1986 port elizabeth and uitenhage removals judy Chalmers ort Elizabeth and Uitenhage have, until the community from trucks with now, been spared most of the harsh loudspeakers in September and again in early realitieP s of forced removals. The implementa­ November I986. They were told that Red tion of 'orderly urbanisation* in I986 has Location was 'dirty' and that they would be changed all this. better off in a new place. These two centres, with Despatch in- On 14 November, certain residents were between, are undei going a 'sterilise and advised that 'unauthorised structures' must be sanitise' programme which involves the up­ removed in terms of Section 3B(l) of the rooting and removal of thousands of town­ Illegal Squatting Act. Eviction and relocation ship residents to areas less visible, less in Motherwell, a huge new township/resettle­ accessible, more easily policed and ment area 20 km north of Port Elizabeth, controlled, and which is calculated to break faced 450 of the l 370 families. up existing community organisations and The people of Red Location got busy at relationships. once: a petition bearing more than 4 0O0 Some 40 000 shack dwellers from Langa signatures was sent to the state president. An and Blikkiesdorp in Uitenhage and Despatch ORSA survey of 158 households in Red Township have been moved to sites in Location revealed ihat almost everyone was KwaNobuhle — an hour's walk from Uiten­ opposed to the move. Interviews with the hage. In Langa, strong and well organised appropriate officials took place but the Ibhayi resistance to the move was whittled away by Town Council would not relent. the detention of leaders under the Slate of The authorities sealed off Red Location, Emergency. It was further eroded by a court declaring it an 'unrest area* and a 'military order compelling some of the residents of zone', and sending in an increased military Kabah (an area of Langa) to move. Nightly force to patrol the streets. It was announced harassment by KwaNobuhle Town Council that court orders would be obtained if officials, for weeks on end, completed the residents refused to move. demoralisation of the community. These people are now housed in tents or rebuilt An uneasy calm hung over Red Location. shacks in a massive resettlement area which is On l December came a surprise reprieve: inadequately supplied with basic services and people would not be moved, but would be far from work, schools and medical facilities. given temporary homes in the area while better homes were built. Ibhayi Town Council This operation was termed *a voluntary has since announced a three-phase plan to removal* by the authorities. Operation Real redevelop Red Location: erect temporary South Africa (a PFP action group), which houses in an adjacent area; move shack conducted a survey in the area, found that dwellers into them, and then proceed with the without exception those who had been moved redevelopment plan. Red Location residents, had done so totally against their will. while greatly relieved, remain on the alert. In mid-November 1986 the Black Sash Some signs of vigilante action in the area are Advice Office in Port Elizabeth received a call being monitored. from the Red Location community. On the other side of Port Elizabeth. Red Location, one of the oldest established Walmer Township has been assured that. areas in New Brighton, is a 'prime site*: it is after many years of threatened removal, it will next to the New Brighton station and is be permitted to remain. Here too, however, spacious and level. Although water and lodgers and shackdwellers have received sewerage facilities are utterly inadequate, this eviction notices. is because of departmental neglect, not On the far side of Zwide lies the sprawling because of difficulty of access. Many residents shack township of Little Soweto with its have lived there for thirty years or more, and dense population of over 120 000. Will this be shacks belonging to their children and grand­ next on the "orderly urbanisation' agenda? children are attached to the main dwellings. Will they too be forced to exchange a shack in Threats of the impending removal, by order town for one that fits in with the government's of the Ibhayi Town Council, were leyelled at "sanitise and sterilise* ideal? D .