E EPISCOPAL CHUR.CHPEOPLE for a ~REE SOUTHERN AFRICA C 339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y. 10012·2725 S (212) 4n -e066 FAX: (212) 979 -1013 A #101 1 August 1990 SOUTH AFRICA - EMERGENCE AND REPRESSION SOUTHSA Bulletin of Southern AfricanCANAffairs f-.&l Vol. 5 No. 28 ~. 20 July 1990 -----cYJ---------.:.-- Strtkes and squatter protests spread throughout countIy CAPE TOWNI As the The UDF vice. Uri. week thousands The bulldozer dro~e government and the ofclothing workers took .traicht at them and president in the We.t­ tben eraehed into ANC gear up for the ern Cape, Dullah part in a demonstration 10 .upport of union.' their houaee. next round of talks Omar, said that the aimedatpreparingfor demanil for workera' Pa-inc pollee can UDF was concerned rights to be guaranteed were lItoned before negotiations, ma.s that the land was not MCUrity foreee rU'ed based organi.ations being ul8d and saw no in a new constitution. tearp.into the are taking militant More than 60,000 ancr:r crowd. reason why people workersjoined hands to action, wrUu a corre­ desperate for homes Ancry youth then spondent here. should not OCICupy the form a human chain moved into the A spate of strikes area. along main road. in adJolninc euburb of and squatter prote.ts Cape Town on newho~and has rocked South Af­ District Six haal Wedneaday. Similar attempted to torch imense emotional si - demon.trations took the hom..of Dobeon­ rica this month and niCicance for blac\ ville councUlorw. more seem likely to Capetonians as a sym- part in other major After their ..ttlement follow. This week the centre.. [Squattera at· of 80 hoUM. w.. United Democratic tacJJed P.211J demollabed, the Front announced a hoI ofhowapartheidbaa equaU.... pthered campaign to hiJrhlhrht ravaged the city. At A wave of local adm.let the nIbble and the thouaana. r.n presentmoooCthe area rebelliollll w.. thJ. bepn rebulldlnc the homelea. or living in IS empty except for a week ....plq ehaekL Lut w.ek white technical college throuch the ind~ councll olnelal.. from overcrowded squatter trial areu of the Reef the white town of settlements. and a few recently con· after the covernment Benoni, ...of The government .tructed hou... with eoupt to demollah Johann..hurt'. waa_~ck to hitout at price tags that place ~tter..ttlementll. arreeted 30 people the UDF'. plan. to oc­ them well outofreach rI A croup ofIlqU8tten from a loeal ehAnty­ cuPY vacant public moo South African•. in Thokou took up town ..they reelilted ana private land, Meanwhil.. the uum­ S"!UI; p4!~1 bombi attemptll to emaeh terming this -an invi· ber ofworker. on strike and match..to down their hom... top~ prevent police and In the central bu.1­ tation to con· countrywide baa loeal councll oMclal.. n_ d1etrict ofthe frontation". In the the 40,000 mark· an all from demoU.hlnc city, hundrecla of Transvaal this week, tim. hilh which is ca.t­ their .Juaeblut homel_ people government officials iog industry billions. w..IL erected tentll on the demolished hundreds The trade union Two people were .ot pavement. and of shacks belonging to movement has threat­ dead in the claell.. demanded heeic "illegal squatters". enedftanbtraction with that ellllUeci and 2IS accommodation. The UDF re- mon·u.n 99,000cater· people - includlq t Ie ..timated that an~ ~tail ~brs five policemen ·were ..ven million people sponded defiantlysay­ illf lnjuiecL live ..equatten on ing that the squatter poised to tb dOll in A tanker filled with vacant rural and occupation would con· IUp~ of union mem- : calUtic eoda w.. urban land· 20% of tinue and that the hera locked out ofcom- hijacked and ..t the countrY. popula­ UDF intends to oc­ ~t.CI1~;~~, al1cht on tha main tion. reporte the cupy vacant flats in hiehway into Johan­ aeency IPS. I white areas. The uniOQ haw mo n_burl'. targeted ~~. On another edce of In Cape Town, Dis­ the city. in the trict Six - which has tions which they say Soweto ~burb of remained largel~ un­ practiceconfrontational Dobeonrill.. a p-oup developed since Its in­ labour relations. The i of women lI&ripiMd habitants were moved South African Brewer- i naked and .tOOG in out in terms of the iescorporation and Bar- . the path ofa bull· Group Areas Act -is to low Rand have both I dozer ..nt to demol­ been targeted. i lab the 8hanty town be the focal point of they Uve iA. p~~st action. ·VEEKEND MAIL. July 20 to July 26 1990 RGANISF,IJ occupation of vacant land, of­ len in defiancc of the Group Areas Act, has heen occurring since early this year. And far The paper for from hell hreaking loose. orderly commu­ a changing nities with a viahle fulure have hecn creatcd. This living challenge 10 predictions that South Africa "lIng()\'Crnahility" is Ihe inevitable outcomc Friday to Sunday "I' LUll! ill\ a~i"II" i~ I" he r"lInd maillly in Ihr Orange I'n::e Stall:. ~ July 20, 1990 Volume e, Number 27 Mangaung's rreedom Square which consists of 2 .'iOI) shacks --just 10 minutes out of Bloemfontein is an rxamplc, 1\1:lI1gaung Civic i\ssociation(MCA) secretary Sck.­ hppi l\'lalcoo slales unambiguously: "When we put up Ihesl' infpnllal areas we do it consciollsly as part of IhL' lL'possession oflhe land." /lilt this hasn'l prevented the Orange Frec State pro­ vincial aUlhorily f!'Om liaising with Ihe MeA to im­ /(s lIo/hillg IIC\\'Ior fhc homeless fo prpve the physical plan of rreedom Square and 'in mdc, mcant land. But the state's gr:lllr Ihe roads, Nor has it deterred the province f,pm faeililating a Iranskr of Ihe lalld lolhe local au­ !'I's/)Ol/SC \'(fries, In fhe Free State land is Ihorill' so Ihc settleml'nt can hecome pcnn:ment. sef asidc alld watcr laid rJ!1 -;'1 fhe " his pal tern is heing repeated Ihroughout the Or­ :lIlge Frec Stale \\hcre official cslimales of thc num­ 7'mmmo! shocks are torn dOH-'n to hl'l of Sh:lds rllll to 27 I)()() units spread over 20 eradicafc the 'evil' ofsquatting. IpIVns, II has 11(11 eliminaled the contest over land hut By JG-ANNE COLLINGE iI has helped manage it. eTo PAGE 3 eFromPAGE1 land. \Iike Makwa. .;n31ll11an ot ,he f'ree, There could be no sharper contraSI <Jom Sauare Commlllee. ,.IVS peoole :0 (he silUauon in Tr.lnsvaal where Some evict squatters ••• are aware (his is a political VlctOrv as ,hacks are being 10m down day aller well as a satisfaction of Ihell need for day - and oflen in billerly cold land. ''Thev wanled to scramble aO:lTl­ weather. heid. Thev wanled 10 see if the Group Last week !WO people were killed al ."-reas Act W3S abolished. So they Phola Park. on the East Rand while de­ Others seek solutions took Ihe land and they won, We are rending their homes againsl an on­ here [0 stay:' ,Iaught by public servants. Commissioner of Police Johan van the way "to becoming the implemenl­ payment. The MCA. like other civics. has ob­ The Transvaal Provincial Adminis­ der Merwe had issued stricI orders to ing agency" in the Tumahole shack [t is quite likely that Tumahole shack (ained professional advice in laying tration's John Mavuso asserts: "The the police 10 do everything in their town. The province. he noted. had no community - branded as confronta­ out its plots and allocaling them to first responsibility for privale land power 10 Slop illegal squatting. objection. "They seem to recognise tionist in conventional bureaucralese homeless applicants. It sees Free<Jom owners is 10 prevenl squaning." The shack-dwellers of Dobsonville that the existing lown council of Tu­ - will become the tirsl people in the S4uare nOI as a make-shift measure And he ranks black local authorities had little doubt that orders were being mahole has been unsuccessful in area 10 resume paying for the services but as a small step toward a posr­ foremost among [he land owners obeyed when they woke up one frosty managing the lownship:' they consume. Of course, the pay­ apanheid South Africa. Care has been charged with fulfilling !his role. morning last week 10 find themselves Resistance ofTumahole residents to ments might be made to the TCA rath­ t:iken to leave space for service lines \iavuso and Minister of Planning surrounded. with a police helicopter the local council is retlecled in the er than dfrect to !he local authority. and adequate roads. and Provincial Affain Hemus Kriel hovering overhead. Demolitions fol­ tive-year rent and service tariff boy- Said the Rural Advice Office worle­ The MCA holds meetings wilh ap­ have reacted angrily 10 announce­ lowed that day. Residents were ar­ er. "t gel the sense that the Free State plicants for plots in Freedom Square. ments !his week by the United Dem0­ rested and charged, among other planners really appreciate what land II screens the people to enswe thaI cratic Front's Sourhem Transvaal re­ things, with public violence. hunger is:' they are genuinely homeless and nOI gion that it is to spearhead a campaign Almost simullaneously - jusl SoulCes close 10 the Free Slale pro­ jusl on the look-out for extra land. to house the homeless by occupying across !he Vaal River - lechnical ad­ , vincial authorities detect certain un­ ."nd - especially in the precarious vacant propeny. Kriel described the visers 10 !he Tumahole Civic Associa­ Eradicate this deriymg pnnciples in their approach early days - it explained their obliga­ campaign as "an invitation 10 con­ lion (TCA) were Ialking 10 engineers to infonnal settlements.