Mass evictions from social housing complex
About 30 families in Steenberg were evicted from their homes in Steenvilla complex on Wednesday. Steenvilla is the largest social housing complex in Cape Town with over 700 units.
Landless
City of Cape Town accused of dividing the community
A meeting between leadership of the Vrygrond community and the City of Cape Town, after several stand-offs between law enforcement officers and backyarders who have attempted to occupy vacant land, has not taken place even though a date was set.
In DR Congo, the world’s second largest forest is being ravaged as landless communities struggle for their rights
Thousands of logs loaded into makeshift boats at the port of Inongo at Lake Mai-Ndombe stand ready to be transported to Kinshasa, the capital of […]
Vrygrond land occupiers defiant
Backyarders in Vrygrond near Muizenberg have vowed to continue building shacks on a piece of land that they have occupied because they cannot “afford to pay rent” anymore.
Community forcibly removed in 2011 languishes in transit camp
In 2011, the informal settlement of Bhungeni in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape was demolished to make way for a shopping mall and the residents were relocated to a transit camp erected by the Department of Human Settlements. They remain to this day in this camp they called Eugene and no shopping mall has been built on the land they vacated.
Despite India’s agricultural crisis, women farmers thrive by growing food instead of cash crops
Shaila Shikrant, 38, sat in the shade of her small house with her neighbours around her, filling bowls with rice, wheat, corn, peas, peanuts, sesame, […]
The City and the province won’t expropriate land for housing
The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government has stated that it will not buy land from Ross Demolition to build houses for Siqalo residents as the land is “not fit for human habitation”.
Siqalo and broader Mitchell’s Plain communities clash
The situation was calm at Siqalo informal settlement on Thursday morning following a protest for land, housing and provision of better services by the City of Cape Town. The protest, which saw the barricading of Jakes Gerwel Drive with burning tyres and communal waste containers, resulted in a counter-protest from residents of Colorado Park. The protest has been suspended following a meeting between community groups in Mitchell’s Plain.
Obstacles facing a young black farmer in South Africa: a personal story
A new sense of urgency has entered South Africa’s land reform process after the country’s parliament took a resolution to amend the constitution to effect […]
Small-scale farmers should be at the centre of land reform in South Africa
Ben Cousins argues that the land redistribution should benefit small-scale farmers.
Land expropriation: identifying who benefits crucial for success
Speaking at a public seminar organised by PLAAS, Professor Ruth Hall from the University of the Western Cape argued that there is no need to change the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation.
Khayelitsha residents demand justice for slain leaders
Zwelethu Occupation Movement from Khayelitsha picketed outside provincial police headquarters demanding justice for murdered leaders.
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