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* January: Qadi people over Inanda dam land claim; Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) v KZN Slums Act; Durban Univ of Technology (DUT) staff and student strike * February: Cosatu v Israeli ship; UKZN and DUT students; Ntuzuma service delivery; Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) v Mugabe; Umlazi police violence * March: DUT students; bus commuters; South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) v SASOL * April: KwaMashu housing; Lamontville housing; Warwick Junction Early Morning Market (EMM) * May: Siyanda housing; Marianhill housing; Lamontville housing; SDCEA v Shell; Warwick EMM * June: Warwick EMM; electricity disconnections; Qadi land claim; AbM on shack fires; Umlazi hostel conflicts; MDC v Home Affairs; public sector doctors; Lindelani housing; National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) v Mabhida Stadium contractors; Durban bus drivers * July: Warwick EMM; doctors; NUM v Mabhida contractors; drivers and residents v City bus service; SA Unemployed People's Movement v shops; SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) v municipality * August: Warwick EMM; the Communications Workers Union v Post Office; Clairwood and Bluff residents v truckers; SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) v Massmart; Telkom workers v Telkom; social workers v KZN Province; Lamontville housing; IFP youth * September: AbM attacked; Westcliff Flat Residents' participation; tow truck drivers v Joburg competition * October: AbM solidarity and Slums Act court win; Chatsworth v toxic dump; Mangosuthu University of Technology students; Ratepayers Associations v Eskom prices; Warwick EMM * November: Wentworth service delivery; Hammarsdale service delivery; AbM solidarity; Phoenix residents v Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital; Warwick EMM; Mayville service delivery; Marrianridge housing; UKZN workers v labour broking * December: AbM solidarity; Saccawu n v Pick n Pay *** Statement by O'Brien Gcabashe, spokesperson of the Qadi Families Evicted from Inanda Dam organisation 3:30pm on Saturday, 17 January The Qadi clan, who lost land during the impoundment of the Inanda Dam which supplies Durban with water, have suffered indignity again. I was shocked that this morning, our constitutional rights to expression were denied us by the Durban Metro Police and SA Police Service. Police repression against a small group of protesters followed the rejection of our application for a permit to hold a large rally at Inanda Dam, at the time the Dusi Canoe Marathan was passing through the area this morning. Permission was denied by the Durban City Manager, Michael Sutcliffe, on Wednesday. The reason given in the letter was as follows: "Credible information under oath has been brought to the attention of the Responsible Officer that there is a threat that the gathering in question will result in serious disruption of vehicular traffic, injury to participants in the gathering and/or other persons, and extensive damage to property and that the SAPS and DMPS will not be able to contain the threat." We dispute this, as it is ridiculous in every respect, and we challenge Sutcliffe and the police to prove these claims. Yesterday I wrote a letter to the Durban Metro Police (Officer Sewpersad), faxed (with confirmation), copied to a variety of other police stations. The letter stated that we would come to the dam site with fewer than 15 people, in accordance with the Gatherings Act, which permits such protests. We had no reply, written or oral, to tell us not to come. This morning at 7:30am, a group of us were 1 km from Inanda Dam, on the Hillcrest Road, when roughly 50 police officers in 15 vehicles stopped us. The police did not listen to us, and simply denied us our right to travel further, to demonstrate near the road, to show our signs, or to sing/dance. Had we done these things, which are permitted in our Constitution, the police said they would have arrested us. We had only 14 members of the Qadi Families Evicted from Inanda Dam organisation there to protest, and hence were not violating the Gatherings Act. After being detained at the side of the road, only at 10am were we allowed to proceed to the Inanda Dam, after the canoeists in the Dusi Marathan had left. Our intention was simply to show signs and visible bodies, to illustrate that the land below the water originally belonged to us. We wanted the canoeists and media and citizens to know of our plight. We also wanted to go the dam banks to pray for our ancestors. But we will certainly be back at our ancestral home, on the banks of the Inanda Dam. We intend to fight for our democratic rights of protest. And for the land that was stolen from us by an apartheid government. O'Brien Gcabashe 072 101 4238 email: [email protected] *** BACKGROUND PRESS INFORMATION A video about the plight of the Qadi people: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vox53e10Lg http://www.myvideo.co.za/video/inanda-flooded-forgotten-1-3 *** The Mercury Land threat to Dusi Tribes to 'claim what is ours' January 07, 2009 Edition 1 MPUME MADLALA THE people who had their land taken away from them in 1986 to make way for the Inanda Dam, are determined to disrupt the Hansa Powerade Dusi Marathon on January 17. [NOTE BY O'BRIEN GCABASHE: This is untrue, we never had any intention to disrupt the Dusi, simply to make our case known more widely.] Three tribes - the AmaQadi, the AmaNgcolosi and the AmaPhephethe - were forcibly removed from their homes so the Inanda Dam could be built. The 317 families were promised compensation for their land, but after 22 years they are still waiting. They now live in informal settlements in Ntuzuma and KwaMashu. O'Brien Gcabashe, a spokesman for the affected families, claimed that R5.6 million was paid to a headman in 1994 by the Department of Traditional Affairs, but the money was never passed on to the affected families. Gcabashe said there was also no accountability from government. "For 22 years we have been fighting this battle and no-one has come to our aid. All we have received are empty promises. "What has made us even more disappointed is that Ray de Vries, the organiser of the marathon, did not keep his promise to help us," he said. Denied At a meeting with the AmaQadi last year in November, De Vries had said he would help, claimed Gcabashe. De Vries denied he had promised to help the people, but had been sympathetic to their plight at the meeting. "We have, as the (Dusi Marathon) association, decided not to get involved in the matter on a land issue that we do not know much about it. "We will let all the relevant authorities involved handle the matter," he said. Gcabashe said that on January 17 they would go to Inanda Dam, and this time they would not stand outside the gate, but would go inside as they believe they have the right to be there more than anyone else, as it is still their land. "I was told by one person from this dam that the water was not ours. "We obviously know that and they can take their water with them. We just want our land back if they are not going to pay us," he said. Gcabashe said the people were frustrated and now believed that their only hope was in ANC president Jacob Zuma. "We have sent out a letter to the party's secretary for him to come and meet us, so we can tell him about our problem because government has really failed us," he said. Fools Gcabashe said that on January 17 they would arrive in buses and would make their way inside the dam. "We have been made fools of for far too long and we are very tired. Nobody knows how sad this issue has made us," he said. On November 23 last year, Gcabashe and others of the Qadi tribe went to the dam to hand out pamphlets to visitors to the dam, stating that the community believed corrupt officials had stolen the money that was meant for them. The department said yesterday they were willing to place the affected families on a housing list, but said the issue of compensation was complicated because the injustices were committed by the apartheid regime. Lennox Mabaso, spokesman for the Department of Traditional Affairs, said: "We were not there before 1994 so we don't know what happened to the money they say was paid to our department, but if they feel strongly about it, they are more than welcome to take this matter to court. "We have only been in this office for four years and most of the people who knew about this matter are no longer here. "We, however, have committed ourselves to building homes for the people because we understand they are living under difficult conditions while some are homeless. We do want to help," Mabaso said. *** Sunday Independent Flooded and forgotten while Durban drinks September 23, 2007 Edition 1 By Liane Greeff Try to imagine that it is night-time on September 27 1987. You are asleep in bed when you are woken up. There is a storm outside. It has been raining for days. Everything is wet, and then the water comes in through your front door. You light some candles to see what is happening - your world has turned to water. Your neighbours are shouting in the dark, the dam is rising. You and your family run away from your home to higher ground. The next day, when the dawn breaks, you look down over the valley to where your home was, and all you can see is water. Where once there was your world, now there is water. You have nothing except the clothes you were sleeping in.
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