Inkani

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Inkani traces the growing resistance of poor communities over the last seven years in Durban, including the violent evictions in Bayview, the Ten Rand march, the Marcel King shooting and the Abahlali base Mjondolo marches and victories.

Shannon Walsh & Heinrich Bohmke (2006)

Crossmoor shackdwellers march on city demanding housing, water, and toilets

About 500 people from the Chatsworth community of Crossmoor marched on city hall today in demand of housing, water and sanitation. The community is insisting that the city provides immediate access to water and toilets for the more than 300 families that have been living for nearly 12 months without either.


The memorandum outlining the plight of the shack dwellers was meant for the eyes of City Manager Mike Sutcliffe. Yet Sutcliffe was nowhere to be found.

Visven Reddy and Paris Singh, both Chatsworth councilors, came forward to accept the memorandum, but the community refused to hand it over to either of them. Both councilors, they insisted, had been contacted numerous times and knew the issues well, yet had done nothing to rectify the situation.



The lively crowd resolved to wait for someone who would take their demands seriously. Finally eThekwini's Housing Department Head, Couglan Pather, arrived to accept the memorandum.

After a heated discussion, Falakhe "Fundise" Mhlongo told Pather that the community will give the city seven days to respond to their demands. If after seven days there is still no water and no toilets, they will connect their own water and make the streets their toilets.

They cannot wait any longer, he insisted.



Part of the Crossmoor settlement has a case in court after the city tried to forcibly evict them, leaving many homeless for months. Another portion of residents came to the land in Crossmoor after being forced out of the nearby Bottlebrush settlement while it was being upgraded.

Udaka

Gcina Shange rocks it in a durban shack settlement. Our latest endeavour as From The Well productions. Udaka means 'mud' and the song talks about coming from the shacks....

Blocking the G8- Ten days in Germany

Just returned from the protests in Germany against the G8. We successfully blockaded a few of the major roads, caused some good mayhem, and were able to form links with autonomous movements all across Europe. An amazing experience. I will write a full reflection in the next few days with a few more pictures from the event. Seeing the millions of cracks, or 'the million bee stings' John Holloway was calling it, was inspiring, even if in some ways the politics of the North that found most expression here might not have real resonance with the South, I think some of our everyday practices are more alike than we think.

Crossmoor Residents Blockade Road, Demand Water and Toilets

April 28th, 2007

Billows of black smoke stood out against the white sky in Crossmoorjust after dawn on Saturday morning. A few hundred shack dwellers fromCrossmoor settlement (called Ekupholeni, or "a place to relax" byresidents) blockaded Crossmoor Drive with burning tires.

With the sun having set on Freedom Day only hours before, it wasdisheartening to see placards held by the protestors which read "Wewant toilets and water" and "This is a better life for all?"Their demands were a sad reflection of the actual state of affairs forso many South Africans more than a decade after so-called Freedom.

Ekupholeni settlement braces against the slope of a hill in Crossmoor,Chatsworth, and is home to nearly 200 people, a majority of which areheaded by women with children."This is not what we fought for. We need toilets, we need water. We can't continue to live like this." beseeched Falakhe "Fundise" Mhlongo, one of the community leaders.

Fundise knows what he is talking about. He is one of the hundreds inthe area who have been struggling to find any shelter at all. Many people have come to Ekupholeni after having been forced out of nearby Bottlebrush shack settlement and they literally have no where else togo. At the same time, the City's Protection Services have been destroying any structures that are erected in the area, forcing people to sleep in the bush and open air.

Only a few weeks ago a young woman was raped when her shack was broken down by municipal services and she was forced to sleep in the open bush. The perils of living under this kind of pressure can barely be imagined.

Compounding the stress of homelessness, or eminent homelessness, there is not water or toilets accessible on the site. At the moment, people make their way anyway they can, using water from a local tuck shop or sympathetic neighbours, and attempting to find some dignity in the surrounding bushes.

The police had a large presence at Saturday's blockade, but chose to attempt mediation with community leaders rather than forcibly breakingup the protest. A woman with a toilet seat around her neck may have hit a sympathetic note with the officers.

SAPS Superintendent Ram Chunder, explained that, "since there are children and women involved, and there seems to be real grievances,we'd like to see if we can help resolve this through mediation. We are trying to get a meeting with the local councilor and Mike Sutcliff to at least see if some water storage facilities could be put in."

A small delegation of community members went with the SAPS mediatorsto Metro Police station in the hopes of meeting with Minority Frontcouncilor Paris Singh and City Manager Mike Sutcliffe.

"We need water and toilets and we want them to act."

At Metro Police station neither City Manager Mike Sutcliff or ParisSingh appeared. Apparently they were both away on holiday. Arepresentative for Singh who did met with the delegation told thecommunity to expect a visit from the councilor in the coming days.

It doesn't look like residents of Ekupholeni should hold their bladders.

At least 2 are dead after terrible fire in Kennedy Road this weekend

While many people vacationed this long weekend, Kennedy Road was again the site of tragedy. The worst fire yet to hit the settlement left at least 2 people dead and hundreds homeless.

With so many people homeless and left with no belongings there will need to be a serious amount of fundraising and support done in the coming days.

Posted below is the article written about the fire in The Mercury. It's a terrible situation, a product of the way in which people are forced to live: with no electricity, burning candles and paraffin, in shacks made of scraps that burn so easily. Fires like this one are so preventable if only the city would take seriously the plight of the poor.

For comment or to offer support - building materials, food, blankets, medical assistance - please contact Thobile Hlongwa at 094 758 6875

Two die in Kennedy Road shack fire, by Bronwyn Gerretsen

Making Movies in Lacey Road

Over the last few months I've been running video workshops with youth in Lacey Road. It's been really enjoyable and the first round of videos are almost done. Here are some shots of one of the crews hard at work on their production, a fiction about the perils faced by a girl living in Lacey Road.

Contribute caregiver kits!

Over the next few months we will be starting a drive to create home-based care kits for caregivers working in Kennedy Road, Lacey Road and some of the other shack settlements in Durban.

Caregivers are working as volunteers in the settlements to look after those suffering from HIV and AIDS. With so little, they are doing so much to take care of people in their communties.

Volunteers we spoke to expressed an urgent need for simple kits with basics like bandages and latex gloves to help them do their work better.

The kits will include antibacterial soap, petroleum jelly to moisturize and protect dry skin to prevent infection, antifungal cream, cotton balls to clean mouths and sores, latex gloves, washcloths, notebooks and pens to keep records, and a flashlight with batteries in case patients need help in the night.

If you would like to help by contributing a kit, holding an event to fundraise for caregiver kits, or donate funds towards makign kits please email me:
shannondawnwalsh at gmail dot com

For Martha

I've not been writing much about the personal experiences, struggles, connections and trails I've been having working in Kennedy Road, Lacey Road and Crossmoor.

I'm spending a huge amount of time these days, especially in Kennedy Road, dealing with emergencies around health and poverty. But it's also been a lovely time of quiet moments in the night around candle-light sharing silence and stories, the family dramas, the laughter and the daily annoyances. The growing pains of some of the youth, and the inching along through a difficult system to get grants, education, health care. Some things have been hard to write about here - it seems easier to write about formal politics than the intimacies of the struggle for bare life, sickness, and sadness.

But there are stories to tell.

Easter weekend was a hard one. On Good Friday we lost Martha Mthembu. Mother to 6. Thirty years old. Only one month younger than I am.

I will dearly miss her, but we will dignify and glorify her memory through the absolutely divine children she left behind and who I am, I must admit, quite smitten with.

For them, for now.

Kennedy 5 admitted to prison hospital after 8 days of hunger strike

Terrible news of the deteriorating condition of the 5 men in Westville prison. Friday will see everyone in court again, hopefully with some progress made.

Last night there was a rally and small march from the Kennedy Road hall to the Sydenham Police station focused on Glen Nayager. Their list of greviences included charges of racism, criminilisation of the poor, 'making poverty a crime', and the lack of respect for shackdwellers' homes. The memorandum they prepared also focused on how police are protecting and working with criminals, working with enemies of Abahlali, threatening journalists, not allowing cases to be opened against police and ignoring crimes against shackdwellers.

The police banned the march and S'bu and other leaders ended up chatting with the notorious Nayager at the Kennedy Road office while people gathered in the hall danced and sang.

Later a small group of 14 marched on the station to hand over a detailed memorandum to Nayager. The full memorandum is here.

It's worrying that stronger solidarity is not being built in a situation in which the five jailed men are becoming increasingly ill. The case has been confusing and complicated, that, mixed with perhaps fears from the communtiy might be partially responsible. Hopefully Friday will see the release of the men so that a more detailed investigation can be conducted.