Nov 10, 2016 - 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town. (Tafel Space) ..... access basic services and support from the City of Cape
Urban Land Justice 2016
DAY 1
Past, Present and Future:
Strategies and tactics for resistance 10 November to 12 November, 2016 District Six Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant Street, Cape Town
Thursday 10 November
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The 2016 colloquium will focus on activism, through the use of law, organising and research. It will host conversations between a diverse group of activists, urban planners, academics and the private sector. The colloquium will examine tactics of resistance, past and present, against evictions and forced removals. Lessons will be drawn from different social movements and organised groups, who have worked towards forming tenants’ federations, P r RSoV e mbe s e v struggled for access to land and housing and a Pleesday 08 N u who are demanding that government play a by T ooi: ita B rg.za stronger role in informal settlement upgrading. Zimk u.o The 2016 colloquium weaves in creative elements such as art/sound installations, exhibitions, (chalk!) graffiti and short-films. Please join us as we pursue the struggle towards urban land justice!
DAY 2
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MAIN EVENT Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Tafel Space)
10 H 30
10 H 30
Understanding the woundedness of the past/ Decolonization of the City / Memorialization
Discussion: The role of the private sector and affordable housing This session will be held at the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership offices: 24th Floor, Atterbury House, 9 Riebeek Street, Cape Town
Short Film Screening: Always There
After we Win: Over the past few years there have been important legal victories for social justice, such as the judgement on Blue Moonlight vs. the City of Jo’burg and the initiation of the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry, to name a few. But how do we transform these into tangible change? A discussion between public interest lawyers, social movements and community leaders on what victory means and the challenges of implementation Informality and Upgrading: The state views informal settlements as temporary environments and therefore cities refuse to develop long-term plans for decent infrastructure, services and upgrading, even though many, if not most, have existed for decades. How does the state see informality? Why does it refuse to plan for informal settlements? What can we learn from Johannesburg’s Slovo Park Occupation and Expropriation: Is occupation of private and public land a just tactic in a housing crisis? Can expropriation of land radically address tenure? Does the state have an obligation to expropriate land? What precedent will the Marikana matter set? These questions will form part of the discussion in this conversation. Tenants’ organising strategies: With evictions, exploitation by landlords, and rising rents, is it not time that tenants formally organise to defend their rights collectively? This session will share strategies and tactics by tenants from building committees in Johannesburg and the Organisation of Civic Rights (OCR) in Durban.
Discussion: Resistance: Then and Now
11 H 30
Launch of comic strip: Commute by the Trantraal Brothers. Workshop Space
15 H 00
17 H 00
17 H 30
Discussion: Evictions and Alternative Accommodation: the role of the state and property developers
16 H 30
Discussion: Informality and Upgrading
District 6 Supper Club - Zackie Achmat Cost of entry to this event is R150.00 at the door. The cost includes a meal and beverage. RSVP to
[email protected] by Tuesday 08 November
11 H 00
11 H 30
13 H 30
City Walks will occur simultaneously, and will take place at District Six (meeting place will be the Homecoming Centre), Woodstock (The meeting place will the the BP at Salt River Circle) and Sea Point (the meeting place will be the Sea Point Promenande, opposite the SABC studios)
#TafelbergChallenge presentations
12 H 30
14 H 30
Short Film screening: Not in My Neighbourhood
Discussion: Faith-based Organisations and Urban Land Justice
This session will be held at the Architect Gallery, 71 Hout Street, Cape Town
LUNCH BREAK
Collective Community Artwork on Harrington Square
15 H 00
Lingua Franca youth performance 15 H 30
16 H 00
Discussion: Occupation and Expropriation
Discussion: Tenants' Organizing Strategies
Collective Community Artwork on Harrington Square
16 H 30
17 H 00
17 H 00
17 H 30
17 H 30
Discussion: Housing Typologies and best practice
18 H 30
19 H 00
Short Fim Screening: Battle of Hangberg
City Walk: District Six, Woodstock and Sea Point
14 H 00
18 H 00
18 H 00
Discussion: Young Professionals and the Struggle for Urban Land Justice
13 H 00
16 H 00
Discussion: The Colony and Black resistance
10 H 30
TEA BREAK
16 H 00
19 H 00
LUNCH BREAK
15 H 30
Lingua Franca youth performance
Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Breakaway)
TEA & REGISTRATION
12 H 00
14 H 30
15 H 30
18 H 30
City Walks will occur simultaneously, and will take place at District Six (meeting place will be the Homecoming Centre), Woodstock (The meeting place will the the BP at Salt River Circle) and Sea Point (the meeting place will be the Sea Point Promenande, opposite the SABC studios)
14 H 00
15 H 00
16 H 30
City Walk: District Six, Woodstock and Sea Point
13 H 00
14 H 00
14 H 30
Discussion: After we Win
11 H 00
13 H 30
Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Tafel Space)
10 H 00
12 H 30
LUNCH BREAK
VENUE
FRINGE
09 H 15
12 H 00
13 H 00
13 H 30
Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Breakaway)
MAIN EVENT
TEA & REGISTRATION
Programme welcome & intro to key struggles in Cape Town
11 H 00
Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Tafel Space)
Saturday 12 November
FRINGE
10 H 00
10 H 00
12 H 30
The Role of the Private Sector and Affordable Housing: This will be a discussion between key players in the building and finance sectors, developers and civil society on the barriers and opportunities to creating more inclusive mixed-income mixed-use cities. Would tighter state-sanctioned regulations on the private sector dissuade investment?
VENUE
TEA & REGISTRATION
12 H 00
Resistance: Then and Now: What are the similarities and differences between forced removals during Apartheid and the evictions and displacement happening today? How did ordinary people resist then? How can we resist today?
MAIN EVENT
09 H 15
09 H 15
11 H 30
About the discussions
Friday 11 November
FRINGE Homecoming Centre 15A Buitenkant St, Cape Town (Breakaway)
DAY 3
Installation at the Homecoming Centre
Youth Theatre Performance
Installation at the Sea Point Methodist Church
19 H 00
19 H 30
19 H 30
19 H 30
20 H 00
20 H 00
20 H 00
SUPPER
REFLECTION
18 H 00
18 H 30
Film Screening: NOMA + Q&A with director
On-going events:
Keynote Address SUPPER
The Peninsula Maternity Hospital building, situated between Constitution, Caledon, Primrose and Mount Streets, still stands today. Deliveries would go on all day and night, as the hospital was the main maternity hospital in Cape Town. Many women in District Six also chose to give birth in their own homes, requesting a midwife from the hospital. Most District Sixers were born at the Peninsula.
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The Beinkinstadt Jewish Bookstore, located at 38 Canterbury Street, stands today as Charley’s Bakery. The bookstore, which closed in 2008, was established in 1903 by Moshe Beinkinstadt, who came from Lithuania, and remained in the hands of Beinkinstadt’s descendants for 105 years. Beinkinstadt served as a social meeting place for local Jewish families in District Six, who would congregate here to spend time with one another, and listen to the latest news of their ‘old’ country.
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Caledon Street was one of the main thoroughfares from Hanover Street leading into the city. It contained shops, the British Bioscope, houses, pharmacies and was the main marching route for minstrel troupes during the New Year Carnival.
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Lower Gardens Gardens
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Presbyterian Church (Harrington Street area) The Presbyterian Church, also known as the Holy Trinity Church, was located on Harrington Street. The church was built in 1848. The Presbyterians started their work in a building in Caledon Street in 1881 and the following year opened the Clifton Hill Hall in Hanover Street. As the congregation moved away and the character of the surrounding area changed, the church was sold. The site is now a car park. This part of Harrington Street consisted of a mixed variety of buildings such as the Presbyterian Church, shops, factories, printing works and houses. The buildings were demolished with the removals.
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In mid-2006 this grouping of Sea Point domestic workers became fed-up with the lack of affordable housing and occupied Rocklands Villa – a derelict apartment building. Although the occupation was quickly broken and numerous arrested, it brought attention to urgency of the housing struggle in Sea Point’s. It prompted the then newly elected DA-lead local government to promise housing delivery in Sea Point, promises which remain unfulfilled.
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Photo exhibition of Sea Point’s activists and their testimonies.
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Methodist Church
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Peninsula Maternity Hospital
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At the end of 2015, the Western Cape Government sold the Tafelberg Remedial School to a private buyer. In February 2016, the Reclaim the City launched a campaign to stop the sale and to demand that the site be reserved for affordable housing. Tafelberg has become symbolic of the struggle against forced removals and to advocate for ‘urban land justice’.
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For a short period after the end of apartheid, some Sea Point apartments, like those at Divonia Court, were affordable for working class people. In 1997, the residents of Divonia Court were evicted. Many of them ended up, with their belongings and furniture, on Oliver Road.
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Nooraan Dreyer, who lives with her family in Alfred Street, is scheduled to be evicted in November. At this last stop-off she speaks to the struggle of searching for a place to rent in a neighbourhood which has become expensive and unwelcoming of poor, black tenants.
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Bordeaux is one of the largest apartment buildings in Sea Point. It is also a typical example of apartheid-era architecture – which designed residential buildings to accommodate poor, black people in cramped servant quarters. At Bordeaux, these prominent quarters are separated from the main building by concrete walkways. Today many domestic workers and poor, black people continue to live in these rooms under oppressive rules and poor conditions.
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Vernon Terrace was located on Caledon Street and was bulldozed to the ground in the 1970s. There were many palm trees planted in Vernon Terrace and some can still be seen today. These trees were planted by Muslim pilgrims who brought back seeds from Mecca. Architecturally Vernon Terrace was described by Hans Fransen as the “most interesting precinct in the district”. The area where the building once stood is now a student residence for the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
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Sea Point promenade is one of Cape Town’s most prized recreational public spaces. It is a vibrant and safe area, close to the city, work opportunities, good schools, shops and transport routes. For all its potential, Sea Point’s public spaces are increasingly policed and unwelcoming of poor and black people.
Vernon Terrace
Sites of Struggle and Remembrance
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City Walks:
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Sea Point promenade (gather at play park)
The Bloemhof Flats, where the Skyways building now stands, were located on Constitution Street. The flats were built in the1930s and were a multiple block housing development. The residents of the flats became a close-knit community and the flats were known for their large and vibrant community of families. The residents, which had been home to two generations of District Sixers, were among the last to leave during the forced removals.
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Onder-die-brug informal settlement is one of the few remaining shack settlements near the Cape Town CBD. The residents have struggled for years to access basic services and support from the City of Cape Town local government. Earlier this year, a fire razed several shacks, leaving a dozen people homeless. Some of the residents here have access to houses on the Cape Flats, but prefer to live in challenging conditions at Onder-die-brug so that they can be closer to the city – because of the economic and other opportunities that come with that proximity.
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The struggle for affordable housing in Sea Point
The City Mission building on Constitution Street was a branch of the Cape Town City Mission, which until July 1924 was known as the City Slum Mission. The City Mission played an instrumental role in the lives of under-privileged people in District Six, providing paraffin and bread to people in need, and focusing on improving the lives of children. As part of the Group Areas removals, the City Mission’s Constitution Street branch was demolished. It now stands empty, forming part of a parking lot.
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Onder-die-brug informal settlement
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The state owns dozens of under-utilised properties around Woodstock and near the inner city. This land could be used to provide temporary alternative accommodation to evictees from Woodstock/Salt River, something that the City of Cape Town is legally obliged to do, but has to date refused. Erf 10619 forms part of a precinct earmarked for Woodstock/Salt River’s first social housing development. Does state land and social housing hold the answer to promote affordable housing opportunities in the area? How else can the state intervene?
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The families of 126-130 Bromwell Street have lived in their homes for decades. In 2014, private property developers, the Woodstock Hub, bought the properties and secured an eviction order against the families. Bromwell Street’s residents, supported by Reclaim the City activists, have since resisted the evictions and taken the matter to the Western Cape High Court. The court will rule on the obligation of the City of Cape Town to provide homeless evictees with temporary alternative accommodation in the area.
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The Old Biscuit Mill business complex opened in 2006, followed soon by a Saturday luxury goods market on site. Since then, the surrounding area has become attractive to businesses, investors and wealthier residents. Property prices, rates and rental costs have increased as a result. Poor families have been steadily evicted and removed from Woodstock to the Cape Flats. Do businesses, new residents and developers have any responsibility to area’s original inhabitants?
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The Methodist Church building on Buitenkant Street stands today as the District Six Museum. Under the ministry of Reverend Peter Storey, the Buitenkant Street Church became a refuge for the victims of forced removals as well as political detainees held at the Caledon Square police station across the street. The District Six Museum Foundation was established in 1989 and in 1994 the Methodist Church building was transformed into a museum.
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Salt River circle (gather at BP station lawn) Salt River circle is the nexus connecting Woodstock to Salt River and the northern suburbs off Voortrekker road to the city. Off the circle is a rich mix of businesses and industries, homes which sustained one of Cape Town’s only working class communities not forcibly removed during apartheid. Today, however, the rent in the suburb is becoming unaffordable and, with the displacement of traditional industry by high-end businesses, employment opportunities are fewer.
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Strategies and tactics for resistance
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Past, Present and Future
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Urban Land Justice 2016
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Table Mountain
Devil’s Peak