The Honorable Cllr Obed Mlaba
Office of the Mayor of eThekwini
City Hall, West Street
Durban 4001
Republic of South Africa

Re: Forced relocation of shack-dwellers in Siyanda, KwaMashu

Dear Cllr Mlaba,

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) is an international human rights non-governmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices throughout the world. COHRE has consultative status with the United Nations and Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. COHRE works to promote and protect the right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere, including preventing or remedying forced evictions.

http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=3361458

Poor should not be hidden, rights group tells SA
Chantelle Benjamin

Chief Reporter

SA, AND the eThekwini municipality in particular, need to move away from the idea that the poor should be hidden from view in world-class cities, the Geneva-based Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) warns in a scathing report.

Durban might be hailed for the many low-cost homes it is building, but it has been accused by the centre of evicting hundreds of shack dwellers illegally, of building houses far from the city, and of building small, poor-quality homes.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4647626

Opinion
Housing Concerns

October 07, 2008 Edition 1

A report released yesterday on housing rights and "slum eradication" in Durban makes for sobering reading.

In it the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction praises the eThekwini Municipality for its zeal in building a considerable number of homes, but also expresses a number of serious concerns.

These include the size, quality and location of the houses being built, the failure to provide adequate levels of basic services to shack dwellers, the authoritarian methods used to evict people and to silence dissenters, and the strong perceptions in communities of corruption and political patronage in the municipality's housing system.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4650172

Opinion
City needs transparency when dealing with poor
Report recommends greater consultation with communities in need of housing

October 08, 2008 Edition 1

Imraan Buccus

The report on housing in Durban by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (Cohre) is a watershed movement for this city. The report is the culmination of almost three years of work by an international team of experts and is the first comprehensive analysis of post-apartheid housing policy and practice in the city.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4646692

Shack evictions 'illegal'

Claim by international report

October 06, 2008 Edition 2

IRENE KUPPAN and DASEN THATHIAH

DURBAN might be one of the top low-cost house builders in the country, but it has been accused in a scathing international housing report of evicting hundreds of shack dwellers illegally.

The report, released today, by the Swiss-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), claims that not a single eviction carried out by the municipality had been done legally.

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fArticleId=4646145

Housing 'a cause for concern'

October 06, 2008 Edition 1

Mercury reporter

A MAJOR housing study released today has raised concerns about apparently high levels of state repression and perceptions of political patronage and rampant corruption in the eThekwini's municipality's housing system.

While pointedly commending the municipality for its zeal in building a "considerable number" of houses for the poor, the 200-page report into housing rights and slum eradication in Durban raised several worries. These concern the standard and location of new houses, methods used in evictions and the municipality's reluctance to properly consult and communicate with those affected.