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.

Mining communities' lives are in danger. Recently a young boy, Richard, aged 5 fell inside an neglected, uncovered mine shaft and has not been found since[1]. His mother has been crying since the accident, all she wants is her child's body. South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources, holds a list of 6,000 "derelict and ownerless" mines, which became the government’s problem over the years when the former owners disappeared. The Department of Mineral Resources must work very closely with the Department of Environmental Affairs before awarding closure certificates to these mining companies. Rehabilitation plans ought to be submitted and approved by the authorities before any mining activity can start, and that finances must be set aside for this purpose. However, it looks like this is not happening and some mining houses close down and leave the state to foot the bill for the clean-up costs. We know that communities who live in these areas are predominantly Black and of low income households. The former apartheid government placed many settlements near or even on top of the mining waste dumps but this does not mean that their lives are not valuable. It is upon all of us as Mzansi citizens to put pressure on these Departments to hold these mining companies accountable by vigorously enforcing the NEMA (National Environmental Management Act) from the initial prospecting phase to the closure of mine operations. [1] http://www.news24.com/Video/SouthAfrica/News/all-i-want-is-my-child-desperate-plea-from-mother-of-boy-5-who-fell-down-mine-shaft-20170228

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. * 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.