a small fire at her knees, the
granny I watched fingered the catch on the stem and opened
the scraggly thing. It was just unfurled when the 4x4
doors opened, the security came loping and the granny was
rounded upon, howled at, accused of erecting a structure
and ordered to take it down "immediately". A bullshit
defence, "following explicit orders", they said. Evil. Of
course. Nevertheless, I believe them about the
instructions on the suppression of umbrellas. Desperation!

Still, I was not sure though until I saw Council's replying
affidavit in the on-going court battle. There are 300,000
completely homeless people in this province (their
figures). If just 10% of them get the notion that they can
force government's hand by actions such as the
Crossmorians, there will be:- a, b, c, d. As I read the
list of bad things in their affidavit that would happen if
this small band were left unmolested, it sounded a lot like
an insurrection.

While we were witnessing this umbrella incident, my pal and
I were told of Sbu Zikhode and Philani Zungu's arrest.
Although we do ourselves (and our own mental health) no
good by actually believing the conspiracy theories we
sometimes put out there, the trumped up nature of the
charges against these leaders of abaHlali and the racist
illogic of it all is plain to see. Also plain to see is
the hatred and fear of Black people on the part of certain
cops. But to miss the fact that the tearer-down-in-chief
of shacks in Crossmore was African and the squatters mostly
Indian, while the most enthusiastic oppressor of Sbu and
Philani was Indian but got on famously with his crew of
African gun-slingers =96 is to misunderstand and, in fact,
deny the brilliant nature of the oppression of abaHlali
that is now suddenly, barbarically, here. The cops' hatred
and fear for all races of homeless people is rabidly
ideological. It flows from the sort of bilious enmity that
produces politics. It feeds on the fear of an eneny become
formidable.

Again, I was not too sure about this. But having bluffed
my way into the police-station to consult with my
"clients", I saw Sbu unnecessarily lying on the ground,
hands cuffed behind his back with Philani propped up
against the wall moaning from his "resisting arrest,
slipping on soap" injuries. I did not abandon my role. I
tried to reach a deal with the arresting officers; a fresh
faced young constable and his surly searge.

They were having none of me. But then the phone calls
began. To this little prick. First someone he knew.
Seemed high up. Super. Then, one after the other, other
brass phoning him. He told the story three times of the
arrest. During the last call, he fairly stood stiff when
talking to whomever was giving him the 3rd degree,
reassuring, half-apologising for having brought this to
pass, not sure of himself, but too late now to turn back.
Yes, certain cops hate abaHlali with an undisguisedly
racist glee. But some of Constable Bagwanjeen's superiors
were openly happy about Sbu and Philani's arrest for other,
murkier reasons. And some cops were openly unhappy about
Sbu and Philani's arrest, resigned to the danger of it.

I think the last type are the clever ones. The ones who
know already that there is something to fear and hate.
Something almost impersonal in its force, uncotainable.
"Like a tide that is turning", from a song by Kennedy
Road's own choir, the Dlamini King Brothers. I don't claim
to know or speak the truth. These are mere speculations.
But, I sense a feeling in some of the cops I met in
Chatsworth and Sydenham on Tuesday night, that soon it will
be them fetching bowls of water and cloths for abaHlali's
feet not so long into the future.