The law on evictions has changed since the landmark Grootboom judgment in the Constitutional Court in 2000. But the recent spate of evictions and demolitions of shelters in informal settlements in the Western Cape – Lwandle, Philippi East, and Khayelitsha – must make the right to housing ring hollow for those left homeless, writes Sandra Liebenberg.
Sandra Liebenberg
News | 1 September 2014
At the Lwandle Commission of Inquiry today, the police were hammered for failing to engage community leaders in an attempt to prevent the escalation of violence during evictions at Lwandle informal settlement in June. Such a failure falls foul of the legal requirements for public order policing.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 28 August 2014
The City's Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services writes that the electrification project at Agstelaan in Valhalla Park has been halted for periods of time due to excessive and highly dangerous gang violence in the area.
Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg
News | 27 August 2014
Residents of 8th Lane in Valhalla Park protested along Robert Sobukwe Drive after being without electricity for eight months despite Mayor Patricia De Lille making them firm pre-election promises.
Armand Hough
Brief | 27 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
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
In this week in activism, the massacre at Lonmin mine is remembered two years on, relief in the courts for people removed from Saratoga Avenue by the City of Johannesburg, and anticipation mounts ahead of the release of the report by the commission into policing in Khayelitsha.
Thembela Ntongana
News | 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
It’s an hour before snack time at the Sophumelela Day Care centre in Site C, Khayelitsha, and one of the toddlers has indicated to his teacher that he needs to use the toilet.
Barbara Maregele
News | 19 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
Nosiphiwo Lali built her shack in Rolihlahla Park in Philippi East three weeks ago. She is one of hundreds of people who have moved out of backyards into the Philippi area recently, in spite of the eviction of families in neighbouring Marikana settlement.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 18 August 2014
For two years Khayelitsha resident Nokwakha Eslina Kalpens has had to help her 11-year-old mentally disabled granddaughter find her way to toilets 50 metres from their home.
Barbara Maregele
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
The City of Cape Town has invoked a series of court interdicts and orders to defend its role in the evictions of shackdwellers in Philippi East. The land occupation has grown since last week. City Law Enforcement resumed the demolition and removal of shacks on a plot off Symphony Way today, resulting in violent clashes.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 13 August 2014