Why are Shack Dwellers Excluded from the Discussions About the Cornubia Development?

southern africa | community struggles | non-anarchist press Monday August 25, 2008 16:30 by Abahlali baseMjondolo eThekwini abahlalibasemjondolo at telkomsa dot net

Nothing for Us, Without Us!

There has been much discussion about the Cornubia housing development in the
press. The City and the political parties have had their say.
Tongaat-Hulett, the company that owns the land, have had their say. The
technical experts have had their say. Shack dwellers' organisations have not
had their say. We who live with the rats in the mud and the fires have not
had our say. We who were publicly promised houses in this development in
November 2005 have not had our say. We who have been beaten and arrested
while defending our right to speak for ourselves, defending our communities
from eviction, and defending our right to decent housing in the city have
not had our say.

When ever we have asked the eThekwini Municipality to fulfil the promise to
house the poor they have told us that they want to build houses but that
land, not money, is the problem. They have always told us that there is
nothing that they can do because there is no land left in the city. But
everyone can see that there is lots of land. The real problem is not that
there is no land. The real problem is that the land is privately owned and
that most of the land is owned by one big company - Tongaat-Hulett.

The Freedom Charter said that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
The Freedom Charter said that the land should be shared. These were clear
goals of the peoples' struggles against apartheid. We are still committed to
these goals.

It is clear that building democratic cities where everyone has a proper
space and real hope for a better life will require the end of the private
ownership over huge lands. Some of our members believe that God made the
land as a gift for everyone and that is a sin for one company to own so much
land. We all agree that there can be no justice in this city, no safety and
no hope for a better life for the poor while one company owns so much land.
Everybody in the city needs to be matured and to face this reality.

The Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC) first demanded the
expropriation of Tongaat-Hulett land to house the poor on 13 May 2005 when
the KRDC organised a mass march to bury Councillor Yakoob Baig. After
Abahlali baseMjondolo was formed on 6 October 2005 this demand was placed at
the centre of our struggle. We made this demand because Tongaat-Hulett is
the largest land owner in Durban. We also made this demand because it was
never right for Tongaat-Hulett to own that land and because many generations
suffered on their plantations. We also made this demand because
Tongaat-Hulett has continued to separate the rich from the poor after
apartheid by building a separate gated world for the rich on the old sugar
cane fields. In 1994 that land should have gone for housing for the poor.
That would have been real democracy.

The Cornubia development was first announced in November 2005. That was just
before the 2006 local government elections and just after the world's media
reported that the eThekwini Municipality had illegally banned our march on
Obed Mlaba from the Foreman Road settlement and then sent in the police to
shoot at us when we marched in defiance of the ban. The Mayor clearly stated
that the announcement was due to pressure from Abahlali baseMjondolo. He
said in the *New York Times* that we were being used by agitators and that
we would not still be here in 2007. We are still here. We are still agitated
by the conditions that we live in. Now that the 2009 elections are coming
Cornubia is back on the agenda.

The debate goes on but it excludes us. Who are the 'stakeholders' in the
discussions about Cornubia? Just the landowner, the government and the
technical people! Where do the poor fit? We find that if we talk about
history we are seen to be launching an offensive. We are not supposed to
talk about history but we have to reclaim what is our own, what has come out
of our efforts. This announcement is the fruit of our struggle and the
struggles of all the communities across South Africa that have been
rejecting forced removals to rural human dumping grounds since 2005.

We want to say some things very clearly:

1. We welcome the statements by government that they are considering
meeting our demand that they expropriate land from Tongaat-Hulett. We also
suggest that they issue a moratorium on any sale or development of
Tongaat-Hulett land until everyone in the city has been housed. That would
show that that they are serious about justice for the poor because there
will not be justice for the poor until the social value of land is put
before the commercial value of land.

2. We welcome the fact that government is now talking about integrated
developments where the rich and the poor can live together in the city
instead of building more of the notorious rural human dumping grounds like
Parkgate and Delf.

3. However if shack dwellers are not included in the planning of this
project it will fail like the N2 Gateway Project failed in Cape Town. Top
down planning has been completely rejected by shack dwellers all over South
Africa. Those days are over. We reject top down control of our struggles by
NGOs and we reject top down planning of housing development by government.
Everybody thinks. We are poor, not stupid. Planning must not just be a
technical talk that excludes the people. Democracy is not just about voting.
Democratic planning is the way forward.

4. The government is talking about building low-cost housing at
Cornubia but shack dwellers need no-cost housing. We cannot afford low-cost
housing. No bank will give us a bond. There must be negotiations resulting
in a public commitment to build a fixed number of no-cost houses. We must
all remember that the N2 Gateway Project in Cape Town began as a project for
the poor. But it was quickly taken over by politicians and companies who saw
an opportunity to exploit the development for their own profit. Bank bonded
houses were built for the rich instead of no-cost houses for the poor. In
the end the poor were driven out of the project that was started in their
name and the whole project failed.

5. This project must not be used as an excuse to claim that shack
settlements are now 'temporary' and that they will soon be 'eradicated'
because Cornubia is being built. The settlements are established communities
and in most settlements most residents want upgrades and not relocations. We
must all remember that most shack dwellers will not be able to fit in
Cornubia. Cornubia can be a solution for some but not for all.

6. This project must not be used as an excuse to continue to deny
collective and secure rights to the land for long established communities.
The legal ownership of the land that has been occupied by communities must
be transferred to those communities so that the fear of eviction can be
permanently put to rest.

7. This project must not be used as an excuse to continue to deny life
saving basic services to shack settlements. Each settlement needs these
services immediately. They include water, toilets, electricity, fire
extinguishers, refuse removal, homework areas and access roads for emergency
vehicles.

8. This project must not be used to make promises to people that
cannot be kept, to divide the poor or to keep everyone waiting and not
struggling. Before the end of the year there must be exact and public
clarity on how many no-cost houses will be built, how they will be allocated
and who they will be allocated to.

9. The allocation of the no-cost houses in Cornubia must not be
corrupt or driven by party political interests. The houses must go to those
who need them most. There must be no discrimination against people born in
other countries.

10. The City must upgrade all settlements where they are. The no-cost
houses in Cornubia must be for those who genuinely can't be accommodated in
upgrades. Cornubia must not be used as an excuse to evict people from areas
where they have lived for a long time and where they want to stay. No one
must be forced to go there at gunpoint like we have been forced to go to
Parkgate at gun point. People must choose to go there.

11. The City needs to provide one house for each family not one house for
each shack.

12. The government must accept that shack dwellers and other poor people
have a right to organise and to represent themselves independently of party
politics. All democratic membership controlled shack dwellers' movements
must be fully included in all planning for shack dwellers. Each community
must be fully included in all planning for that community.

*For comment on the Cornubia project contact:*

S'bu Zikode: 083 547 0474

Mnikelo Ndabankulu: 079 745 0653

Fanuel Nsingo: 076 742 3397

Zodwa Nsibande: 0828302707

* *

*For comment on the crisis caused by top down planning across South Africa
contact:*

Mzonke Poni, Abahlali baseMjondolo, Cape Town: 073 256 2036

Ashraf Cassiem, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Cape Town: 076 186 1408

Mzwanele Zulu, Joe Slovo Task Team, Cape Town: 0763852369

Maureen Mnisi, Landless Peoples' Movement, Johannesburg: 082 337 4514