When the demolishing team arrived in Madlala village the shack dwellers there asked if there was a court order granting the right to the eThekwini Municipality to destroy their homes. One respondent from the demolishing team responded by saying there is none and furthermore he said that they are aware of the recent Constitutional Court ruling but that they were working according to the ward councillor’s instructions to demolish these homes.

Abahlali baseMjondolo have always maintained that shack demolishing occurs countrywide and we have always been opposed to all evictions everywhere. But we were amazed at the stance the National Minister of Human Settlement Ms. Lindiwe Sisulu took by condemning the evictions at Lwandle in the Western Cape and even announcing that a commission will be investigating the Lwandle evictions. We wonder whether the Lwandle shack dwellers are different from any other shack dwellers countrywide who are evicted and have their homes demolished without a word of support from the authorities. Will Ms. Sisulu condemn the evictions in Madlala Village today? Will she condemn the evictions in Cato Crest? Will she announce a commission of inquiry into evictions in Durban that are carried out against court orders and accompanied by the murder of activists by assassins and the police?