(personal note)

i've been writing letters to my Grandma and other loved ones and realized that i don't have nearly enough envelopes or money for postage (or time) to handwrite you all a letter. so, here's a little update about me here, since it's been awhile since i've written something personal.

it's almost the 2 month mark here, and the past few weeks have been very busy. i've moved from the backpackers i had been staying at to the house of a professor emeritus, who had an extra bedroom. it's nice and quiet, plus he has designed his house and surroundings as a mini botanic garden, so it's full of lush trees and flowering plants, birds, baboons, and of course, all sorts of wierd insects. i'm only a 5 minute walk (up hill) to the university, where i can easily get to the Centre for Civil Society's Resource Centre, so it's a much more convenient place to be than before, where i had a hilly half hour walk ahead of me in the hot sun.

since i don't have a car, i'm at the liberty of other folks at the centre, but usually it's my feet that get me places. there are "taxis--" private mini-bus companies that shuttle people who can't afford a car-- to and from a given location in Durban and the city center. but, similar to my experiences in Zimbabwe, it takes a few tries to figure out which of a couple dozen taxi ranks downtown will take you where you want to go. i spent a frustrating afternoon last week hunting for the taxi rank to take me to the Clare Estate area, where Kennedy and Foreman road settlements are located. in the end, after asking a number of people who all pointed in different directions, i ended up at a city bus stop and a (privately-run) bus came by headed to Kennedy Road.

i think i've finally figure out where i need to go, there's a place called the "market" downtown, a huge open air market where people have stands selling all sorts of everything, from clothes and shoes (pumas are really popular here), bags and hats, to cell phone accessories, fruits and vegetables, any number of kitchen appliances and cookware, and all sorts of other things. it's also a big hub for taxis. so, cross my fingers, when i head there tomorrow afternoon i'll get to the right place.

i'm spending some time helping put some fliers together for a small organizing committee at the Foreman road settlement, just down the road from Kennedy road. the councilor in the area has basically sworn off getting any support from residents at Kennedy Road, so he's focusing now on people who live at Foreman (see the article in the previous post).

most people who live in this community of about 1,000 or so shacks are angry about the lack of delivery of desperately need services. Toilets are few and far away, there are few water taps, no electricity, community hall or daycare center. Streams of sewage and water run around and through some people's homes. Promises of upgrades to houses with real walls and roofs have yet to turn into reality.

now that there is an election in just over a month, the councilor apparently has promised to move about 50 families to Mount Moriah, an area about 15 or so kms away, where families from many different informal settlements are supposed to be relocated. but this is far from the jobs that people have, and to pay for transport to get back into the city would cost more than a day's wage. many residents now walk to work nearby (as domestic servants, gardeners, security guards, gas station attendants) because they already can't afford to spend money to take a taxi, only 2 rand (about 35 cents) for a local trip.

long story short:
are people completely fed up with promises that they won't believe this new one?
or is this enough incentive for them to vote again for the ANC's chosen candidate?
the problem, as foreman road organizers see it, is that this choice was not made by them. "We are the ANC," they say. because the ANC candidate for counselor in their ward is not someone they trust, they will not vote for him.

but, they also will not vote for anyone else. they won't vote against the ANC.

so it's an interesting dilemma to observe. and now it's about 35 or so days until the election, and i'll be watching my friends at Foreman Rd try to organize their neighbors into their campaign of "No House, No Vote."

abahlali as a whole, about 25 different settlements around durban, has been attracting a lot of media attention. so much so that there are now a lot of stories on the news about similar protests against empty promises of housing and other service delivery all over the country. apparently there were something like 7,000 protests just last year. it might mean that municipal elections all over the country, and not just in durban, may be affected by a similar vote boycott.

today i'm supposed to be editing a flier to be distributed at a rally this coming Sunday, but the office i was planning to use is locked. oh well, things always take at least twice as long here as i expect them to take.

***
anyway, so i'm writing about the struggles in the informal settlements, and doing lots of reading. it's hard spending so much time on my own, and i have to admit that solitude is making me impatient for the trip home, back to what's familiar. i'm trying not to let homesickness get the better of me.

things are unfolding slowly here, at a pace i'm slowly getting used to... but it does allow a lot more time to think about the big picture. like, what i should be doing when i get home? and how should i spend my time? also things like how long it takes to figure out being in a new place. how easily language barriers affect understanding, something that happens to me everyday here when i try to talk to people. what community means, here, where so many houses are surrounded by 8 ft walls and electric fencing, and everyone else lives without any privacy; what it means to be in a familiar setting, and to have a real sense of a place; what safety means here, and why breeding really nasty guard dogs to live with you on your property is considered a good idea; what wealth does to people when surrounded by so much poverty and inequality, and conversely, what poverty does when surrounded by so much wealth and separation of classes... i'm sure i could go on and on.

it's supposed to be getting pretty hot and humid here over the next month-- February is the worst part of summer, people say-- so, my motivations might slow to a crawl. but with so much coffee available everywhere, i'm not too worried. plus i'll be housesitting for the next week and a half at a place with a good internet connection, so i'm hoping to catch up a whole lot.

I hope you all are doing well, and see you in 6 weeks.


love,
steph
(ps-check out tan me)

Another day of empty promises to the shack dwellers of Kennedy Road

ANC use the police and buses of supporters to try to force top-down democracy on settlement residents

Last Saturday morning, at 7 a.m., Abahlali base Mjondolo members at the Kennedy Road informal settlement were preparing themselves for a hastily announced rally by the ANC to take place there later that morning. KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele and local ward councilor Yacoob Baig would be in attendance.

“We heard about it first last night,” says Mnikelo Ndabankulu, when someone from the ANC came and asked for the keys to their community hall. “Usually there is a calendar, and if you want to use it you have to reserve it weeks ahead of time.”

“This comes as a shock,” said S'bu Zikode, chairperson of the Abahlali BaseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’ movement in Durban. “We wrote to the Premier last year, asking him to meet with us to answer key questions about the municipality’s proposals to upgrade our housing, questions like ‘when will we be able to live in proper homes?’, ‘where will they be?’, ‘how many of us will be able to live properly?’

“But our issues are not being addressed. [Ndebele] never replied to us. Instead, he now comes into our community barely announced, and he will bus in people from 9 wards, so that our homes, our shacks can be in the background when the media take pictures of people saying ‘Viva ANC Viva’.

“This isn't democracy,” Zikode continued, “if they're using all the strength that they have to oppress the poor. We know that our questions won't be attended to today. Rally is not delivery. … What about our democratic rights to our space, and our own voice? The irony is that we want to meet with the Premier. But this isn't a meeting. It’s a dirty trick.”

No keys were handed over, and by 8 a.m., when the rally was supposed to begin, only a few dozen Abahlali members were present, along with a line of local residents waiting to use the nearby water tap.

On what was already becoming an intolerably hot morning, with temperatures later to reach 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, Abahlali tried to rally themselves and other residents within earshot. “We are the ANC,” said one member. “This will be a fight of ANC versus ANC.”

As the first few outside ANC supporters arrived, sporting brand new black t-shirts with lettering “Vote ANC” and “A plan to make government work better for you,” nine police vans and an armored tank drove past and parked along the side of Kennedy Road.

A little after 9 a.m., over an hour after the rally was supposed to begin, Councilor Baig arrived, but his car was prevented from entering the settlement by heckling Abahlali supporters. Relegated to the shade of a tree across the street, Baig and his advisors observed the scene, flanked by a dozen or so police.

The few ANC members who had come by car to the rally began impassioned conversations with Kennedy Road residents, though none were very persuasive. In the shade of a large umbrella, a young member of Abahlali baseMjondolo was being lectured by a friend in an ANC t-shirt. “Your voice is your vote,” his friend said. “That is why you must vote.”

“But if that is my voice,” he responded, “then I say ‘no house, no vote.’”

“We still like the ANC,” commented one woman who lives at the Kennedy Road settlement, who was observing the heated discussions between Abahlali members and ANC supporters from the shade. “But we don’t like Baig. That is why we won’t vote.”

Councilor Baig retorts that he has responded to the needs of settlement residents: “We have given them food and blankets, and materials to fix their roofs.” This land, he says, is uninhabitable because of its proximity to the waste dump. The councilor says he has moved willing people out to ParkGate, and has staff continuing to study the viability of other sites. “We met with residents last year [to talk about the resettlement process].”

Councilor Baig was also keeping out of the heat, but he was waiting for reinforce-ments. Two large buses, each filled with approximately 80 to 100 people, converged on the scene, and out streamed ANC supporter after supporter, all given brand new black t-shirts to wear, and toyi-toying into the street and toward the Kennedy Road settlement’s community center.

As the ANC’s numbers swelled and filled into the settlement’s driveway, Baig and his staff discussed how to handle the situation of a locked hall. “I don’t want to create a situation of lawlessness,” he remarked. “But these community centers are council property.”

The hall’s doors remained locked despite the Councilor’s veiled threats of arrest, and ANC supporters retreated to what little shade was available under trees along Kennedy Road. Promises from ANC staffers that Premier Ndebele was still on his way pushed back his arrival time to around noon. “The premier wants to come and see the conditions of people here,” said Councilor Baig to a journalist from a local newspaper.

It appeared that Baig and other ANC leaders were also waiting for the arrival of more supporters from the settlement. “[Abahlali] must have bused in people for that march,” he was overheard saying to a staffer, referring to the 5,000 person demonstration that marched to his office last September, demanding his resignation due to lack of service delivery. “There just aren’t that many people here.”

Only a few curious youngsters and those queuing to use the water tap remained in the area alongside twenty to thirty red-shirted Abahlali members. “There are outside forces at work,” Baig continued. “How did they pay for the t-shirts? The buses [for the march]? We also have proof that outsiders have paid for plane tickets to fly some of these people around the country.”

When asked who he thought these “outsiders” were, Baig replied: “I’m not ready to comment.” But, he said, “They are not here today.”

Talking to another local journalist, Baig insinuated that these outsiders had racist motives and were targeting only Indian MPs. “I’m not saying that the Blacks here are [racist],” he said. Nonetheless, he maintained, their supporters have a larger agenda than just a commitment to social justice.

Around noon, and without the arrival of Premier Ndebele, the ANC staff decided to start the rally, using the small parking area next to the water tap [where all the kids are congregating]. They drove in one of their cars, and attached the speakers to its roof. ANC supporters followed, grabbing umbrellas and even an ANC flag for shade.

As ANC leaders spoke, a small contingent of Abahlali members (in red) chanted loudly along the side, often drowning out the words of the speakers. Police approached the group, telling the residents to disperse. But this was their home, members responded. Where were they supposed to go?

The rally ended a mere hour later, with the throngs waving flimsy paper flags at shouts of “Viva, ANC!” In minutes, all that remained were the remnants of these flags strewn all over the ground, and dazed Abahlali supporters and community residents who had retreated to the shade of the hall to write up a list of questions for ANC staffers to take to Premier Ndebele.

Kennedy Road residents seemed unconvinced by the rally. “The thing I want to clarify is that we are the ANC,” said Ndabankulu of Abahlali. “We reject the current ANC nominee for our ward and we, therefore, have a policy of no-vote for this election.

“We will vote in 2009 when we are happy with the nominee.”

With Raj Patel and Richard Ballard.

See also Electioneering Strengthens the Divide by Raj Patel, and photos: Shackdwellers resist KZN Premier



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I originally posted this at: http://southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/9530.php

Shackdwellers in the news

There was a great photo on the front page of UmAfrika, a Zulu weekly paper:


This is a view of the Foreman Road informal settlement, just blocks from Kennedy Road, and Abahlali baseMjondolo members.

Also, Indian slum dwellers are organizing against demolitions. See article here.

Long hot Saturday rally at Kennedy Road

The article below was written by Raj Patel, printed in the Mercury. Raj and I spent most of Saturday from very early morning at Kennedy Road, waiting with Abahlali members for the arrival of ANC politicians for a hastily organized rally at the settlement.

2 buses of ANC supporters were brought in from other parts of Durban because, Abahlali members speculate, the ANC was trying to show that there was widespread support for their choice of Councilor Baig to run again in that ward.














The most exciting vision of the day was witnessing Abahlali members (in red shirts) talking one on one to bused in ANC supporters (in black)

Most people living in informal settlements are lifelong, hardline ANC supporters. For them there is no choice but the ANC. They were a part of the party through the fight against apartheid. Settlement residents' grievances are not with the party, because they say, "We are the ANC." Their problems lay with locally elected politicians, who have a terrible record of delivering services to the people who need it most. Those at Kennedy Road will not vote for the ANC's candidate, Baig, because the promises he has made to settlement residents, more water taps, toilets, movement to better land and houses, have not been fulfilled.

Because they cannot vote ANC, because they were not involved in the process to choose a local ward candidate, they are campaigning against voting at all.

see photos here

******

OPINION

Eye on civil society

Electioneering strengthens the divide

The heart of the coming local government election is a contest over the politics of space, writes Raj Patel

January 17, 2006

By Raj Patel

This weekend, KwaZulu-Natal Premier S'bu Ndebele went on the campaign trail assisted
by incumbent ANC councillors panning for our votes this election season. It was a shambles, with some rallies backfiring and others postponed in a number of constituencies.

This didn't happen because the ANC is unpopular. Far from it. The ideals of justice, equality, democracy and dignity, for which the majority fought against apartheid, are held more strongly than ever. It's not the majority of people who are rejecting the ideals of the ANC - it's the leadership. Take for example the events at the Kennedy Road settlement this weekend, where the premier was scheduled to hold a rally. Residents were informed on the Friday, via a stern call from Crime Intelligence, that Ndebele would be arriving on Saturday.

The next day, with the sun already roasting the ground, the rally was inaugurated with the arrival of nine police vans, a Caspir and an armoured bus. Thus was the ground made safe for democracy. Well, one kind of democracy anyway. Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Shackdwellers' Movement, likes to distinguish between people's politics and party politics. Two different conceptions of democracy were up against each other. One works to engender democratic discussion where people live and work. The other argues that control won by election is the legitimate excuse for top-down domination.

By this time, only a handful of ANC supporters - none from the settlement - had arrived, sporting new, black ANC T-shirts. As the sun rose higher and the police retreated to the shade, several buses and "Benzes" brought in other ANC supporters to the shacks.

Derision

The police stood guard over the proceedings, protecting the ANC elite from the people in whose name they served. When ANC Councillor Yakoob Baig tried to drive his car into the settlement, he was met by hoots of derision. He retreated into a thicket of armed police. When a sufficiently large body of ANC supporters had arrived, the rally pushed through to the central area outside the community centre - a small dusty area just wide enough for taxis to pick up people and then turn around. With eight cars there, it was full. It also happened to be the site of one of six water taps that services a settlement of 6 000.

The ANC's sound equipment was parked right in front of it. When the residents of the settlement started chanting above the noise of the rally, Supt Glen Nayager gave them an order to disperse, so the ANC could continue. Where were the shack- dwellers to go? They were already home. Having only been told the day before that their homes would be descended upon like this, few residents of the informal settlements were present. Those who were there dressed in red "No Land, No Vote" T-shirts and chanted and sang against a mounting ANC chorus.

It appeared that many of the ANC supporters knew that there was a rally more than two weeks before, but didn't know where it would be until they got off the bus. It was sort of an electoral magical mystery tour, with a free T-shirt and food thrown in. When they arrived, and after some initial hostility, many ANC supporters had long and spirited discussions with the shack-dwellers. Upon seeing the conditions in the shacks, one ANC traveller, a man in his 50s, turned on Baig: "Why can't you give them the land?" Pointing to the houses on the opposite side of the road, he continued: "They have houses. The people in the jondolos don't even have that."Baig,
for once, was lost for words.

Those who try to explain the city's housing policy usually end up incriminating themselves. Demagogues like the Minority Front's Amichand Rajbansi have drawn deserved criticism for their racist scaremongering in Chatsworth, conjuring up spectres of racism with statements like: "Our Indians are ignored while residents of informal settlements have been moved in."

Exclusion

But Rajbansi isn't the only one to pit working class Indians against working class Africans. Jayraj Bachu, the councillor for Ward 23, has also promised to rid his ward of informal settlements so that property prices can rise. When Rajbansi advocates the exclusion of shackdwellers, he's a racist. When Bachu advocates the same policies, he's a steward of democracy and a friend to the home-owner. The resegregation of urban areas and the re-expulsion of poor people from wealthy areas is the ANC housing policy that dare not speak its name.

The heart of the local government elections, then, is a contest over the politics of space. On the one hand are shack-dwellers who believed, and still believe, in the ideals of desegregation, of the possibility of rich and poor and black and white living side by side. On the other hand lie local councillors seeking to fence the rich from the poor - councillors who, faced by questions of redistribution from within their own party, can only remain mute. This explains why S'bu Zikode, Chairman of the Kennedy Road Development Committee, said: "They can campaign. That is their right. But we know this is a war on the poor."

And as for the ANC? Mnikelo Ndabankulu, of the Abahlali baseMjondolo, put it well: "The thing I want to clarify is that we are the ANC.

"We reject the current ANC nominee for our ward and we, therefore, have a policy of no-vote for this election. We will vote in 2009 when we are happy with the nominee."

Raj Patel is a research fellow at the Centre for Civil Society

local article today about upcoming local elections

Belief in government promises is a key to local elections
January 9, 2006

By Penny Sukhraj, The Star

At least two councillors were murdered and the homes of many others were torched in 881 protests last year - an average more than two a day. These actions were the result of the anger South Africans vented in violent shows of dissatisfaction at the government's poor service delivery.

Now local government elections loom, and the ANC has produced yet another set of promises to deliver services and get councillors to do their jobs.

However, political observers warn this may not be enough to convince South Africans
to vote in March.

In KwaZulu Natal, 20 000 shack dwellers of the Abahlali Base Mjondolo (shack-dwellers movement) have taken a "no land, no vote" stance.

Representative S'bu Zikode said yesterday that voting meant "giving a platform to the liars".

"We're sick and tired of empty promises from the government. Voting means putting politicians back in power to again oppress us. Anyone from our social movement will tell you it is a waste of time.

"Our problems of needing housing, sanitation, water and electricity are only mentioned around election time," Zikode added.

David Hemson, a Human Sciences Research Council academic, said figures showed that although the government put efforts into certain areas, the backlog in service delivery had not diminished.

While 2,3-million households lacked water in 1994, now 2,6-million lacked water. And while about 1,6-million households were living in shacks in 1996, that number had risen to just over 2-million in 2004.

"These are the poorest of communities, from which we've seen the tyre-burning and violent protests over the year. "They're also the most vulnerable in terms of Aids, crime, poverty, unemployment and abuse," Hemson explained.

"A major problem is that the voice of the community is not really being projected, sometimes because of a lack of experience or inclination. "Therefore they also do not ensure that funding and delivery are followed through."

Hemson said he believed that the government's target of electrifying the whole of South Africa by 2012 was achievable, but he was not convinced that its other goals were realistic.

"The bucket system was supposed to be replaced by this year, but this has been pushed out another year. And based on current figures, it's unlikely the government will be able to provide every household with clean running water and decent sanitation by 2010."

Many of the 21-million voters captured in the registration process - up from the 18,5-million for the 2000 municipal poll - could still turn out faithfully at the polls.

However, protests during last year indicated that communities at every level were becoming more organised, to ensure they enjoyed the services they had been promised.

"If there is no delivery, as promised, there is sure to be a political fallout, as there is already in some areas. "If promises are not kept, there will be political repercussions," Hemson warned.

University of KwaZulu Natal philosopher Richard Pithouse said the fact that the ANC wanted to act against corrupt councillors might be an indication that the party acknowledged that things had gone badly with council officials' last term of office.

"The protests all over the country are a significant indication of people's anger and disillusionment. "In some cases there were well over 5 000 people marching, and these were from among the poorest communities in the country.

"People have marched on councillors and have vented their anger at them because they are the accessible face of the government." Pithouse said two councillors had been killed in Durban while others had their homes set alight by angry communities.

"Similar cases have emerged around the country where local councillors are extremely unpopular because they do not ensure delivery or show contempt for their constituencies. "But they are still put in positions by a top-down system. There is a lot of anger about that," Pithouse added.

The ANC's local government manifesto promised that the party would "resolutely fight laziness, arrogance and corruption" while using a budget of about R400-billion to provide proper sanitation, clean running water, electricity and jobs for South Africans.

Pithouse said: "I don't think many people will believe the promises. We could see a marked drop in the number of people who vote in March."
******************

The ANC just released their "manifesto", or platform, I presume, for this spring's local elections: "power to the people through democratic local government".
One of their promises in their "vision for 2014" is: "Everyone will have access to water, electricity and sanitation." Time will tell if their constituents believe in their message.

Durban court denies eviction notice to shackdwellers

This morning in Durban High court, a judge adjourned a request from University of Kwa-Zulu Natal to evict four households from a shack settlement called Banana City, located within the grounds of the University’s Westville Road Campus. She ruled that because the University had not filled out all of the proper documents, they were not in order and would have to re-serve the eviction notices to the households, and appear again to the court at a later date.

The judge was especially concerned about the rights of two very young children—an infant and a two-year-old—in one of the households threatened with eviction. “We must protect the interests of these minor children,” she said to the University’s lawyer.














A group of about 20 residents of Banana City and supporters accompanied a legal counsel to lend their opposition to these eviction notices to four long-term tenants at the informal settlement. The University says it wants to expand its student housing on the land where the settlement occupies.

Banana City is an informal settlement established on a hillside more than 50 years ago, before the University’s campus was developed there. Many early residents moved to the area from rural parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal to work as domestic servants in nearby suburbs. Today there are about 2,000 people who call Banana City home, but with only about 150 shacks in the settlement, each one- (or on a rare occasion two-) room household has an average of 10 to 12 people. It is easy to find families with children and grandchildren born in Banana City. Few people who are employed can find more than part time or temporary work.

This is the first time Banana City residents have been served with an eviction notice. For years, the settlement and the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal have had an agreement about the continued use of the site by its residents, says Sibusiso Xaba, a spokesperson for the Banana City Informal Settlement Area Committee. But residents have never been given a permanent place to live, and services, like access to a communal tap for drinking water or garbage removal, have been terminated. Now residents have to travel long distances to fetch water. Recently, due to the appointment of a new vice chancellor at the University, the agreement with settlement residents has come under scrutiny.

Many residents of Banana City cannot understand the University’s unwillingness to support their settlement. For decades, students have done research based in the community, and some lecturers still use the settlement for current projects. Approximately 300 children from Banana City attend the nearby Hillview primary school. And many people work as domestic servants in homes that surround the University, or take short term construction jobs on campus.

But, residents say, the University does not let them access services available to the campus community even though they are on their grounds, and members of the community as well. The childcare center on campus is exorbitantly expensive. The soccer grounds and other sports fields and centers are not open to their children. Residents cannot drive cars onto campus. Even the use of the University’s health clinic is not available.

So children run free unsupervised after school. There is no community center. The elderly and expectant mothers do not have easy access to health facilities. Residents have to walk from the University gate with large parcels. There are no toilets or nearby water taps.

The University says the municipality must pick up the trash from the informal settlement, but, says a community researcher, “how can a municipal truck get there if no cars are allowed to Banana City?”

The four households served with notices by the University are newer dwellings, along the ridge overlooking the lower portions of Banana City and the 1 to 2 km path to the distant water tap below.

One of the households given a notice belongs to Mrs. M. Sithole. A mother of 4, she lives with seven people in a two-room shack. Three of her children attend Hillview Primary School. Mrs. Sithole has lived for 20 years in Banana City. She had originally built her home in another part of the settlement, but it was destroyed in a fire. After staying with her brother-in-law while she looked for building materials, she decided to move her house to a safer, less congested part of the settlement, near the ridge.

Her children don’t have birth certificates because she didn’t have the money to get them made. Because of this, none of them have ID cards, so her eldest child, who is 20, is unable to get a job or vote. Her family survives on her ability to get temporary jobs once or twice a week doing housework in the nearby suburbs, maybe bringing in 70 Rand in total.

Like many other families in Banana City, Mrs. Sithole left her rural home near Greytown because of political conflict. If she had to leave the settlement, she has no idea where she would stay. “It is difficult for us,” she says. “There are seven in my house. Who would let us squat with them?”

Mrs. N. D. Lingani, a grandmother of two with five daughters staying with her in her house, didn’t even know about her eviction notice. A resident of Banana City for 13 years, she stayed with her sister and her family at first, but recently moved into another place when it got too congested there. Mrs. Lingani also came to Durban from Greytown, to look for a job. None of her children are employed. “I’m an old lady surviving with a pension from the government,” she said.

The University contends that these newer shacks have been built by newer tenants in the community. “These are not new people,” says B. Mbolekwa, another community researcher. “These are people who have been residing with others. So they have built these new houses. She needs her own privacy. But they have been here.”

The house of Mr. Majosi, a community leader in Banana City, was also named in the eviction. In 1985, his wife moved to the settlement to take a job as a domestic worker. He arrived in 1995. They have four children and seven grandchildren, for a total of 13 people living together in two rooms. Mr. Majosi’s wife remains the only source of employment, and she makes around 800 Rand per month. But with 5 grandchildren in school and school fees of 350 Rand each every year, it is difficult to make ends meet.

Mr. Majosi used to own a small business on campus, where he sold fruits and candy to students who couldn’t afford to spend money on larger lunches. But the University has forbidden vendors outside established buildings to operate on campus grounds. The only other work he and other peers can find is as a casual laborer on construction jobs on campus, but that only pays 20 to 40 Rand per day.

Most of the residents of Banana City are deemed criminals or untrustworthy, says Mbolekwa. “If [the University] could employ people to clean your place, it would be the responsibility of people here. But the university does not want to support them." It would be easy, she says, to set up a community center or sponsor students who have finished grade 12, so they could continue their educations and move on to better lives and better places.

The University and the municipality seek to relocate the entire settlement to ParkGate, a community 27 kms from Banana City, an unaffordable option for many families whose only work will not cover the cost for transport. Returning home to the rural areas is also not an option. Majosi’s family left their rural home years ago because of conflicts between leaders of neighboring villages and his own.

“I don’t know where to go,” he says. “That is why I’m fighting.”

***
I originally posted this to: South Africa Indymedia

***

today at
Banana City

week 3 and the mountains

Happy New Year!

The last few weeks have brought rain and rain all over the country. I can only imagine what it's like to be in a settlement on the side of a hill when it pours. Leaky tin roofs, impassable pathways, sewage and trash strewn everywhere, cold.

Before I left on a trip around the holidays, Abahlali had a press conference at Kennedy Road, to announce their campaign of passive resistance against the local ANC government. Three to Five hundred people attended, including SABC (TV).

There was also an article in the New York Times in the past week or so. As soon as i can find it i'll link it here.

****
In related news: one of the best activist academics in the housing struggle in South Africa, Ashwin Desai, author of We Are The Poors, has been denied research funding to continue work at UKZN and the Centre for Civil Society. Read more about it here, on Raj Patel's blog.

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i spent 10 days up in the beautiful drakensburg mountains. No photos yet, but i'll try to put one up if i can.