On Friday 22 August, Public Order Police battled residents of Rolihlahla Park, who fiercely resisted being evicted from a piece of private land off Sheffield Road in Philippi East. The City of Cape Town's Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolished dozens of shacks during the course of the morning. Police meanwhile provided cover, by firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas cannisters. Residents responded by stoning police. At least one protester was shot with live ammunition from, according to eyewitnesses, a police service pistol.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 25 August 2014
On Friday 22 August, Public Order Police battled residents of Rolihlahla Park, who fiercely resisted being evicted from a piece of private land off Sheffield Road in Philippi East. The City of Cape Town's Anti-Land Invasion Unit demolished dozens of shacks during the course of the morning. Police meanwhile provided cover, by firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas cannisters. Residents responded by stoning police. At least one protester was shot with live ammunition from, according to eyewitnesses, a police service pistol.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 25 August 2014
Police used live ammunition against unarmed shackdwellers who fiercely resisted eviction in Philippi East today. It was the most violent day of clashes between police, City of Cape Town Law Enforcement and shackdwellers since forcible evictions started off Symphony Way, in response to a land invasion, two weeks ago. At least one person was shot with live ammunition from, according to eyewitnesses, a police service pistol.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 22 August 2014
The City of Cape Town has announced it intends to sell off 65 municipal properties prompting a backlash from the hosts of a recent symposium on the Urban Land Question.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 22 August 2014
There is a glimmer of hope for Andries Joostenberg and his family who, earlier this month, were evicted from the farm where they have lived for 50 years. As they near the prospect of becoming homeless again, a Stellenbosch attorney, Johan van der Merwe, has agreed to appeal the eviction order which put the family out on the street.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 21 August 2014
On Searle Street, six semi-detached Victorian cottages house a handful of families not forcibly removed from District 6 during apartheid. Now, as the cottages go on sale, the tenants face imminent eviction.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 20 August 2014
When eight-year-old Jessica Jordaan returned home from De Villiers Primary yesterday afternoon, a pile of bricks lay in place of the house where she had lived all her life.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 19 August 2014
About 50 members of several social movements marched on Parliament and the Cape Town police station today in memory of the 34 miners killed by police at Marikana two years ago.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 15 August 2014
When the Anti-Land Invasion Unity (ALIU) descended on 40-year-old Sophie Nqiba's shack they destroyed only half of it. Presumably, if the City of Cape Town's own criteria for the demolitions are used, it was the half which was “uncompleted” or “vacant”. For Nqiba, her partner and their five children it is a surreal and meaningless explanation.
Daneel Knoetze
Opinion | 15 August 2014