A Land Claims Court judge could opt to jail the Director-General of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mdu Shabane, for contempt of court. Such a decision, however, may still be too late for Zabalaza Mshengu, who turned 101 in January, and has waited 14 years for his claim to land as a labour tenant to be processed. The case also raises uncomfortable questions about how far government will go to push judicial tolerance in order to avoid implementing constitutional rights.
Donna Hornby
Opinion | 13 April 2015
About 100 supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marched around Khayelitsha calling on backyard dwellers to occupy land belonging to private owners.
Nombulelo Damba
News | 10 April 2015
There was chaos in Khayelitsha on Wednesday with battles between police and residents occupying land, and shops being looted. Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Khayelitsha have distanced themselves from the looting, but residents say it was led by people wearing EFF T-shirts and berets.
Text by Nombulelo Damba. Photos by Masixole Feni.
Feature | 9 April 2015
Anger and frustration was written on the faces of All Stars football players when a group of TR Informal Settlement residents allegedly led by Economic Freedom Fighters took over their playgrounds on Tuesday morning.
Nombulelo Damba
News | 7 April 2015
Kimberley resident Frans Bernd has needed to use a wheelchair since his leg was amputated in 1991. He thought his dream of owning a house would come true when the municipality told him in 2014 to move to a site where houses and services would be available. But the dream has turned into a nightmare.
Douglas Mthukwane
News | 2 April 2015
Manenberg residents who have been living in containers for the last five months while their City Council flats are renovated have been left in limbo yet again. The subcontractors responsible for the renovations packed up all their equipment and abandoned the site last week.
Barbara Maregele
Feature | 31 March 2015
Informal settlement residents say they are always told by law enforcement and the Anti Land Invasion Unit that if they want to extend or renovate their shacks, they need to obtain a permit from the City of Cape Town. But what exactly is this permit and how does it work?
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 25 March 2015
Some of the Manenberg residents who were temporarily relocated to containers more than five months ago say they are eager to move back to their homes. Dozens of families that have been living for decades in the council-owned flat of Eva Court were moved from their homes to make way for its refurbishment in October last year. But a three-month long gang war in the area, rampant vandalism and a delay in payment to contractors by the City of Cape Town has delayed work for months. The upgrade is expected to be only completed by May.
Barbara Maregele
News | 25 March 2015
The Eastern Cape government has failed to even acknowledge a petition from a group of housing project beneficiaries. What options does this leave aggrieved citizens, asks Mimosa Delgaro?
Mimosa Delgaro
Opinion | 20 March 2015
Loud barks from a multitude of dogs are what you hear when entering the small area of Wolwerivier, where 28 families live under difficult conditions.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 20 March 2015
The wheels of justice finally seem to be turning in relation to a huge suspected fraud in a housing scheme for the poor that is said to have cost the Vryburg municipality at least R60-million in 2008 and 2009.
Pharie Sefali and Drew Forrest for amaBhungane
Feature | 20 March 2015
A Mitchell’s Plain man has been making fake house sales in Delft, Mfuleni and Gugulethu, apparently scamming buyers out of tens of thousands of rands.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
Feature | 9 March 2015
In February the City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) dismantled a family’s shack in Mfuleni. This acrimonious incident raises important questions about how informal settlements are to be upgraded.
Nathan Geffen
Opinion | 9 March 2015
As the country's attention was transfixed on the Table Mountain fires, another blaze claimed one life and left three families homeless in a Franschhoek informal settlement.
Daneel Knoetze
News | 5 March 2015
Langa residents are asking why a man accused of fraudulent plot sales to dozens of poor people has still not been arrested, while the activist who exposed him fears for her life.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 4 March 2015
When the Madlingozi family in Mfuleni extended their shack without authorisation, the City of Cape Town removed the extensions, amidst a dispute over the facts. Jared Sacks argues that the City presented its position without checking the facts.
Jared Sacks
Opinion | 2 March 2015