Marikana land occupation (Cape Town)
On 27 April 2013, the national public holiday of Freedom Day in South Africa which some grassroots social movements have termed UnFreedom Day, members of Abahlali baseMjondolo occupied a piece of land in Philippi, Cape Town. They named the occupation Marikana after the Marikana miners' strike. The occupation was repeatedly destroyed by the city's anti-land invasion unit.[1][2][3][4] According to the Daily Maverick the occupiers were evicted on six separate occasions.[5] Two months after the eviction 90 people were still sleeping on the site under a tent.[6]
Cindy Ketani was quoted in Red Pepper as saying that "When they come to destroy these shacks, they show us no court orders or papers. They just pull these people out like dogs".[7]
Unlawful Evictions
editAbahlali baseMjondolo alleged that the evictions were violent, that their members' property was broken and stolen and that they were also unlawful as the City did not have a court order.[8][9][10][11] This view was later endorsed by legal experts and an article in the Daily Maverick suggested that the City of Cape Town was making reference to a fictitious law to justify the evictions and, also, lying about the fact that the shacks had all been unoccupied before they were demolished.[12] Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos later wrote that these evictions were "Brutal, inhumane, and totally unlawful".[13]
Ownership of the Land
editThe City of Cape Town had argued that the 2013 evictions by its ALIU were legal and did not require a court-order in part because the land was city-owned.[14] However, this land was actually owned by two private owners. One was an individual, Iris Fischer, and the other was NTWA Dumela Investments.[15] The land that was occupied is part of a larger parcel of 200h of land bought by NTWA Dumela Investments in 2007.[16]
The 2017 Western Cape High Court judgement on the matter included three groups of land owners.[17] The first was Iris Fischer, who had been living on the property since 1969, though herself and her two sons were estimated to occupy only around 5% of the land they owned at the time of the occupation. The second was a group that included Manfred Stock and NTWA Dumela Investments. The land owned by this group had been acquired in parts over approximately 40 years. The third was Copper Moon Trading, which acquired an erf in 2007.[18]
Online News Reports
edit- Shack dwellers ready to die for 'Marikana' land in Cape Town, ENCA, 2013 (Television)
- Paramilitary 'anti-land invasion units' celebrate South Africa's UnFreedom Day by destroying Marikana Township, KPFA.94, 2013 (Radio)
- City shows zero tolerance for 'Marikana' settlement, ENCA, 2014 (Television)
Additional video
edit- Marikana Land Occupation, Pablo Pinedo Boveda, 1 May 2013.
See also
editNotes and references
edit- ^ 'Marikana' UnFreedom Day land occupation ends in violent Workers’ Day eviction, Jared Sacks, The Daily Maverick, 2013
- ^ Residents vow to return to Philippi, Xolani Koyana, Cape Times, 4 May 2013
- ^ Marikana shacks were ‘unoccupied’ claims City, Nombulelo Damba, West Cape News, 2013 ]
- ^ 'Shock and awe tactics' used on shack dwellers, Jared Sacks, Mail & Guardian, 10 May 2013
- ^ Welcome to Marikana, Cape Town, by Jared Sacks, The Daily Maverick, 22 May 2012
- ^ The other Marikana Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Mary-Anne Gontsana, Ground-Up, 19 June 201
- ^ South Africa’s poor resist home attacks, Caroline Elliot, Red Pepper, May 2013
- ^ Police shooting at Marikana Land Occupation, Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement, 30 April 2013
- ^ Sleeping in the rain: even snakes treat us with more respect than the City of Cape Town, Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement, 30 April 2013
- ^ Cops in shack clash Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, Mandla Manyaka, The New Age, 30 April 2013
- ^ Shack dwellers ready to die for 'Marikana' land in Cape Town, ENCA, 2011
- ^ City of Cape Town makes up law to justify eviction of the poor, Jared Sacks, The Daily Maverick, 6 May 2013
- ^ Cape Town evictions: Brutal, inhumane, and totally unlawful, Pierre de Vos, The Daily Maverick, 9 May 2013
- ^ Gqada, Tandeka (8 May 2013). "Letter to the editor: The City of Cape Town's response to Jared Sacks". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ Sacks, Jared (4 October 2013). "City of Cape Town: protecting private property at the expense of shack-dwellers". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ Lobby group vows to step up action in Cape Town ‘toilet wars’, BY BEKEZELA PHAKATHI], Business Day, 13 September 2013
- ^ Broughton, Tania (6 March 2020). "Marikana occupiers reach landmark agreement with property owners". GroundUp. Archived from the original on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ Fischer v Persons Listed on Annexure X and Others (9443/14; 11705/15; 14422/14) [2017] ZAWCHC 99; 2018 (2) SA 228 (WCC) (30 August 2017) Accessible at: [https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2017/99.html]