The Housing Assembly supports the struggle of the people of Siqalo!

[Lynn T]

 Dear Editor/Journalist

Please find attached our statement of solidarity with Siqalo residents: "The Housing Assembly notes with alarm - Siqalo protesters are being denied bail because they do not have fixed address or contact details. The state/law discriminates against the poor. Our Leaders are now being head-hunt!

 

 

Media Statement: Friday, 14th February 2014

 

The Housing Assembly supports the struggle of the people of Siqalo!

 

We note with alarm the state’s recent response to the actions and protest of Siqalo residents – and give our unconditional support to all the Siqalo comrades arrested this week. Many of these comrades are leaders of the Housing Assembly. The police have since restricted the freedom of movement of Siqalo residents; and the media once again creates more hype about ‘violent’ protests.

 

An eviction order has been granted by the High Court for the residents to be moved from Siqalo. However, the City has claimed there is no land available for suitable alternative accommodation. So there is much uncertainty among residents about when, where or whether they will be moved.

 

People arrested in this case are apparently being denied bail because they do not have a fixed address or contact details. This is how the system discriminates and continues to marginalize the poor because they live in informal settlements.

 

If the law regards those who steal bread to feed their hungry children as criminals, then we would argue the law is stupid and unjust. The Constitution speaks the language of equality before the law while protecting the rights of the rich property owners at the expense of poor working class people. This is what the case against the people of Siqalo is all about.

 

By failing to address the housing crisis and by allowing the appalling conditions that people face daily, the state and the other powerful forces in society are the real criminals. Bad housing conditions make us suffer in so many different ways every day; our children get sick, we are stressed out; and our dignity is undermined. It is these conditions and frustrations that have driven Siqalo residents to protest.

 

Through Siqalo residents registering their frustration they have also declared that the national elections have no meaning for them. The Housing Assembly also shares the sentiments of Siqalo protesters: We believe that the 2014 elections will have no positive meaning for us. We have no reason to vote for parties such as the ANC and the DA whose housing policies have failed us so badly. The ANC government has betrayed the demand for decent housing included in the Freedom Charter – we have less faith in the DA and its City of Cape Town administration.

 

The Housing Assembly rejects the state’s zero tolerance policy on occupations that is enforced by municipalities, the police and the courts; and demands the closing down of the Anti-Land Invasion Unit.

 

It takes a special mix of courage, determination and desperation to leave your former home and community and occupy land and erect informal structures elsewhere. This is what the people of Siqalo have done: We salute them for taking this stand and pledge our solidarity by continuing to build strong working class organization City-wide!

 

The vast majority of people in informal settlements today occupied land ‘illegally’, i.e. in defiance of apartheid laws. For us occupations are a legitimate means for both people fleeing poverty and unemployment elsewhere in the country, as well as for evicted people, backyarders and those in overcrowded housing, to take their struggle for decent housing forward.

 

We demand the right to occupy land and erect our structures for as long as there is a backlog of decent housing. In turn, we strongly oppose official policy that communities like Siqalo be evicted and moved to Temporary Relocation Areas (TRAs) or other places where they do not wish to live.

 

We are ready to proceed shoulder-to-shoulder with the residents of Siqalo in the struggle for housing. Siqalo’s slogan: “from shack to house not shack to shack” - captures the feelings of thousands upon thousands of people in Cape Town. 

 

This is why we believe that we need a united and coordinated City-wide movement of all those living in unfit housing conditions.  Siqalo’s grievances are the grievances of the people in Scotsdene, Langa, Lavender Hill, Hangberg, Khayelitsha and every other working class area of Cape Town.

 

The Housing Assembly calls on working class communities to join a City-wide movement: “Let us not fight only in our separate communities but link up across the City. Let many streams of struggle against bad housing conditions flow into a mighty river.”

 

To this end we are launching the Housing Assembly on 22 March and invite the people of Siqalo to join us.

 

 

Issued by the Housing Assembly

 

For more information contact Faeza on 082 709 6176 or Zukiswa 071 138 3805