eThekwini takes on hostel warlords

The eThekwini Municipality has approached a court to stop "warlords" from terrorising the Glebelands hostel.

Durban - In a frank admission that the SAPS and metro police were unable or unwilling to end the bloodshed at Glebelands, the eThekwini Municipality made an urgent court application to interdict “warlords” from continuing their reign of terror at the uMlazi hostel.

The application, before the Durban High Court, said the hostels were being run by committees that extorted money from tenants and, despite attempts by the government to disband the committees and rival groups, the violence had escalated.

However, Judge Dhaya Pillay struck the matter off the roll because the respondents were not properly cited.

The municipality had cited the first respondents as “persons in charge of or in control of or associated with the group responsible for Blocks A-Z Glebelands Hostel, Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, situated at 4680 South Coast Road, Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal”.

The second respondent was similarly cited, except Blocks 40-57 were referred to.

In court papers, the municipality later described the respondents as “warlords”.

According to municipal manager, Sibusiso Sithole’s affidavit, they could not give the respondents, whose names and identities they did not know, notice of these proceedings.

“There existed a real and bona fide belief that knowledge of these proceedings would result in more blood being spilled before the matter is heard,” his affidavit read.

The urgent application had been set down to be heard last Friday with the municipality calling for an order to interdict and restrain the first and second respondents from:

* Allocating, and or in any way dealing with accommodation within the hostel.

* Forcibly evicting, harassing, threatening or in any way interfering with the municipality’s legal hostel tenants.

Sithole, in court papers, said the municipality controlled the Glebelands Hostels, one of 10 it owned and administered in its jurisdiction, and the second largest with official capacity of 11 580 beds.

At present, he said, the hostel had about 48 000 people and had listed their legal tenants.

The increase in numbers, Sithole said, was a result of certain occupiers bringing their wives and girlfriends to live with them. The other reason, he said, was that the people in charge of the first and second respondents were allocating beds to people illegally and receiving money for this.

Between 1983 and 1996 the hostels, he said, were owned and administered by the provincial government and the Ningimu Council, and were “operated” by committees with “certain political affiliations”.

Sithole described the situation within each hostel as lawless because people could be “allocated accommodation or forcibly removed and or killed based on the person’s political and or other affiliations”.

In 1996, he said, the municipality assumed control of all hostels and registered all its occupiers on a database.

Despite taking over control, Sithole said the block committees continued to exist and “began a systemic process of illegally and forcibly evicting” the municipality’s legal tenants and replacing them with their friends, associates, or anyone who paid them a “protection fee”.

“In carrying out these evictions, the committees resorted to violence and there are documented cases where the (municipality’s) legal tenants were killed by the members of the committees or on the instruction of the committees,” Sithole’s affidavit read.

In August last year, he said, the Human Settlements MEC and the municipality received a memorandum from some of the aggrieved hostel tenants complaining about: being stopped by the committee leaders from paying their rent to the municipality; tenants being “brutally evicted” by these leaders; and the leaders being responsible for the deaths and injuries to many of them.

“It is clear from the above that the leaders and members of the committees have been acting as ‘warlords’ and have systematically waged ‘war’ on their detractors and rivals,” Sithole said.

The premier disbanded these committees to no avail, with Sithole saying the violence escalated in October. He referred to “revenge killings” of the leaders of each rival group by the first and second respondents.

“It is also clear that as long as the actions of the respondents remain unchecked, they will continue with their unlawful and illegal conduct. Should this occur, then the (municipality’s) innocent legal tenants will pay the price for same with their lives,” Sithole said.

He also said the municipality could not assist the legal tenants and the others at the hostel because the metro police were “not equipped to deal with the nature of law enforcement required at the hostel”.

He said the SAPS had refused to help the tenants and had referred them to the municipality. Sithole felt the only way to stop these committees was to interdict and restrain them from achieving total control, and rendering the hostel ungovernable.

55 fatalities so far

A 69-year-old man was shot dead at Glebelands Hostels on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the ongoing violence to 55 since March last year.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said a case of murder had been opened at uMlazi police station.

The latest killing comes three weeks after two men were killed.

This week’s victim was identified by community activist, Vanessa Burger, as Mlinyelwa Gobidolo.

He was shot as he was speaking to his sister, an informal trader, at Reunion Station.

KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, said the situation at the hostel was unacceptable.

“We are gravely concerned and disappointed that despite numerous attempts to end the violence, the killing and maiming of people is continuing.

“However, government will not rest until the violence at the hostel ceases, and the hostel is peaceful.”

noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za

Daily News and ANA

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