30 May 2009 14:06,

Update from the Macassar Village Occupation

The Church supported Abahlali baseMjondolo lawyer rushed to Macassar Village to explain to the police that:

1. Any demolition of a shack without an order of the court is a criminal offence that carries a penalty of a fine or two years in jail.
2. Any demolition of a shack in the Macassar Village Ocupation is in violation of the court interdict obtained yesterday and is therefore in contempt of court.

However despite being shown the interedict and, again, having it and the law explained to them the police said that they don't take instructions from lawyers and that they only take instructions from their superiors. They went ahead and demolished all the structures, including two that were fully rebuilt. This was, once again, a blatantly criminal action on the part of the police.

The police are being quite open about the fact that they will follow the orders of their political masters and not the law or the courts. The Cape Town City Council appears to remain determined to continue to ignore the rule of law when the law offers some protection to the poor. It seems that they are determined to continue to, instead, implement the arbitrary and violent rule of the rich through the barrel of the guns wielded by the police and the Anti-Land Invasions Unit.

In 2006 the Tshwane Municipality demolished shacks in Moreleta Park in Pretoria in violation of a court interdict preventing any demolition with out an order of the court. The court responded by ordering (1) the arrest of the Minister of Safety and Security and (2) that the police must themselves rebuild the shacks that they had demolished. For more information on this case look at chapter two of the 2008 Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions report on housing rights in Durban: Business As Usual?: Housing Rights and 'Slum Eradication' in Durban, South Africa.

We will see what Monday brings. In the meantime the Macassar Village Occupation continues without shelter out in the cold and in the rain.

For more information please contact Mzonke Poni at 073 256 62036

--
Uyishayile!

To view 'From the Shacks to the Constitutional Court' visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_T7OKD05Vw

To view an excerpt of 'A Place in the City' visit
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7h6aTQp5A

To view 'Dear Mandela' visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBo002T4eI

To find out more about 'When the Mountain Meets its Shadow', a new film about life and struggle in Cape Town, visit  http://when-the-mountain-meets-its-shadow.com/

Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with with Landless People's Movement (Gauteng), the Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal) and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, is part of the Poor People's Alliance - a national network of democratic membership based poor people's movements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abahlali baseMjondolo  http://www.abahlali.org

Khayelitshastruggles  http://www.khayelitshastruggles.com/

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign  http://antieviction.org.za/

To join the contact list for the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, go to:  http://groups.google.com/group/antieviction/subscribe

To contact Abahlali baseMjondolo please do not use this address - please use the contact form at:  http://www.abahlali.org/contact.

Sekwanele!



--
Uyishayile!

To view 'From the Shacks to the Constitutional Court' visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_T7OKD05Vw

To view an excerpt of 'A Place in the City' visit
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7h6aTQp5A

To view 'Dear Mandela' visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBo002T4eI

To find out more about 'When the Mountain Meets its Shadow', a new film about life and struggle in Cape Town, visit  http://when-the-mountain-meets-its-shadow.com/

Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with with Landless People's Movement (Gauteng), the Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal) and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, is part of the Poor People's Alliance - a national network of democratic membership based poor people's movements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abahlali baseMjondolo  http://www.abahlali.org

Khayelitshastruggles  http://www.khayelitshastruggles.com/

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign  http://antieviction.org.za/

To join the contact list for the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, go to:  http://groups.google.com/group/antieviction/subscribe

To contact Abahlali baseMjondolo please do not use this address - please use the contact form at:  http://www.abahlali.org/contact.

Sekwanele!

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
For more, please visit the website of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign at:
www.antieviction.org.za and follow us on www.twitter.com/antieviction

Visit Abahlali baseMjondolo at www.abahlali.org and www.khayelitshastruggles.com

The Poor People's Alliance: Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with with Landless People's Movement (Gauteng), the Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal) and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, is part of the Poor People's Alliance - a unfunded national network of democratic membership based poor people's movements.