http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20081121054524763C766330

Red Ants 'cornered man, killed him'

November 21 2008 at 06:49AM

By Poloko Tau and Beauregard Tromp

A resident was brutally killed at an RDP settlement in Ekurhuleni, allegedly by Red Ants guarding new houses against illegal occupation.

But this assertion has been denied by the Gauteng Department of Housing, which had contracted the Red Ants and who said the death was a result of a fight between members of the community over occupation of houses.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20080920085120313C539188

'Protesting is our last resort'

When a police Nyala drove through barriers of burning tyres and rubble that had been used to barricade the Golden Highway, Bricks Mokolo was reminded of the grim events of September 1984.

Then, the protests in the Vaal region against rent increases imposed by the Vaal council left almost 50 people dead. For Mokolo, protests on the same highway in Orange Farm struck a chord.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20080916055559311C525556

September 16 2008 at 09:52AM

Orange Farm residents have taken their demands for proper sanitation, water and housing to the streets.

Hundreds of residents barricaded the Golden Highway with burning tyres and rocks on Monday, making it difficult for motorists to pass through.

Community leader Bricks Makolo said the residents were supposed to have a meeting with the ward councillor, Meisie Msimango, on Sunday to discuss their grievances.

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20080822055832386C803440

Concourt lashes Hlophe's squatter ruling
22 August 2008, 10:33

The Constitutional Court's battle with Cape Judge President John Hlophe did nothing to dampen the justices' criticism of his landmark eviction order against 20 000 Western Cape squatters.

Justice Kate O'Regan on Thursday expressed disquiet over Judge Hlophe's controversial order that the residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement be moved to make way for government's pilot N2 Gateway Housing Project, pointing out that it made no mention of where they would be moved to.

as usual the poor must be blamed rather than the system that denies people decent housing and fails to, even as a minimal measure, electrify the shack settlements.....

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20080817091940487C554973

17 August 2008, 09:19
More than 1000 shacks burnt down at the Denver hostel squatter camp in southern Johannesburg late on Saturday night, according to Johannesburg Emergency Management services.

Spokesperson Percy Morokane said about 3000 people were homeless after the fire started in the settlement at the junction of Main Reef Road and Plantasie Street just after midnight.

Shack Fires Are No Accident! Electricity for all Now!

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20080331060753266C785435

Children die in shack fire tragedy

Solly Maphumulo

Virginia Hlomendlini had left her grandchildren in the care of a neighbour to go and comfort another bereaved neighbour.

Minutes later, Thembeni and Ntsikelelo were dead, trapped in a shack fire believed to have been started by a paraffin stove.

Hlomendlini had just returned from church in Fairview, eastern Jo'burg, and asked Nelisiwe Mbatha to look after her grandchildren while she went to offer her condolences to a neighbour who had lost her daughter.

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20070904081716826C792156

Soweto councillor's house burnt down
4 September 2007, 08:33

The home of a councillor who tried to intervene during the Protea South protests was burnt down on Monday night, Soweto police said on Tuesday.

Captain Jacqueline Mbatha said the woman, who was not at home at the time, had opened a case of malicious damage to property at the police station.

Her house was set on fire around 9pm on Tuesday.

"They [some of the residents] feel she is not doing enough for them," said Mbatha.

On Monday, police and Protea South residents clashed after about 500 protesters barricaded roads and began throwing stones and vandalising property over poor service delivery.

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=128&fArticleId=3057825

Belief in government promises is a key to local elections
January 9, 2006

By Penny Sukhraj

At least two councillors were murdered and the homes of many others were torched in 881 protests last year - an average more than two a day. These actions were the result of the anger South Africans vented in violent shows of dissatisfaction at the government's poor service delivery.

Now local government elections loom, and the ANC has produced yet another set of promises to deliver services and get councillors to do their jobs.

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=3062670
Soshanguve still on edge after battles with police January 12, 2006

By Graeme Hosken

A tense calm descended on Soshanguve late yesterday as pockets of angry residents were still caught in a standoff with police.

This follows violent clashes and running street battles in the township, 25km north-west of Pretoria. Thousands of people took to the streets early yesterday, barricading several roads leading into the township with uprooted trees, boulders and burning tyres, in protest over a lack of service delivery.