Human Rights Abuse by Local Council.

On Monday evening, the 6th July, about 400 families of homeless people were evicted by the owner of the land where they were staying, and dumped on a rubbish tip by ANC councillors in the Maraisburg district of Roodepoort, next to Johannesburg in South Africa.

The site is right next to a lake, and bounded on other sides by landfill sites, and mine dumps.

They were left there with no running water, or any sanitary facilities. To date, there are only 6 taps to serve the people, who number over 2000, there are now a total of 18 temporary toilets after a protest by the local residents about the conditions.

The ground that they are on is contaminated with a variety of chemicals. The site was an open dump, and nobody knows what was deposited there, but from time to time, underground fires start by spontaneous combustion. The ground is further polluted with both cyanide and sulphuric acid. The lake is known to be polluted, and there are signs around the lake warning of this pollution, and pointing out that bathing is prohibited. The area is also prone to flooding during the summer.

The local residents are very concerned that these homeless people have been moved onto this unsuitable site without any prior warning or consultation with them. They have formed a committee, who have met with the council and are applying pressure to have these people moved to a suitable site. They have started both protest and legal action, which will continue until these people are moved to a more suitable location which has better facilities and is less dangerous to health.

The local council tried to cover up what appears to be bad management in this case by claiming that the move was an emergency situation, in which they only had a few hours notice of the evictions.

The residents, however, have evidence that the council knew of the situation at least three months before the evictions, and the eviction order was issued more than 1 month before this emergency arose. The residents are questioning the reason for the delay, which led to the supposed emergency.

We feel that the human rights of these people have been abused by the ANC, and we are looking for help from the international community to apply pressure on the ANC to take action to help these people.

The Council have now promised to move these people to a better site by the end of September.

Updated 6th August 98

Visit again soon for pictures and updates.

MEMBER of the POD

Please sign my guestbook to let me know what you think,

or read it to see what others say.

Read my Dreambook! Sign my Dreambook!

This page has been visited times.