The Constitution recognises the informal or customary rights of people living in the former homelands yet the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has failed to legislate a communal land rights law that will strengthen and protect these rights. As a result; * Big cooperates are grabbing land in the communal land without any compensation for loss citing development. * Nature of individuals and family rights within a broader community are not clarified, and overshadowed by majority in the community. * People are not adequately compensated when land is sold or awarded for big developments * Consultation and Consent of land occupiers is not respected because of the weak nature of the rights provided by current law. In 1996, Parliament passed the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act (IPILRA) to provide protection for all people living on communal land in the former Bantustans, people living on trust land, people who previously had Permissions to Occupy (PTOs) and anyone living on land uninterrupted since 1997 “as if they were the owner”. This was a big milestone in the protection and recognition of customary land rights and the empowerment of families to be part of bargaining and negotiations of any socio-economic development happening in their land. Although people are protected by IPILRA, the fact that it is temporary and can be renewed annually, deprives people of their rights to say NO to development that disadvantages them. This makes it easy for "developers" or Government to easily expropriate the land. It is also worth noting that the law also states that the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform can make regulations in terms of IPILRA to provide more detailed processes and procedures.

As residents from Freedom Park, south of Johannesburg, we marched on 20 March 2017 to the ANC headquarters, in a bid to demand the rights to occupy vacant land on the outskirts of the area in which we live. With the ANC set to hold a policy conference in June to discuss, among other issues, how to expropriate land for the benefit of communities as tabled in its Strategy and Tactics Discussion Document, we call on you to stand in solidarity with all landless people across South Africa by supporting this campaign. “We have been living in Freedom Park as tenants for almost all our lives. None of us here owns any land. All we are asking for is for government to give us some piece of land, and we will build our own shacks.” “We are members of the ANC, and we trust it to listen to our cries. All we want is land.” We have adopted this Eleven Points Program for Freedom Park Backyard Dwellers to advance the fight for decent and habitable housing for all. 1. Occupy land and erect structures for as long as there is a backlog of decent Housing for all. 2. Resist evictions and fight not to be evicted or be moved to other places where we do not wish to live. 3. Fight for closing down of all municipal anti-land invasion units and all private eviction squads, such as the Red Ants, that municipalities outsource this function to. 4. The struggle of the Marikana occupiers in Philippi (Cape Town) is a victory for the landless people of Azania and it must be defended. The Marikana occupation and struggle in Philippi has resulted in a Constitutional Court decision that it is unlawful for anti-land 'invasion' units to knock down a structure or structures that have been built by occupiers as a home to live in, regardless of how long the structure has stood or whether there is furniture in it. 5. Occupations are a legitimate means for us to survive poverty and unemployment and speed up the process of land redistribution that the government promised but continues to fail to deliver. 6. We note that even under the so-called democratic dispensation the state continues to uphold the property rights of the rich, while the poor are expected to rot away under intolerable living conditions. 7. We reject the state's zero tolerance policy on occupations that is enforced by municipalities, the police and the courts. It is a contradiction to talk about “land reform” – as the government has again been doing recently – while at the same time denying people’s right to occupy land and punishing them if they do. 8. We note that over many decades of forced removals and pass laws the Black masses in occupied Azania, in defiance of apartheid, won the right to occupy land and build structures/shacks. This must be defended and extended in order to ensure adequate and just land redistribution for the landless Black masses dispossessed of their land through colonialism and apartheid. 9. Today, those who occupied land prior to 1994 are not threatened with eviction; while those who occupy today face the state’s harsh and repressive zero tolerance policy on occupations. We reiterate that it is a contradiction for the state to talk about land reform and yet deny people the right to occupy the land of their ancestors and birth. 10. This makes a mockery of the new democracy and effectively criminalizes our struggle for decent and habitable Housing. 11. By failing to address the housing crisis, by allowing the appalling conditions that people face daily and by failing to provide decent and habitable housing for all the state and it's functionaries are the real ‘criminals’. Those who occupy land and struggle to improve their living conditions are guilty of nothing other than pursuing the rights the Constitution and government have promised them.

Today we announce that we have embarked on a symbolic occupation of the Helen Bowden Nurses Home and the Woodstock Hospital to demand Urban Land Justice in Cape Town. We are Cape Town residents from across the race and class divide. We are residents of Woodstock, Sea Point, Marikana informal settlement, Blikkiesdorp and Khayelitsha. We are from communities at the forefront of the housing and segregation crisis in our city. We stand in solidarity with the struggles of all poor and working class people who still live homeless under bridges; in shacks and informal settlements at the edge of our city; in backyards and wendy houses on the Cape Flats; and in store rooms and domestic quarters in former white suburbs. The colonial and apartheid governments divided our city, controlled where we could live and forcefully removed our families from their homes. Our parents and grandparents resisted and overcame racial oppression. They fought for the rights to dignity, justice, equality, and adequate housing that our Constitution now guarantees. But we still experience the violence of apartheid spatial planning and segregation. A dignified life with access to good services and decent work is reserved for a few. We still experience violent evictions from our homes by private property owners and our government. This, while private landlords, developers and banks are making obscene profits. Land must be for people, not for profit. We are angry that our City, our Province and our National governments have failed to acknowledge our struggles for land and for affordable housing. They have failed to bring Black and Coloured people back into our city. We believe that symbolic and peaceful civil disobedience is now justified in the defence of our Constitution and our Constitutional rights. As we have now made our home here for over 48 hours, the law is clear that we may not be evicted without an order of court. We call on the Province and the South African Police Service to act lawfully and refrain from using violence or other tactics of state oppression against us.

URGENT ATTENTION: HERMANUS MIDDLE CLASS AFFORDABLE HOUSING We have great concern that our needs are not being understood as they are not being recognized. We request your urgent attention to this as the IDP for the next 5 years is in the process of being developed. Our needs must be catered for. We are looking for you to support land identification and allocation for middle class housing that is affordable in Hermanus close to Zwelihle, transport and our places of work. This is NOT GAP Housing. It is a totally different model. Our Needs: We, the Hermanus Middle Class Housing Committee represent over 200 middle class professionals living in Zwelihle and working in Hermanus who simply need: 1. To live in a home that is not one room and is made from bricks and mortar (instead of often a zinc shack). 2. To have the option of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes with their own yard where our children can play safely out of the traffic. 3. To have the option to buy already developed units. 4. Different repayment models, besides outright purchase as a bonded house subsidy houses 5. To be part of an integrated development plan that is not built on an Apartheid model. We need to enter the “normal” property market. 6. To be fully consulted with regards and future proposals. Our needs are NOT GAP housing. We are NOT looking for FREE housing. We earn well and are willing to pay for something we can afford. We will apply for bonds. We want something much more than an RDP or GAP house. BUT we cannot afford the hugely inflated property and land prices in and around Hermanus. They say there is no land in Hermanus but land sale are out for tender.Hermanus has become probably the most unequal town of its size in South Africa. The wealthy have their spacious properties and the poor are stuck in townships bursting at the seams. Hermanus properties and rentals at a reasonable monthly payment for middle class people in any area are simply not available. Middle Class people are forced to live in squalor while they can afford more. The people included in this ‘middle class’ classification include there are many educators, health workers, Correctional services,municipal employees and other professionals, who will soon move out of Hermanus to find acceptable housing in other places, if they cannot get affordable accommodation. Already there is a problem at schools with teacher posts vacant as young people don’t want to live here. Obviously there are business owners who also have no viable options for creating homes for themselves.

The Jabulani Views residents' committee has been in talks with the Madulammoho Housing Association for years to prevent evictions which date back to 2013. The underhanded dealings by Madulammoho Housing Association in approaching the courts to get an interdict against the residents' committee show that the association is hellbent on putting families on the streets. We cannot allow this injustice to occur under our watch.

On Monday the 2nd of January 2017, a number of areas including the Qweqwe, Payne, Zimbane, Maqhinebeni, VIdgiesville, Mqanduli and the surrounding areas were hit by a severe hailstorm which left many desitute and homeless [1]. Homes, schools and churches were severely damaged and a number of people were rushed to hospital with injuries. During this time of the year this kind of weather uis expected and it is deeply worrying that everytime our Municipality is caught off guard with no contingency plan. We know that it is norm for Disaster Management to delay responding to these disasters even though they have a set budget for such. This is evident even in this case, there has not been any statement issued to declare or any information to give guidance to the affected communities like a toll free number or contact offices/persons We however, commend the Department of Health for being visible and issuing a media statement going as far as offering assistance to those injured. [1] Lightining strikes Seven people in Mthatha, Jenni Evans, News24

If our parents are robbed of their hard earned, blood sweat contribution to this administrators, then most children will loose their inheritance for education and livelihood. Remember this is not a grant but monies contributed by this employees, it is a day robbery of everything they would ever have to change the economy of their lives.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide. * This campaign by amandla.mobi is supported by Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide. * This campaign by amandla.mobi is supported by Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide. * This campaign by amandla.mobi is supported by Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

We can improve service delivery and fight corruption in our Municipality by ensuring all Service Delivery Agreements (SDAs) are public and easily accessible to all. Some politicians, officials and businesses are scared about transparency, but if they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide.