SACP Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee Press Statement

27 July 2013

SACP protest march against Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC), evictions and for land reform was successful

The SACP in Gauteng province today Saturday, 27 July 2013 led a successful provincial march to the City of Johannesburg, the Provincial Department of Housing and the Johannesburg Housing Company. The march was attended by about 500 people including communities rendered homeless by a spate of evictions carried out by the Johannesburg Housing Company from in around the Inner city of Johannesburg.

The demonstration was addressed by the Cosatu President Sidumo Dlamini, and the Cosatu Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Phutas Tseki and SACP Provincial Chairperson, comrade Joe Mpisi.

Provincial Secretary, comrade Jacob Mamabolo handed copies of the memoranda to comrade Dan Bovu Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Housing in the City of Johannesburg, Comrade Immanuel Nkuna, the representative of the Gauteng Member of Executive Council (MEC) of Human Settlement, comrade Ntombi Mekgwe.

We condemn the Johannesburg Housing Company ‘s impervious and arrogant attitude for refusing to receive our memorandum. We vow to fight the reactionary, conservative and right-wing JHC until it return what rightfully belong to the people.

The march was peaceful and ended without any incidents.

The SACP also thanks the democratic government of the ANC for respecting the people by making firm commitments to pay urgent attention to their demands.

The SACP delivered the following memoranda containing list of demands:

Memorandum of Demands delivered to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlement and City of Johannesburg

27th July 2013

SACP Gauteng Province, representing the residents of Newtown Housing Village, those of Lenasia, Inner-City of Johannesburg and the rest of the working class in the province would like to bring the following issues to your urgent attention:

We appreciate the good work that the ANC led government in the province and City of Johannesburg is doing to address the challenges facing our people as a result of more than 340 years of colonialism, national and gender oppression and capitalist exploitation of the working class and poor.

We sincerely appreciate the fact that the challenges facing our people and therefore organs of the state are more complex and will require more time to resolve such issues.

That the SACP as strategic and primary political ally of the African National Congress remain committed to the historic and strategic Alliance and fraternal relations it has with the ANC and the government it lead.

Further state that this march is not a protest march against the ANC government but rather seeks to complement and make a contribution to the good work the people’s government is doing to address the legacy of colonialism and its impact.

It is in this context that we request the democratic people’s government to address and seriously pay attention to the following issues:

1. Immediately buy back or acquire on behalf of the residents the property of Newtown Urban Village or Newtown Housing Cooperative currently in possession of the Johannesburg Housing Company through a process that was riddled with allegations of fraud, maladministration and corruption. We call on government to buy back the property at its auction value and not the market price. The property should be returned back to the historic and rightful owners who are the initial beneficiaries of the project when it was initiated. This is crucial to achieve the same goal of providing low cost housing to the residents and that to date that objective has not been achieved.

2. Institute a full scale forensic investigation into all the activities, from conception, construction, occupation, management, liquidation, auction and eviction of the Newtown Housing Cooperative residents as a matter of extreme urgency. We believe the investigation and pressing of criminal charges is in line with the ANC government’s commitment to fight corruption.

3. Based on the experiences and lessons learned from the Newtown Housing Cooperative, defend Cooperatives and support them as the best form of delivering low cost and social housing as opposed to privileging BEE tenderpreneurs, monopoly capital such as the section 21 Companies in the form of Johannesburg Housing Company.

4. Cut all ties and stop payment of subsidies and any monies paid to the Johannesburg Housing Company given their arrogant, inhuman and extremely right-wing attitude to the working class and poor who in their majority are African and Black people. Government should not pay any subsidies to the JHC for the people that will be accommodated in the Newtown Urban Village or Newtown Housing Cooperative.

5. Defend and protect the working class and poor in the Inner-City and entire province against corrupt practices, evictions and rendering vulnerable groups homeless, especially women, children, elderly and people with disability. We believe the protection of vulnerable groups is a cornerstone and profound basis of our constitutional democracy and the entire legal system as contained in our country’s constitution. We call on government to immediately investigate processes relating to the buying and selling, management and all activities of the buildings in the Inner-City, be they residential or for business purposes to protect the working class and poor against corrupt elements in the Inner-City. This is also important to protect the state and all its organs against these elements and the property mafias in the Inner-City.

6. We call on government to conduct an audit of all land owned by the state, and review policies and procedures relating to the buying and selling of land as part of the fight against corruption.

7. Immediate review and moratorium on the use of the Red Ants against the working class and poor in cases of evictions. We believe the experience of the working class and poor on the conduct and brutal nature of the Red Ants is yet another humiliation of the historically oppressed and exploited people, and a serious violation of their constitutionally protected human rights. SACP believe law enforcement agencies of the democratic state are well trained to manage such issues and challenges.

8. SACP strongly condemn any opportunistic and anarchistic illegal occupation of land and property as our democratic government provides effective platforms and opportunities to address grievances of the working class and poor.

9. We request that an immediate review and evaluation of the Lenasia process that was meant to resolve the crisis facing the people and working class that were victims of the unjust and inhuman demolition of houses. SACP is seriously disturbed by misleading media reports that suggest that there is progress on the resolution of the crisis facing the people of Lenasia. We respect the democratic government and its organs and will not wish to contest this falsehoods in the mass media. We request an urgent review meeting on this issue. We also request that media releases on this matter be put on hold until we meet to review and evaluate progress on this matter.

10. In conclusion, we call on government to intensify the fight against corruption in housing delivery and all other activities of government.

We hope to hear from you within a reasonable time

Delivered and Signed on Behalf of the SACP by ……………………………………………………………………..

Received and Signed on behalf of the Provincial Department of Human Settlement or City of Johannesburg by

…………………………………………………………………………….

Memorandum of Demands delivered to the Chairman of the Board of Johannesburg Housing Company

27th July 2013

SACP Gauteng Province, its Alliance partners, and the residents of Newtown Housing Village that you rendered homeless from a place of residents they considered home for more than 13 years, and having destroyed lives of many school children, women, elderly and people with disability, wish to bring the following demands to your urgent attention:

1. That with immediate effect, you return to the historic and intended rightful owners through their democratically elected government led by the African National Congress (ANC) the building and property you renamed Newtown Urban Village, which was then called Newtown Housing Cooperative (Erf No 4507 at corner Malan and Malherbe streets ), and any other property historically part or related to the pilot project at a price and cost you acquired and or bought through an auction, and not the market value of the property.

WE believe that the property and building was acquired following an auction process that was evidently suspicious of acts of fraud, maladministration and corruption as stated in court papers and in your letters and correspondence with the SACP.

We firmly believe that your acquisition of a property that was meant to provide low cost or social housing to the working class and poor was informed by your brutal, inhuman, insensitive and exploitative capitalist and profit driven morality that places money above human live, especially lives of the historically oppressed African and Black people.

We demand that the property be returned as a matter of extreme urgency given the perpetual and continued destruction of family lives and good future of many of the residents and children that lived in this property that was given to them by the democratic government of the people.

We strongly condemn your immoral and insensitive conduct of buying property with the full knowledge that it is a subject of theft through acts of corruption, looting and maladministration by the crooks that robbed the majority of the good and well-meaning residents who had no reason to doubt the process that delivered the property to them.

We challenge you to demonstrate why the people of this country, province and City must not conclude that you are in possession of a property stolen by corrupt thugs and criminals as contained in court papers and those that you send to the SACP.

We challenge you to prove that a conclusion that you are in possession of stolen goods will not be a sustainable conclusion to reach.

2. We challenge you that in case your morality and conscience are clean and untainted by the controversial auction process and subsequent liquidation of the Cooperative, that with immediate effect you return the property to government or any mutually agreed upon third party to allow a proper and thorough investigation process to clear the liquidation and auction of any alleged fraud, maladministration and corruption. This we believe will clear the property you have acquired of any suspicious right of ownership you claim to have legitimately acquired.

3. We demand that with immediate effect you redress the situation of the residents that you so much caused financial loss suffered as a result of stolen and destroyed valuables during their removal from the building since their eviction was unnecessary and uncalled for in the first place.

4. You are requested to immediately meet with the SACP to discuss your response to this memorandum and to redress the situation of the affected residents.

5. In conclusion, failure to respond to this memorandum will lead to a situation where the SACP and its Alliance partners ensure that government immediately stop any subsidies and monies paid to any of your buildings without inflicting pain on the working class and poor currently residing therein.

We hope to hear from you within 7 working days

Delivered and Signed on Behalf of the SACP by ……………………………………………………………………..

Received and Signed on behalf of Johannesburg Housing Company by………………………………………….

For enquires please contact:

Mamabolo Jacob, Provincial Secretary, 082 884 1868
SACP Spokesperson: Lucian Segami: 079 522 0098