Disabled woman lives in a flooded house
“Now we like animals because we do not know where we belong. How can we live like foreigners in our country? We do not have a councillor here because of this situation. Service delivery is very bad here”
Informal settlement
Unfinished RDP houses leave a woman homeless
Residents of Ducats near East London in the Eastern Cape spent many years living in the shacks. In 2003, they were very happy when they were told that a construction company had been hired to build RDP houses for them. 625 Houses were supposed to be built in this township. But the houses for 64 families did not materialise. 42 houses were left unfinished and 22 houses have never been built at all.
Toilet cleaners work under poor working conditions
Toilet cleaners in East London are complaining about bad working conditions. Working under the Expanded Public Works Programme, the cleaners, the majority of them women, say they do not get protective gear and sometimes have to buy cleaning materials themselves. Some work without an uniform.
Three years without electricity for Duncan Village residents
It might be 23 years after the dawn of democracy in South Africa, but there are some communities that still do not have basic services like electricity and sanitation provided by the government. C-Section in Duncan Village in East London, is just one of many cases.
Buffalo City residents not all happy with mayor’s report
Residents of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality use the Mayor’s report back to lash out at the City for lack of service delivery, especially in informal settlements.
Residents march over policing in Marikana Informal settlement
Following the senseless murder of 11 people last weekend, the residents of Marikana informal settlement with the Social Justice Coalition marched in Cape Town and handed memorandums to the City of Cape Town, SAPS, IPID, the Department of Community Safety and the Police Ombudsman, demanding better policing and services to the area.
Mbalula promises action from new Station Commander in Phillipi East
After the mass killings in Marikana informal settlement, Cape Town, on the weekend that took 11 lives, the full force of ministerial bluster descended on the area to try reassure a community in shock. Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula, continued with his tough talk as he presented a new Station Commander for the Philippi East Police Station.
Informal settlements only use 4% of municipal water
Throughout the water restrictions in Cape Town there has been a narrative that accusses the black working class in townships of wasting municipal water. The accusations have gotten worse after the City of Cape Town introduced level 5 water restrictions which entail a ban on all uses of municipal drinking-quality water for outside and non-essential purposes. Out on fact-finding mission, Elitsha found out that people in informal settlements only use up to 4% of total of municipal water.
Sweet Home residents wont move to the “small” new houses
Sweet Home Farm shack dwellers are not prepared to move to new houses built by the City of Cape Town. They say the houses are very small and there is no enough space for children to play.
Land and housing activists: “We will take the land because it belongs to us”
There has been an increasing number of land and housing activists that have been murdered lately. Mthunzi “Ras Moziah” Zuma was shot and killed during a road blockade next to the land they were occupying near Khayelitsha Mall. Less than a month later another land and housing activist in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay 41 kilometres west of Khayelitsha was shot by the police during a housing protest and later died in hospital.
Land and housing activists have pledged to continue taking and occupying vacant land despite brutal repression by the state and the killing of those who fight for land. The commitment was made at seminar in Khayelitsha Monday night where different groups of organisations representing activists from Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town met to share their experiences of state and police brutality.
Small businesses owned by foreign nationals burnt down in Imizamo Yethu
“I have lost goods worth almost R45,000 and I do not know how I will restart. I am running out of ideas. This is the third time my container was looted and burnt. When I noted my container was on fire I rushed to take out some goods but while I shoved the goods out some were busy looting so I ended up leaving everything to burn”
Now the third land activist murdered in Cape Town – Philela Gilwa
Another land activist and leader of the group of backyarders from Town 2 who are occupying land next to Khayelitsha Magistrate court has been killed. Philela Gilwa, 23 was stabbed in Khayelitsha on Saturday night.
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