Media coverage of Khayelitsha Anti-Eviction Campaign avoids the issues
8:00am Sunday 10 November 2002

Since Friday, media in Cape Town and on national television and radio have been covering Housing MEC Nomatyala Hangana's resolution to crackdown on members of the Khayelitsha Anti-Eviction Campaign. This resolution comes after communities within the Greater Khayelitsha area have consistently defied banks and returned people evicted people to their houses.

The coverage from the Cape Times, E-TV and the SABC is notable for its one-sidedness on this issue. AEC members are portrayed as common criminals, and MEC Hangana continues to avoid the very real issue of the housing crisis in the area.

Since February this year, activists from Mandela Park have been trying to engage government and calling on MEC Hangana to intervene in the crisis of evictions in the area. This is in response to the sharp increase in evictions since the end of 2001. Pensioners, who receive a pension of R 620, often have to support whole familes due to the massive unemployment in the area. And with this money, they are expected to pay bonds of R 600 a month, for houses which were delivered with structural faults that have been repaired at residents own expense.

The result of this impossible situation has been a steady program of evictions, where the most vulnerable are forced out of their houses and into tiny 'rightsized' houses - known by the residents as 'dog kennels'. The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is aware of at least 4 pensioners who have died after being evicted like this - the absolutely inadaquate housing is a breeding ground for persistent ill health and respiratory problems. In the words of one pensioner, "old people and children die like ants" in these conditions.

Police Commissioner Shivuri alleges that the Anti-Eviction Campaign is the work of a shadow political organisation, which he refuses to name. This is simply another ploy to divert attention from the facts of the situation. The facts are that residents of Khayelitsha are aware that the actions they undertake against sheriffs, evictions, service disconnections and repossessions, are illegal. But they have been forced into a situation where mass defiance of the law is the only way to survive. This is the issue that needs to be addressed, through political intervention.

MEC Hangana has consistently refused to address the problems of poor communities, rather referring the issue to the banks. She has made the decision to only meet with 'stakeholders' who are politically acceptable to her - that is ANC and SACP branches, and SANCO. Yet she works for the government, not the ANC, and it is the government which creates the policy climate that people live in. Her pleas of helplessness in the face of the problems of the poor are hypocritical.

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is shocked at the one sidedness of the reporting on this issue. In particular, we demand a public apology from the Cape Times and E-TV, since they obviously did not even try and cover both sides of this issue. Clearly the coverage of Friday and Saturday is the result of long preparation and political intervention, and falls far outside the media's mandate for objective reporting.

We invite the media to focus on the issues of poor communities - not only when tyres are burning in the streets! The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign invites the media to arrange tours of Khayelitsha with us, so that we can show you the situation which underlies the current struggles over housing.

ENDS
Released by: Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign For more info: Jack Green 083 256 0457