* January: Mangosuthu Tech and DUT tuition fees; S.Durban residents v truckers; hostel residents demand upgrading * February: Mangosuthu Tech and DUT; Verulam traders v municipality on rental policy; SDCEA against World Bank loan to Eskom; inner-city flatdwellers; bus commuters; * March: UKZN security/transport; DUT food prices; Abahlali base Mjondolo demand return; driving school owners; ANC v COPE at Clermont * April: UKZN accommodation & exclusions; Samwu national strike; SACP anti- corruption * May: Satawu * June: Stallion Security v World Cup pay; Durban communities v FIFA; * July: anti-xenophobia protest; fisherfolk arrests; * August: public sector strike; sweatshops; Umlazi service delivery * September: UKZN accommodation
JANUARY
The Mercury
Students protest at Mangosuthu Tech 12 January 2010, 13:52
About 100 students were protesting against an increase in tuition fees outside the Mangosuthu University of Technology at Umlazi in Durban on Tuesday, the student representative council said.
Students were protesting outside the university demanding that management decrease its 8.5 increment for 2010.
“If management does not meet with our demands we will go on a full strike,” SRC president Dumo Ntwinkala said.
“Fees continue to increase over the years with the promise of renovations and accommodation, but nothing is being done. We want management to hear and accept our grievances,” he said.
Police spokesman Superintendent Jay Naicker said police were called.
“Everything is under control. Police are at the university as we speak to monitor the situation.”
The university was not immediately available for comment. - Sapa
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Students in fee ultimatum 12 January 2010, 23:40
By Mercury Reporter
The Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi has been given two weeks by its student representative council to re-open discussions on this year’s increase in tuition fees by January 22, or face a strike.
About 100 students handed a memorandum of demand to the university’s management on Tuesday.
Their primary demand was that management reduce the 8.5-percent increase in fees.
“We hope to be afforded a proper opportunity to express reasons why we absolutely oppose this increment. The issue is that it was not discussed with students,” the memorandum said.
University spokesperson Bheki Hlophe said: “We are going to formulate a response to all issues that were raised.”
# This breaking news flash was provided exclusively to www.iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister publication, The Mercury.
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Durban eyes truck routes 12 January 2010, 14:15
By Arthi Sanpath
Special heavy-duty truck traffic lanes, and even some roads through Durban, could be closed off to normal traffic in an effort to reduce the congestion from the harbour.
This possibility is being considered by the eThekwini Municipality in the wake of fatal accidents and congestion caused by freight trucks.
Motorists may find their routes through the city determined by the council, changing the face of the bustling harbour area and surrounding communities.
Community organisations from Merebank, Clairwood, Isipingo and Bluff have repeatedly called for the removal of trucks from their areas.
The possibility of a dedicated route for freight vehicles formed part of the city’s investigation into building a container terminal in the Cato Ridge area, said Soobs Moonsammy, head of development planning and management at the municipality.
“The freight route will pertain to heavy duty vehicles, trucks carrying freight into and out of the port and other hubs in the eThekwini region,” Moonsammy said.
She said the city needed to accommodate freight and infrastructure and land uses associated with these systems to the port and out of the port, the back of port area, the new airport and new industrial land offerings in the north and existing industrial hubs dealing with freight.
Key corridors in the study were the west, which includes Cato Ridge and Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg), and the northern areas which extend from Durban to Richards Bay and included Maputo.
“We also need to have the freight routes in and around the port that are more efficient, effective and mitigates against current domestic conflicts for road capacity roads and land uses,” she said.
However, whether this meant a dedicated route or lanes, was still under review, but she said it could at certain places be both.
The route would also have to include areas or hubs for truck stops, areas for transfer to and from rail, and check points.
The city is still investigating a dry port container terminal at Cato Ridge.
Moonsammy said they would be in a better position to comment once the study had been completed.
The intention would be to have harbour-bound goods and containers transported via rail to and from Cato Ridge.
Rishi Singh, chairman of the Clairwood Ratepayers’ Association, said they had heard of different plans, but nothing concrete was on the table.
“Since then, we have met with city management, but we will meet again next month and have more information given to us,” he said.
Wentworth and Brighton Beach councillor, Aubrey Snyman, said although freight routes were an option for the city, the ideal solution would be to use rail transport.
“There has always been heavy traffic in these areas and we have called for height restrictions as well for trucks, among other measures, to stop truck-related accidents,” Snyman said.
Snyman said the trucks destroyed roads, verges, pavements and drains.
Desmond D’Sa, spokesman for the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, said they were not in favour of any prescribed routes for trucks.
“We want the trucks out of the suburbs,” he said.
D’Sa said the organisation and residents were pushing for the creation of the Cato Ridge container terminal.
A memorandum calling for this was handed to city authorities in August last year.
Residents asked that town planning be applied and enforced for a clear demarcation between residential, commercial and industrial zones; trucking operations in the residential area be given notice to relocate or face eviction; for landowners who rent out their properties to trucking companies to be prosecuted; prosecutions for town planning violations and traffic offences involving trucks and trucking be expedited and converted into convictions; for Metro Police to be more pro-active; and that the height restriction resolution for Bluff Road be finalised.
Council officials declined to reveal further details of the plans, as “pre-feasibility assessments” were still being undertaken, and had yet to be presented to the city’s executive management.
Several accidents have left people dead in the area - including six-year-old David Williams who lost his life last year when the scooter he was on with his mother collided with a 16-wheeler truck near the Rossburgh Station in South Coast Road.
In August last year, residents from the south Durban communities of Merebank, Clairwood, Isipingo and Bluff embarked on a mass march through the streets of Clairwood, calling for action against trucks being driven recklessly through residential areas, ignoring traffic rules.
Between 400 and 500 people, carrying a coffin to symbolise the deadly impact trucking has on the area, marched to the Metro Police reporting station in Flower Road to hand over a memorandum. [email protected]
***
***
The Sowetan
Students protest DUT fee increase 21 January 2010 Khulekani Mazibuko
NO NONSENSE: Riot police keep a watchful eye on students at the Durban University of Technology’s Steve Biko Campus yesterday. PHOTO: Thuli Dlamini
REGISTRATION was disrupted at the Durban University of Technology yesterday when students protested on the Steve Biko Campus in central Durban.
More than 200 students gathered outside the campus to protest the increase in registration fees and the alleged exclusion of students because of unpaid tuition and residential fees.
University management called in private security reinforcements to prevent students from entering the university premises or damaging property.
A meeting between students and management was held late yesterday with no outcome. The talks were set to continue today.
Students submitted a list of grievances to management, citing outstanding fees, accommodation and transport problems. The students, mostly those already at the university from previous years, complained that the increase would disadvantage them.
Other students said they were hamstrung by the delay in payments from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NFSAS).
SRC spokesperson Sifiso Mdakane said students would continue with the protest until their demands are met.
“We met management and will meet them today as well,” Mdakane said.
“The outcome of our protest action will depend on management’s response to our grievances.”
He said the accommodation fee increase was between 13 and 20percent.
“We cannot allow a situation where students are denied the right to an education because they are poor or have financial difficulties,” Mdakane said .
SA Students Congress spokesperson Sandile Motha said they were going to oppose the increases.
“We believe the institution has gone against the agreement they struck with the SRC last year that tuition fees would only be increased after three years.
“Now the registration fee has increased from R2500 to R2700,” he said.
Motha said they were working jointly with the SRC to assist the students.
University spokesperson Bhekani Dlamini confirmed that a meeting had taken place but said no outcome was reached.
Dlamini said no damages were reported and the protest was peaceful.
***
Protesting DUT students hurt in clash 22 January 2010, 11:48
Registration at the Durban University of Technology has come to a halt after clashes in which security guards fired paintball pellets at protesting students.
Several people, including members of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and the local branch of the ANC Youth League, were injured by the pellets.
The students and guards clashed sporadically on the Steve Biko campus for about three hours yesterday morning, with paintball pellets being fired at times. At one point, a student tried to grab a guard’s gun and was arrested.
About 150 students have protested this week about problems with accommodation, increased fees and the use of what they say are unroadworthy buses to transport them.
SRC member Nolwazi Dlamini was struck on the back by several paintball pellets and said she had been targeted without cause.
“I was standing alone at the sports centre when the guards came up to me and shot me after someone pointed me out as a member of the SRC,” she said.
Soon after the guards fired the pellets at her and other students, MPL Vusi Dube arrived at the campus to inquire about the incidents.
“Under whose authority are these children being shot at?” he asked.
At a tense meeting later with the SRC, ANC Youth League and DUT security officials, Dube was told of several alleged attacks on students.
SRC member Gaajo Hadebe said security guards had tried to intimidate them last week by using dogs to threaten them, and by taking photographs.
He said that a civilian had pointed a gun at an SRC member on Wednesday and that the security guards had not intervened.
DUT officials, however, said the parent of a student being registered had produced the gun because he had been threatened by SRC members.
Hadebe said that the guards had also prevented SRC members from addressing students and protesting.
ANC Youth League member Thembelani Shongwe, who was also struck on the back by pellets, said the protesters had not vandalised anything, yet were fired at. He said the protesters would ensure registration was stopped.
DUT’s head of operations, Patrick Pillai, responded: “If you step over your boundaries, I will arrest you.
“We are not here to engage and fight with you guys, but if you act violently, we will arrest you.”
DUT protection services director William Flemming apologised to the students for being fired at and said he would investigate why this had happened.
He said new students arriving to register had been told by SRC members to “get out or get hurt”. There was CCTV footage of such threats.
In a statement, DUT management said registration would resume on Monday.
“The management is concerned about the safety of staff, students, parents and university property, and will engage in negotiations with the SRC to find solutions on issues raised by students,” it said.
* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on January 22, 2010
***
March closes shops in Durban 30 January 2010, 12:42
* Durban hostel residents take to streets
Shops along Durban’s Dr Pixley KaSeme (West) Street were closed as 800 hostel residents marched through the Durban CBD on Saturday.
The hostel residents from various areas in Durban took to the streets on Saturday morning, protesting against a 100 percent rental increase and the filthy conditions they live in.
Armed with knobkerries and sticks, residents of Thokoza, Dalpon, Jacobs, Kwamashu, Umlazi and Makhuta and other areas danced and chanted songs displaying their unhappiness with the municipality.
“Nobody cares about us. It’s extremely dirty where we stay... There was also an increase of rent by 100 percent without negotiations,” said Mthembiseni Thusi, chairman of the Dalpon hostel residents.
He was among angry protesters who were marching from Botha’s Park along Durban’s West street, enroute to the city hall.
A large number of police officers was overseeing the march. - Sapa
***
FEBRUARY
Hostel dwellers fume at 100% rise in rentals 1 February 2010, 13:32 By Boniswa Mohale
Durban hostel dwellers this weekend threatened to disrupt the World Cup games at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium if their demands for lower rentals are not met.
More than 900 hostel dwellers marched on Saturday to protest against the city’s 100 percent rental increase.
Dalton Hostel chairperson Mthembiseni Thusi said they had been negotiating with the eThekwini Municipality since 2007, but their issues had yet not been resolved.
“The city has increased the rent by 100 percent, while they are not maintaining the hostels. We have raised these issues with them, but clearly our demands are falling on deaf ears. If our issues are not resolved before the World Cup starts, we will disrupt the games at the stadium,” said Thusi.
Police spokesperson Captain Thulani Zwane described the march as peaceful.
“There was a large number of police at the scene during and after the march. We did not receive any reports of intimidation or violence, so I can say all went well,” said Zwane.
Thusi said they were aware that their threats would be viewed seriously, as Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa had already issued a warning to people who wanted to disrupt the 2010 games.
In January, Mthethwa said the country would act swiftly and “with no mercy” against criminals and terrorists who threatened the World Cup.
Saturday’s march started at Botha Gardens and proceeded down Dr Pixley Ka Seme (West) Street to City Hall.
Traffic was disrupted for three hours as hostel dwellers sang and danced along the way. Businesses along Dr Pixley Ka Seme Street closed their shutters and traders hid their stock.
The march was organised by the Ubunye bamahostela, an organisation formed by hostel dwellers who said they had been in negotiations with the eThekwini Municipality to decrease rent and properly maintain the hostels for the past three years.
The marchers comprised hostel dwellers from Thokoza, Dalton, Jacobs, KwaMashu, Makhutha, Glebelands and Wema hostels.
Besides the rent increase, hostel dwellers said they also needed schools, créches, clinics and job opportunities.
Muzi Nyandeni, chairperson of Ubunye bamahostela, handed their memorandum to Cyril Xaba, a representative from the KwaZulu-Natal Premier’s office. He said they would give the office one week to respond, and if their demands were not met, they would proceed with other strategies, including disrupting the World Cup.
Xaba promised that the list of demands would be handed to the provincial premier.
* This article was originally published on page 5 of The Daily News on February 01, 2010
***
Sowetan
Tension boils over at Durban varsity - ‘We might have to close the campus’ Khulekani Mazibuko 4 February 2010
GUN SMOKE: Police fire rubber bullets to disperse students at Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi students yesterday. Protests at continued for the second day, with several students arrested on charges of assault. The students are protesting over high fees and the poor state of their accommodation. PHOTOs: THULI DLAMINI
VIOLENCE broke out for a second day at the Mangosuthu University of Technology in Umlazi township, bringing lectures to a standstill.
Police fired rubber bullets to disperse angry protesting students who threw bricks and stones at them .
Umlazi police and the public order police wasted no time in bringing order on the campus.
Several students had been detained yesterday and are expected to be charged with assault.
Management said if the protest continues, they would be forced to close the university indefinitely.
On Tuesday, 14 students were detained, including the president of the Students Representative Council Duma Ntyikale.
The detainees were released yesterday after appearing in court in Umlazi .
They are expected to appear in court on April 8 on assault charges. The university’s computer facility in the library was vandalised.
SAPS Superintendent Buhle Ngidi said police will maintain a strong presence at the campus.
“Those who were detained on Tuesday were given free bail and will appear in court on assault charges,” said Ngidi.
Students are defiant, vowing to continue the protest .
“They must arrest us again, if they do not want us to speak,” Ntyikale said after being released.
He urged students to protest over what they believe in and not to fear the police.
“Away with police, away,” Ntyikale shouted.
Xolani Gcaba, the SRC’s media spokesperson, accused the university management of not wanting to meet them to resolve their grievances
He said the students’ main concerns are increases in fees and the poor state of student accommodation.
Students are also calling for the resignation of the dean of students Thami Mchunu.
Gcaba also alleged that the institution has a contract to use 16 buses to transport students but that only six were being provided.
He said students had to wake up early to catch a bus, or miss classes.
***
Protesting traders force council to re-think rent policy
Feb 7, 2010 12:00 AM | By Santham Pillay
Trading at Durban’s Verulam Market came to a standstill this week when traders protested over the eThekwini municipality’s new rental policy.
Dozens of fresh produce and livestock traders refused to comply with the policy, proposed last month, to pay their rent three months in advance, forcing the municipality to close the market.
The new rental policy was due to be implemented from February 1.
Traders at the market at present pay a fee of R15 a day to trade for three days a week.
On Wednesday, the chairman of the traders’ association, Manna Naidoo, handed over a memorandum to the market manager, Samson Dlamini.
In the memorandum, the traders said they wanted the present rental agreement to remain.
They added if the municipality refused to agree to this, they would challenge it in the High Court.
Rena Dabydin, 56, has been a trader for 32 years and has been operating at the Verulam Market since it opened 22 years ago.
She said she hoped the market management would allow them to continue as they had in the past.
“The people that come here don’t have stable jobs. That’s why they trade here three times a week. Sometimes we make only R50 a day,” she said.
On Thursday, Durban deputy mayor Logie Naidoo addressed the traders, telling them that a “compromise” would be reached between the market management and traders’ association.
Dlamini told the Sunday Times Extra that negotiations over the policy would begin tomorrow.
“The market is open as usual while negotiations are taking place,” he said.
He added that, for the month of February, the fee of R15 a day would remain, but said they would be “discussing the possibility of phasing in a one-month rental advance from next month”.
Trader Selvan Govender said the news had been welcomed by the traders.
“At least we can trade now while they are carrying on with discussions. That’s the main thing.”
Manna Naidoo said the compromise was “a victory for the traders”.
“There are no preconditions prior to the negotiations. We are thankful that officials have come to their senses.
“Whatever compromise we come to should be acceptable to all parties.”
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SOUTH DURBAN COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE and CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW! KZN
PRESS RELEASE
SDCEA and Climate Justice Now! KZN informs you of a picket to pressure the National Energy Regulator South Africa [NERSA] to refuse Eskom’s price hike application .
Eskom made application to the National Energy Regulator South Africa to increase ELECTRICITY TARIFFS BY 35% annually for 2010 /2011 to 2012. Eskom admits that from 2009-2012, the ‘average township monthly bill’ will increase from R361/month to R1000/month. Moreover, Eskom is South Africa’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, and want to continue increasing their emissions by expanding their coal fired power stations.
Buses will be bringing in communities from all over Durban to ESKOM offices to picket.
The issues that will affect the people of South Africa are:
* By 2013 domestic users will be paying more than triple last year’s electricity rate, but the biggest industries will be unaffected because of apartheid-era multi-decade ‘Special Pricing Agreements’ * The rates increase will enable Eskom to build more coal-fired power stations, which will lead to a drastic increase in greenhouse gas emissions and therefore add significantly to climate change * Eskom wants to expand dangerous, polluting coal & nuclear power causing future high prices & deterioration of the general state of electricity provided in our community * Eskom is applying for foreign loans - including a US$3.75bn World Bank loan, which will be even more expensive to repay when the Rand declines (and when this happened in 2008 Eskom lost R11 billion, so they are incompetent at currency ‘hedging’), and the World Bank invariably imposes conditions for privatisation and cost-recovery, and is hostile to poor people
The Picket details are as follows: ESKOM offices, Westville
DATE: Tuesday 16th February 2010
TIME: 9.00AM
VENUE: MENSTON ROAD WESTVILLE
For Further Information call SDCEA: 031-4611991/0839826939 OR email [email protected]
Desmond D’Sa SDCEA Co-Ordinator Tel: 031 461 1991 Cell: 083 982 6939
Daily News
‘Scrap Eskom’s plan to steal’ 17 February 2010, 14:12
By Noelene Barbeau
Pensioners and schoolchildren braved the blistering heat yesterday to make their disgruntled point outside Eskom’s offices in Westville.
Some of their T-shirt slogans illustrated their frustration - “Eskom no nuclear energy” and “No lies, service delivery now”.
Another banner read: “Eskom’s plan to steal from poor South African people and destroy our environment must be scrapped.”
Eskom has applied to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to increase electricity tariffs by 35 percent for 2010/2011 to 2012.
And now communities, more than 50 non-governmental organisations and environmental groups and academics are sending out a message of disapproval at three years of hikes.
Bobby Peek of the environmental group groundWork called on the World Bank to stop a proposed loan of R29 billion to Eskom.
“If this loan - which may come up for a board vote in March or April - goes through, poor South Africans will have to bear the burden of Eskom’s debt and the World Bank’s cost recovery programme and climate change will intensify.”
Peek explained that the loan would fund Eskom’s construction of coal-fired power plants.
He said community groups fighting against the loan included activists in the polluted Vaal Triangle where people burnt coal for heating and cooking because electricity was unaffordable.
“Eskom shouldn’t be given the World Bank loan and won’t be as a result of this campaign,” said Peek.
Desmond D’Sa, of the South Durban Community and Environment Alliance, handed over a document to an Eskom representative.
The document illustrated their views on the proposed World Bank loan and the decision Nersa would have to make.
Pensioners from Wentworth, wearing Wentworth Development Forum anti-Eskom T-shirts, said they received a monthly pension of R1 010.
“Eight hundred rand currently goes towards our electricity bill. What’s left for other monthly expenses?” asked a pensioner. [email protected] http://www.dailynews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20100217124031724C355 565
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Run-down flats ‘a living hell’ 20 February 2010, 11:58
By Tanya Waterworth
Ralph and Marjorie Robinson have to wake up at 2am every day to collect a little cold water, which may or may not trickle out of the taps.
They are both disabled, so it’s always a battle for them to get down 10 flights of stairs because the lifts in their building have not worked for months.
They are just two of the residents in a Durban block of flats whose lives have turned into a “living hell”.
The electricity at Elwyn Court on Mahatma Gandhi (Point) Road was cut off last June. This means the lifts don’t work and there is complete darkness at night.
Now the water supply has become erratic.
One resident, Cynthia Vasagan, also disabled, has not left her flat for seven months because she cannot get down the stairs.
Pensioner Corrie Bergh was badly burnt last week when she spilt boiling water down her legs while trying to carry it from her stove to the bathroom.
“I also have to walk up and down 10 flights of stairs to go and buy bread, which is very painful,” said Bergh.
Floors seven to 11 are particularly badly affected by the lack of water and residents say the water normally comes on for an hour or two in the middle of the night.
“Water comes on once - normally in the middle of the night, so we wait up for it.
“By the time I have collected water in two-litre bottles and gone to sleep, the early morning traffic is starting.
“It’s very tiring,” said resident Ralph Robinson.
“And without the lifts working, I have to go down the stairs on my backside, which is sore from going up and down 10 flights of stairs for the last six months.
“I also have to pay people R20 a time to carry my wife up or down the stairs.
“I am always on time with my levy and all my payments are up to date, so I am pleading for help.”
The fire hydrants on the affected floors have also run dry.
The plight of pensioners and disabled people living in Elwyn Court was first highlighted by our sister paper, the Daily News, when the lifts stopped working.
Since then there have been accusations by the residents of mismanagement by the managing agent, Ravi Moodley, from Amerada Property Management, as well as a lack of financial statements and substantiating documents.
Resident Victor King said: “We tried to form a committee and fire the managing agent, but he would not hand over any documentation.
“We wanted to see what he was doing with our money, but there have been no financial statements for four years.”
In September, the eThekwini Municipality was called in to assist. A municipal task team was set up and two eThekwini officials were appointed as trustees to manage a new account for levy payments.
But six months have passed and the lifts are still not working and the water supply has been disrupted.
The day after The Saturday Star visited the premises and took photographs, the residents received a letter from the body corporate advising them that individual water meters were going to be installed.
No dates, times or amounts were specified, but body corporate trustee Dan Parusram, from eThekwini Municipality, confirmed the planned installation of water meters. The body corporate would have to pay for them, but he said it was still in “a dire financial crisis”.
“Levies are outstanding to the tune of R1.2 million,” said Parusram.
“Added to that, there is a culture of non-payment by residents, with more than half the residents not paying for their electricity and water. There is also a lot of overcrowding in that block, with up to 10 to 12 people staying in a flat.”
He said that an audit was under way and the next annual meeting was expected to be held next month or in April.
Moodley declined to comment and referred all matters to the trustees.
It also came to light that there are at least two other buildings under his management in Durban, Raynor House and Emerald Park, both of which are experiencing similar problems.
Attorneys Sigamoney Incorporated, acting on behalf of Emerald Park, said this week that High Court action was imminent.
Ineffective management sparks blocks’ crises
Many flat owners in Durban’s inner city are caught up in the financial mess caused by residents not paying their levies and general mismanagement of blocks.
But Organisation of Civic Rights chairman Sayed Iqbal Mohamed said changes at national government level with regard to sectional title ownership were in the pipeline.
He said an independent body, the Community Scheme Ombud would be introduced.
The Community Scheme Ombud Service Bill was published late last year for public comment.
“The idea is to provide sectional titles owners with a speedy and cost effective dispute-resolution mechanism, which is long overdue. Also, the Sectional Title Schemes Management Bill 2009, once it is passed by Parliament, will bring all sectional title schemes under the Department of Human Settlements,” said Mohamed.
With regard to the plight of owners in Elwyn Court, Mohamed said: “Elwyn Court is one of many sectional title blocks that has failed because there is no proper or effective management of the scheme.
“Nationally, we have no fall-back or rescue plans for individuals and families facing difficult times and no attention is ever given to physically-challenged people.
“We need to look at alternate forms of tenure that will provide a practical solution for South Africans.”
Mohamed added: “In the meantime, the residents/owners at Elwyn Court will need to approach the High Court to have an administrator appointed.
“This will mean more levies, including special levies, to save the scheme.
“However, the appointment of an administrator does not necessarily mean that the scheme is saved.
“There are instances where the administrator has absconded with levies.”
* This article was originally published on page 11 of The Star on February 20, 2010
***
Daily News
Commuters ‘fed up’ with bus service run by Tansnat
February 15, 2010 Edition 3
Lyse Comins
Durban bus commuters are fed up with a service that was inefficient, infrequent and expensive and the eThekwini Municipality should take back control of the former municipal bus service that is presently run by Tansnat Africa, says the SA National Civic Organisation.
This was just one of the calls for drastic government intervention from Sanco in Durban yesterday, as regional secretary Richard Hlophe underlined the 13 000- member group’s campaigns for the year.
He said the organisation had held its regional general meeting in the city to develop a plan to deal with the issues facing communities.
Among the urgent calls made by the organisation was for the government to regulate the price of bread and to clamp down on corruption in the housing and municipal flat rentals sectors.
Hlophe said the city was facing a “serious crisis” concerning the unreliable bus service and if the problem was not fixed, commuters would boycott the buses and stage protest marches to express their grievances. He said the organisation would meet the municipality and senior ANC officials within the next two weeks to discuss concerns.
In December, Acting Judge Adrian Rall ruled in the Pietermaritzburg High Court that the KwaZulu-Natal Transport Depart- ment had not complied with statutory procedures in appointing Tansnat Africa to run the bus service.
He ordered the service be suspended, saying that the contract should have gone to tender. Last week, the department was granted leave to appeal the decision.
Hlophe said: “Umlazi commuters have decided to not use the buses because there has to be an efficient, sufficient and affordable service. Those buses are too expensive and there are no timetables.”
He said Sanco had conducted its own research and it had found that Tansnat had not signed a contract with the city. “We want the municipality to take over those buses. They promote the use of public transport over private transport, so they should make the buses reasonable. They are more expensive than the taxis,” Hlophe said.
However, Tansnat Africa CEO Mike Jesserman said the company had a contract with the city, although maintenance contracts for vehicles were held by the city and repairers.
“We have a contract for each and every vehicle we take on board; we get permits for every vehicle; and we have the contracts for the drivers,” he said.
“The timetables are in the process of being printed and they have been finalised,” Jesserman said.
Hlophe said that after the arrest last week of two eThekwini Municipality housing officials on charges of corruption, residents were “fed up” with reports of alleged corruption in government housing schemes and rental flats, and had decided to conduct their own investigation.
He said members at the meeting had been instructed to interview residents and housing department officials to get to the bottom of the problem of shoddy housing.
“Houses have been built, but there are no roads and infrastructure. Some of the houses are leaking and there are no toilets and no water,’” Hlophe said.
He said it was “unacceptable” to move people from squatter camps to houses without proper sanitation.
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Nine SA universities to close for protest 03 March 2010 - 13:33 By SAPA Nine of South Africa’s universities will close down on Thursday because of protest action demanding free education, the SA Students Congress said on Wednesday.
“We have decided to engage in protest action demanding free education. We will take the fight for this right to the doors of the State and all its peers - Parliament, government and even the judiciary if we have to,” said Sasco secretary general Lazola Ndamase during a press briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg.
He said the University of Venda, University of Limpopo, Tshwane University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, Durban university of Technology, University of Zululand, Walter Sisulu University, Cape Peninsula University for Technology and the University of Western Cape will shut down on Thursday as there would be protests at these universities demanding free education.
Ndamase also said there would be a national march to Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, where 1000 students are expected to participate.
MARCH
The Third Force is gathering its strength Abahlali baseMjondolo 2010-03-04, Issue 472 http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/62755
Any popular movement that is serious about building the power of the poor and about demanding the full recognition of the equal humanity of the poor will face many challenges and tests, write Abahlali baseMjondolo: ‘We have confronted and passed many challenges and tests since 2005. The attack on our movement in Kennedy Road has been the greatest test that we have faced so far. But we have passed it.’
The goal that our attackers wanted to achieve when they ambushed us on the night of 26 September 2009 has not been achieved. A surprise attack was launched against our movement, the spontaneous resistance to the attack was broken by the police, our office was destroyed, hundreds of our members and supporters were chased from Kennedy Road, thirteen of our comrades were jailed and illegally detained and we have been banned from openly organising in the settlement where our movement was founded. But our movement was never just in Kennedy Road. Before the attack there were fifteen settlements affiliated to our movement in Durban and more than 50 branches across Durban, Pinetown, Tongaat, Howick, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town. The goal of the attack was to destroy our movement to punish us for our victory against the Slums Act, to deny us the victory that we had won to have the Kennedy Road settlement upgraded where it is and to neutralise us before 2010. But our movement still exists. In fact it continues to grow. Since the attack we have launched four new branches and we will launch another four new branches soon.
In Kennedy Road there is no political freedom now. Abahlali is banned from the settlement and if you are thought to remain loyal to the movement there is still a risk that you may be assaulted and that your home will be broken down or burnt. We have always allowed political freedom. When we organised No Land! No House! No Vote campaigns we allowed those residents who wished to support political parties to do so. You are either a democrat or you are not and the only real test of your commitment to democracy is whether or not you allow different views to express themselves. No one can deny that we passed that test. No one can deny that the ANC has failed that test.
All of the services that we provided in Kennedy Road are no longer provided. There is no more Drop-in-Centre for people living with HIV and AIDS, there is no more community crèche, there are no more food parcels for families that are starving, there is no more collectively organised care for the sick. Bread is no longer baked for the hungry. There is no more Operation Khanyisa. Now people just connect how they feel without regard to safety - and now people sometimes have to pay for a connection. Even the hall that we fixed up and maintained so carefully after it had lain desolate for years is sinking back into desolation. The grass has not been cut. Rubbish is rotting everywhere. Those who cannot afford to send their children to private crèches now leave them with gogos who are also busy with fetching water, baking and making beer. The care is not the same. At our crèche we taught English and counting, we gave pills to the children that needed them. We had a full time teacher from the community who took her responsibility as a serious job. She had been on courses on how to teach the small children. It is a strange thing that when we as the poor are allowed to govern ourselves we can do all this. But when the political party that has all the money seizes control of our community because to them it is a rebel community they can’t even run a crèche. It is clear that their agenda starts and ends with maintaining political control over the people.
On 19 February 2010 the Kennedy 12 appeared in court again. This time the magistrate openly admitted that there was massive political interference and pressure on this case. He failed to give details of this interference and pressure. We will look for ways to force this into the open.
The case was remanded until 4 May 2010. If the case does go to trial on 4 May the 5 comrades who are still in Westville prison will have spent 7 months in jail without any evidence being presented to the court to indicate that they are guilty of any crime. They spent two months in prison without a bail hearing. Detention without a trial or a bail hearing is a crime. When they did have a bail hearing at the end of November last year no evidence was brought against them other than that they had been identified in a line-up. That means nothing. Their accusers had been to court six times and had seen them in the dock each time. Before that they were neighbours, some were team mates in the same soccer teams. Some had known each other for twenty years. The issue was never whether or not the accusers could recognise the accused. The issue was whether or not the accusers could bring any evidence against the accused. They have failed to do this. There is still no evidence.
It is clear that we are heading for a political trial. When there is open intimidation in the court - including death threats - when politicians are openly advising the prosecution, and when there are repeated delays that keep people locked up because the IO has ‘forgotten to come to court’, because ‘the typist is unavailable’ or because the prosecutor is ‘unavailable’ (when in fact everyone can see her smoking outside the court) you know that you are not dealing with anything that can be called justice. The police investigator has missed court 4 times. He says that he has forgotten to attend the court but if he cannot even be relied on to remember a court date how can he be relied on to investigate a complex situation like the attack on AbM in Kennedy Road? In the constitution of our movement it says that if someone is elected to a responsible position in the movement and they miss three meetings without an apology then they must lose their position. Surely a police officer who fails to attend the case that he is investigating must be removed from that case?
The normal rules of justice have not been applied in this case. It is no different to how the normal rules about evictions or the right to march are not applied in our case. It is clear that the normal rules are never applied to the poor.
The police and the prosecution are supposed to be working for the public. We are, as we have stated many times, especially when we are arrested for ‘public violence’ when we exercise the basic rights promised to us in the constitution, very clear that we are also the public. If this idea of the ‘public’ has to have any useful meaning it has to mean everyone. But it is very clear that the police and the prosecution are not working for us - they are working for the politicians - for Willies Mchunu and the thugs that were deployed against us. It is clear that the poor in this country are supposed to accept that the normal rules do not apply to us. It is also clear that in this country the mobilised poor, those who have organised themselves to speak and act for themselves, are taken by the politicians to be enemies of this society - the same society that we are expected to guard, clean and build in silence.
It is a disgrace how this case has dragged through 12 appearances. Perhaps they are trying to ensure that we have no money left for a good lawyer when the trial comes.
How are we expected to abide by the law when the state does not? What are we supposed to do when citizens are compelled to respect the law but the state does not? How are we supposed to protect our struggles when the state has no respect for the law? How are we even supposed to get the money to pay lawyers to argue that we too deserve to be treated within the law?
Last year won a great victory in the Constitutional Court. That victory has forced the state to admit that it cannot ‘clear the slums by 2014’ and to promise to meet our demand and to access land and to build houses in the cities. But while we can get a fair hearing in the Constitutional Court there is no fairness lower down. Despite this we believe that power remains with us. When the law can’t be a remedy for us we will use our political power.
The guys in prison are suffering a double victimization. They must endure imprisonment and they must endure the assaults that they are suffering in the prison. Once again their visitors are being chased from the prison at visiting hours - both comrades and family. We have asked Bishop Rubin Phillip to contact the prison authorities on this matter. On Tuesday a group of priests from South Africa and abroad visited the prison.
Things are still difficult for the people displaced in the attacks. They all lost the infrastructure that a person needs for a sustainable life. Many of them lost everything. Many of them are still looking for a safe place to stay.
The attack was meant to destroy our movement -to frighten us back into the dark silence from which our movement emerged. Well we have a very bad news for our attackers and those that have supported them - for people like Jackson Gumede, John Mchunu and Willies Mchunu. The bad news is that since the attack we have formally launched four new branches. We have launched new branches in:
· Hillary
· Cato Crest (Umkhumbane)
· Lindelani (Ntuzuma)
· Port View (Diakonia Avenue, CBD)
We are also preparing to launch three new branches in:
· The Ridge View Transit Camp (Chesterville)
· New Dunbar (Mayville)
· Albert Park
There is also underground organising that we cannot yet speak about.
We don’t go to shack settlements, or blocks of flats, or to the old tin houses or the new amatins to mobilise people. People come to us. They mobilise us to come and share our experience of struggle with them. All we do is to allow ourselves to be mobilised. It is the condition of people’s lives that recruits them to this struggle.
On Sunday we launched a new office in the transit camp in Siyanda B. A few weeks ago we opened our new head office in the CBD. We lost a lot of books in the attack but our library is running again.
Since the attacks we have carried on the work of fighting evictions. Evictions have been stopped in:
· Tumbleweed (Howick)
· Hillary (Durban)
· Motala Heights (Pinetown)
In all these areas the battles are ongoing.
On 17 March 2010 it will be one year since the High Court issued an interdict against the Department of Transport giving them one year to provide permanent housing to the people that it evicted from Siyanda and into the Richmond Farm Transit Camp. But there are no plans yet for housing these people. The court also issued an interdict that forced the Department to provide basic services. But almost a year later there is still no water, there are still no toilets. The court also ordered that there would be a report to the court every three months but there has been no report. The Department of Transport is in contempt of court. We will take this battle up in the streets and in the court. We will demand that the Department be held accountable to the people forced into the Richmond Farm Transit camps like fish into tins and to the High Court.
We are well advanced with plans for more mass action. This will include things like public protest and, in one area, a rent strike. We will announce these actions soon.
About 150 of the people displaced from Kennedy Road are meeting once a week with the exiled but democratically elected Kennedy Road Development Committee. They have formulated the following demands:
1. The right to safe and permanent return to the Kennedy Road settlement.
2. The right to access to nearby land if someone else has built on their land in the interim.
3. The right to full and equal protection from the SAPS for everyone.
4. The right to have the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Kennedy Road Development Committee and the eThekwini Municipality in February last year recognised and honoured as a legally binding document.
5. The right to free political activity for all within the settlement.
6. The right to have the ANC coup recognised as a coup that has no standing. The ANC committee should be set aside and a credible outside organisation should hold a free and fair election for a new committee.
7. The right to have our right recognised to land and housing in the upgrade that was won by our struggle.
8. The right to continue to struggle for the realisation of these legitimate demands in and out of the courts.
9. The right to have the attack and the blatantly unfair and unlawful judicial process that followed it investigated by a credible and independent commission of inquiry.
The situation in Kennedy Road is very bad now. There is no longer any leadership - there is just political control. The demolishing of homes of AbM supporters continues. The outside ANC is no longer in Kennedy Road. The settlement has been left in the hands of the local shebeen owners and the local ANC that perpetrated the attack. It is disgracing how the ruling class overlooks the social needs of people and is just interested in politics - in controlling the people from the top down. The crime rate is now very high in the settlement. The situation is particular dangerous for women. It is also affecting people outside of the settlement. The middles classes near to the settlement are becoming very concerned about the increase in crime.
There are serious debates going on in the settlement. People are asking where Willies Mchunu is now when the community has no leadership and is not safe. In February he promised that he would house people but he can’t fulfil those promises. In fact after we were attacked John Mchunu said that the people would be taken from Kennedy Road to the transit camp in Chatsworth. People are now wondering if in fact it could be that we were attacked so that the land that we had won could be taken back from us.
The state has failed to respond to the worldwide call for an independent commission of inquiry. On Friday Abahlali baseMjondolo will meet with Church Leaders to take forward the proposal for the churches to conduct their own inquiry.
Perhaps because of the escalation of crime in the settlement, and because of how this is now affecting the middle classes nearby the settlement, or perhaps just because some police officers really do want to do their work properly the local police are now, at last, starting to act against the leaders of the coup. On Thursday last week two people - a shebeen owner and well known criminal who were both involved in the attack - were arrested for demolishing a house of an AbM supporters. This is an important break through. Up until now the police have just refused to open cases for people whose homes have been demolished. S’bu Zikode was the only person who succeeded to open such a case. Others were just chased. Mashumi Figlan was badly insulted when he tried to open a case. Mondli Mbiko was promised that a case would be opened but nothing happened. Therefore we welcome these arrests and commend the police. They are a sign that the local police are starting to resist the political pressure and to obey the law rather than the politicians. They are not the first sign. Last week two others, both members of the new ANC committee in Kennedy Road, were arrested for assaulting one of our comrades. If the police can follow the law rather than just taking orders from the ruling party then there are some small but important signs of hope.
The arrested people are:
1. Sizwe Motaung (shebeen owner)
2. Linga ‘Mnqundu’ Hitsa (well known criminal)
3. Zibuyile Ngcobo (Member of the BEC of the local ANC and part of the new ANC committee installed after the coup)
4. Nana Ngcobo (Member of the BEC of the local ANC and part of the new ANC committee installed after the coup)
It is interesting to note that, while we have been rebuilding our movement and looking after the displaced and the jailed, people have been struggling all over South Africa. If we are the third force then it is clear that the third force is everywhere. And if the third force is everywhere then it is clear that the third force is just another name for the organised poor. There is no doubt that the poor will rise again and again. Nothing will make Lanesdowne Road or the Golden Highway safe for the business of the rich for as long as the poor are kept poor. The only question is what will the poor rise for? Will we rise against each other or we will rise against injustice? It is so sad that in Uganda and Kenya the rich and their priests and Maulanas are trying to turn the people against each other. Here in South Africa we commend those who, like Sikhula Sonke, have taken a clear stand against xenophobia and for a struggle that empowers the poor to take back our dignity from the rich in and out of government.
It is also interesting to note that while we have been rebuilding our movement Haiti has been devastated by this terrible earthquake. It is clear that from Haiti to Kennedy Road the poor are not allowed to choose their own leaders and to build their own power. From Haiti to Kennedy Road we are only allowed democracy if voting means that we support one faction of the rich against another. From Haiti to Kennedy Road our political weakness leads us to be vulnerable to disasters like fires, floods and earthquakes. And from Haiti to Kennedy Road disasters are misused to seize even more control over our communities in the name of helping people who have been made to be desperate. For Haiti to Kennedy Road the solution, the real solution, is the political empowerment of the poor by the poor and for the poor.
Our struggle began in 2005 with marches against Yakoob Baig, the Ward 25 councillor. We have heard that his house was recently repossessed by the bank. Two days later one of our members saw him at the Suncoast Casino. The rich think that only they are fully human. They think that only they are real citizens. They think that we are dirty and stupid and that we like living like pigs in the mud. But in fact the only difference between the poor and the rich is that the rich have money and the poor do not. There is no other difference. Some poor people wake up one day and notice that they are rich. Some rich people wake up one day and notice that they are poor. Money can come and it can go but you were still born to the same mother and you still have the same mind. We are issuing a public invitation to Yakoob Baig to come and speak to us if he needs a place to stay. We can show him how to get some pallets from the dump and arrange for some land where he can build a jondolo for his family.
We want to thank all those people around South Africa and around the world who have supported us after the attack. Their investment has not been wasted. Our struggle continues.
Any popular movement that is serious about building the power of the poor and that is serious about demanding the full recognition of the equal humanity of the poor will face many challenges and tests. We have confronted and passed many challenges and tests since 2005. The attack on our movement in Kennedy Road has been the greatest test that we have faced so far. But we have passed it.
For further information please contact:
Mnikelo Ndabankulu: 079 745 0653 Mazwi Nzimande: 074 222 8601
For further information about the specific situation in Kennedy Road please contact Mzwake Mdlalose: 072 132 8458
Support for the displaced:
To offer support of any kind to the people displaced or arrested in the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo in Kennedy Road please contact the Kennedy Road Development Committee via Mzwake Mdlalose. The solidarity fund managed by Bishop Rubin Phillip is still active and open for donations. The details are online at: http://abahlali.org/node/5783
*** www.iol.co.za
March disrupts lectures on KZN campus 9 March 2010, 22:58
By Gugu Mbonambi
Tests were cancelled and lectures disrupted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College campus in Durban on Tuesday as dozens of protesting students marched around the institution.
The strike - called by the students’ representative council in support of their call for adequate transport for disabled students among other demands - has been declared illegal by the university.
Some of the other demands raised by the students include more stringent security measures on campus, an on-campus ambulance, sufficient accommodation and adequate financial aid packages to assist all the students who require funding.
Some students said they were not aware of the strike and were against violent behaviour demonstrated by their striking counterparts.
Students said protesters marched to the library, isiZulu, music and philosophy lectures, banging on doors and forcing students to leave classes and join the march.
Chemistry, law, heritage and tourism tests were among those that were disrupted.
SRC campus president Siyabonga Nkontwane said the protest would continue until the university management addressed their grievances.
“About 560 students require financial aid but the university indicated that there are only 150 packages available. What about the other 400 students? Students must not be deprived of education on the basis of their poor background, because education is a right and not a privilege,” Nkontwane said.
President-general of the central SRC Thanduxolo Sabelo said students who did not attend lectures to participate in the strike action should not be intimidated by the university management.
“All students that were absent from tests and tutorials must be given another date to write and submit their tutorials,” he said.
UKZN spokesperson Nomonde Mbadi said the university management was engaging with student leadership to discuss and resolve the issues so that lectures would resume on Wednesday.
“Approximately 200 students embarked on an illegal protest action at the Howard College Campus. Students handed over a memorandum outlining their grievances to the university management,” she said.
The SRC said the strike action would not be extended to other UKZN campuses as these were issues affecting Howard College.
# This breaking news article was supplied exclusively to www.iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister publication, The Mercury.
For more information, keep reading IOL or subscribe to the print or online edition of the newspaper now.
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The Mercury
Shack dwellers vow to march
March 15, 2010 Edition 1
GUGU MBONAMBI
Abahlali Basemjondolo yesterday vowed to go ahead with a march on March 22 - despite the eThekwini municipality refusing it permission to do so.
The shack dwellers’ movement has also threatened to take legal action against municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, who it blames for not being granted a permit to march.
Abahlali spokesman Mnikelo Ndabankulu said Sutcliffe’s office had responded that the city did not have sufficient police officers to provide security at the march.
“If the city does not have enough police to monitor about 20 000 people who will be marching for just four to five hours on one day, how can they say that Durban has enough police and the capacity to protect the whole world for a month when they come for the World Cup?” he asked.
Delay
Ndabankulu said it was common practice for the city to delay its response to Abahlali’s requests to march.
“In 2007, our movement was banned from marching because the city claimed that our organisation was not known.
“We took Sutcliffe and former KwaZulu-Natal transport and community safety and liaison MEC Bheki Cele to court and won the case. If we have to go to court again before marching, we will do so,” he said.
The movement wants to march to call for an investigation into the “double ownership” of RDP houses and for transparency from the municipality in their allocation.
Metro police spokeswoman Joyce Khuzwayo said: “We were informed by the city that all marches should be put on hold for now because they will clash with the city’s preparations for the World Cup.”
The Mercury was unable to get comment from Sutcliffe.
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DUT campus shut after protest 2010-03-15 15:57
Durban - The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) Pietermaritzburg campus was on Monday temporarily closed till Thursday after a protest in which ten students were arrested.
“Management at DUT has temporarily closed its Midlands Campus, following student protests regarding the cost of food supplied by service providers,” said spokesperson Professor Nqabomzi Gawe.
She said the prices had not been increased since 2009.
“Lectures would resume on Thursday and management was reviewing the concerns raised by students,” she said.
Car damaged
About 800 students from DUT’s Ndumiso Campus in Pietermaritzburg protested, causing damage to the roof and windscreen of a car parked on the premises, police said.
“They also removed fire extinguishers from the campus. The students were also throwing stones and bottles at the police,” Superintendent Jay Naicker said.
“After numerous requests from the police to disperse the protesters refused to comply.”
Rubber bullets and stun grenades were used to scatter them, but there were no serious injuries, Naicker said.
Rubber bullets hit students
Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks said rubber bullets struck one student in the head and another in the abdomen.
“Ten suspects, aged between 18 and 25, were subsequently arrested and charged for public violence and malicious damage to property,” Naicker said.
All would appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court shortly.
Gawe said the university had one contracted service provider for both the Midlands Campus’s sites, Indumiso and Riverside.
“According to the agreement the service provider is allowed to sell takeaway retail items at market related prices,” Gawe said.
- SAPA
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Driving school owners protest March 15 2010 at 10:24AM Get IOL on your mobile at m.iol.co.za
Durban driving school owners were planning to protest in the city centre on Monday against government’s refusal to recognise their businesses.
Ubumbano Driving Schools Association chairman Mike Ncanane said their grievances ranged from problems with learner licence applications to bad treatment they received from the inspectors at testing grounds.
“We have had several interventions with the previous and current ministers to find solutions with our problems but nothing is being done,” said Ncanane.
He said they were told that although driving schools were not recognised, the person applying for the driving test was recognised, Ncanane said.
“We teach people to drive, how can our driving schools be unrecognised?” Ncanane asked.
KwaZulu-Natal transport MEC Willies Mchunu’s spokesperson Bhekisisa Ncube said they were still negotiating with driving school owners.
“It is not true that we have said driving schools are illegal. We received a letter from the driving schools and were still engaging with them,” Ncube said.
He said driving schools were a private business and as long as they were registered and paid taxes there should not be a problem.
Ncanane said driving school owners would march from Durban’s Curries Fountain to the office of KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize. - Sapa
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The Mercury
Two admitted to hospital Students, police in clash on campus
March 16, 2010 Edition 1
Latoya Newman
TWO students at the Durban University of Technology claim they were attacked by police, despite not being part of student protests at the university’s Midlands campus in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
Both the students were taken to Edendale Hospital.
In the first case, a student suffered an asthma attack after police stormed her room at the residence on campus.
“The police just kicked down my door. I was about to go into the bathroom so I was naked. They told me I was under arrest. I told them I was not part of the strike, but they just pulled me out into the corridor.
“I started feeling dizzy and I could feel the attack (asthma) coming on. I told them I was sick but they said I was telling lies. I fainted and they started kicking me all over. I want to lay a charge but I cannot identify them; there were too many,” she said. The student has asked not to be named.
In the second case another student, who also refused to be identified, said he had left his room to buy bread when he was struck by a rubber bullet. “I saw a group of students running towards me, but I thought nothing of it and continued to get the bread. Then I heard shots and saw the police. I was shot near my eye,” he said.
The clash between students and police took place during a protest by about 800 students, said police reports. Ten students were arrested for public violence.
The students demanded that food prices at the canteen be lowered, security be beefed up on campus and that residence renovations be speeded up.
Police claim they were monitoring the protest when students started throwing stones at them. However, the students representative council claimed their protest was peaceful and police had suddenly fired rubber bullets.
Senior Superintendent Jay Naicker said that when police arrived officers established that the students had damaged the roof and windscreen of a vehicle parked inside the premises and they had also removed fire extinguishers from the campus.
“The students were also throwing stones and bottles at the police. After numerous requests to disperse, the protesters refused to comply. Police were then forced to fire rubber bullets and use stun grenades, after which the crowd subsequently dispersed,” he said.
Midlands campus SRC president Sipho Mdliva said the students threw stones at police after being attacked. He said their strike would continue until their needs were met, despite the “brutal” treatment.
Showers
“In block five at the Indumiso site, students have no hot water. Renovations that were supposed to be completed in February are going at a snail’s pace. As a result, male and female students are sharing shower facilities. The quality of the food at the canteen is poor and it is very expensive, and the management has done nothing about crime on campus. Students continue to be attacked by criminals who come on to campus,” he said.
DUT spokesman Professor Nqabomzi Gawe said the Midlands campus had been temporarily shut down. “Lectures will resume on Thursday, when students will be given feedback on their concerns. DUT is not aware of any issues relating to disruptions to the supply of water to the campus.”
Tensions peaked during a protest at the Durban University of Technology’s Indumiso site at its Midlands Campus yes172terday when a clash between about 800 students and police resulted in officers firing rubber bullets and stun grenades into the crowds. Several students were arrested.
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Sapa
Shack dwellers protest Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:46
Hundreds of shack dwellers on Monday took to the streets of Durban to demand better service delivery and housing.
They were closely monitored by dozens of police officers to ensure that they followed the route that the eThekwini Municipality restricted them to take.
Abahlali Basemjondolo, an organisation that represents shack dwellers on Sunday failed in a court bid forcing the city of Durban to allow them to march through the central business district.
The group wanted to march through the CBD but it was granted a permit to march from Durban’s Botha Park to Albert Park.
The news about the city’s refusal to allow Abahlali Basemjondolo to march through the central business district angered the protesters.
Some even suggested that the court order should be defied, prompting the police to beef up its man power before the start of the march.
About 30 members of the Durban Metro Police and SAPS monitored the march. The porters spent more than an hour at Botha Park before they began the march.
There were no incidents of violence reported. The march was also attended by religious leaders from the Diakonia Council of Churches who prayed for the marchers to succeed in their attempts to get better service delivery.
Some of the shack dwellers were from Nkwalini, Siyanda, Lamontville, Wentworth and other areas in KwaZulu-Natal. In a memorandum submitted to local government officials, Abahlali Basemjondolo said they had been subjected to evictions from their homes.
“These evictions are often unlawful, they are often violent and they often leave the poor destitute. Therefore we demand an immediate end to all evictions so that we can live in peace,” the organisation said.
They said they had no hidden agendas but they were just expressing their suffering.
“For too long our communities have survived in substandard and informal housing. Therefore, we demand decent housing so that we can live in safety,” the organisation said.
They also demanded free electricity for poor people. Government had forced people to live in the so called transit camps which were like prisons, they said.
Transit camps were corrugated iron built homes where people were housed while waiting for free government homes.
Abahlali Basemjondolo was also not happy that cities built them houses too far from the cities and far from libraries, work and schools.
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Shack dwellers lose march bid 2010-03-21 20:05
Durban - A group of KwaZulu-Natal shack dwellers on Sunday failed in a court bid forcing the city of Durban to allow them to march through the central business district.
“We are glad the court ruled in our favour. It is sad that Abahlali baseMjondolo had to use such tactics,” municipal manager Mike Sutcliffe said after the ruling by the city’s high court.
The group wanted to march though the CBD on Monday.
Sutcliffe said the city respected the group’s right to march, and that it had been granted a permit to march from Durban’s Botha Park to Albert Park on Monday.
“It is strange that they think they can do what they like in the city,” he said.
The city had to take into consideration if there were enough police to monitor the march.
Abahlali spokesperson Sbu Zikode said the shack dwellers were not happy about the court ruling.
“We will abide by the law, but we are not happy as we lost the interdict.”
The march was part of efforts by shack dwellers from Nkwalini, Siyanda, Lamontville, Wentworth and other areas in KwaZulu-Natal to express dissatisfaction about service delivery and housing.
“The shack dwellers are not happy in the way they are treated and the Ethekwini municipality does not include us in development issues,” Zikode said.
- SAPA
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A Memorandum of Demands to President Jacob Zuma Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Mon, 2010-03-22 08:55. Abahlali baseMjondolo | Jacob Zuma | Memorandum | protest | Rural Network
A Memorandum of Demands to President Jacob Zuma Monday, 22 March 2010 14, 2005
We, members and supporters of Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Rural Network in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, are democrats committed to the flourishing of this country. We speak for ourselves and direct our own struggles. We have no hidden agendas. We have been mobilised by our suffering and our hopes for a better life. We believe that it is time to take seriously the fact that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
We come from the townships of Inanda, KwaMashu and Lamontville. We come from the farms in eNkwalini, New Hanover, Howick, KwaNjobokazi, Melmoth, Utrecht, Babanango and eShowe. We come from the flats of Hillary, Portview, Ridge View (Cato Manor), Wentworth and New Dunbar. We come from the shacks of Joe Slovo, Foreman Road, Clare Estate, Palmiet Road, Quarry Road, Motala Heights, Siyanda, Umkhumbane, New eMmaus, Pemary Ridge, Arnett Drive, Lindelani ,Richmond Farm and, yes, Kennedy Road. We come from the transit camps of Richmond Farm, eNsimbini, Ridge View (Transact Camp), Cato Manor and New Dunbar.
We are all agreed that there is a serious crisis in our country. The poor are being pushed out of any meaningful access to citizenship. We are becoming poorer. We are being forced off our land and out of our cities. The councillor system has become a form of top down political control. It does not take our voices upwards. The democracy that we won in 1994 is turning into a new system of oppression for the poor.
We are all agreed that this country is rich because of the theft of our land and because of our work in the farms, mines, factories, kitchens and laundries of the rich. That wealth is therefore also our wealth. We are all agreed that the democratic gains that were won in 1994 were won by the struggles of the people and that we, the poor, are part of the people. Those victories are therefore also our victories. We are all agreed that we can not and will not continue to suffer in the way that we do. We are all agreed that we can not and will not give up our hopes for a better life and a fair world.
We have had meetings in all of our areas to discuss this march. Each area has developed its own set of demands which we are presenting to you. We have also taken all the demands that are common to many areas and put them together into this statement of our collective demands. We offer it to you as a statement of our demands. We also proclaim it to ourselves and to the world as a charter for the next phase of our struggle.
For too long we have been subject to evictions from our homes, be they in shack settlements or farms. These evictions are often unlawful, they are often violent and they often leave the poor destitute. Therefore we demand an immediate end to all evictions so that we can live in peace and with security.
For too long our communities have survived in substandard and informal housing. Therefore, we demand decent housing so that we can live in safety, health and dignity.
For too long those of us living in shacks have suffered without enough water and without toilets, electricity, refuse collection and drainage. Therefore we demand decent social services in all our communities so that we can live in safety, health and dignity.
For too long many of those of us who are formally connected to water and electricity have not been able to afford the costs of these services and face disconnection. Therefore we demand that these services be made free for the poor.
For too long the promise of housing has been downgraded to forced removal to a transit camp. These transit camps are more like prisons than homes. If they are ‘delivery’ then they are the delivery of the people into oppression. Therefore we demand an immediate and permanent end to all transit camps so that the dignity of the people that have been taken to the camps can be immediately restored.
For too long the housing that has been built has been built in human dumping grounds far outside of the cities and far from work, schools, clinics and libraries. Therefore we demand immediate action to release well located land for public housing. Where necessary land must be expropriated for this purpose. The social value of urban land must be put before its commercial value.
For too long people that are already languishing in human dumping grounds have been unable to access the cities. Therefore we demand the immediate provision of safe and reliable subsidised public transport to these areas.
For too long there has been rampant corruption in the construction and allocation of housing in transit camps, RDP housing and social housing. Therefore we demand complete transparency in the construction and allocation of all housing and an immediate end to corruption. We demand, in particular, a full and transparent audit into all the activities of the social housing company SOCHO - including its CEO, general manager and board of directors. We demand a similar audit into all the activities of Nandi Mandela and her associates.
For too long poor flat dwellers have suffered from unaffordable and exploitative rents. Therefore we demand the writing off of all arrears and the institution of an affordable flat rate for all.
For too long the poor have been forced to sign exploitative rental agreements under duress and threat of eviction. Therefore we demand the cancellation and collective renegotiation of all rental agreements signed under duress.
For too long farm dwellers have suffered the impoundment of their cattle, demolition of their homes, the denial of the right to burry their loved ones on the land, the denial of basic service and brutality, and sometimes even murder, at the hands of some farmers. The bias that the justice system has towards the rich has meant that it has systematically undermined farm dwellers. Therefore we demand immediate and practical action to secure the rights of farm dwellers.
For too long a fair distribution and use of rural land has been made impossible by the fact that land -a gift from God - has been turned into a commodity. Therefore we demand immediate steps to put the social value of rural land before its commercial value.
For too long the attack on our movement, its leaders and well known members, their family members and its offices in the Kennedy Road settlement in September last year has received the full backing of the local party and government structures. Therefore we demand o a serious, comprehensive and credible investigation into the attack and its subsequent handling by the local party and government structures. This must include a full investigation into the role of the South African Police Services. o the right to return for all the victims of the attack, including the Kennedy Road Development Committee and all its sub-committees. This right must be backed up with high level protection for the security of all the residents of the settlement. o full compensation for everyone who lost their homes, possessions and livelihoods in the attack. o a full and public apology by Willies Mchunu for the attack and its subsequent handling. o the immediate release of those members of the Kennedy 13 who are still being held in detention. o that immediate steps be taken to ensure that Willies Mchunu, Nigel Gumede and Yakoob Baig are not allowed to interfere in any police or judicial processes resulting from the attack.
For too long our communities have been ravaged by the cruelest forms of poverty. Therefore we demand the creation of well-paying and dignified jobs. For too long the right to education has been reserved for the rich. Therefore we demand free education for the poor.
For too long we have not been safe from criminals and violence. We are especially concerned about the lack of safety for women in our communities. Therefore we demand immediate practical action to secure the safety of everyone and, in particular, the safety of women.
For too long the poor have been turned against the poor. Therefore we demand an immediate end to all forms of discrimination against isiXhosa speaking people (amamPondo) and people born in other countries.
For too long the legal system has been biased against the poor. Therefore we demand serious practical action to ensure that access to justice is no longer distorted by access to money.
For too long the councillor system has been used to control the people from above and to stifle their voices. Therefore we demand the immediate recognition of the right of all people to, if they so wish, organise themselves outside of party structures in freedom and safety.
Furthermore, just as people from around the city, the province and the country are uniting in support of our struggle we express our support for our comrades elsewhere. We have stood with, and will continue to stand with our comrades in Wentworth, our comrades in the Poor People’s Alliance and struggling communities and movements across the country. We thank everyone who has demonstrated solidarity with our struggle including church leaders, students and our comrades in other countries. We will do our best to offer the same support to your struggles.
Handed over by:______on ______at ______Signature:______
Received by:______Signature:______
TO FOLLOW UP PLEASE CONTACT: Mr. Troy Morrow or Mr. S’bu Zikode at 031 - 304 6420.
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Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release Friday, 19 March 2010
Sutcliffe Continues His War on the Poor
The notorious Michael Sutcliffe continues to launch illegal attacks on our basic democratic rights.
He has now given in to our pressure and removed his illegal ban on our right to march but he has issued a permit that only allows us to march from Botha Park to Albert Park. Our march on Jacob Zuma, scheduled for 22 March 2010, was planned to go from Botha Park through Pixley KaSeme Street and to the City Hall. But Sutcliffe’s unilateral imposition of unreasonable restrictions on our right to protest means that we will only be able to march about 600m and that our march will be kept far away from the centre of the city - it will be hidden away, just like a transit camp.
Our members from across this city - from Lamontville, to Pinetown and Umlazi - are determined to march because it is essential that we demonstrate our dignified anger and our mass support in public. We are the people who are being swept out of the cities like dirt. We are the people who are being hidden away in transit camps. We are the people who are supposed to suffer in secret in the human dumping grounds like Park Gate. If our protest also has to be hidden away and contained on the outskirts of the city then there is no point in having a march. The whole point of having a march is to show our power and our determination to assert our right to the city in the city. We cannot and will not accept that we must hold our protests in secret.
It is clear that we who are from the jondolos have to pay a very high price for our rights. When we ask for what is promised to all citizens we are attacked, driven from our homes, slandered, beaten, tortured and jailed. A simple procedure like arranging a legal march becomes a complicated game that takes all of our time and energies. Now it is clear that we will have to go to court to ask a judge to defend our basic rights against Sutcliffe. We are briefing a lawyer right now. But why do we have to pay such a high price to realise our basic rights? The only logical answer seems to be that these rights are no longer intended for us - that we are the people that don’t count and who must be silent as we are driven out of the cities.
When the media first reported on Sutcliffe’s illegal ban of our march the police spokesperson said that all marches would be banned due to the World Cup. If it is true that our basic democratic rights are being removed as a result of the World Cup then we say, very clearly, that the World Cup is a new kind of colonialism that every person who is right in their mind must reject and resist with all their force in their mind and in their muscles.
Sutcliffe insults Human Rights Day, he insults our democracy and he insults Pixley KaSeme and the memory of the struggle for our democracy when he bans us from marching down Pixley KaSeme Street and taking our anger to its rightful home - the City Hall - on the national public holiday to celebrate Human Rights Day.
We strongly recommend that journalists and the police familiarise themselves with the legislation governing the right to march. The system whereby permits had to be granted for marches to be legal was struck off the statute book in 1993. These permits have had no basis in law since then. And the Gatherings Act prohibits the authorities from imposing unreasonable conditions on our right to protest. Our right to protest is not negotiable. There is a good summary of the Gatherings Act available online at: http://fxi.org.za/PDFs/Publications/RGAHandbook.pdf
For further information and up to the minute updates on the legal battle to have Sutcliffe’s attack on our basic democratic rights overturned please contact:
S’bu Zikode, Abahlali baseMjondolo President: 083 547 0474
Troy Morrow, Chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Hillary Branch: 071 511 8446
Zodwa Nsibande, Abahlali baseMjondolo General Secretary: 082 830 2707
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Sunday, 21 March 2010 - Human Rights Day Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release
Sutcliffe’s Dirty Tricks Will Not Keep Us from Marching in Our City Tomorrow
Our political rights are always taken from us with technical arguments.
When we are evicted we are always told that it is because the land is ‘too steep’, the soil is ‘not right’ and so on. Of course once our shacks are demolished flats or businesses for the rich are quickly built on the same land that we were told was ‘unsafe’ for us.
When we are denied bail we are always told that it is because the police ‘need time to complete their investigations’, or even to ‘type documents.’ This is how it goes.
Technical arguments are always used against us because it is assumed that technical questions can only be answered by experts. The state has their own experts on their payroll and so by making important social questions into problems to be resolved by experts they seize the right to answer these questions on their own - they expel the people from any chance to debate these questions. The Freedom Charter said that ‘the people will govern’. It didn’t say that the experts will govern. It didn’t say that there will be democracy if the city managers decide to allow it.
Today we went to court to ask the judge to interdict Sutcliffe against his attempt to limit our right to protest by keeping us away from the City Hall and the main streets. We have won similar cases against Sutcliffe twice before. But this time the City played a dirty trick. They told the court that they could not allow us to march through the main streets and to the City Hall because the City Hall is being repaired and it would be ‘dangerous’ for us to come too close to it. They argued that our basic political rights could be stolen from us because of a technical issue.
Our lawyer pointed out that yesterday SADTU marched to the City Hall. Their response was that Abahlali baseMjondolo is a mass movement and that our march will be much bigger than the march organised by SADTU. This is true but it remains clear that the repairs to the City Hall are just being used as an excuse to prevent us from protesting freely in our own city. We would have been happy to keep a safe distance from the building. Anyway even if it was dangerous to come close to the City Hall that would not make it dangerous for us to protest in the main streets.
Unfortunately the judge allowed the City to use a technical argument to take away a basic democratic right. We have asked our lawyers to explore the option of launching an urgent appeal first thing tomorrow morning.
But irrespective of the outcome of that legal process we will be marching tomorrow. The marchers will decide, democratically, when we are all together, how to respond to this attack on our basic political rights. But one thing that we are very clear on is that amandla remains with us. We go to court to confirm the rights that have been won in prior struggles but we are very clear that the only real defence for these rights, and the only way to win new rights, is through the power of the organised poor. For example everyone can see that organised communities are not evicted. Unorganised communities are evicted, illegally, every day.
Many of us spent today with our comrades in the Rural Network in eNkwalini where farm dwellers who have been subject to a reign of terror by a farmer called Mark Channel mourned Human Rights Day. Their homes have been demolished, they have been shot and their cattle have been impounded. They live on this land but they do not live in any Republic of South Africa. They live outside of the protection of human rights and the law. We spent the day listening as they shared their stories. It is clear that from the flats to the shacks and the farms there is no place for the poor in this democracy.
Sutcliffe has decided to protect the name of the City Hall by using dirty tricks to keep us away from it - to keep our protests as hidden as a transit camp. But tomorrow we will be coming into the city from the townships, the farms, the flats, the shacks and the transit camps. We will be coming into the city from the townships of Inanda, KwaMashu and Lamontville. We will be coming into the city from the farms in eNkwalini, New Hanover, Howick, KwaMjolokazi, Melmoth, Utrecht, Baba Nango and eShowe. We will be coming into the city from the flats of Hillary, Russell Street, Mayville, Wentworth and Dunbar. We will be coming into the city from the shacks of Joe Slovo, Foreman Road, Clare Estate, Palmiet Road, Quarry Road, Motala Heights, Siyanda, Umkhumbane, New eMmaus, Pemary Ridge, Arnett Drive and, yes, Kennedy Road. We will be coming into the city from the transit camps of Richmond Farm, eNsimbini, Ridge View, Cato Manor and New Dunbar. We will be joined by representatives of some churches and NGOs. All of these struggling communities will bring their own demands to Jacob Zuma. We will also issue our collective demands to Jacob Zuma.
Many journalists have been phoning us and asking if our ‘service delivery protest’ will be going ahead tomorrow. We appreciate the interest of the media but we really want to stress that this will not ‘be a service delivery protest’. We have never organised ‘a service delivery protest.’ In fact our first marches were to announce that we rejected top down rule by the councillors and that we would, as we have done for the last five years, begin to rule ourselves. The language in which people’s struggles are turned into ‘service delivery protests’ is a language that has been imposed on our struggles from outside - it is not our language. Of course we are struggling for land and housing, water and electricity. But we do not accept the limited way in which these ‘services’ are ‘delivered’. Often an important part of our struggles is to reject that the way that services are delivered. For example we do not accept transit camps. We are struggling for the full recognition and realisation of our humanity in a society that denies our humanity at every turn. We are struggling for real equality. We are struggling so that the world that God gave to humanity is shared fairly by all of us. To call our struggles ‘service delivery protests’ is a way of making them safe for our oppressors.
We appeal to the media, and to other groups too, like academics, NGOs and churches, to please exercise an important discipline when talking about struggling communities and movements. That discipline is a simple one but it is a very important one. That discipline is to speak to people before speaking about them or for them. As we have said so many times before we are poor in life, not in mind. If you want to know why we are struggling just ask us and we will tell you. If you want to know why people are protesting in Mamelodi, Orange Farm or anywhere in the country you don’t need researchers or analysts or spies - you just need to ask them.
We have a clear message for all those who believe that they have a natural right to rule the poor from above be they in government, civil society or the left. We have a clear message for all those big men like Willies Mchunu, Michael Sutcliffe or Ashwin Desai who believe that they have the right to ruin any organisation of the poor that they cannot rule. Our message is this:
We have been evicted, forcibly removed, beaten, slandered, publicly threatened with death, arrested, jailed, tortured and driven from our homes. Some of us have lost everything that we ever owned in this world. But we will not give up. We will not be turned against each other. We will work and work and work to unite the poor against the politicians and the rich. The problem in this society is the deep political disempowerment of the poor and we will solve this problem by organising ourselves to build our political power. Struggle is hard and it is dangerous. But struggle is the only way to defend our humanity and the humanity of our children. We have a deep responsibility to continue with this struggle until we achieve real equality and a fair sharing of this world.
The march will be supported, with a physical presence, by the Rural Network and the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance. It will also be supported, without a physical presence, by our comrades in the Poor People’s Alliance - Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and the Landless People’s Movement in Gauteng.
For more information on the march please contact:
S’bu Zikode, Abahlali baseMjondolo President: 083 ... Troy Morrow, Chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Hillary Branch and march convenor: 071 511 8446 Zodwa Nsibande, Abahlali baseMjondolo General Secretary: 082 83...
Representatives of the following organisations that will be in solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo can also be contacted for comment:
Reverened Mavuso Mbhekeseni, Rural Network: 072... Des D’sa, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance: 083... Ashraf Cassiem, Western Cape Anti- Eviction Campaign: 082... Mzonke Poni, Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape: 073... Maureen Mnisi, Landless People’s Movement (Gauteng): 082...
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Shacks burnt down in KZN protests Mar 22, 2010 10:05 AM | By Sapa
Two shacks were burnt down in Durban’s Clermont suburb during protesting by ANC supporters at the weekend, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Monday.
“No one was injured and we don’t know who the shacks belonged to,” Superintendent Vincent Mdunge told Sapa, amid reports that it belonged to Congress of the People (Cope) members.
Police could not confirm the torchings on Sunday.
Rubber bullets were fired at African National Congress supporters earlier in the day when they stoned police in an illegal protest.
“About 600 ANC members were chanting slogans in Clermont and in a way the Cope members felt they were being threatened and police were called in to intervene,” Mdunge said at the time.
“It was an illegal protest and therefore the crowd was ordered to disperse, but there was no co-operation.”
The public order police unit was called and the crowd again ordered to break up. Again protesters ignored this.
“Rubber bullets were used to disperse them and then they started stoning police officers. Eventually they dispersed. There were no injuries reported.”
One man was arrested after being found in possession of an unlicensed firearm. He would appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
In a statement, Cope claimed the crowd torched homes and shops belonging to its members.
It is believed the problem arose when Cope wanted to open a branch in the area.
Mdunge said the area was quiet on Monday ahead of a meeting between the ANC, Cope, the community policing forum and local police.
They were scheduled to meet at the KwaDabeka police station at 11am to try and resolve the problem.
***
Education Minister unhappy with DUT ongoing strike March 22 2010 , 10:00:00
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has expressed concern over the ongoing strike at the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) iNdumiso Campus in Pietermaritzburg. Students are complaining about poor living conditions, high food prices and lack of security.
Last week, the strike turned violent as students stoned police cars. As a result, seven of them were arrested for public violence. Nzimande says he will meet students to hear their side of the story.
DUR management has once again halted all academic and non-academic activities. This follows renewed violent protests and vandalism at Durban campuses. Students at the Midlands campuses had been protesting since last Friday over what they say is the inflated cost of food and the state of residences.
The Durban campuses joined them, which led to a violent protest and the subsequent closure of the campuses. Management decided to suspend all academic activity until tomorrow. Management halted classes citing a students’ mass protest which resulted in violent confrontations, damage to property and theft.
The SRC however disputes the claims, saying they were merely complaining about the state of residences and the unreasonably high food prices at the campus cafeterias. Acting Vice-Chancellor of the institution Professor Nqabomzi Gawe says they met with the SRC and resolved to open the university while attending to the students’ grievances. Security has been stepped up and police will continue to monitor the situation.
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APRIL
Students continue to protest Apr 13, 2010 11:58 AM | By Sapa
Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) were protesting on the Howard College campus, the students’ representative council (SRC) said.
“We are continuing with the protest. At the moment we are busy with negotiations with management. We are confident that we might reach an agreement,” said Thanduxolo Sabelo, president of the SRC.
The students wanted the university to provide accommodation for about 200 students.
They were also upset that around 200 students were excluded from studying because they could not afford to pay their fees.
The food at the university was not up to standard and food prices were extremely high, Sabelo said.
UKZN students from the Edgewood campus protested on Monday.
Police Director Phindile Radebe said they had not received any reports of disruptions on the campus but they were ready for any situation.
In March students from the Durban University of Technology protested against poor accommodation and high food prices. When students went on the rampage, police fired rubber bullets resulting in university management closing the institution.
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UKZN student protests continue 2010-04-13 12:49
Durban - Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) were protesting on the Howard College campus on Tuesday morning, the students’ representative council (SRC) said.
“We are continuing with the protest. At the moment we are busy with negotiations with management. We are confident that we might reach an agreement,” said Thanduxolo Sabelo, president of the SRC.
The students wanted the university to provide accommodation for about 200 students.
They were also upset that around 200 students were excluded from studying because they could not afford to pay their fees.
The food at the university was not up to standard and food prices were extremely high, Sabelo said.
UKZN students from the Edgewood campus protested on Monday.
Police Director Phindile Radebe said they had not received any reports of disruptions on the campus but they were ready for any situation.
In March students from the Durban University of Technology protested against poor accommodation and high food prices. When students went on the rampage, police fired rubber bullets resulting in university management closing the institution.
A task team was appointed by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande to address problems facing that institution.
- SAPA
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Samwu condems strike violence JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Apr 14 2010 17:49
The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) condemned the violence that has been escalating over the last three days of its nationwide strike, and promised that extra marshalls would be in place to monitor their 12 000-member strong strike planned for Durban on Thursday.
“The union would ensure that these matters are dealt with sternly,” said spokesperson Tahir Sema on Wednesday.
“The union has communicated to all of its members that none of this should take place. It detracts from what we are working for.”
Sema said sometimes there were “rogue elements” behind the violence but added: “It’s important to make mention again that the union condemns and is saddened by the violence. We will take them to task if we can prove that our members were involved.”
Disruption of services The Samwu warning came at the same time as a City of Johannesburg complaint about disruption at clinics.
“There are still disturbing reports of acts of intimidation and violence against non- striking employees at various health facilities. The city views the situation in a serious light given that fact that primary healthcare is an essential service and is monitoring the situation,” it said.
Samwu began its nationwide strike on Monday with a peaceful march to the Johannesburg Metro offices. Over the three days confrontations with police in other marches and pickets have been increasing, as has neglect of municipal services.
On Wednesday a group of protesting municipal workers stoned cars at the municipal hall in central Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Johan Rheede said.
“Today, if there is any damage to property, we will make arrests... we won’t tolerate this behaviour, it’s not like yesterday [Tuesday] when they were just throwing papers in the streets.”
In Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, private security company the Red Ants allegedly threw stones at striking workers, after protests at a municipal building, Sema said.
The metro intends applying for an interdict against Samwu to stop the strike there.
In Kimberley, 70 people were arrested for public violence after burning tyres outside the city hall.
Constable Andrea Cloete said protesters were angry because they felt their demands were not being taken seriously. They started to vandalise an electric box in front of the city hall and threw bottles and rubbish at police.
Cloete said after the arrests the remaining protesters dispersed peacefully to hand a memorandum to their employer, the South African Local Government Association (Salga).
Arrests Meanwhile, three striking municipal workers were arrested for public violence in Port Shepstone on Wednesday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.
“It is believed that they also damaged two police vehicles.Police fired rubber bullets when the crowd refused to disperse,”Director Phindile Radebe said.
The association and Samwu delegates were meeting in Midrand to try to resolve the dispute after Salga withdrew a court application on Tuesday to stop the strike.
Seven-year struggle Samwu said it had spent seven years trying to get middle and lower income municipal workers’ salaries market related. The union said this would reduce salaries of higher-ranking, overpaid council employees, and would address corruption which was seen as a reason for service delivery protests.
“These kind of talks can go on for hours, even into the early parts of the morning,” Sema said.
In Durban about 60 municipal workers staged a protest march in the Durban CBD, said Democratic Alliance councillor Heinz De Boer.
“The group initially formed near the city hall car park, before holding up traffic as they crossed to the Florence Mkhize building.
“While marching to the building, several members lashed out at a passing metro police vehicle and another eThekwini municipal vehicle with sticks.
“Several rubbish bins were rolled over while the contents were strewn across the road,” De Boer said, who saw the incident.
Cosatu pledged its “full support and solidarity” with Samwu’s 130 000 municipal workers. -- Sapa
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14/04/2010 17:14:42
Samwu marchers set sights on Durban
JOHANNESBURG - The SA Municipal Workers’ Union planned a 12,000-strong march through Durban on Thursday, with the blessing of union body Cosatu, as part of its push for market related salaries for employees.
Samwu began its nationwide strike on Monday with a peaceful march to the Johannesburg metro offices, but over the three days confrontations with police in other marches and pickets have been increasing, as has neglect of municipal services.
On Wednesday a group of protesting municipal workers stoned cars at the municipal hall in central Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape police spokesman Captain Johan Rheede said.
“Today, if there is any damage to property, we will make arrests... we won’t tolerate this behaviour, it’s not like yesterday ŠTuesdayÆ when they were just throwing papers in the streets.”
In Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, private security company the Red Ants allegedly threw stones at striking workers, after protests at a municipal building, Samwu spokesman Tahir Sema said.
In Kimberley, 70 people were arrested for public violence after burning tyres outside the city hall.
Constable Andrea Cloete said protesters were angry because they felt their demands were not being taken seriously. They started to vandalise an electric box in front of the city hall and threw bottles and rubbish at police.
Cloete said after the arrests the remaining protesters dispersed peacefully to hand a memorandum to their employer, the SA Local Government Association.
The association and Samwu delegates were meeting in Midrand to try to resolve the dispute after Salga withdrew a court application on Tuesday to stop the strike.
Samwu said it had spent seven years trying to get middle and lower income municipal workers’ salaries market related. The union said this would reduce salaries of higher-ranking, overpaid council employees, and would address corruption which was seen as a reason for service delivery protests.
“These kind of talks can go on for hours, even into the early parts of the morning,” Sema said.
In Durban about 60 municipal workers staged a protest march in the Durban CBD, said Democratic Alliance councillor Heinz De Boer.
“The group initially formed near the city hall car park, before holding up traffic as they crossed to the Florence Mkhize building.
“While marching to the building, several members lashed out at a passing metro police vehicle and another eThekwini municipal vehicle with sticks.
“Several rubbish bins were rolled over while the contents were strewn across the road,” De Boer said, who saw the incident.
“Among those watching the spectacle were two young tourists from America, who were quite amazed at the actions of the strikers, and enquired whether ‘this sort of thing’ happened frequently in South Africa.”
Cosatu pledged its “full support and solidarity” with Samwu’s 130,000 municipal workers.
- Sapa
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SACP MEDIA ADVISORY
29 April 2010
BLADE NZIMANDE TO LEAD A MARCH AGAINST CORRUPTION
The SACP General Secretary, Cde Blade Nzimande joined by COSATU’s General Secretary Cde Zwelinzima Vavi will tomorrow lead a National Anti crime and corruption march in Durban.
The marchers, drawn from various organisation that are part of the SACP led End Corruption Campaign Coalition, will deliver a memorandum in support of governments efforts to fight corruption to a representative of The Presidency. Furthermore, a representative of BUSA will receive a memorandum addressed to the private sector in South Africa demanding action on Corruption.
The march will further provide an opportunity to present a Memorandum to the Banking Association of South Africa to demand that the banks and other financial institutions return to the Financial Sector Charter Council to conclude outstanding issues in the transformation of the sector. We cannot tolerate the arrogance of the banks anymore! We, community and labour constituency, including government and the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals have made enough compromises and it is time for the banks to come to the party.
Details of the march are as follows:
Date: 30 April 2010
Time: 10H00
Venue: the march will start at Curries Fountains to the eThekwini City Hall
Main Speakers: Buti Manamela, Zwelinzima Vavi and Blade Nzimande
Members of the press are hereby invited
Issued by the SACP
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MAY
Chaos at Cosatu rally 1 May 2010, 15:22
There was chaos at the Congress of the SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) May Day rally held at Durban’s Sahara stadium on Saturday.
Union members became rowdy, shouting and singing on the stands demanding to see President Jacob Zuma who was seated at the stage.
KwaZulu Natal Cosatu provincial secretary general, Zet Luzipho, intervened to calm the situation.
When the members were eventually allowed to sit on the stadium field, they jumped off the stands and ran to the field to be closer to the President. - Sapa
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Satawu Press Release 24th May 2010 : Transnet wage dispute
Satawu members at Transnet continued the strike today, thwarting management’s expectations that the strike would collapse after Utatu settled on 11%. Our members have remained resolute despite endless telephone harassment by managers trying to persuade them to return to work. There have also been threats of the illegal withholding of payment of wages for days that were in fact worked before the strike.
Satawu has stepped up the pressure by calling for support from the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a worldwide federation of 751 transport trade unions representing over 4,600,000 transport workers in 154 countries.
In addition secondary strike notices have today been issued to the following port related companies :- Richards Bay Coal Terminal, Safmarine, AP Moller Maersk, Bidfreight Port Operations, Grindrod, Hazard Marine, Hermes Ship Chandlers, National Ship Chandlers, South African and Container Depots. Notices have also been issued on the former Transnet company Arrivia.kom as well as the motor ferry companies Motorvia and Auto Carriers. Should the strike not be resolved by June 1st sympathy strike action will be legal in these companies. After further consultation with members it is the intention also to issue secondary strike notices on the Road Freight Association, whose members are road hauliers, as well as on aviation companies including SAA.
Satawu believes that Transnet is holding the country to ransom with its intransigence. In the whole of the course of the two week strike, they have to date not shifted their stance on the basic wage. In rejecting the 11% so called settlement offer of last week our members have indicated very clearly that they will not return to work until they see such a shift.
It is within Transnet’s power to bring the strike to an end by climbing out of their rigidity.
For more information contact Zenzo Mahlangu, general secretary on 072 7347825 or Jane Barrett on 082 8278561
JUNE
Art under seige
Recent incidents involving political spats over South African artists’ works have caused a buzz in creative circles. Are artists being subtly censored, or is the country too conservative, ignorant and traditional? Latoya Newman spoke to art experts
June 09, 2010 Edition 1
THE broader artist community seems to have mixed feelings about the scrutiny that some colleagues’ works have been subjected to over recent months, but most seem to be in agreement that these actions border on the suppression of artistic freedom of expression.
The first incident which had artists in Durban up in arms was when renowned sculptor Andries Botha’s elephant sculptures in Warwick Junction were put on hold in February after ANC councillors felt they were a symbol of the IFP.
Last week Botha’s statue of Shaka Zulu, which was unveiled at the King Shaka International Airport in La Mercy recently, was taken down after the Zulu royal house expressed reservations about it.
The royal family was particularly concerned about the fact that King Shaka’s spear and shield were on the floor and he was surrounded by Nguni cattle. They want it erected at a more prominent site at the airport. They want it to have more features and they would prefer it to be larger.
A day after this controversy, a faction of the Shembe Church spoke out against a statue of Isaiah Shembe, founder of the Nazareth Baptist Church (the Shembe Church) which has been gathering dust at a municipal library. The members feel the statue, also by Botha, makes Shembe look “like a poor man”. They want a more “correct” image of their prophet made.
In March, news broke of an incident in which Minister of Arts and Culture Lulu Xingwana walked out of an exhibition at Constitution Hill in Joburg because it featured photographs of nude lesbian couples that she found “immoral” and “against nation-building”.
Xingwana was supposed to address the opening of a show by young black female artists, but she left after viewing pictures of naked women embracing intimately by lesbian artist Zanele Muholi.
Responding to the reports Xingwana dismissed the allegations as “mischievous”. She said had she reacted to “images in large frames of naked bodies presumably involved in sexual acts” and that contrary to media she was not aware of whether the images were of men or women, or both.
Responding to Botha’s cases, most people in the know seem to think the problem is a combination of a poor briefing given to the artist as well as political and power mongering.
Soon after the elephant saga, the local art community in Durban participated in an art exhibition where people submitted artistic depictions of their interpretation of the elephant.
The Mercury’s art columnist, Marianne Meijer, said the local art community was not happy with what many viewed as censorship.
“This seems to be very much a KZN thing, where there is too much political and cultural interference in the arts. In the case of King Shaka, there are no pictures of him, so Boetie (Botha) used his expression to make him real. The statue was made and approved by those who commissioned it, so what more must artists do? Now it must be approved by the whole community, academics, historians etc... So it will become hard for an artist to be freely expressive when he or she is limited by so many views,” she said.
Sue Williamson, founding editor of Art Throb, South Africa’s definitive art website, said Botha’s and Muholi’s cases were absurd and outrageous.
She said in Muholi’s case, the minister’s reaction was totally unacceptable in terms of the constitution, which guaranteed sexual equality.
“She does not deserve her position (as minister of Arts and Culture) if that is her attitude. She should be called upon to apologise or resign.
“With Andries’s elephant work, (the ANC councillors’ reaction) is absurd. Elephants are one of the Big Five, part of South Africa’s wildlife heritage, and cannot be limited to a political symbol.
“With the King Shaka statue, who was it who approved the original maquette? Presumably King Zwelithini did not. It is disturbing when after the work is completed, people outside the original process of creative approval come in at the last minute and try to make changes,” she said.
Williamson said that in general, the feeling within the arts community was one of very little faith in the government. Click here!
“Trying to make artists toe a party political line is not on, as happened in the case with the elephants. Artists are not here to promote ‘nation-building’. Their work is to fight for freedom of expression,” she said.
Professor Penny Siopis of the fine art department of the University of the Witwatersrand, and one of South Africa’s leading female artists, has exhibited locally and internationally since 1975.
She said the interference and reaction in Botha’s and Muholi’s cases pointed to a problem that artists faced the world over.
“It points to total ignorance on the part of politicians,” she said.
“The elephants (for example) do not belong to either the ANC or the IFP, they are universal. The King Shaka statue would have to have been approved before going ahead. So it is about power mongering,” said Siopis.
Commenting on Muholi’s case Siopis said it was a matter of “utter ignorance and denial”.
The director of Arts for Humanity, Jan Jordaan, said if he could advise artists, it would be “not to work with politicians”.
“There are too many contradictions between the two. Politics and the arts are mutually exclusive. Politics is parochial and responds to local constituencies. Art is global. Governments battle with transformation and the arts promote it. Until such time that government starts embracing the arts, it is pointless for artists to work with them as government will try to manipulate the artists to suite their own agenda,” he said.
Jordaan said freedom of expression, particularly in Africa, was largely on paper rather than a reality.
“A small amount of progress has been made, but that progress is done reluctantly and mainly because of international pressure,” he said.
Albert Einstein once said: “Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom.”
After hearing from all these experts, one cannot help wondering just how free our artists are.
Whether it is briefs for commissioned works that are not clear or having to worry about treading on political or traditional toes - one has to question, can South African artists truly labour in freedom?
Mike van Graan, executive director of the African Arts Institute and secretary- general of the Arterial Network (a continent-wide network engaged in the African creative sector), raised some pressing points when he addressed the 2010 Time of the Writer festival.
Touching on Muholi’s lesbian photographs, he said the incident had shown that “it doesn’t matter if rights are guaranteed on paper, those in power will always seek to create democracy in their self-serving image, so that the artistic space for freedom of expression can never simply be assumed; it needs to be asserted and defended in practice constantly”.
Van Graan said the silence around the issue showed that artists were disempowering themselves.
“This incident took place in August, 2009, and yet the story only broke six months later. The question is why? Which brings me to my second point. I think it has to do with the culpability of artists in disempowering themselves. At the time, there was probably outrage, but a decision was taken not to cause a fuss, lest the new Zuma administration be alienated, thereby compromising future funding.
“Artists are complicit in their own disempowerment by keeping silent, by seeking to align their interests with those of the ruling elite. Censorship is enforced today not through apartheid-era censorship boards, but through informal forms of intimidation and the threat of withholding public funds; the resultant self- censorship compromises the practice of freedom of expression and shrinks democracy,” he said.
*** www.iol.co.za
Stadium workers riot over pay 2010-06-14 07:11
Durban - Armed riot police charged into hundreds of security stewards at a World Cup stadium hours after Sunday’s match to break up a protest about low wages.
Police appeared to set off two percussive grenades, causing loud bangs, to drive the workers out of a parking lot under Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban hours after Germany beat Australia 4-0 in Group D.
Associated Press reporters saw about 30 riot police charge into the crowd to drive it out of the stadium. While calm quickly returned to the stadium, some of the security stewards, wearing orange and green jackets, continued milling around outside.
An AP photographer said police fired tear gas at protesters outside the stadium. A nearby street was littered with trash where the protesters were forced away. Concrete blocks had been pushed into a street.
About 100 police later surrounded a group of about 300 protesters on a street near the stadium and separated the men from the women. An AP photographer said he heard police tell the protesters they would be arrested for causing a public disturbance.
Left peacefully
The protesters later left peacefully after calm discussions with police. There were no injuries or arrests reported.
Repeated calls to police in Durban seeking comment were not returned.
A FIFA spokesperson declined to comment immediately and the local organising committee for the World Cup did not immediately respond to telephone calls and e- mails seeking comment. The police command set up in Johannesburg for World Cup- related matters was aware of the protest but had not received an official report from Durban.
Police were called to the scene after hundreds of angry stewards gathered to complain about their wages.
“We left our homes at seven in the morning and now it is nearly one o’clock,” said Vincent Mkize. “In the dry run, they didn’t want to tell us how much we would get.”
Another of the stewards, Fanak Falakhebuengu, told the AP he had heard they would be paid R1 500 ($195) a day but were only getting R190 ($25).
“They were supposed to give us R1 500, that’s what FIFA told us and they gave us R190. We are working from 12 o’clock until now,” said another man who asked not to be named. He ran from police before he could give his name.
Many of the protesters were waving small brown envelopes that had held their pay. One handed to a reporter had the figure R190 written on it under “amount payable.”
Others said they had been abandoned at the stadium after the match and would have to walk about four hours to get home. They said no transport was provided for them.
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ANC Intimidation Tries to Prevent the Return of AbM & the KRDC to Kennedy Road Submitted by Abahlali_3 on Sun, 2010-06-13 10:18. Kennedy Road | press_update | The Return to Kennedy Road Campaign
Update: (Sunday 13 June, 15:41) This short statement was received via sms. A longer statement will be issued tomorrow.
The intimidation from Jackson Gumede, Yakoob Baig and Zandile Mdletshe began very early this morning, from 6.People were threatened with having their homes burnt and with death if they attended the meeting today. In the end about 150 people, mostly women, had the courage to resist the manufactured politics of fear and to attend the meeting despite the intimidation. They spoke very well, very powerfully. The police were there, with their helicopter, but they played a very fair role just insisting on the safety of everyone. They were witness to some of the intimidation so if anything happens tonight they will know where to look for the perpetrators.
AbM & KRDC Emergency Press Statement 10:20 a.m. 13 June 2010
ANC Intimidation Tries to Prevent the Return of AbM & the KRDC to Kennedy Road
The police were at Kennedy Road throughout last night. They remained neutral and were just there to keep the peace.
But this morning ANC leaders from outside of the Kennedy Road settlement have arrived at the settlement including the notorious shacklord, Jackson Gumede, who is also head of the ANC BEC for ward 25. It was Gumede who seized control of the Kennedy Road settlement after the attacks last year.
The ANC are currently intimidating people in Kennedy Road not to attend today’s meeting. This intimidation is serious. The ANC in the area have driven many people from their homes and, as they do around the country, they have the power to order to police to arrest people on false charges.
AbM has been told that the ANC have been phoning and mobilising all structures, up to provincial level, to try and stop today’s meeting.
The Kennedy Road AbM branch are contesting the intimidation by using a loudhailer to encourage people to stand up for their rights. So far there have only been threats from the ANC. There has not been any violence. But this intimidation is a clear attack on the basic democratic rights of the residents of Kennedy Road.
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Musicians threaten boycott over R2 000 performance fee
June 09, 2010 Edition 1
THANDIWE MTHETHWA
DURBAN artists are demanding a bigger piece of the World Cup pie or they will boycott performances at KwaZulu-Natal’s 13 public viewing areas.
The Creative Workers Union of SA (Cwusa), led by kwaito artist T’zozo and Touch Africa owner Mdu Ngcobo, met artists at the Stable Theatre on Monday.
They are demanding that up-and-coming musicians be paid R5 000, emerging musicians R15 000, and draw-cards R25 000 or more for performances.
They say the Black Pepper Events and Media Corporation, which was awarded the R65 million entertainment contract, is offering artists only R2 000 each.
The events company is in charge of the city’s official Fifa Fan Fest, the beach festival and public viewing areas on the beachfront, Umlazi and KwaMashu.
The musicians said Black Pepper had called them at the weekend to demand that they sign the contracts.
T’zozo stood up singing protest songs before addressing the audience.
“They are making fools of us. They accepted our suggestion that 80 percent of the artists that are going to perform should be local artists, but now they won’t pay.
“Phuzekhemisi was given the money that he demanded, but they won’t do the same for artists like Msawawa and Malini.
“We are going to meet with Black Pepper and we will demand that they give us what is rightfully ours, or no artist is going to perform. That is non-negotiable,” he said.
Artists that attended the meeting included Madala Kunene, Malini and Tira’s ex-wife Lale.
However, the Afrotainment crew, DJ C’ndo, Big NUZ and DJ Fisherman, who are big in the music industry at present, did not attend.
The musicians also questioned the way Black Pepper was handling and distributing the finances that are meant for the 66 000 local artists.
They questioned exactly how much was being pocketed by the company’s director, Clive Manci, who is also the president of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
A spokesman for the Department of Arts Culture, Vukani Mbhele, said the department was no longer involved.
He directed all inquiries to the Department of Sports and Recreation - where no one was available for comment.
Attempts to get a response from the executives of the Black Pepper Events and Media Corporation were also unsuccessful.
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(Photos/videos to follow at http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs) http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-06-16-thousands-protest-against-world-cup- spending
Mail&Guardian
Thousands protest against World Cup spending MARINE VEITH | DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 16 2010 11:59
Thousands of South Africans staged a march on Wednesday to protest against lavish spending on the tournament and the sacking of security staff, inflicting a new embarrassment on organisers.
As the country marked the 34th anniversary of the Soweto uprising against apartheid rule, about 3 000 people marched in Durban to denounce Fifa and the government for their spending priorities when millions live in poverty.
“Get out Fifa mafia!” chanted the crowds in a Durban park, their ranks swelled by stewards who were involved in clashes with riot police on Monday after protests over their wages.
Monday’s protests triggered walkouts by other stewards, which have led South Africa’s police to take control at the World Cup stadiums in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Durban.
Ever since it was awarded the staging rights, South Africa’s government has faced accusations it should not be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on stadiums when about 40% of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
“If we have money for stadiums, we should not have any homeless people or people having to live in shacks,” organiser Allan Murphy said ahead of the protest.
Much of the marchers’ ire was directed towards Fifa, which has made record amounts of money from the first World Cup to be held in Africa.
Football’s governing body has insisted that the dispute over stewards’ wages is not its responsibility, having sub-contracted the work.
Widespread anger
But there is widespread anger among South Africans towards Fifa, whose demands for a smooth-running tournament has seen the government pour R33-billion ($4,3- billion) into World Cup preparations.
“The government has taken the ratepayers’ money and handed it over to Fifa,” said Desmond D’sa, one of the protest organisers.
The walkouts by the stewards, a wildcat strike by bus drivers and ranks of empty seats have combined to take the gloss off a largely triumphant opening to the tournament last week.
As the last of the 32 teams was due to play their first match in the tournament, including joint favourites Spain, local organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan said that “overall, it’s been great”.
But while organisers have rolled a series of new bus and rail services for the tournament, Jordaan acknowledged problems with transport and said restrictions on cars around the stadium may soon be extended.
South Africans have traditionally been wary of using public transport over fears of crime and are reluctant to leave the relative safety of their own vehicles.
“We have to try to restrict entry of cars into the precinct area around the stadiums and that will definitely happen,” Jordaan told South African television.
Show of national unity
Bafana Bafana make their second appearance of the competition with an evening match against Uruguay after their opening day draw against Mexico.
Many workers turned up for the office on Wednesday wearing their green and yellow Bafana jerseys in a show of national unity seen as priceless in a country that is still trying to bridge racial divides.
The Star said the staging of the World Cup underlined how far South Africa had travelled since 1976, but added that the party atmosphere should not obscure the problems facing the nation.
“Instead of its despised status as a pariah state, South Africa is hosting 31 soccer teams from around the world, as well as the thousands of fans that have come to cheer them on,” it said in an editorial.
“But post-apartheid South Africa is not a sea of love. It still has serious and potentially even explosive levels of inequality and poverty.
“We must be careful not to be misled by the bonhomie generated by the World Cup and common loyalty to Bafana Bafana.” -- AFP
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MEMORANDUM OF GRIEVANCES:
DATE: 16 June 2010
TO: KZN Premier Zweli Mkhize, Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba, Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo and Durban City Manager Michael Sutcliffe
RE: Grievances about World Cup 2010 management
We are the citizenry of Durban. Our organisations have long registered grievances about the way the city is being run. In recent months, we have found that many of our problems are worsening, especially because of the way the World Cup has been implemented by FIFA, its corporate partners, politicians and bureaucrats.
While in principle we do not oppose Durban hosting seven World Cup games, we are very opposed to many decisions made by FIFA and city, provincial and national officials. The problems we record below require urgent attention and immediate remedial action.
Economic Burden o Whereas Durban’s 70 000-seater Moses Mabhida Stadium cost taxpayers R3.1 billion; the cost escalation for Mabhida rose from an initial R1.8 billion; and redirecting most of this spending could have erased the majority of the vast backlogs Durban faces, of housing, water/sanitation, electricity, clinics, schools and roads; o Mabhida’s next-door neighbour is Absa Stadium, home of Sharks rugby, which seats 52 000 and which could easily have been extended (considering that Durban municipality will knock out 15 000 seats from Mabhida after July); o the companies and individuals that have profited most from Mabhida’s construction include multinational corporations and those responsible for notorious municipal disasters, such as bus privatiser Remant Alton and Point development failure Dolphin Whispers, along with at least one fake Black Economic Empowerment front company; o the import bill for Mabhida appears unreasonable, as reflected in breakdowns of Mabhida’s Sky Car due to imported German cables held up for repair by the Icelandic volcano, and in imported German tents erected next to Mabhida by an imported German marquee construction crew; o the soaring foreign and domestic debt we are now suffering because of World Cup expenses will cause untold problems for the SA economy in years to come; FIFA is not subject to South African taxes; FIFA is also allowed to ignore SA exchange control regulations; and the FIFA profit estimate is more than R25 billion;
Corruption and State Failure o whereas this kind of extreme waste and crony capitalism typifies the relationship of FIFA to host governments; bribery and corruption have been associated with FIFA’s operations (as documented in lawsuits in Zug and New York); bribes have been predicted (by England’s former World Cup bid manager) that would distort play by some of the leading teams coming to South Africa; and corruption whistle-blowing in Mpumalanga Province led to several suspicious deaths, reportedly by organised hit squads; o Durban’s own recent corruption in the construction of low-cost housing by Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport became a national scandal; Durban housing official Nigel Gumede and City Manager Mike Sutcliffe rejected the findings of the National Home Builders’ Registration Council report which shows extensive wrongdoing - one third of houses in Umlazi requiring reconstruction - in a R300 million contract begun in December 2006; politically-connected Zikhulise owners Shauwn and S’bu Mpisane have a notoriously luxurious lifestyle with a car fleet worth a reported R100 million; o Durban’s Council and ward committee system has become a form of top-down political control; Council does not take our voices upwards; the democratic gains that were won in 1994 are also our victories, but have been taken from us; o the September 2009 attack on the Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) movement, its leaders and well known members, their family members and its offices in the Kennedy Road settlement apparently received the backing of the local ruling party and government structures; many AbM members cannot go back to Kennedy Road; and several of the Kennedy Road 13 are being imprisoned interminably without bail or being charged; o the Durban council has made clear its intent to demolish the Early Morning Market at Warwick Junction in favour of a shopping mall; the Early Morning Market is one of the surviving monuments of the indentured Indian labourers; and hundreds of jobs - as well as affordable edibles - for poor people are at stake; o Durban fisherfolk have witnessed rich people fishing off expensive boats and yachts unhindered while working-class subsistence fishermen suffer police harassment and arrests; fishermen have recently been denied access to New Pier, the South Pier, the Bluff military base and the quayside shore (Gunter Gulley, Yacht Mole, Lucky Dip); and there is worsening sea-water pollution - rubbish, oil and chemicals in the harbour - and apparently no environmental precautions being taken; o Durban’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants are under sustained attack; the May 2008 xenophobic attacks demonstrated a failed municipal state which by August washed its hands of ongoing xenophobia crisis and by November used police brutality to displace desperate refugees; Lesotho migrant workers are protesting the revocation of the ‘six month’ system of border concessions; there remain inadequate support systems and preventative measures against another xenophobia attack; and immigrants continue to face oppression in their dealings with the South African government and police;
Workers, the Poor and Communities under Attack o whereas this country is rich because of the theft of our land and because of our work in the farms, mines, factories, kitchens and laundries of the rich; and that wealth is therefore also our wealth; o the working class and poor of Durban are under severe pressure because of the world and SA economic crises, which have not yet lifted for us, costing the country more than a million lost jobs and leaving Durban badly exposed in sectors like shipping, clothing and textiles; poor and working people are being pushed out of any meaningful access to citizenship; recent government statistics prove the urban poor are becoming poorer; and we are being forced off land and out of our cities; o too many of us who have formal water and electricity connections have not been able to afford the fast-rising costs of these services and face disconnection; the promise of housing has been downgraded to forced removal to a transit camp more like prisons than homes; housing that has been built exists in human dumping grounds far outside of the cities and far from work, schools, clinics and libraries; and there is a new, heavy-handed, privatised municipal debt collection strategy that is wrecking state-community relationships; o poor flat dwellers have suffered from unaffordable and exploitative rents; and the poor have been forced to sign exploitative rental agreements under duress and threat of eviction; o farm dwellers have suffered the impoundment of cattle, demolition of homes, denial of the right to bury loved ones, denial of basic service and brutality (and sometimes murder) at the hands of some farmers; and a biased justice system which has systematically undermined farm dwellers; o outsourcing of casualised labour has become a full-fledged crisis, as witnessed in the revolt by Stallion Security workers who were exploited at Moses Mabhida and four other stadiums to the extent of protesting in the face of police stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets; crises caused by Durban’s labour brokers include the ports - partly responsible for a recent three-week strike by transport workers - and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where underpaid workers (less than R1000 take- home pay for UKZN cleaners) are suffering;
World Cup’s Pro-Rich Bias o whereas while the rich have benefited from the World Cup, the poor have not; the Zakumi doll mascot and other memorabilia were made in China not South Africa; Durban’s informal street traders have been displaced and barred from selling in the vicinity of stadiums; and Durban fisherfolk have been evicted from the city’s main North Beach and South Beach piers; o township soccer facilities were meant to be created and maintained with state subsidies but have not been; and street kids were brutally displaced from central Durban in advance of the World Cup; according to former chief executive of the South African Premier Soccer League Trevor Phillips; “Durban has two football teams which attract crowds of only a few thousand. It would have been more sensible to have built smaller stadiums nearer the football-loving heartlands and used the surplus funds to have constructed training facilities in the townships”; o FIFA’s tourist initiatives are based on what it calls ‘luxurious ambiance’ not working-class hospitality; promises of 450 000 international visitors for the World Cup were high overestimates; and many jobs in the tourism sector were shed when the overestimates became apparent;
Public Transport o whereas many in Durban continue to be dependent upon private automobiles (with resulting adverse impacts on climate change); there has been a sharp decline in Durban’s public transport compared to other South African cities which have begun investing in the Bus Rapid Transit system; a government web-site (www.sa2010.gov.za) promised benefits for the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer including “a fast, comfortable and low cost urban transport system … for central business districts but also in townships”; o Durban officials have implemented air-conditioned “People Mover” buses with security guards at every stop, running every 15 minutes from 06h00 until 23h00, but only in the city centre and along the beachfront, mostly for the benefit of tourists; there is still terribly inadequate public transport in both the townships and suburbs, and many areas are currently unserviced, and others have with an infrequent and unreliable service with no bus timetables available;
Environment o whereas the ‘greenwashing’ of the World Cup includes incorrect claims by Durban officials that the CO2 permanently emitted in the vast cement construction plus increased air travel can be ‘offset’ by planting trees (which themselves are only a temporary, fragile container of CO2 because they emit the same carbon when they die and biodegrade); officials brag about ‘carbon credits’ from burning methane from rubbish dumps in a World Bank Clean Development Mechanism project (even though such ‘emissions trading’ is a dangerous distraction from fighting climate change), and the poorest people of Durban will suffer the most from climate change; o there is no sense in constructing new coal-fired plants (such as Medupi) and nuclear generators so as to give further electricity subsidies to vast multinational corporations such as BHP Billiton (which receives the world’s cheapest power); 100% renewable energy is a pre-requisite to avert global climate disruptions; the refusal to phase out coal, oil and gas also causes military conflicts, magnifying social and environmental injustice; and governments; corporations such as BP continue to support and finance fossil fuel exploration, extraction and activities that worsen global warming such as forest degradation and destruction on a massive scale, while dedicating only token sums to renewable energy, and leaving areas like South Durban with some of the world’s worst air pollution due to oil refining; o global climate disruptions - extreme weather events, droughts, floods, increased disease, scarce water - are already disproportionately felt by small island states, coastal peoples, indigenous peoples, local communities, fisherfolk, women, youth, poor people, elderly and marginalised communities;
Our Rights of Expression o whereas according to the bid proposal and subsequent contracts with the South African government, FIFA was given full indemnity “against all proceedings, claims and related costs (including professional adviser fees) which may be incurred or suffered by or threatened by others;” and in addition, “Police officers and other peace officials will be provided to enforce the protection of the marketing rights, broadcast rights, marks and other intellectual property rights of FIFA an its commercial partners” - as witnessed in the ridiculous arrest of Dutch women whose only crime was to wear an orange dress to Soccer City for the Holland-Denmark game; o our own leading journalists are stifled from reporting on FIFA’s wrongdoing because of a required pledge not to throw the organisation into ‘disrepute’ as a prerequisite for accreditation, as witnessed by the refusal of the national broadcaster to show the documentary film Fahrenheit 2010 made partly in Durban; o the murder of three young men in Phoenix earlier this month is yet more evidence of local police brutality, as was the excessive force - stun grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets - used to subdue non-violent Stallion Security workers protesting at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Monday, June 14;
We therefore demand o adequate compensation to Durban ratepayers and national taxpayers for the windfall profits made by construction of unnecessary stadiums such as Moses Mabhida, investigations into extreme cost escalations, and a renewed commitment for a fiscal boost to remove South Africa’s vast backlogs of housing, water/sanitation, electricity, clinics, schools and roads; o immediate imposition of taxation and exchange controls on multinational and local corporations associated with the World Cup, on grounds that contracts entered into with FIFA are legally Odious; o investigations into bribery and corruption associated with FIFA contracts and World Cup construction in Durban and especially in Mpumalanga Province, and full criminal investigations into Durban’s own recent corruption scandals; o a thorough overhaul of Durban’s Council and ward committee system so as to introduce genuine democracy and popular participation; o a commission of inquiry into events associated with the jailing of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Kennedy Road 13, their unconditional release, and the right-of-return of AbM to Kennedy Road; o the end of municipal harassment of traders, especially in the Early Morning Market at Warwick Junction, and subsidies that would permit it to become an historic monument, having just marked the market’s centenary; o the end of municipal harassment of Durban fisherfolk, the imposition of more reasonable fishing license fees, and a recommitment to cleaning the harbour and beaches of pollution of all sorts; o a renewed commitment to combating the scourge of xenophobia; o a redistribution of the society’s income and wealth so that South Africa is no longer the world’s most unequal major economy, an end to the municipal debt collection strategy and other systems that worsen inequality, and increases in free basic water and electricity allotments financed through a luxury consumption tax on those who use too much; o an end to exploitative rental and housing arrangements, to oppression of rural people and to injustice against farm dwellers; o a ban on labour broking, as has long been promised by the ruling party; o a dramatic increase in township soccer and sports facilities; o follow-through on the promise of “a fast, comfortable and low cost urban transport system … for central business districts but also in townships” and an expansion of “People Mover” buses across metro eThekwini; o an end to new coal-fired plants and nuclear generators so as to save the environment from certain destruction, stringent monitoring of air and water quality and public access to the findings, strict law enforcement against polluters and littering, a commitment to proper maintenance of all Durban’s green areas in a cohesive, sensitive, responsible and inclusive manner for the benefit of the environment and the people of Durban not just the city elite, dedication to the eradication and control of alien species with a view to permanent job creation, and strict enforcement of city bylaws by Metro Police to prevent urban decay, slum development and the resultant health hazards and environmental degradation; o a retraction of indemnity to FIFA and end to the order prohibiting journalists from throwing FIFA into ‘disrepute’ as a prerequisite for accreditation; o an end to police brutality, proper policing of all neighbourhoods, and redirection of policing resources spent on FIFA to all citizens; o an end to the arrogant, authoritarian, exclusive, insensitive, parochial decision- making processes undertaken by the Ethekwini Municipality throughout all areas of its jurisdiction.
When considering the speed and lavishness with which services were delivered for the 2010 World Cup, we have no doubt the above demands can be met timeously and professionally.
Handed over by:______on ______at ______
Signature:______
Received by:______
Signature:______
DURBAN SOCIAL FORUM CONTACTS: Abahlali Base Mjondolo - Mnikelo Ndabankulu 0797450653 Abasha - Phindile Xulu Centre for Civil Society - Trevor Ngwane 0790307657 Climate Justice Now! KZN - Alice Thomson 0845643891 Clairwood Ratepayers Association - Rishi Singh cell 0825533907 Clairwood Social Forum - Pravin Nansook or Sydney Govindsamy Diakonia Council of Churches - Karen Read 0837831515 Early Morning Market Support Group - Roy Chetty 0823348461 ECOPEACE Party - Alan Murphy 0842037721 Earthlife Africa - eThekwini - Alice Thomson 031 465 9038 groundWork - Bobby Peak cell 0839826939 Islamic Propagation Centre International - Yusuf Ismail 0768164169 KZN Subsistence Fishers’ Forum - Essop Mohamed cell 0837864175 Palestine Support Committee - Lubna Nadvi 0837864918 Social Movements Indaba - Rassool Snyman 0835432480 Socialist Party of Azania - Asha Moodley South Durban Community Environmental Alliance - Des D’Sa 0839826939 Ubuntu Babash Youth Organisation - Marvellous Ngwenya 0843762901 Umbilo Action Group - Vanessa Burger 0828477766 Umphilo waManzi - Mary Galvin 031 205 9034 World Class Cities for All campaign - Lou Haysom / Pat Horn cell 0767065282 Wentworth Development Forum - Patrick Mkhize cell 0835550023 Women in Action - Carmel Chetty 031-5631722 Youth in Action - Ndumiso Sandezi 0761145083 Isipingo Ratepayers - Shad Nowbuth cell 0826131886 Phoenix Fisher Forum - K Sewsunker 031-5391947
*** http://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/NationalNews/Strike-guard-dies- claims-20100616
Strike guard dies - claims
2010-06-16 14:43
Durban - Striking security guards in Durban on Wednesday said one of their colleagues died in hospital after she was allegedly shot with rubber bullets during a protest over low wages on Monday.
“I would like to inform you that one of the people shot on Monday has died. She died at Addington Hospital,” Musa Mnyandu claimed.
He was addressing hundreds of security guards, street vendors and shack dwellers who took part in a service delivery march in Durban on Wednesday.
Mnyandu did not release the name of the guard. Police spokesperson Brigadier Phindile Radebe was also unable to confirm the death.
“We are trying to get information on this matter, but we are not winning. We will continue trying to get information.”
She said four guards sustained slight injuries when they were shot with rubber bullets on Monday morning.
“My understanding was that no one was admitted to hospital.”
Hundreds of the protesting guards had been replaced by the police, who would get help from volunteers.
Guards hired by Stallion Security to work at the stadium overturned refuse bins and threw objects at police on Monday morning after the game between Germany and Australia on Sunday night.
They claimed they had been promised R1 500 a day, but were getting only R190. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse them.
Wednesday’s march began at Botha Park and ended at the City Hall where a memorandum was handed to Cyril Xaba, a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
Marchers complained about the lack of service delivery and high electricity prices. They demanded a “World Cup for all”, saying the country should put people before profits. They said the R40 billion spent on the World Cup could have housed over three million South Africans.
***
360news.co.za
Guards try to torch office
2010-06-16 10:41
Durban - Two World Cup stadium security guards protesting over low wages tried to torch their employer’s office in Durban on Wednesday morning.
Security guards were gathering outside Stallion Security’s premises in Stamford Hill Road when two of them lit newspapers and approached the building.
Their colleagues stopped them while others ran away. The papers, taken from a man distributing free copies of a community newspaper, were doused before the two men reached the building. There were no police around at the time.
Security guards were camping outside the offices waiting to be paid. Some got their wages on Tuesday. It was not clear if the rest would get their money on a public holiday.
Guards hired by Stallion Security to work at the stadium on Monday morning overturned refuse bins and threw objects at police after the game between Germany and Australia on Sunday night.
They claimed they had been promised R1 500 a day, but were getting only R190. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse them.
The guards were expected to move to Botha Park later on Wednesday where they would meet street vendors who apparently wanted to support their strike.
*** http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1289890&lang=eng_ne ws&cate_img=145.jpg&cate_rss=news_Sports
WCup labor protests continue in Durban
By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press
2010-06-16 05:25 PM
Several hundred World Cup workers and supporters gathered in Durban on Wednesday to protest labor conditions in a dispute that has spread to half the tournament’s stadiums.
The security stewards, who say they have been banned from working, sang and chanted slogans ahead of a planned march to the coastal city’s town hall. Police kept watch but did not intervene.
Late Sunday, police used force to break up a demonstration outside Durban’s World Cup stadium, firing rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades at protesting workers.
Police have since taken over security at five of the World Cup’s 10 stadiums.
“Our protest is not aimed at disrupting the World Cup. It’s just to remind the government they must get their priorities right,” Trevor Ngwane, a protest organizer, told The Associated Press.
“When we ask for jobs, better education and houses, they tell us there is no money. But suddenly there are billion rand (available) to build stadiums.”
Stewards at Durban’s stadium say they were turned away from the venue after they complained about being underpaid by a private contractor.
Police have taken over security at that site as well as other venues using the same company, in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg.
Wednesday’s protest in Durban was joined by local fishermen and other workers who say their daily lives have been disrupted by the World Cup.
The rally was peaceful with organizers even urging protesters not to blow on their vuvuzelas _ the ubiquitous plastic horn seen at this World Cup.
Fisherman Rajen Inderjeeth said he had been stopped from fishing in a part of the city’s seafront where luxury hotels look onto the sea and a fanzone.
“When we go they chase us away. They are taking away our livelihoods,” said Inderjeeth, who held up a handwritten sign that read “We will fish against your rules.”
Community worker Pravin Nansook said most Durban residents had been excluded from the World Cup festivities.
“They paint a beautiful picture in the center of town for the tourists. But the tourists should see what the rest of (Durban) is like and the problems that are there,” Nansook said.
“People can’t afford to go to the stadiums ... The World Cup is just for the elite.”
***
Vibey video: http://www.topix.com/za/durban/2010/06/protest-at-safrica-govt- wcup-spending
Durban march photos: http://picasaweb.google.es/guprepe/DurbanSocialForumMarchYouthDay?feat=dir ectlink#
JULY
3 July Durban anti-x protest
***
Desmond D’Sa-SDCEA Co-ordinator wrote:
Dear All
6X fisher folks were arrested in the Durban Harbour and were given instruction to appear in court’ G ‘ on Monday 19th July 2010 at 08.30 am .This occurred as the world cup curtain came down .The charges are trespassing in the harbor where they have always fished.
Please could assist by informing others.
Desmond D’Sa
SDCEA Co-Ordinator
Tel: 031 461 1991
Cell: 083 982 6939
Mail: [email protected]
AUGUST
Shops close during march
12 August 2010, 12:59 Some shops were closed along Durban’s Prixley ka Seme Street during a protest march by thousands of members of Cosatu-affiliated unions on Thursday afternoon.
Clad in red Cosatu T-shirts, marchers sang, danced and blew vuvuzelas as they slowly moved from Botha Park to the City Hall, watched by scores of police officers.
One of the marchers, Ronny De Gee was carrying a crude home-made replica of an AK-47 rifle, which he said represented the struggle public workers engaged in for a better wage.
“It took me 30 minutes to make this gun. It symbolises the struggle. We will fight for our money until we get it.”
Others were burning impepho, a traditional incense used to facilitate communication with the ancestors.
“We want our ancestors to hear us,” said Dimisani Gwala, another protester.
Members of the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Independent Labour Caucus went on strike this week to demand better wages.
Last week unions rejected the government’s revised wage offer of a seven percent pay increase and a R630 housing allowance, as well as a 1,5 percent fixed pay progression.
Workers wanted an 8,6 percent wage increase and a R1 000 housing allowance, backdated to April 1.
Public service and administration spokesman Dumisani Nkwamba said unions and the government were scheduled to meet for another round of wage talks in Pretoria on Thursday evening.
The meeting would take place at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council in Centurion. - Sapa
***
Durban clamps down on sweatshops
By Suren Naidoo
Nine Durban clothing factories were shut down this week for paying workers well below the minimum wage of R334 a week, as part of a national crackdown on “sweatshops”.
Nine other clothing factories in the city also face closure, unless the owners cough up the correct wages, including backpay. Their names have not been divulged.
Leon Deetlefs, compliance officer at the Clothing Industry National Bargaining Council, said 385 clothing manufacturers in South Africa were not paying the minimum wage and were not complying with other requirements.
A significant number of these are in KwaZulu-Natal, where up to 47 percent of clothing factories are contravening the minimum wage law.
“This is unacceptable, especially because about 99 percent of clothing factories in the Western Cape pay the minimum wage,” Deetlefs said.
Writs of execution had also been served on factories in Bloemfontein, Kimberley and other areas.
The Labour Court orders in effect shut down factories and attach assets until owners give their workers backpay.
The extent of the crackdown came to light following an incident last week in Newcastle, where workers, standing shoulder to shoulder with a factory owner, barred the local sheriff from serving a writ and attaching the factory’s assets.
Deetlefs said 47 clothing factories in Newcastle were contravening the law.
“We planned on serving writ of executions to 15 of the worst offending companies in the Newcastle area last week.
“These were companies that were paying workers below R200 a week. In our inspections this year we even found two of factories in the area that were paying workers as little as R90 and R99 a week. This is unacceptable.”
Thursday’s incident, where the sheriff also received death threats, meant the serving of the writs had to be abandoned.
“The people who threatened the life of the female sheriff were interfering with the duties of an officer of the law. Since then the lives of four council staff have also been threatened. But we will not tolerate this unlawful behaviour,” Deetlefs said.
The council, sheriff’s office, SA Police Service, Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce and union are to meet on Monday.
“The meeting is about letting us do our jobs and getting the sheriff to serve the writ of execution on those non-complaint factories in Newcastle,” Deetlefs said.
“We will talk and explain the situation to the affected parties on Monday, so that the sheriff can go ahead with the execution. If the threats continue, then we will call in the police.”
Alex Liu, chairman of the Newcastle Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said: “It’s very unfair to see these sort of reports that Chinese-owned factories are paying such low wages, because it creates a bad image of our businesspeople.
“We are creating jobs in South Africa and I don’t believe some factories are paying R90 a week. Who would work for that amount of money?” he said.
“Speaking for the members of our chamber, we have worked out that on average machinists working in their factories are earning between R250 and R350 a week.
“Several factory owners are paying just below the minimum wage, but that’s because of issues related to provident funds. We did not agree to that and the council enforced it, so there is still disagreement.
“We are not running sweatshops in Newcastle. If there are any Chinese factories that are paying R90 a week, we want the council to tell us who they are.
“As a chamber we will not tolerate such ridiculous wages for workers.”
* This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on August 13, 2010
***
Labor Unrest Empties South African Hospitals
Empty beds in a ward at the King George V hospital in Durban, where most of the patients have been sent home as a result of the public service strike.
By CELIA W. DUGGER Published: August 27, 2010
DURBAN, South Africa - Most patients in the hulking, seven-story tuberculosis hospital here - all infected with potentially lethal, drug-resistant strains of the disease - have gone home since a majority of nurses, orderlies and janitors went on strike a week and a half ago.
At the King George V hospital in Durban non-striking workers have been intimidated and and the hospital is operating with skeleton staff.
Dr. Ruben Naidu, the hospital’s chief executive, noted regretfully that the patients being released prematurely were highly contagious. “Out in the community,” he said, “they’re going to spread the disease.”
The missing workers are a small part of a sprawling, nationwide strike by hundreds of thousands of public employees that has paralyzed hospitals and schools across South Africa, undercutting major drives to combat AIDS and TB and to repair a deeply troubled education system.
At the tuberculosis hospital here, known as King George V, strikers brandishing whips and sticks chased doctors and nurses off their wards. Some workers, fearing for their lives, hid in locked offices. Services have not recovered.
And the strike seems to be intensifying. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, or Cosatu, the powerful federation that is part of the governing alliance led by the African National Congress, threatened secondary strikes of manufacturing and mining workers next week if union demands were not met.
South Africa’s trade union movement has a storied history in the struggle against apartheid, but this season of labor unrest has heightened a deep worry here that the country’s proud spirit of ubuntu - a generous human interconnectedness that flared during the World Cup - has taken a back seat to materialism.
Anastina Blose, 70, a retired nurse’s aide who now looks after her five orphaned grandchildren, said she wept as strikers invaded her ward in King George V, where she had worked for more than two decades during apartheid and now, breathless and weak with TB, lies abed in her pink bathrobe. “They want more money,” she said. “We’ve got no money; we just want our health. It’s not African, this behavior. If I’m your neighbor and you’ve got a loaf of bread, you give me a slice. But now everybody’s just grabbing.”
Public employees have gotten a series of annual pay increases that have led to a near doubling of government spending on wages in the past five years. This year, they are demanding an 8.6 percent increase, more than double the 3.7 percent rate of inflation. But the government has offered 7 percent. The workers also want a doubling of their monthly housing allowance to $137.
No one here maintains that public workers are lavishly paid. Their salaries are modest by first-world standards. The union says their members’ earnings need to grow to reduce the country’s gaping income inequality, which, by some estimates, is the worst in the world.
But economists say that the rising public wage bill - particularly with no agreement from unions that, for example, chronically absent teachers could be fired more easily - is squeezing out spending on textbooks, hospitals and roads, with no assurances that the quality of public services will improve.
In a nation where more than a third of the potential work force is jobless and over a million of its 50 million citizens have joined the ranks of the out-of-work since just last year, rising pay for public employees also reduces the government’s room to hire more people, officials say.
The strike seems motivated not just by wages, but also by resentment of the political elite. Cosatu contends that senior politicians in the A.N.C. are chasing what Cosatu this week called “a caviar lifestyle” while expecting workers to scrimp. The symbolism of ministers driving BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes at public expense has proved particularly toxic.
“Do they want ministers to ride on scooters when they do their work?” Richard Baloyi, minister of public services and administration, retorted in The Sunday Times. Mr. Baloyi, a figure in the government’s effort to settle the strike, added, in comments confirmed by his spokesman, “Even during apartheid time, ministers were using vehicles such as Mercs.” His remarks provoked outrage from workers.
The strike is also a show of strength by a labor movement deeply disappointed in the limited power it wields in the governing alliance. Cosatu played a critical role in the downfall of Thabo Mbeki, the previous president, and in the rise of President Jacob Zuma. It is frustrated that the government’s economic approach - a regulated free market with a focus on keeping inflation low and public debt under control - has largely stayed the same.
“Once you’re a minister, you forget where you came from,” said Bongani Xulu, 49, an office worker at King George V who was protesting outside the hospital this week. “What happened to Mbeki will happen to them. If they don’t do what we put them there to do, we’ll take them down. We’re kingmakers.”
The hospital was a ghostly, fear-ridden place this week. Nurses still on the job avoided answering the phone, fearful their voices would be recognized by strikers. “They can burn my house,” one nurse explained. A stone shattered the car window of another nurse on Wednesday morning as she drove out of the parking lot after her graveyard shift.
On the cavernous pediatric ward Wednesday, all but a handful of children had gone to stay with relatives. An 8-year-old boy wandered across the linoleum floor, the belt of his blue bathrobe dragging behind him, while a frail toddler in a high chair waved forlornly when visitors stepped onto the hushed ward.
That same morning, Nakayiphi Ngwane, 48, a widow in a black cape, brought her 16-year-old daughter, Nokwethemba, a pretty wraith of a girl with TB, back to the hospital. Nokwethemba had left a week earlier after strikers burst onto her ward. Mrs. Ngwane, destitute since her husband’s death, had been forced to borrow money to come and pick up injections as the medicines dispensed to them by the hospital were running out.
Once there, Mrs. Ngwane, who has AIDS, told the nurse in charge that it might be better if her daughter were readmitted. “She’s coughing a lot,” Mrs. Ngwane explained. “I’m scared to get infected.”
But the girl wanted to stay with her mother, and there are fears the strike may worsen. Early that afternoon, as strikers chanted, danced and sang across the street, Mrs. Ngwane and Nokwethemba walked silently past them, their eyes straight ahead, bound for home.
***
News24 Home > South Africa 50 arrested in Durban protest 2010-08-23 14:20 - Fifty people have been arrested for public violence for taking part in a service delivery protest in Umlazi on Monday morning, KwaZulu-Natal police said.
The protesters, all community members of Umlazi, were initially believed to be protesting in the public service strike.
“This was not strike-related, it was a service delivery protest by Umlazi residents,” said Brigadier Phindile Radebe.
Earlier, police said striking civil servants had burnt a car at the Prince Mshiyeni Hospital and barricaded the Mangosuthu Highway, in Umlazi.
Radebe said the service delivery protesters had already dispersed.
“The road has been opened and the barricades have been removed,” said Radebe.
Stopped traffic
The service delivery protesters had stopped traffic going into and out of the township on Mangosuthu Highway. The crowd barricaded the highway with an old refrigerator and a scrap car.
Prince Mshiyeni hospital spokesperson Nonkululeko Ngcobo denied that the car that was burnt was related to any protests.
“The car might have been faulty because it just burnt by itself. Nobody burnt it. It had nothing to do with the strike,” said Ngcobo.
She said some hospital staff had arrived at worked but others were picketing at the entrance of the hospital.
Radebe said the protesters would appear at Umlazi Magistrate’s Court soon.
***
SEPTEMBER
Sowetan
Students' residences protest continues 08-Sep-2010 | Khulekani Mazibuko | 0
STUDENT protests against plans by the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Westville campus to privatise residences continued for the second day yesterday - disrupting lectures and trial examinations yet again
Students representative council president Mndeni Mkhize said: "All the campuses including Edgewood, Howard College and Pietermaritzburg are planning to join the protest today.
"The university council sits this month, and we want them to be aware we aren't happy with the new arrangement."
He said instead of privatising residences, the university should be building more residential places within the institution for students who live off campus.
The university's management has insisted there were no plans to privatise residences and blamed the students' protest on a misunderstanding.
"The misunderstanding has arisen from a proposal tabled at the university's finance committee meeting in mid-August.
"The university said they were not looking at privatising residences but interested in making more beds available for students within campus," said executive director Nomonde Mbadi.
***
UKZN students continue with strike 08 September 2010 - 08:28
By Thrishni Subramoney
Management at UKZN says it is deeply concerned by an apparent failure in communication between student bodies at the varsity's Westville campus - which it believes is at the root of two days of campus protests.
Hundreds of students marched on Westville campus on Monday and yesterday, disrupting a number of lectures.
Students claimed they were unhappy about alleged plans by UKZN to privatise its residences.
But UKZN's Nomonde Mbadi says the story is completely untrue and that the varsity sub-committee actually turned down a proposal to form a housing company to run accommodation some time ago.
She says the SRC is well aware of the fact that there is no plan to privatise residences but repeated attempts by management to contact student leaders to clarify the issue have failed.
She says management now believes the SRC, which is supposed to represent all students, isn't calling the shots.
"The SRC does not seem to be leading the strike. It is the political organisations that are leading the strike. There was a very extensive meeting which unfortunately turned very ugly because they started arguing among each other; so there seems to be a very serious problem between the ANC Youth League, Sasco and the SRC."
The SRC could not be reached for comment but Sasco's Sandile Phakathi insists that a privatisation plan is on the cards for UKZN.
Phakathi told Newswatch that the SRC initially did not understand the issue, but has joined the strike after holding talks with Sasco.