NO LAND, NO HOUSE, NO VOTE!

IMASHI EYA-KUMEYA U-OBED MLABA
NGOMHLAKA 14 NOVEMBA 2005

ABAHLALA BASE MJONDOLO BAFUNA IZINDLU!

NINI: Ngehora lesikhombisa ekuseni ngosumbuluka zingu 14 November 2005 (7:00 a.m.)

KUPHI: Siyobuthana ku-Foreman Road bese siqhubekela e- Botha Park kuyilaphoke siyomasha emgwaqeni u West Street siphikelele e City Hall. Simashe.

ISIZATHU: Ukulwela umhlaba nezindlu, izidingonqangi njengamanzi ahlanzekile, ugesi, izindlu zangasese kanye nehholo lomphakathi. Sizophinde siphikisane nesenzo sokukhishwa kwezakhamizi ngendluzula ziyiswa ezabelweni umkhandlu wedolobha. Sizophinda simtshele u Mlaba ukuthi uma ungekho umhlaba edolobheni ngeke nathi sivote.

13 November 2005

THOUSANDS TO MEET IN DEFIANCE OF DURBAN MARCH BAN

On Monday morning, 14 November, thousands of shack dwellers from across Durban will gather at the Foreman Road settlement, Foreman Road, Clare Estate, Durban, in defiance of the eThewkini Municipality's illegal ban of their scheduled march on Mayor Obed Mlaba.

Representations will be made to the Municipality to lift their illegal, immoral and profoundly anti-democratic ban. If the ban is not lifted the assembly will make a collective decision on how to respond. This may take the form of a mass act of peaceful civil disobedience.

M&G online - SAPA story

Police fire rubber bullets to disperse protest

Durban, South Africa

14 November 2005 04:37

Police used rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of disgruntled Sydenham
residents, and arrested 45 of them for marching illegally on Monday, Durban
police said.

Police spokesperson Daniela Veldhuizen said angry Clare Estate residents
marched on mayor Obed Mlaba's office to hand over a memorandum that cited
dissatisfaction over housing and the alleged removal of basic services from
shack dwellers.

"At some point, the march got out of hand. Of the 45 arrested, eight were

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20051115081600224C185051#jump

Durban protests erupt in violence
Carvin Goldstone
November 15 2005 at 09:00AM

Violent confrontations between police and residents of two informal settlements in Durban on Monday led to 45 people being arrested.

In Clare Estate, police baton-charged a group of about 2 000 people marching on Mayor Obed Mlaba's office over the lack of housing for residents of the Foreman Road Informal Settlement.

Several people were injured when police opened fire with rubber bullets. Durban South police spokesperson Rani John said eight people had been charged and detained. The others were later released.

November 17, 2005 11:21 AM

eThekwini City Manager Michale Sutcliffe was on SAFM this morning. I didn't hear him but I am told that, amongst other things, he recycled the racist agitator thesis to explain why 20 000 people have mobilised themselves as Abahlali base Mjondolo to oppose his policies and denied that he ever banned the march organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee. (Affiliated to Abahlali base Mjondolo)

His office is responsible for granting permission for marches. The exact text of the fax banning the march is below (followed by the response from the Freedom of Expression Institute). The fax states that "the march is prohibited".....If that is not a ban then this 1984. But at least Sutcliffe has had to account for himself somewhere. Although 3 000 people from Foreman Road and nearby settlements were prepared to put their bodies on the line in defence of their basic democratic rights, and Andile from FHR and Simon from FXI have been superb the media have generally treated Sutcliffe's assumption of the right to (illegally) 'prohibit' basic democratic rights as a non-issue. If this kind of repression becomes normalised we are going to be in deep trouble.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=502&fArticleId=2998655

Shacks of fear
November 17, 2005

By Max du Preez

The poor have been abandoned and ignored, writes Max du Preez

'We are on our own. We are completely on our own." I have read a lot of political documents, credos and statements in my life as a journalist.

I have never read anything as compelling, real and disturbing as the piece written in The Star last week by S'bu Zikode, chairman of the Abahlali base mjondolo (shack dwellers) movement.

Abahlali baseMjondolo bafuna izindlu

Raj Patel
October 19, 2005, The Mercury

Umhlaba wasenyakatho nogu owathathwa ngendluzula kufanele unikezwe
izakhamuzi zakuleyandawo eziphelelwa isineke ezihlala emjondolo.
Mawuhamba ngemoto enyakatho nogu ubona umhlaba owudedangendlale. Umhlaba
owathathwa ngedluzula izinkinsela zikashukela, umhlaba olinywe ngezithuthuku
negazi kuqanjwa amanga ukuthi abantu benziwa amakholwa kanti kuthathwa
umhlaba wabo. Namhlanje lomhlaba sewenziwa izindawo zokudlala igalofu
nalapho kuhlala khona badla izambane likampondo bevunyelwa umthethosisekelo

Ayikho intando yeningi la

- uRichard Pithouse

Ibhaxabulwe kabi intando yeningi eThekwini ngesonto eledlule. Isiswebhu
sokuqala ingenkathi umasipala waseThekwini enqabela ikomiti lase Foreman
Road Development ukumasha.Lelikomiti belikhethelwe ukumela izakhamuzi
zasemjondolo wase Foreman Road. Lelithimba kanye nemanye amakomiti eyishumi
nanhlanu ezakhamuzi zihlanganyele kuAbahlali baseMjondolo
okungumkhukhulelangoqo wenhlangano eke yahlela ngaphambilini amamashi
abesuke eKennedy Road nase Quarry Road. Wonke lamamashi abenokuthula.
Imashi yaseForeman Road ibihlelwe uMsombuluko wangomhlaka 14 November.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=285&fArticleId=3004548

OPINION

Eye on civil society

Democracy took a beating in Foreman Road

It was a march in line with the great tradition of peaceful civil disobedience, and posed no threat, writes Richard Pithouse

November 22, 2005

By Richard Pithouse

Democracy took a major beating in Durban last week. The first blow came when the eThekwini Municipality banned a march organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee. The Committee has been elected to represent the Foreman Road shack settlement. Along with 15 other settlements they had affiliated to the Abahlali base Mjondolo [shack dwellers'] movement that had organised previous marches from the Kennedy Road and Quarry Road settlements. Each of these large marches had been entirely peaceful. The Foreman Road march was planned for Monday 14 November. The Committee completed all the paper work necessary to apply for a permit to stage a legal march in good time. But three days before the scheduled march a terse fax was received from the Municipality stating that the march was "prohibited". Two reasons were given for banning the march. The first was that "Officials from the Mayor's Office have advised us that they have no feedback for your organisation". The second was that "The Mayor's Office labour is unable to assist you and there will be no representative there to meet you." City Manager Mike Sutcliffe is responsible for administering requests to hold legal marches.

Starting from scratch after forced removal
By Anna Weekes

Walter Siyacela Ndenza came to the city from rural Bizana in 1990 looking for a better life. He first rented a shack in Mayville, just outside the city but then bought a shack for R800 in Lusaka informal settlement, equally close to the city.

"Buying my own shack was some kind of progress", Siyacela said. With the little money he earned as a casual construction labourer in the nearby suburb of Reservoir Hills, Siyacela bought two lawnmowers and sought work in the suburb cutting lawns. This is how he supported his three dependents. But when the Lusaka community was forcibly removed by the ANC Ethekwini municipality, municipal police smashed one of the lawnmowers irreparably and broke the other one, which is now under repair.