The squatter's movement

Abahlali baseMjondolo Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which organises land occupations, builds communes

occupied a piece of vacant state owned land in Macassar Village, near

Somerset West Somerset West ( af, Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hottent ...

outside of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

on 18 May 2009. The occupation was later destroyed by the city's anti-land invasion unit.

Background

Before occupying the land Abahlali baseMjondolo organised an open and public 'cleaning campaign' on the land during which the land was cleared. On the day of the occupation four people, including prominent academic

Martin Legassick Martin Legassick (1940–2016) was a South African historian and Marxist activist. He died on 1 March 2016 after a battle with cancer. He was one of the central figures in the "revisionist" school of South African historiography that, drawing ...

were arrested. The arrests, which were accompanied by shooting with rubbfollowed two attempts by the occupiers to barricade the N2 in protest at the demolition of their shacks by the police. The

Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261 000 and a circulation of 34 523. By the fourth quarter of ...

quoted Clarissa Benjamin, a 47-year-old mother of three as saying "We have no place to stay. The government has millions to spend on building stadiums for 2010, but I have been waiting for a house for the past 20 years.". Bush Radio reported that the local councillor had agreed, on 20 May, to hand the land over to the residents on 21 May and that the occupiers expected

Mayor

Dan Plato Daniel Plato (born 5 October 1960), known as Dan Plato, is a South African politician and a Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament since January 2022, previously serving from June 2011 until October 2018. He is the former mayor of Cap ...

to hand the land over in person. However the City of Cape Town sent in its Anti-Land Invasions Unit to demolish the shacks on 21 May. According to Abahlali baseMjondolo the City demolished the shacks on the land each day since the land was occupied and the occupiers rebuilt their shacks each day. Because the City had no court orders for any of these demolitions they were, according to an article in the

Cape Argus The ''Cape Argus'' is a daily newspaper co-founded in 1857 by Saul Solomon and published by Sekunjalo in Cape Town, South Africa. It is commonly referred to as ''The Argus''. Although not the first English-language newspaper in South Africa ...

, "in strict legal terms, criminal".

Responses

Professor

commented that "If housing cannot be provided immediately for all, people must be allowed to find land on which to build shacks, whether that land is municipal, state, provincial or private." Mayor Dan Plato argued that "certain elements had orchestrated the land invasion through misinformation" and that 'If the group was allowed to squat there, they would "start shouting for services" such as electricity and toilets.

Legal action

On 29 May Abahlali baseMjondolo secured an urgent interdict in the Cape High Court that prevented the City Council from demolishing any shacks without an order of the court. However the City ignored the interdict and continued to demolish shacks. On 1 June 2009

Mzonke Poni Mzonke Poni is an activist in Cape Town. He is the former chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape and was previously a leader of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. The ''Sunday Times'' has described him as "the face of an AN ...

, chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo in the Western Cape, was arrested on a charge of public violence. He alleged that he was assaulted by the police while in their custody.

Support for the occupation

On 9 June the

Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) was a Geneva-based international non-governmental organisation founded in 1994 by Scott Leckie as a foundation in the Netherlands (Stichting COHRE). Offices At its height in 2008, COHRE maintain ...

in Geneva issued a letter strongly condemning the actions of the Cape Town City Council. The following day the occupation received a strong statement of support from The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. On 16 June 2009 Abahlali baseMjondolo Cape Town held an event to 'de-celebrate' the national public holiday of Youth Day. At the time the

reported that one of the people evicted from Macassar was sharing a single roomed backyard shack with 26 other people.

Legal Controversy

On 18 June the City of Cape Town terminated its working relationship with the legal firm that had represented the occupiers resulting in a 'storm' of harsh criticism from human rights advocates.

Outcomes

During 2009 the land occupation continued under 24-hour surveillance from the Anti-Land Invasions Unit, which had just received R10 million in funding from the Cape Town City Council. Although people continued to live on the land they were not able to rebuild their shacks and were sleeping out in the open.Macassar Land Occupation
', Khayelitsha Struggles, 25 June 2009

Notes and references

{{coord, -34.0503, 18.7556, type:event_region:ZA-WC, display=title 2009 in South Africa 2009 protests Cape Town Protests in South Africa Land occupations in South Africa Squats in South Africa May 2009 events in South Africa