***Press Alert***
AEC Communities join residents of the Joe Slovo settlement at SA Constitutional Court 21 August

Threatened with mass eviction, the residents of the Joe Slovo settlement in Langa, Cape Town will be gathering outside of the South African Constitutional Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on 21 August at 9am. They are appealing the judgement of High Court Judge Hlophe that would forcibly remove them to Delft, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town, to makeway for the completion of the N2 Gateway Housing Project.

As a national housing project, the N2 Gateway is supposed to provide the residents of informal settlements along the N2, some of the most visible informal settlements in Cape Town, with formal housing. Yet the project's plans were developed with little community input and when they were announced, provoked strong reaction as they could not accomodate most of the 20,000 residents of Joe Slovo.

Press Update

5th December 2007

1pm

CAPE TOWN - The eight Joe Slovo informal settlement residents who were charged with public violence a few months ago appeared in Bishop Lavis magistrates court this morning. The case was postponed until the 14th December 2007.

Mzwanele Zulu, spokesperson for the Joe Slovo Task Team says "we don't even know why this case has been delayed. This is a very unfair case to begin with since it was well documented that it was the police who committed public violence against us by shooting us at an illegally unacceptable close range with rubber coated metal bullets and dragging old women along the ground and injuring them. All of this was photographed and captured on video".

(For background information and pictures click here).

Press Alert:

Joe Slovo Task Team activists released on free bail

Wednesday 13 September 2007

11:30am

for comment please call the Joe Slovo Task Team - Mr Mapasa on 083 7371711 or Mzwanele Zulu on 076 3852369

JOE SLOVO, CAPE TOWN – Two activists who were swooped on by police on Tuesday night (Mzwanele Zulu and Mncedi Diko) and held in jail since then, were released on free bail this morning.

A crowd of Joe Slovo informal settlement protested outside the Bishop Lavis Magistrates Court until the two were released. The entire Joe Slovo community is now conducting a march of celebration through Langa.

(For background information and pictures click here).

Wednesday 12 September 2007
9:30am

for comment please call Mr Mapasa from the Joe Slovo Task Team on 083 7371711

JOE SLOVO, CAPE TOWN - The situation in the Joe Slovo informal settlement in Cape Town, next to the N2 highway, is still very bad. Dozens of police have occupied the settlement since Monday. Residents are afraid to leave their houses because of police harassment and because they are afraid of being arrested.

Last night at about 6pm, Mzwanele Zulu from the Joe Slovo Task Team (who was the media contact from the area on Monday) went to the police station to inform police that the community wanted to have a general meeting inside the settlement to discuss the way forward. The police agreed not to harass or attack or shoot at the general meeting in any way. However, just minutes later at Mzwanele was walking home, police swooped on him and arrested him.

JOE SLOVO SHACKDWELLERS TASK TEAM PRESS STATEMENT

8:30am

Monday 10th September 2007

Joe Slovo Shackdwellers Statement on N2 Highway Blockade

LANGA, CAPE TOWN - More than one thousand residents from Joe Slovo informal settlement on the N2 highway near the Cape Town airport, have blockaded the highway since 4:30am this morning.

The residents are protesting their imminent forced removal to the wasteland of Delft, over 30kms away. They have held the highway for almost 5 hours and are refusing to move.

"We are angry. We want RDP house in Joe Slovo. We want the Department of Housing to stop moving our people to Delft. We refuse to be moved there. It is far from our workplaces and also from places where we look for work. Those of us who are not getting paid undecent salaries are spending every day looking for work. We can't and won't move. The government took this decision without consulting us and now they must change it," said Mzwanele from the Joe Slovo Task Team.