electricity

A Big Devil in the Jondolos: A report on shack fires

Update: A summary of the report has now been published at Pambazuka and it has been discussed in an article in the Sunday Tribune

Monday 8 September 2008
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release

A Big Devil in the Jondolos
Abahlali baseMjondolo Launches a Report on Shack Fires in Advance of the City Wide Shack Fire Summit on 22 September 2008

Another Huge Fire Devastates the Kennedy Road Settlement

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Sun, 2008-08-31 09:55. electricity | fire | kennedy | press_update

This picture, by the M&G, is from another fire in Kennedy Road earlier in the year.

Well more than a hundred shacks burnt down in the Kennedy Road settlement this morning. This is the 7th fire in the settlement this year.

Abahlali baseMjondolo condemns the eThekwini Municipality's inhuman 2001 decision to stop electrifying shacks on the grounds that it is too expensive. There is a direct link between this decision and the fires as the fires are caused by candles and paraffin stoves.

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Armed De-Electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Tue, 2008-08-19 15:05. electricity | fire | Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo | police | press_update

Update: 20 August 16:46 Word has just been received that another home, this one occupied by 3 families, is burning in Motala Heights....

19 August 2008
Press Release from the Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

Armed De-Electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement

This morning an eThekwini Municipal official invaded the Motala Heights settlement with a group of security guards. They drew their guns, said that they were there to disconnect what they call 'illegal electricity connections' and what every one else calls 'lifesaving community connections' and threatened to shoot anyone that resisted.

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Mass Disconnections from Electricity at Gun Point in the Kennedy Road Settlement

Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Fri, 2008-02-15 18:01. Abahlali baseMjondolo | electricity | fire | police | press_update

Update: Sunday, 17 February 2008 As predicted there was a serious fire in Kennedy Road following the mass disconnections. It began in one of the shacks disconnected from electricity on Thursday. S'bu Zikode's response to the tragedy of being proven right so quickly is here, Phili Mjoli's article in Isolezwe is here and David Ntseng's photographs are here.

Friday, 15 February 2008
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release

City Escalates Its War on the Poor

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Philani Zungu arrested by the notorious Sydenham police once again
Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Tue, 2007-11-13 19:56. Abahlali baseMjondolo | electricity | Emergency press release | police
Update, 5/06/2008: Philani plead guilty and received a fine.

Update, 4/04/2008: The case has been set down for trial on 5 June 2008.

Update, 28/02/2008: The case has been remanded till 4 April 2008.

Update, 11/12/2007: Philani appeared in the Pinetown magistrate's court today, represented pro bono by Catherine Moodley of Shanta Reddy attorneys. The case was remanded until 28 February 2008.

Update, 30/11/2007: There was a reading from Philani Zungu's writing, an account of his work and various arrests and a discussion about his writing led by Nigel Gibson at the launch of the new issue of Socialism and Democracy at Harvard University, Boston, USA, today, 30 November 2007. Click here and here to see a few minutes of video footage of the Harvard event

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Cape Argus: Reconnect illegal power cables, Eskom hears
Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Sun, 2008-08-31 09:06. electricity
http://www.internafrica.org/2008/08/reconnect-illegal-power-cables-eskom.html

Friday, August 29, 2008

Reconnect illegal power cables, Eskom hears

Angry Khayelitsha residents have threatened to burn down ward councillors houses if they are not given electricity, after their illegal cables were cut.

The residents from the Island, an informal settlement in Site C, told the Cape Argus on Thursday that they would take action if their complaints were not heard by councillors and Mayor Helen Zille.

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The Post: Illegal power cuts puts area in darkness - Sub-station bombed
Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Wed, 2008-08-27 07:21. Charlene Ramjith | electricity | sea cow lake | siyathuthuka | The Post
http://www.thepost.co.za/?fArticleId=4579424

Illegal power cuts puts area in darkness
Sub-station bombed

August 27, 2008 Edition 1

CHARLENE RAMJITH

AN INTIMIDATING note, left behind after a sub-station, which generates electricity in Maynard Road, Sea Cow Lake, was blown up, has sparked fear among residents.

The note, according to the concerned community who believe those responsible for blowing up the sub-station were from a nearby informal settlement, stated: "If we cannot have electricity no one can".

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Squatter City: Blame the Victims
Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Wed, 2008-08-20 11:59. electricity | fire | Robert Neuwirth | Squatter City
http://squattercity.blogspot.com/2008/08/blame-victims.html

Blame the Victims

The Johannesburg Government now blames squatters for the fires that periodically devastate their communities. Here's what a spokesman for Johannesburg Emergency Management Services told the Star newspaper about a fire this past weekend that destroyed 1,000 homes in the Denver hostel squatter camp in southern Johannesburg: "In illegal informal settlements there are a lot of social factors that come into play. High on the list is drunkenness... where a person drinks and forgets to put out the candle... or they might leave a pot cooking on a stove and go and buy beer again."

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