Foreman Road - update : IMC-SA

There are some pictures online at http://www.southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/9176.php There would be more if the police hadn't illegally confiscated all the cameras that they could get hold of - including Raj Patel's camera.

The good news is that everyone has been released from police custody and all the injured people have now received medical attention.

The police were exceptionally brutal. Someone challenged a police officer declaring "but this is a democracy". He replied "there is no democracy here". He was telling the truth. There is no state democracy for the shack settlements. The only democracy here is the democracy that people create for themselves. And the eThekwini municipality to try and ban and beat that into submisison. There approach to popular democractic expression by the poor is now no different to Botha or Mugabe.

In the last few days the eThekwini Municipality has:

- illegally evicted people from their homes without providing alternative accommodation

- illegally baned people from marching in protest at the way they are treated

- had people savagely beaten when they peacefully marched in protest at the illegal ban on their right to march

Furthermore the police didn't give people a warning to disperse, police shot people in the back with rubber bullets and they shot people at point blank range - I saw one person being shot while cowering on the ground - at least one police officer used live ammunition, people taking photographs of police violence had their cameras confiscated by the police, people were robbed of money and phones by the police. All of this is illegal.

A number of council officials have privately and off the record said that Mike Sutcliffe was personally responsible for the illegal ban of the march. This act in and by itself is a major attack on popular democracy. If Sutcliffe is indeed responsbile for this act, or if he fails to act against the person responsible for this act, then Sutcliffe is clearly unfit to hold any office in a democratic state. If he remains in office he will, from this moment forward, be a treated with extreme contempt and hostility by the progressive community in this city.

There was extensive and fair media coverage on national TV and radio but it was very striking that the Daily News saw fit to ignore today's events entirely.

The television and radio coverage has been very good so far. But although this outrage was the lead story on ETV national news, the second story on most SABC TV bulletins etc the Durban afternoon newspaper - The Daily News - ignored today's events entirely..... The Daily News had made much of Rosa Parks recently. Let's hope that they don't only celebrate peaceful civil disobedience when it (safely) happens someone where else and some other time. What happened today was that people, amongst the poorest and most marginalised in our society, undertood a peaceful act of civil disobedience against the illegal suppression of their right to march. For this they were savagely beaten. This must be a major scandal for anyone who takes democracy remotely seriously. This week we might as well have been living in the 80s as far as the right to popular protest goes.

The SAPA article below is pretty appalling. It accepts the police claim that the march got out of hand....The truth is that that police savagely attacked people. Multiple eyewitnesses will attest to this. And it accepts that Metro's ridiculous claim about why they banned the march.....Even if the Metro's claim were true a banning on these grounds would still be illegal.

A formal press release will come out from Abahlali base Mjondolo as soon as people have had time to meet and discuss a way forward. These views are only mine. But I have had enough phone calls today, and spoken to enough people, to convince me that Sutcliffe's credibility has been permanently destroyed in many quarters of our city.

Richard Pithouse

M&G online - SAPA story

Police fire rubber bullets to disperse protest

Durban, South Africa

14 November 2005 04:37

Police used rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of disgruntled Sydenham
residents, and arrested 45 of them for marching illegally on Monday, Durban
police said.

Police spokesperson Daniela Veldhuizen said angry Clare Estate residents
marched on mayor Obed Mlaba's office to hand over a memorandum that cited
dissatisfaction over housing and the alleged removal of basic services from
shack dwellers.

"At some point, the march got out of hand. Of the 45 arrested, eight were
charged," Veldhuizen said.

Veldhuizen said the residents' application to march had been turned down.

eThekwini metro police confirmed this.

Metro spokesperson Alex Wright said the application had been turned down
because the organisers could not say who would accept the memo.

One of the organisers, Rasta Walter, said they felt as though their
constitutional right to march had been violated.

"Such brutality cannot be tolerated. Many people have been wounded here.
They cannot stop us from marching because we gave adequate reasoning,"
Walter said.

Walter said the police had no reason to decline their request because they
had marched peacefully on three other occasions. -- Sapa

Richard

---+++ Note - the following press release is an emergency release not approved by any of the movements involved in today's march: members of the movement are out of contact, and many are trapped in Foreman Road +++---

14 November, 3pm

DURBAN, KZN. At noon today at the Foreman Road settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, police attacked a peaceful demonstration of settlement dwellers from around the muncipality. Dozens have been arrested. As of 2:30pm, police had surrounded the Foreman Road settlement and blocked both exits. No one is being allowed in or out. Shots have been heard, and there are reports that anyone attempting to leave the settlement is being fired upon. Eyewitness reports suggest many injuries due to rubber bullets.

The elected committee of Abahlali base Mjondolo, a shack dwellers movement with 16 affiliated settlements, followed due procedure in attempting to gain permission for the march. The city council, however, illegally denied the application (see letter below from the Freedom of Expression Institute for details). At 11am, the majority of the 3000-strong crowd decided to march to the nearby Asherville sports field. This was a route recommended by the Mayor's office at a meeting on Friday, 11 November, in the Mayor's presence.

Initially, the march proceeded peacefully up Loon Road. At the top of the road, marchers were met by a police cordon at the intersection of Loon Road and Locksley Road. At least 2000 people were up against the police barrier. Witnesses did not observe the mandatory five-minute warning being given before police charged the crowd with riot shields, backed up by riot trucks, plucking individuals at random for arrest. The crowd fled back down Loon Road, towards Foreman Road settlement.

Police officers chased the marchers into the Foreman Road settlement, firing rubber bullets, charging with batons, and arresting protesters in the process. Witnesses saw cameras, phones and money taken from protestors by the police. Five people were arrested at the front line and approximately 10-15 minutes at least one more van left the scene, filled arrested protestors; as of 2pm, a total of 13 people were detained at Sydenham Police Station, though witnesses have seen more police vans filled with people from informal settlements. It is possible that they are being held at other police stations.

One of the first arrestees was System Cele, a 19 year-old elected committee member from nearby Kennedy Road settlement, attending the march with her young baby. She was seen in good health as she was arrested and marched to a police van. She reported that police pushed her around, demanding that she reveal S'bu Zikode as the person making people march. When she said that there were people marching all over the world, and that S'bu could not be inciting them all, they assaulted her, and in the process broke her teeth on the pavement, necessitating dental treatment. As Ms. Cele pointed out, S'bu and other leadership had told those gathered that the march would be illegal, and had advised that there would be consequences, but no one could have foreseen the ferocity of the police response.

The quarantine of the Foreman Road settlement continues. At one point, an effigy of Mayor Mlaba was burned in front of the police, giving off black, oily smoke.

The March on Mayor Mlaba was organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee to demand land and housing in the city and to protest against forced removals and the ongoing removal of basic services from shack settlements. It was decided to march under the slogan of No Land, No House, No Vote. On Wednesday, 9 November more than 5 000 people attended a mass rally in support of the march in the Foreman Road settlement.

Media coverage of on-going events at Foreman Road is urgently needed; please contact those listed below for comment. Bail funds are also needed; contact Fazel Khan (084 577 8627) for details.

For print quality photos, go to http://sa.indymedia.org or contact Raj Patel patel@ukzn.ac.za or Richard Ballard ballardr@ukzn.ac.za 083 789 7108

For comment please contact:

Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Foreman Road Development Committee, 07356565241
Lungisani Jama, Foreman Road Development Committee, 0822595443
Nonhlanla Mzobe, Kennedy Road Development Committee, 0826892606
Angelina Mosiea, Quarry Road Development Committee, 0762921833
S'bu Zikode, Chair, Abahlali base Mjondolo, 0835470474
Simon Delany, Freedom of Expression Institute, 0833970057
Raj Patel, Centre for Civil Society, UKZN, 0824724937
Fazel Khan, Social Policy Programme, UKZN, 0845778627

Below please find:

1. 13 November press release, "THOUSANDS TO MEET IN DEFIANCE OF DURBAN MARCH BAN"
1. A letter from the Freedom of Expression Institute protesting the illegal ban of the March on Mlaba.
2. The exact text of the letter banning the march.
3. The original press release for the March on Mlaba in English and Zulu.

THOUSANDS TO MEET IN DEFIANCE OF DURBAN MARCH BAN

On Monday morning, 14 November, thousands of shack dwellers from across Durban will gather at the Foreman Road settlement, Foreman Road, Clare Estate, Durban, in defiance of the eThewkini Municipalitys illegal ban of their scheduled march on Mayor Obed Mlaba.

Representations will be made to the Municipality to lift their illegal, immoral and profoundly anti-democratic ban. If the ban is not lifted the assembly will make a collective decision on how to respond. This may take the form of a mass act of peaceful civil disobedience.

The March on Mlaba was organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee to demand land and housing in the city and to protest against forced removals and the ongoing removal of basic services from shack settlements. It was decided to march under the slogan of No Land, No House, No Vote. On Wednesday, 9 November more than 5 000 people attended a mass rally in support of the march in the Foreman Road settlement. The march has the full support of Abahlali base Mjondolo, the shack dwellers movement, to which 16 settlements including Foreman Road have affiliated. Abahlali base Mjondolo has mobilised more than 20 000 people in different ways since March this year and has successfully staged three mass marches on local councillors. Each of these marches has been entirely peaceful. (Photographs and more information are online at http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?10,24,10,2250 ) The movement has attracted national and international attention, support and admiration. It has no paid staff and no outside funding. Most of its meetings take place by candlelight in shacks or in the open air. Recently the sound and lights of circling police helicopters has provided a backdrop to some meetings.

Numerous respected commentators have described the Municipality's ban of the March on Mlaba as a significant and deeply disturbing attack on popular democracy. There is a clear consensus that no City official complicit with this outrage is fit to hold office in a democratic state.

While thousands are gathering at the Foreman Road settlement 21 former residents of the Lusaka settlement will be herded into the dock in the Magistrates court to face charges of trespassing. The Lusaka settlement was demolished at gun point by the eThekwini Metro in the first week of November. Some families were forcibly removed to the notorious rural ghetto of Parkgate but, in blatant defiance of South African law, 19 families were left homeless. They had been occupying the front lawn of Councillor Jayraj Bachu's offices in Clare Road, Clare Estate, for a week in a classic act of peaceful civil disobedience. (Photographs of the occupation are online at http://southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/9133.php ) But on Friday night they were arrested, their goods were confiscated and they spent the weekend in the holding cells of the Sydenham police station. Before the last election Bachu's ward was plastered with posters declaring that Ghandi would have voted ANC*.

For comment please contact:

Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Foreman Road Development Committee, 07356565241
Lungisani Jama, Foreman Road Development Committee, 0822595443

Rasta Walter, The Lusaka 21, 0829739268
Mavis Ntombifuthi, The Lusaka 21, 0728591633

Nonhlanla Mzobe, Kennedy Road Development Committee, 0826892606
Angelina Mosiea, Quarry Road Development Committee, 0762921833
S'bu Zikode, Chair, Abahlali base Mjondolo, 0835470474

Andile Mngxitama, Foundation for Human Rights, 0827429660
Simon Delany, Freedom of Expression Institute, 0833970057
Shereen Essof, African Gender Institute, UCT, 0763347778
Salim Vally, Education Rights Project, WITS, 082805936
Nkosinathi Ngcobo, HEARD, UKZN, 031 - 2603083
Raj Patel, Centre for Civil Society, UKZN, 0824724937
Fazel Khan, Social Policy Programme, UKZN, 0845778627
Ashwin Desai, public intellectual and internationally renown scholar, 0836565766

Below please find:

1. A letter from the Freedom of Expression Institute protesting the illegal ban of the March on Mlaba.
2. The exact text of the letter banning the march.
3. The original press release for the March on Mlaba in English and Zulu.

----------------------------------------
LETTER FROM THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION INSTITUTE

Ethekwini Municipality
Health, Safety and Social Service Cluster
Durban Metropolitan Police Service

URGENT ATTENTION:
Insp P. Sewpersad
By Fax: 031 306 4091

Your referenceOur referenceDate
Insp P. SewpersadMr S Delaney10 November 2005

Dear Sir/Madam

Foreman Road Development Committee / Protest March from Botha's Garden to City Hall on 14 November 2005

1.We have received a copy of your letter dated 9 November 2005 to the Foreman Road Development Committee, prohibiting the Committee's proposed march.

2.The Constitution states, "Everyone has the right, peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present petitions". The Regulation of Gatherings Act No 205 of 1993 ("Gatherings Act") gives effect to this fundamental right.

3.Before detailing your various breaches of the Constitution and the Gatherings Act, the FXI, as a matter of policy, condemns your blatant disregard for the rights of marginalized communities in particular to exercise their freedom of expression.

4.The residents of the Foreman Road Informal Settlement continue to suffer from a near complete absence of development in the area, marked by a lack of water, electricity and proper housing. The residents are indigent and mostly unemployed, having to rely on disability grants, child support grants or pensions in order to survive. Moreover, many of the residents have chronic and life-threatening illnesses, including HIV/AIDS, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.

5.There can be few more urgent causes than a community suffering from lack of food, water and shelter. The Foreman Road Informal Settlement accordingly desperately needs to hold the march as soon as possible, in order to publicize the plight of the residents, in the hope that a speedy resolution to this humanitarian crisis can be found.

6.We now turn to your letter prohibiting the march. It is instructive to set out the reason given in the letter of prohibition, verbatim:

"I refer to your letter received on the 24th October 2005 in connection with the above and have to advise that the march is prohibited as the Officials from the Mayor's Office have advised that they have no feedback for your organisation.

The Mayor's Office labour is unable to assist you and there will be no representative to meet you"

(Emphasis added by underline)

7.A number of observations can be made about the letter of prohibition,

7.1the ostensible reason for prohibiting the march, namely that "*the Officials from the Mayor's Office have advised that they have no feedback for your organisation *" is absurd, since section 5 (1) of the Gatherings Act only permits such a prohibition if there is a "*threat that a proposed gathering will result in serious disruption of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, injury to participants in the gathering or other persons, or extensive damage to property, and that the Police and the traffic officers in question will not be able to contain this threat*";

7.2 there is not the slightest suggestion that the ground relied on for the
prohibition was based on information obtained under oath as required by section 5 (1) of the Gatherings Act; and

7.3 there is also no attempt to try and obtain any undertaking or to impose any
condition on the march to avert such speculative threats.

8.The Constitution moreover guarantees everyone the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. Your prohibition is both unfair and unreasonable, in that your notification of the prohibition was given only 3 working days before the date of the march, which is manifestly unfair. It would be practically impossible for the Foreman Road residents to have sufficient time to have your prohibition set aside in court.

9.We accordingly submit that the prohibition on the march by the Foreman Road Development Committee imposed by you does not comply with the Gatherings Act or the Constitution. We call on you to reverse your decision and grant permission for the march.

Yours faithfully

Simon Delaney
Attorney,
Freedom of Expression Institute

-----------------------------------------
EXACT TEXT OF THE LETTER BANNING THE MARCH

FORMAN RAOD DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (WARD 25)
ATT: MAXWELL NDABANKUKU
135 FOREMAN ROAD
DURBAN, 4000

09th November

Dear Sir

PROTEST MARCH - 14TH NOVEMBER 2005 - BOTHA'S GARDEN TO CITY HALL

I refer to your letter received on the 20th October 2005 in connection with above and have to advise that the march is prohibited as the Officials from the Mayor's Office have advised us that they have no feedback for your organisation.

The Mayor's Office labour is unable to assist you and there will be no representative there to meet you.

Yours faithfully

Insp. P. Sewpersad

Arrive Alive

Asiphephe

Batho Pele

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE FOR THE MARCH ON MLABA

MARCH ON MAYOR OBED MLABA
ON 14 NOVEMBER 2005

ABAHLALA BASE MJONDOLO BAFUNA IZINDLU!

WHEN: Monday 14 November. We will gather at the Foreman Road settlement at 7:00 a.m., regather at Botha Park at 9:00 a.m. and present our demands to Obed Mlaba between 12:00 and 1:00. We will finish by 1:30.

WHERE: We will gather at Foreman Road, travel to Botha Park and march down West Street to the City Hall.

WHY: To demand land & housing; basic services like water, electricity & toilets and a community hall. We will also oppose forced removals to the rural periphery of the Metro. We will also tell Mlaba that if there are no land and houses in the city then there will be no vote.

ORGANISERS: The Foreman Road Development Committee. For more information contact Mr Mnikelo Ndabankulu (0735656241) or Mr Lungisani Jama (0822595443).

SUPPORTERS : This march is also supported by, and will include people from all of the 16 settlements that are now supporting the abahlali base mjondolo movement including Annet Drive, Banana City, Burnwood Road, Jadhu Place, Juba Place, Kennedy Road, Lacey Road, New Castle, Palmiet Road, Pemary Ridge, Pridley Park, Quarry Road, Puntan's Hill, Shannon Drive, Sirpath Road and Umgudulu. It is also supported by the Clare Estate Taxi Association and the Reservoir Hills Public Transport Association.

The Shack Dwellers' Struggle

Many promises to people living in shack have been broken. Across South Africa shack dwellers have been blocking roads and saying 'Enough!' There have been more than 850 illegal protests this year. In Durban, in Wards 23 and 25, thousands of people have marched on councillors Yacoob Baig and Jayraj Bachu to demand that promises to provide land, housing and basic services like water, electricity and toilets be kept. People have also been marching against plans to move shack dwellers out of the city to rural places like Verulum. The media have understood that people are suffering and have supported the marches very strongly. Other struggling communities have also offered strong support.

In Foreman Road many of us have being staying here since 1989. Before the last local government elections Mlaba came to us and promised that if the ANC won then the land between us and the Loon Road graveyard will be be given to us for housing. But now the Metro want to break this promise and dump us in Park Gate far away from work, schools, clinics and police stations.

We cannot continue to suffer like this. The time has come to say "Enough!" and to demand that the promises made to us be kept. The time has now come to march on the Mayor. We must tell Obed Mlaba that if we don't get land, houses and basic services then we will not vote in the coming elections.

NO LAND, NO HOUSE, NO VOTE!

IMASHI EYA-KUMEYA U-OBED MLABA
NGOMHLAKA 14 NOVEMBA 2005

ABAHLALA BASE MJONDOLO BAFUNA IZINDLU!

NINI: Ngehora lesikhombisa ekuseni ngosumbuluka zingu 14 November 2005 (7:00 a.m.)

KUPHI: Siyobuthana ku-Foreman Road bese siqhubekela e- Botha Park kuyilaphoke siyomasha emgwaqeni u West Street siphikelele e City Hall. Simashe.

ISIZATHU: Ukulwela umhlaba nezindlu, izidingonqangi njengamanzi ahlanzekile, ugesi, izindlu zangasese kanye nehholo lomphakathi. Sizophinde siphikisane nesenzo sokukhishwa kwezakhamizi ngendluzula ziyiswa ezabelweni umkhandlu wedolobha. Sizophinda simtshele u Mlaba ukuthi uma ungekho umhlaba edolobheni ngeke nathi sivote.

ABAGQUGQUZELI: I komidi elibizwa ngokuthi, iForeman Road Development Committee. Ulwazi oluningi lungatholakala ngokuxhumana no uMnu Mnikelo Ndabankulu (0735656241) kumbe Mnu. Lungisani Jama (0822595443).

ABAXHASI: Lemashi izobungazwa ozakwethu azakhiweni ezingu 16 abazinikele ekusixhaseni ezikhalweni zabahlali basezakhiweni, lapha sibala abahlali baku Annet Drive, Banana City, Burnwood Road, Jadhu Place, Juba Place, Kennedy Road, Lacey Road, New Castle, Palmiet Road, Pemary Ridge, Pridley Park, Quarry Road, Puntan's Hill, Shannon Drive, Sirpath Road and Umgudulu. Lemashi iphinde ixhaswe inhlangano yamatekisi ebizwa ngokuthi i Clare Estate Taxi Association ne Reservoir Hills Public Trans. Assoc.

UMzabalazo wabahlali 'basemijondolo

Ziningi izithembiso ezenziwe ngaphambili ezingafeziwe. Ezweni lonke lalapha e South Africa abahlali basemijondolo besemzabalwazweni bavimba imigwaqo bathi 'Sekwanele!' Sekube nemibhikisho engaphezu kuka 850 engekho emthethweni kulonyaka nje vo. Ethekwini namaphethelo ku Ward 23 no 25, izinkulungwane zabantu zimamashe zayothula izikhalo zazo ku Yacoob Baig no Jayraj Bachu zikhalazela ukuthi izidingo ngqangi zazo izibalula umhlaba, izindlu, kanye namanzi, ugesi kanye nezindlu zangasese zingashaywa indiva. Abahlali bebemashela izinhlelo zokubakhipha kulezizindawo ngendluzula ziyiswe ngaphandle kwetheku ziyiswe izindaweni ezisemakhaya njengaseVerulum. Abantu bezindaba bayakholelwa ekutheni laba bantu bayahlupheka ingakho besiwuxhasa umzabalazo wabahlali ngokuphelele.Eminye imiphakathi esenkingeni ikhombisa ukuzwelana nalemiphakathi.

Iningi lethu Ku-Foreman Road laqala ukuhlala lapha kusukela ngo- 1989. Ngaphambi kokhetho lohulumeni basekhaya olwedlule uMlaba wasithembisa ukuthi uma i ANC iphumelela ukhetho umhlaba ophakathi kwethu namathuna aku Loon Road graveyard uyonoikezwa thina. Kepha manje umkhandlu weTheku usuyasiphula lesithembiso basilahlela e Park Gate kude nemisebenzi yethu, izikole, imitholampilo kanye neziteshi zamaphoyisa.

Ngeke siqhubeke nokuhlupheka kanje. Isikhathi sesifikile sokuthi "Kwanele!"siyafuna ukuthi izikhalo zethu zifezwe. Isikhathi sesifikile sokuthi simashele emahhovisini emeya. Kumele simtshele uMlaba ukuthi uma engasitholeli umhlaba , izindlu, kanye nezinye izidingonqangi ngeke sivote kulolukhetho lohulumeni base khaya eluzayo.

NGAPHANDLE KOMHLABA, NEZINDLU NGEKE SIVOTE!