Tirelessly since 2001, Thembisa Maso has been sent pillar to post by the City of Cape Town, the Department of Human Settlements, housing committees and ward councilors, only to be disappointed. Finally, she will be able to move into her home by the end of this week.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 3 December 2014
Shackdwellers from the original settlement in Marikana, Philippi, are celebrating a court interdict which will protect them from being arbitrarily evicted “through the back door”. Interdicts secured by landowners and municipalities are supposed to prohibit further settlement. Yet they are often so vague that they allow for people who have already settled to be removed.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 1 December 2014
On Thursday, residents of Marikana informal settlement’s Rolihlahla Park section welcomed a Western Cape High Court postponement of an eviction hearing. The court ordered that the City of Cape Town compile an audit of the households living on the erf in question to determine who will need emergency temporary accommodation if an eviction order is granted.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 21 November 2014
The 7th annual Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues, which explore the continuation of Cape Town’s “spatial apartheid”, are underway. On Tuesday night, the focus was on the spate of shack evictions around the city this year, and the correlation between poor, densely populated areas and traffic deaths and education outcomes.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 19 November 2014
Santonio Jonkers let out a sigh of frustration as he was told for the third time that his court case was postponed, this time till next year.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Brief | 13 November 2014
A Khayelitsha housing project has gone bust amidst allegations of corruption. Beneficiaries are frustrated that they may not get their houses, or that problems with houses that have been built will not be fixed.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 13 November 2014
Disabled Site C resident Vincent Gaelejwe, 43, lives in a one-roomed shack and has nowhere to keep the portable toilet supplied by the City of Cape Town. Instead, he limps to his neighbour’s house every day to use the portable toilet there.
Zintle Swana
News | 11 November 2014
During the hearings of the Marikana Commission, Lonmin executives said the company had not been able to afford to keep its 2006 promise to build 5,500 new houses for workers. Yet a year later, in 2007, the International Finance Corporation had made finance of US$150 million available to Lonmin - part of it for a "large-scale community development programme".
Alide Dasnois
News | 7 November 2014
After demolishing three structures, the sheriff of the court aborted the eviction of fourteen shack dwellers in Walmer Estate late on Thursday afternoon. As the sun was setting, the households who had lost their homes were hastily erecting temporary shelter.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 6 November 2014
Residents of Europe informal settlement near NY 108 Cemetery in Gugulethu have begun rebuilding their shacks after they were gutted by a blazing inferno on Friday evening.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 3 November 2014
The Constitution and legislation protect vulnerable people from being evicted into homelessness. But for 14 shack-dwellers in Walmer Estate this is exactly what is happening, writes Daneel Knoetze.
Daneel Knoetze
Analysis | 3 November 2014
Sixteen shack-dwellers, including four children, will be left homeless when the sheriff enforces an eviction order in Walmer Estate this week.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 29 October 2014
The City of Cape Town has been given 14 working days to respond to a memorandum of demands from the residents of Marikana, Rolihlahla Park and Klipfontein informal settlements.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 24 October 2014
Joe Slovo residents have accused Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela of changing the criteria for housing allocation at the last minute in order to deny them access to new houses. But Madikizela says even “approved” subsidy beneficiaries should not expect automatic allocation of houses.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 23 October 2014
Residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement, Langa, have been left homeless after they started demolishing their shacks under the impression that keys to new housing units would be handed over to them. The MEC for Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizela, has said that the shack demolitions were premature and that many of the beneficiaries are “too young” to be prioritised for housing.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 23 October 2014
A piece of land in Bardale was the site of clashes at the weekend when two groups of backyard dwellers from Mfuleni confronted each other.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 21 October 2014