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[MARIKANA] Five years after the Marikana massacre the state has not apologised or criminally prosecuted the police (16 August 2017).
Today marks five years since the police brutally shot and killed 37 striking mine workers, who were protesting for better wages in Marikana. However, very little has changed for the widows and families of the mine workers.
Five years after the massacre, the state is yet to take responsibility for its role in the killings. There has been no official state apology to the families who lost their loved ones, something that has, and continues to be, demanded by the families. The state has also failed to hold the police officers who shot the miners and those who ordered them to do so accountable, with not a single police officer appearing in court to face charges associated with deaths of mineworkers.
It's time for #JusticeForMarikana.
- Watch SERI's short film in which the widows of the stirking mineworkers demand an apology from the state and Lonmin here.
- Watch SERI's new short film on bringing the truth about Marikana back to the people to whom it belongs here.
- Justice is a scarce resource, Khuselwa Dyantyi, The Star (23 March 2017).
- The guns in Marikana were aimed at the families of slain workers too, Lwazi Mtshiyo and Tim Fish Hodgson, Business Day (21 March 2017).
[MEDIA] To stop tragedies like the Grenfell Tower and Cape York fires cities need to rethink urban housing (11 August 2017).
On 8 August 2017, the international news website, Al Jazeera, published an opinion piece written by the Local Government Action (LGA)'s national coordinator, Koketso Moeti. The op-ed argues that tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire in London and the Cape York fire in Johannesburg can be avoided if cities rethink their approach to urban housing.
Moeti quotes research published by SERI in 2013 to show that cities like Johannesburg are failing to provide affordable housing solutions to low-income residents. She writes:
"...Across the world's cities, many residents live in substandard conditions, mostly out of desperation. For too long local governments across many cities have allowed only market forces to dictate the kind of development that is taking place. All too often that is at the expense of low-income residents who are either pushed out of the city or forced to live in unsafe conditions. City authorities are failing to prioritise safe, affordable accommodation.
"Research (pdf) into the supply of and demand for low-income accommodation in Johannesburg's inner city found that both availability and affordability were major problems for almost half of these residents, who earn less than $245 [R3 200] per month. The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa found a household would have to earn about $440 [R7 500] per month to afford the cheapest formal rental available from the private sector."
[LITIGATION UPDATE] SERI represents informal settlement resident who was shot 4 times during eviction in damages claim (4 August 2017).
Between 31 July and 4 August 2017, SERI appeared in the Durban High Court on behalf of Nkosinathi Mngomezulu, a resident of Cato Crest informal settlement in Durban, in a damages claim against the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the Minister of Safety and Security. Mngomezulu is claiming damages for the physical injuries he sustained when a security officer in the municipality's land invasion unit shot him in the stomach four times, as well as for his unlawful attest and detention on charges of assault and attempted murder.
On 21 September 2013, the municipality's land invasion unit illegally demolished Mngomezulu and various other Cato Crest residents' shacks, in violation of a series of court orders handed down in the preceding months that restrained the municipality from evicting any person or demolishing any shack at Cato Crest informal settlement (see the Mzimela case). While physically resisting this demolition, Mngomezulu was shot four times by a security officer in the municipality's land invasion unit. Then, after recovering for more than three months in hospital, Mngomezulu was arrested and detained initially on charges of assault and later on charges of atttempted murder. It is on the basis of this unlawful attack and the subsequent unlawful arrest and detention that Mngomezulu, assisted by Abahlali baseMjondolo, claims damages.
The five-day trial concluded on 4 August, with Judge Pillay reserving judgment. At the trail, Mngomezulu was represented by advocates Anne Marie de Vos SC, Stuart Wilson and Irene de Vos.
- Read more about the case here.
[OP-ED] SERI's Lwazi Mtshiyo and Keaton Allen-Gessesse contribute to the Bertha Foundation's blog (3 August 2017).
SERI's candidate attorney, Lwazi Mtshiyo, and SERI's litigation intern, Keaton Allen-Gessesse, recently contributed a blogpost to the Bertha Foundation's blog, Bertha Blog. The post deals with the challenges posed by state-run urban regeneration initiatives and gentrification in Johannesburg, and how SERI uses film as a powerful tool to document the struggles of poor and marginsalised people resisting gentrification.
In the blogpost Mtshiyo and Allen-Gessesse write that: "...[t]he challenges faced by the poor cannot be solved if the City [of Johannesburg] only responds to lawsuits and individual eviction cases. Gentrification’s detrimental consequences require broader, well-coordinated policies by the state – particularly providing guaranteed affordable housing. Until this happens, residents on the brink of homelessness and human rights lawyers will continue to strategically use the law to the keep a roof over their heads."
[STAFF NEWS] SERI is delighted to welcome two new members to the team (3 August 2017).
SERI is delighted to welcome two new members to the SERI team: Kelebogile Khunou, who joins us as a researcher; and Lerato Makolobane Mashianoke, who joins us as a research intern.
Kelebogile holds a BA (Honours) degree and a Masters by Research degree in Political Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her Masters research was based on domestic workers’ engagement with everyday life, their social networks and the building of their political subjectivities. Kelebogile's interests lie in the discourses on development and community building, gender equality and the role of youth as protagonists of change.
Lerato has a Bachelor of Administration (BAdmin) Degree in International Relations from the University of Pretoria. During her time at the University of Pretoria, she was involved in various mentorship, leadership and community outreach based activities. Prior to joining SERI, Lerato was a participant in the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute’s (ASRI) Future Leaders Fellowship Programme. Lerato’s interests are in public administration, socio-economic development, socio-economic rights, local government, and ethics.