News

It is with great excitement that CORC reports on a year of memorable achievements on the part of the South African SDI Alliance. Slum dwellers, women savers, community leaders and NGO support staff have yet again collaborated to strengthen the voice of the urban and rural poor. In the past 18 months the Alliance have been building on our strategic vision of “Upgrading Lives, Building the Nation” and carrying forward our mission of building stronger communities to upgrade informal settlements. This report reflects the achievements of this strategy.

Since 2002, when CORC was formally registered, our core business has been the support and facilitation of learning and exposure through horizontal exchanges. This strengthens organised networks of the urban and rural poor, capable of driving their own developmental agendas. By 2009, ISN had mobilised more than 400 settlements across South Africa, FEDUP groups saved more than US$250,000 in daily savings, the FEDUP/ uTshani Fund alliance have become the largest People’s Housing Process (PHP) developers, and preliminary partnerships with municipalities were emerging around incremental upgrading of informal settlements. A working relationship has been established with the National Department of Human Settlements, the Ministerial Sanitation Task Team (MSTT) and the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP).

Leaders of ISN and FEDUP are advising at policy and implementation level. Within the settlements, committed mobilisers evolve into skilled community designers with a keen interest in replicating local successes to other communities and in strengthening the partnerships with local governments. A revised communication strategy brings these learning outcomes to the attention of national and international stakeholders, and aims to articulate an alternative paradigm in fighting the common enemy: poor service delivery, landlessness and homelessness, and dislocation from decision making.

The Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) provides support to networks of urban and rural poor communities who mobilise themselves around their own resources and capacities. CORC’s interventions are designed to enable these communities to learn from one another and to create solidarity and unity in order to broker deals with formal institutions, especially the State. During the reporting period we have seen the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP) return to the practice of daily savings and recognising the savings schemes as safe spaces for women to get together, save for a purpose and a space where they can pool their collective resources to find solutions to everyday problems. Exciting stories are being told by members that we will share in this publication as well as on our website. We have also seen the steady growth of the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), which now has a presence in five of the major metropolitan areas. ISN community leaders have developed broad experience in forging partnerships with local authorities and have developed a set of tools to prepare communities for informal settlement upgrading. ISN is engaging local municipalities in developing an approach to integrated human settlements and are exploring viable alternatives to the current housing delivery model and to the ineffective top-down approach to providing basic services for informal settlements.

In the Municipalities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town the engagement have resulted in the signing of formal MoU’s. Going forward, the alliance launched the Community Upgrading Finance Facility (CUFF) or “Masikhase” that supports small community led projects. Applications are being reviewed by the CUFF board, which is made up of a majority of informal settlement and backyard shack community leaders. Community savings form the backbone of this new instrument of pro-poor urban development. Now our next step is to replicate this facility at city level and to launch city funds that will support the community led upgrading projects, city wide, in partnership with government and the private sector. Building communities, building partnerships with government, and upgrading settlements are a long, difficult process. But it is those who live with the current conditions of informal settlements today that are most prepared to lead the way to a different tomorrow. In partnership with our city governments, communities are loudly saying:

We are now ready to upgrade lives, with what we have, where we are, and build the nation that had long been our hope and dream…

Download the report by following this link

By Sizwe Mxobo (on behalf of CORC)

The South African Planning Institute’s (SAPI) “Planning Africa 2012” conference was held in Durban’s International Conference Centre (ICC) between 17 and 19 September. The SAPI’s flagship conference aims to recognise excellence in planning in South Africa, and more broadly, on the African continent. Since the inception in 2002, the conference has become the largest planning conference in Africa, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders. The conference will provide a forum for an expected 600 to 700 delegates and presenters from the across the African continent and beyond, to reflect on key issues in the African context. On Wednesday night, as the finale of the the conference, the award ceremony was hosted.

According to the SAPI website,

The National Planning Awards of SAPI was established in 2008 to reflect on and recognise the valuable contributions that individuals and organisations make, to inspire their continued involvement and those of others and to promote the key role of the planning profession in public life. It recognizes valuable contributions and extraordinary performance in all aspects of the planning profession and a strong awareness of the planning profession among related professions, all sectors and the general public.

The National Planning Awards has become more prestigious and the interest has significantly grown among members and the public. Winners of the National Planning Awards will receive a specially designed award of recognition and will be recognized at the awards ceremony which will take place during the SAPI National Planning Awards and Gala Dinner on Tuesday, 18 September 2012. The winners and shortlisted finalists and their work will be profiled and featured to promote lesson sharing and information on good and interesting practice.

Siyanda Madaka (Langrug leader), Johru Robyn (planner in the Informal Settlement Management department, Stellenbosch Municipality) and Sizwe Mxobo (community planner at CORC) attended the award ceremony were Langrug was nominated in the “Community / Outreach” category.

The “Community / Outreach” nomination category is described as follows, “For a community, neighbourhood or group of citizens that has embarked on an exemplary participatory self development and/or outstanding community development project or programme that has improved the quality of community life and/or overcome difficult community issues and/or local circumstances”

In the nomination, the impact of the Langrug project was described as follows:

The upgrading of Langrug has drawn local, national and international attention. It serves as a “learning centre” for communities and municipal officials in defining and narrating a new planning and design paradigm for inclusive and pro-poor settlement upgrading. On a visit to the settlement, Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille remarked on the possibilities of this new paradigm in upgrading informal settlements, guided by the principles of co-production, inclusion and in-situ development. The Langrug case study was presented by Trevor Masiy (langrug leader), David Carolissen (deputy director: informal settlements department) and Zoe-Kota Fredericks (deputy minister of National Department of Human Settlements) at the World Urban Forum 6 in September 2012 in Naples, Italy.

The new partnership that was forged between the South African SDI Alliance (ISN, FEDUP, CORC, uTshani Fund, and iKhayalami) and the Stellenbosch Municipality with the upgrading of Langrug is paving the way for other informal settlements throughout Stellenbosch to see the service delivery and upgrading they require. The ISN is networking communities across Stellenbosch municipality to develop a long term upgrading strategy that will render the poor as central partners in development.

The upgrading of Langrug has demonstrated the multiplier effect of putting people first. The innovations triggered through partnerships with local government, academic institutions, and other stakeholders have rendered a locally responsive development plan that will ensure the future upgrading of Langrug.

By Walter Monyela (on behalf of FEDUP and CORC/uTshani Fund)

uTshani / FEDUP received a Star award (Silver category) from Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre. The award ceremony took place on the evening of the 6 September 2012 at Baxter Hall in Cape Town.  Marlene Don (FEDUP) and Walter Monyela (CORC/uTshani Fund) represented federation and support NGO respectively.

copyright: Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre

Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre’s vision is to build capacity for service delivery. Ceremonies are taking place every year to give recognition and to encourage and motivate NGOs that are dedicated in empowering poor communities and helping these communities fight poverty, and improving and or making basic services in the poor communities available. This recognition becomes a platform for those NGOs that received Platinum awards as they are then recognized at international level. Twenty one NGOs got recognized by receiving certificates that were really well framed and a small, an unframed copy of the certificate, a trophy and amount of money that goes with a category of the award just to say thank you to recognized NGOs. The award nomination went through four main phases, according to the Impumelelo website:

Phase 1: Applications are invited from all government departments, civil society organisations, special interest groups,and the private sector. Submissions are screened and assessed against the award criteria, leading to the selection of finalists for evaluation.

Phase 2: Professional teams are convened to assess finalists by means of site visits, interviews and relevant data gathering. A report is generated on each finalist and presented to Impumelelo’s National Selection Committee. Exhibit materials are prepared by each project in anticipation of the next phase.

Phase 3: The National Selection Committee gathers for the screening and adjudication of the finalists. This meeting culminates in an gala awards ceremony, where the winning projects are announced. An Innovations Exhibition is also held to showcase past award-winners and current finalists. Other local and international projects may also be invited to display new ideas and exciting innovations.

Phase 4: Impumelelo partners with the award-winning projects to spread information using various media to disseminate their social innovation to the public in general and government in particular.

Projects are evaluated according to the impact on the following categories:

Innovativeness: The extent to which creative and new procedures have been developed to address poverty-related issues.

Effectiveness: The extent to which the Project has achieved or is on the way to achieving its stated objectves and other socially desirable outcomes.

Poverty Impact: The demonstrable effect of the Project in improving the quality of life of poor communities and individuals.

Sustainability: The viability and sound functioning of the Project within constraints that include funding and staffing.

Replicability: The value of the Project in teaching others new ideas and good practices for poverty-reduction programmes.

This year, five organisations received Platinum, between five and ten received Gold, and the rest received Silver, which is the category FEDUP was recognised.

copyright: Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre
Far left: Marlene Don (FEDUP) receives the silver award

In building capacity for service delivery, the investment in community structures and support organisations are essential. Government, especially through the National Planning Commission’s National Development Plan (also known as “Vision 2020”), is promoting the ideas of “active citizenship”. FEDUP has been demonstrating alternative development paradigms that are rooted deep in the grassroots. By mobilising communities around their own assets, and forming collective saving schemes that concretise these networks and builds social capital, FEDUP has been in the forefront of finding innovative solutions to urban poverty.

Rose Molokoane, national coordinator of the FEDUP, reading the memo to the office of the premier

ATT: Premier Nomvula Mokonyane

Gauteng Provincial Government Building,
East wing,
13th Floor,
30 Simmonds Street,
Marshalltown, JOHANNESBURG

11 September 2012

We, the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) in Gauteng, place the following before the office of the Premier:

1. The Gauteng Government must be the first Provincial Government to declare that it is an “informal settlement friendly Government” and that there shall be no evictions in the Province. Evictions destroy not only people’s shelters, but also people’s livelihoods, dignity and social support networks. Where evictions are absolutely unavoidable, relocations need to be done in consultation with the affected community and to suitable land, mutually identified by the people and the relevant authorities.

2. Relocations must be an act of last resort. Instead Provincial Government must develop with us, the poor, proper master plans and specific settlement plans for the in-situ upgrading of communities.

3. In order to achieve these objectives the Provincial Government must create a proper executable working relationship that create strong partnerships between the Organized Poor and local governments, so that the voices of the poor come from the poor themselves.

4. There must be a formal partnership between Government and the Organized Poor, linked to a Memorandum of Understanding, and Joint Working Groups consisting of organized urban poor representatives, local and metropolitan government officials, support NGOs, other relevant stakeholders, and provincial and national government (when possible), that meet on a regular basis, a joint action plan for the upgrading of all Informal Settlements in the province and a Finance Facility to fund these initiatives.

5. The Provincial Government must do away with consultants whose vision of city growth makes them anti-development in the living environments of the Urban Poor.

5. a) The establishment of a broad based representative forum of the urban poor as proposed by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) must create a space for a real partnership to emerge which will allow us, the Urban Poor, to speak for ourselves and to develop and plan as equal partners.

5. b) The Joint Working Group must be accountable to the broad based representative forum.

6. The nature of engagement outlined in the proposed MoU between the organized poor and local government should be premised on frequent and meaningful engagements, such as monthly meetings which include multiple stakeholders and where the agendas of the poor are respected and acted upon. These political spaces must have the ability to influence resource allocation and can be integrated with formal participatory processes. It is recommended that a senior political figure with executive power such as the MMC and/or the Mayor chair the forums.

7. This Joint Working Group must be allowed to formulate policies that:

• Enable the rapid delivery of interim and emergency services such as water, sanitation, electrification, waste removal and other infrastructure development priorities in Informal Settlements;
• Enable the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlements which integrates Informal Settlements with the formal cities, including transport, job and livelihood creation, and social and economic amenities;
• Develop a realistic, pragmatic and acceptable plan to jointly assess all Informal Settlements that are regarded as being on dolomitic soil and create proper and acceptable plans to rehabilitate the land;
• Ensure that the Provincial Government re-adopt the National Housing Policy supported by the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP), and by doing multiple practical upgrading pilot projects with the people that will help inform the National Government and NUSP how Informal Settlement Upgrading can be improved and scaled up;
• Train Communities and Government, including city Governments to work together with organized communities of the Urban Poor to develop and implement these projects;

8. It is crucial that municipal officials, project managers, and field officers understand and come to grips with community processes. A continual learning environment must be created. This can occur through peer-to-peer learning exchanges between municipalities and poor communities.

9.  The Government should support the establishment of city-wide pro-poor finance facility co-managed by organized communities, supportive NGOs, and local and metropolitan governments. These facilities should be able to give rapid access to incremental initiatives identified by informal settlement communities.

10. The local and metropolitan government and organized communities use the community based enumerations and household surveys, mapping, biometric and photographic information system as a primary instrument for development prioritization, planning and implementation, which is co-managed in Geographic Informal Systems (GIS) databases.

11.  We support the international launch of the World Urban Poor Forum (WUPF) which was recently inaugurated by Shack / Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and endorsed the Executive Director of the UN Habitat at the World Urban Forum in Naples, Italy held in September 2012.

We, the Informal Settlement Network (ISN) in Gauteng, expect to hear from the Premier’s office on the issues raised by no later than Wednesday 10 October 2012 in writing and arrangement for a meeting and discuss the details. Contact us at:

 ISN Gauteng, 1st Floor, Arcacia Grove, Houghton Estate Office Park, 2 Osborn Road, Houghton, Johannesburg 2192 (tel: 011 483 0363).

On Tuesday 11 September 2012, informal settlement communities from across Gauteng will march on the Gauteng Premier’s office to hand over a memorandum outlining demands and requests for “informal settlement friendly government”. The Informal Settlement Network (ISN), a social movement that builds the voice of the poor and finds solutions to urban poverty, have mobilised informal settlements in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng, Mogale City, and Tswane. The purpose of the solidarity march is to rally around evictions and insecure tenure, poor water and sanitation service levels, no meaningful engagement, and other governance issues. The solidarity march will start at 9:00 on Mary Fitzgerald square in Newtown, following Bree street and Simmons street to the Premier’s office.

Communities across Gauteng have been subject to violent evictions and poor service delivery. In the month of August the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) launched a “rogue mission” to demolish shacks on open plots and inside abandoned factories in Marlboro South, an industrial area 3km from Sandton. Hundreds of families have been displaced ever since. This was well documented by major press agencies. What happened in Marlboro is a microcosm of the lack of meaningful engagement between government and communities; e.g. Doornkop, Thembelihle, Finetown Proper, Klipspruit, Ramaphosa, and many others share similar experiences of disenfranchisement.

The ISN is a different kind of social movement that builds partnerships with government in a collaborative manner to advance people-centred development and improved service delivery. Communities are not passive bystanders to service delivery but active stakeholders in decision making processes. However, this level of partnership has not been achieved. Although the ISN have set up monthly dialogues with government, a formalised partnership has not been forthcoming in the City of Joburg and Ekurhuleni.

The media is invited to document this mass grassroots initiative in raising the voice and plight of the poor.

Community leader contacts:

Sipho Vanga – ISN Ekuhuleni – 073 721 5374

Mohau Melani – ISN Joburg – 072 890 9022

Charles Gininda– Marlboro community leader – 078 514 4053

Patrick Magebhula – ISN national coordinator – 082 805 4011

Mzwanele Zulu – ISN national coordinator – 082 670 2068

Image credit: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-22-marlboro-simmers-a-community-destroyed-by-a-breakdown-in-communication

In August 2012 the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department illegally displaced and evicted more than 1,000 families from the industrial area of Marlboro South. The Informal Settlement Network (ISN) has recorded these violations of human rights and dignity in depth. The Marlboro community has been supported by South African SDI Alliance who provided emergency shelter, and Lawyers for Human Rights who have supported the community’s legal action.

The Informal Settlement Network (ISN), which pulls together more than 130 settlements across Gauteng Province, is now planning to take direct action by organising a public protest march on Tuesday, 11th September. The ISN has been working in collaboration with the City of Joburg and Ekurhuleni metros for more than three years but have not progressed at all in formalising partnerships that would include informal settlement residents as active stakeholders in the service delivery process, not passive recipiants. A press release will follow soon to outline the programme.

On Friday 7 September, a media briefing will be held in Marlboro in the lead-up to the march, where more than 15,000 informal settlement dwellers for 130 settlements are expected to peacefully march on the Premier’s office and hand over a memorandum. At the briefing, to be held on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 4th Street, Marlboro, Sandton, the ISN will talk through the challenges of building partnerships with local government. The media briefing aims to inform journalists and other affected and concerned parties on the Marlboro situation, and the struggle of the poor in these “world class cities”. The briefing will start at 14:00. The ISN is calling on the media to attend this briefing in the lead-up of the protest march on the 11th of September. 

Contact persons: Informal Settlement Network
Sipho Vanga – 073 721 5374
General Moyo – 073 430 7006
Mzwanele Zulu – 082 670 2068
Mahau Melanie – 072 890 9022

Contact persons: Marlboro leadership
Tapelo – 071 035 5937
Charles – 078 514 4053

Read this press release sent in August 2012 by the Informal Settlement Network

The Marlboro evictions were well documented by major newspapers. Read of the these here:

Mail and Guardian
The Sowetan
Daily Maverick
Eyewitness News
The Star

By Scelo Zibagwe (on behalf of CORC)

Enkanini Informal settlement was self-initiated by residents on a municipal land in 2006. Even though they were accommodated after battles with usual demolition responses, the settlement has suffered neglect particularly in service delivery. ‘Enkanini’ literally means ‘force’, which manifested itself through grassroots mobilisation of the urban poor who refused and resisted to be subjects and ‘patients’ of the conventional but exclusionary spatial planning practices by using their bottom-up latent ‘force’ for self-help housing alternatives.  After the South African SDI Alliance forged a partnership with the Stellenbosch Municipality in 2011 on the need to respond to the dire needs of residents of Enkanini, the community leaders sought to make themselves visible to the local government authorities. They did this by nominating 60 volunteers from the community to undergo an enumeration training session that was facilitated (on August 8 and 10 2012) by CORC at the Kayamandi Corridor offices. The session was graced by the presence of the municipality’s Integrated Human Settlement  Deputy Director, Principal Field Officers, and the Councillor for Ward 12 (which contains Enkanini). The Langrug Informal Settlement representatives were also present to share their experiences, after having engaged with the municipality in the upgrading initiatives in their settlement. The leaders agreed that the settlement be partitioned into 9 sections.

Training of Enkanini enumeration volunteers.

 After the training of enumeration volunteers, the leaders went to introduce them to the community during a general meeting (August 12, 2012), a process that enabled easy access to residents’ homes as well enlisting their cooperation with enumerators. An advance team of 4 volunteers began the numbering process  on August 13, 2012 and were given a head start of one day  after which the enumeration team began enumeration on the following day. The numbering team completed their task on August 22, 2013.

Numbering team at work

At the start and end of each enumeration day, enumeration volunteers meet at their central point for distribution and collation of enumeration questionnaires. Team leaders were summarising the returned questionnaires and ensuring all section s are filled satisfactorily. Another general meeting was convened in the community on August 26, 2012 to give feedback on the community about the just ended shack numbering and the ongoing enumeration. Residents, particularly those who leave for work early morning and come back to their homes in the evening when enumeration volunteers had knocked off were called by their shack numbers after the meeting so that they can avail themselves (with their Identification Documents) for enumeration. Enumeration volunteers were present and ready to go with these residents to their shack so that they can be captured.

Enumeration volunteers at work

When enumeration was going on the SDI/Municipality/Community partnership worked together to secure an office space in which 6 computer-skilled residents will be involved in the data entry or capturing process. The municipality offered one of its board room, 2 desktop computers, 1 laptop (CORC provided the other 2 laptops) and the data capturing process began on August 22, 2012 and is expected to be completed by mid-September 2012. Before data capturing, municipality officials and CORC representative undertake another verification process to make sure all forms are complete and cleared for entry into the excel spreadsheet prepared by CORC to capture all responses in the questionnaire. During this process, the municipality officials and CORC representative overseeing the data capturing process maintain constant communication with team leaders on the enumeration to ensure that any incomplete questionnaires are given back to enumeration to complete any missing data and/or correct any erroneous information, and ensure that these questionnaires are returned back to the data capturing office. The fact that the community is actively involved in all these phases, brings in empowering elements as they participate fully in representing themselves and their demographics. Mapping team from CORC is soon to work with community volunteers in spatially representing their settlements. This are stages to a short and medium term engagements between municipality and Enkanini residents in working together  on upgrading initiatives that will improve slum dwellers’ lives.

Team leaders collecting and verifying completed Questionnaires

Data Capturing Volunteers at Work.

By Walter Fieuw (on behalf of CORC)

On the 13th of August, heavy machinery rolled in on the tattered and teared Marlboro Industrial area. Charles and Tapelo, community leaders in Marlboro, had to look on as the bulldozers started tearing into Chico’s Ice Cream Factory, which was home to 109 families, or 282 people. Chico’s Ice Cream Factory is but one of 53 derelict buildings that the Marboro community, in partnership with ISN and CORC, enumerated between September and October 2011. Community members were trained to administer the questionnaire and worked closely with the CORC Johannesburg office in capturing the data into databases.

Early in August, the Alliance reported on the evictions that started on August 2nd when Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) cracked down on the settlement with no eviction order. In the early morning hours, when residents were leaving for work, the JMPD moved in on 3 occupied sites and demolished 300 dwellings. They refused to talk to the community leadership and presented no formal interdiction from the court, only offering NGO representatives a hand written statement in a note book as paperwork for such eviction. They claimed that notice was given with no supporting documentation, then went on to say they don’t need to give notice because the of the 72 hour trespassing by-law which according to legal representatives requires even more paperwork than a general eviction order. The JMPD has not communicated its mandate with the housing department and now as result over 400 residents of Marlboro are now out on the street with no alternative housing options.

Evictions have been ravaging the area since the 2nd of August, leaving many people homeless. The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), and more specifically, the by-laws management department, have been carrying out these illegal evictions. These are illegal, because according the laws protecting poor people from the onslaughts of local governments and/or land owners, the evicting party needs to formally obtain an eviction order, which is granted by regional courts. In these hearings, the judges consider all the aspects of the evicting party’s request, which includes whether alternatives to upgrading has been considered (such as upgrading the informal area), what the impact on vulnerable people would be (woman, children and the elderly), and what the relocation options are (such as consolidation with other informal areas, housing developments, etc). Constitutional Court cases have resulted in a number of processes that needs to be adhered too. The JMPD did not follow any of these legal routes, and have been on a rouge mission to clear the Marlboro area of all informal settlers.

Chico’s is one such a factory that is now being destroyed, and all 282 inhabitants have been displaced. Although the Alliance, through the Community Upgrading Financing Facility, have been able to secure three army-style tents to the value of R30,000, this merely serves 40 families. More tents are now forthcoming as relief donations are trickling into Marlboro area. There does not seem to be any hope that the residents of Chico’s will be sleeping in even the most elementary accommodation for the next while.

The factory used to have a very peculiar housing typology. To make more space available, the community built a sturdy 2nd level of shack above the first. These pictures illustrate the nature of settlement in one of these factories.

With the decline in industrial activity in the late 1980s, the factory owners rented out these buildings to poor families living in overcrowded conditions in neighboring townships such as Alexandra. Charles, a community leader in the area, mentioned that

the history here is actually that people started staying in these factories. They were renting because some owners advertised for rentals. So the people came in their numbers. But later on, the City actually gave some court orders that people had to vacate. We boycotted that and went back to the owners and they ran away and stayed with the City. We had a media statement that says we can not be moved from these areas unless they have an alternative. So that is how they started staying in these buildings.

Chico’s used to be an Ice Cream factory located on 4th street, where not even the brave footsoldiers of Google Streetview dared to venture (when dragging the Google Streetview icon over Marlboro area, on 5th Street is covered). But the enumeration of Chico’s, as with all other 53 factories in the Marlboro area, goes much deeper than technology can reach. The enumeration has captured a socio-economic and demographic profile of all the residents that used to live here. Although the residents have faced fires in the past, such as the 18 June 2010 fire that destroyed a large number of shacks, as reported by Africa Media Online, the community has been able to regroup and assist those who lost it all. These social ties are more than moral solidarity but display the resilience of communities to adapt and recover.

Chico’s factory is also called Building 77. These building were referenced by these numbers before the enumeration started. The enumeration data therefore has two levels: by building, and by shack number (which was numbered in the enumeration exercise). By referencing both building data and shack data, a common dataset is developed that serves as the basis for spatially tagging enumeration data. In this way, the data becomes alive. The data tells the stories of what used to be left of Chico’s Ice Cream factory.

In October 2011, CORC produced a short video documenting the impressions of Marlboro community leaders on the enumeration process. At 2:18 in the video, an interview with a young man living in Chico’s is captured. He said,

I live here in Chico’s. I have been living here for 11 years. I stay with my mother. Here in Chico’s we are very poor, if I can put it like that.

In another interview, a young man living with his girlfriend said the following when asked by Charles what his expectations are for development in the area:

Up to date, I have been living in this area. Now the problem that I am having is unavailability of jobs and better accommodation. From the information I am receiving from different people, there are promises to improve the area, but I don’t know how long it is going to take.

CORC has drafted a preliminary enumeration report on the findings. The enumeration breaks down the enumeration data of all 53 factories and categorises the findings by population statistics, migration, education levels, social grant recipients, occupation and income levels, and finally, tracks the communities’ development aspirations. On the enumeration process, Charles said

The ISN and FEDUP have introduced a programme of enumeration. So with the enumeration, we are trying to arm ourselves and say to the City, “We are the people of Marlboro. How many are we? We stay in a space of this size”. And so we will be able to talk how then the development will be. So we hope with the programme of the FEDUP and ISN we believe that something will come up. We are saving, and saying to the government, “This is what we are doing, then can you come in and join us in making the area we are living in better”.

Charle’s wishes will not realise. Chico’s have been destroyed. But the sword cuts both ways. While the positive side of community based knowledge generation through enumeration, as experience by millions of people making up the federations aligned to Shack / Slum Dwellers International (see this series of research papers), materialises citizenship when this grassroots knowledge drives development agendas, the data will now be used as a protections mechanism in the court of law. The community possess the most detailed data on the individuals and families affected in the evictions. The sword of knowledge will now be deployed to fight back on the inhumane and draconian actions of the City of Joburg.

Marlboro community is working alongside Lawyers for Human Rights and instructed them instructed to demand an end to the evictions and failing that, to proceed on an urgent basis to the High Court for relief. Said Louise du Plessis, senior attorney in LHR’s Land and Housing Unit,

This situation is shocking. The law is clear. There are countless court orders requiring a court order before an eviction can take place. This blatant disregard for what the courts have repeatedly said is especially worrying considering JMPD is tasked with upholding the law.

Who are giving these orders? Are the factory owners involved in the eviction process, or is this a rouge mission by the JMPD? These are the questions that the community with support by CORC and Lawyers for Human Rights will be uncovering.

no images were found

For up to date stories and photos, follow us on facebook and twitter