Housing
“We’re not going anywhere until we’re heard” - Mfuleni tent dwellers
A group of about 100 Mfuleni backyarders who raised eyebrows in the community after erecting and moving into a tent in an open space, more than five months ago, say they are not going anywhere until they are heard.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 16 January 2015
Hope Street carpenter evicted, again
Hope Street’s pavement carpenter Mark Philander again had his material confiscated by officers from the City of Cape Town Law Enforcement this morning. Now, a local councillor has committed to linking Philander to the City’s informal traders unit in an attempt to find a public space for him to work legally and unhindered.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 13 January 2015
Hangberg shackdweller appeals her conviction
The Wynberg Magistrate’s Court “unconstitutionally” ordered Hangberg resident Janina Samuels to choose between homelessness and imprisonment, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has argued in appealing her 2013 conviction for contempt of court.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 8 January 2015
Hope Street carpenter shut down
When it is late at night and Cape Town’s streets are quiet, Mark Philander’s faint hammering at his pavement workshop on Hope Street can still be heard.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 18 December 2014
Witness says fire that left over 20 homeless was started by man high on tik
At noon on 10 December more than 20 people were left homeless by a fire at a hostel in Mfuleni.
Pharie Sefali
Brief | 11 December 2014
Parow’s block of flats from hell
Immigrants who live in Goodman Close and Le Ruth Close at 194 Voortrekker Road Parow are fed up with the awful conditions they live in.
Tariro Washinyira
News | 10 December 2014
Troubling questions about role of banks in scam
It might come to light why and how local banks readily granted bonds to people who couldn’t afford them when investors in a scam, run by the now liquidated Brusson Finance, head to the Gauteng High Court early in 2015.
Mandy de Waal
News | 9 December 2014
Residents blame Eskom and Zuma for fire that leaves dozens homeless
Residents of Kanana informal settlement in Gugulethu have blamed power cuts for a fire that left over a hundred people homeless on Friday evening.
Johnnie Isaac
News | 8 December 2014
Moving up in Joe Slovo
Approved Joe Slovo housing beneficiaries, who were deemed to be “too young” by government to receive houses in October, this week moved into their new units at the N2 Gateway development. Other families, who remain behind in the informal settlement, and who are now being moved to make space for the next phase of the housing development, remain unhappy.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 5 December 2014