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The South African Communist Party (SACP) in Gauteng has noted with concern the unabated brutalisation of the working class and the poor people by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) in the name of law and order. Yesterday, this ongoing harassment manifested itself with evictions in Fleurhof, West of Johannesburg, by the notorious Red Ants and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).

It is also reported that during the commotion caused by the Red Ants and JMPD, an innocent person was killed. Again we condemn this cold-blooded murder and CoJ must take full responsibility for this death. We are also of the view that these evictions are in violation of the lockdown regulations and human rights of the affected people of Fleurhof.

We have been consistent in postulating that the housing challenge in the CoJ and in the province at large cannot be resolved by criminalizing the working class and poor people. We urge the City to desist from these populist and authoritarian tendencies and rather use the opportunity to reflect deeper on the housing challenge as part of the many post-apartheid contradictions that must be resolved through innovative thinking rather than by brutal force and violence. This is foreign to the people’s movement.

The SACP in Gauteng is on record in articulating the fact that the housing challenge, just like the numerous socio-economic problems besieging the province, are a reflection of the colonialism of a special type (CST) legacy and apartheid spatial development patterns which sought to dump black people in general and Africans in particular in far flung areas, away from important amenities and places of work.

Whilst we strongly condemn illegal land invasion and the phenomenon of hijacking of buildings by criminal elements, we however believe that that housing challenges cannot be addressed without appreciating the CST legacy. It is therefore imperative for the City to appreciate this complex history when dealing with the plight of the poor working class, largely African dominated communities.

Our response, as a revolutionary movement, whose historical mission is to fight for the emancipation of black people and reverse the CST features permeating our society, is to find long-lasting solutions to many of our intractable socio-economic challenges.

Violent evictions and the killing of innocent people is certainly not one of the solutions. Neither are the responses that rather exacerbate and deepen the crisis for the motive force of our national democratic revolution. It is for this reason that we condemn in the strongest possible terms, the response by the CoJ to the Fleurhof housing crisis.

We call on the CoJ authorities and the provincial housing department to work with the local and affected communities to find immediate solutions to the problems. It cannot be the democratic government that terrorises the people.

Issued by the SACP Gauteng Province