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SACP Gauteng Provincial Executive Committee Statement, 12 August 2013 Newtown Housing Village Residents to picket the Johannesburg Housing Company . Date: 16 August 2013 (Friday) . Time: 09h00 . Assemble: 53 Main Street, Marshalltown, Johannesburg SACP Gauteng will lead a picket on Friday, 16th August 2013 at 09h00am targeting the head office of the Johannesburg Housing Company 53 Main Street, Corner of Maclaren Street, Marshalltown, Johannesburg. The JHC is a section 21 company which is a housing monopoly capitalist entity operating within the Johannesburg inner-city. The picket action will be a direct response and follow-up to the arrogant, conservative and right-wing attitude expressed in JHC's response to the memorandum of demands delivered by the evicted residents in Johannesburg, led by the SACP and its Alliance partners (ANC, COSATU and SANCO) on the 27th July 2013. The picket is but just a beginning of a series of planned protests by the residents following their mass meeting held yesterday on the 11 August 2013. It is for this reason that JHC has without doubt positioned itself as a real class enemy of the people and the working class and hence its head office will from now on be a site of intense, consistent, robust and peaceful mass struggles by the evicted residents led by the SACP and the Alliance. JHC was granted an eviction order by the Supreme Court of Appeal following one of the most highly controversial liquidation process post April 1994(without any evidence to the contrary). The SACP is also pleased that the residents have finally cleared all obstacles and are now on track to appeal the eviction order by approaching the Constitutional Court, and will hopefully file their papers within the next two weeks. The order was granted against a liquidated housing cooperative that was a pilot project initiated by the democratic state in its early years to test the use of cooperatives as a model to deliver social housing to the well deserving poor and working class. As stated in the court papers, JHC bought a property with the full knowledge that it was a subject of serious allegations of corruption, maladministration and fraud. These acts were committed by a highly sophisticated network of fraudsters and criminals within the cooperative itself, the state and private sector against residents who had no reason to doubt the process that was meant to deliver them not just occupation but ownership of the more than 351 family units. The SACP strongly believe that the JHC must with immediate effect, return the building it bought at an auction price of R28 Million. We are deeply concerned that the property also involve government subsidy to the tune of least R6.8 million and multi-million financial donations made by foreign governments. We call on organs of the state at all levels to defend this property and the cooperative against JHC housing monopoly capital. It is also important that the state defend the more than 2000 people rendered homeless by this immoral and unjust eviction. We are further disturbed that the eviction by JHC has claimed its first victim, that is, the death of comrade Lunga Filita, a 38 year old male who was living in the street in front of the building he considered his home for many years. He died on Tuesday the 6th August 2013 after he was diagnosed with pneumonia caused by the severe cold weather as the eviction took place in the middle of an icy cold winter. He will be buried this coming weekend, on Saturday the 17th August 2013 in Diepsloot. We are deeply disturbed that this eviction has displaced more than 37 school children who are no longer able to attend school and the matter has since been reported to the Gauteng Department of Education. We are shocked by the severe depression the eviction is having on families, especially the 68 year old Ms Rukiya Ismael who broke down to tears yesterday at the residents mass meeting that resolved on the picket action. SACP vows and commit to fight in solidarity with the people of Newtown Housing Village to defend them against JHC monopoly capital, its colluding corrupt elements and in defence of cooperatives. May the spirit of comrade Lunga Filita rest in peace whilst JHC trembles before his most militant, resolute and principled fighting spirit. Together with the residents, we shall carry the fight to the end and ensure that his efforts were not in vain. Issued on behalf of the SACP Gauteng Province Contact: Mamabolo Jacob: Provincial Secretary: 082 884 1868 Lucian Segami: Provincial Spokesperson: 079 522 0098 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
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