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No Land! No House! No Vote!

Voices from the Symphony Way

Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers

Many outside South Africa imagine that after Mandela was freed and the ANC won free elections all was well in the Rainbow Nation. But although a few black South Africans have become wealthy, the struggle against apartheid never ended because apartheid continues to live. In 2007 hundreds of families living in shacks across the new ‘integrated’ township of Delft in Cape Town were moved into houses they had been waiting for since the end of apartheid. But soon they were told that the move had been illegal and they were kicked out of their new homes. They built shacks next to the road opposite the housing project and organised themselves into the Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign, refusing to move into a ‘Temporary Relocation Area’ and vowing to stay on the road until the government gave them permanent housing.

Written toward the end of the struggle on the pavements, this anthology is both testimony and poetry. There are stories of justice miscarried, of violence, of bigotry and xenophobia. But amid the horror there is beauty, and a bundle of relationships between aunties, husbands, wives and children, of daughters named ‘Hope’ and ‘Symphony’. This book is a means to dignity, a way for the poor to reflect and be reflected. It is testimony that there’s thinking in the shacks, that there are complex humans who dialogue, theorise and fight to bring about change. This book is an expression of that fight.

Includes a foreword by Raj Patel.

Contents

Foreword
Raj Patel

Introduction
Miloon Kothari

This is the hard truth…
Aunty Jane Roberts

Eviction
Anthea and Theodore Williams and family

The Bush of Evil
Lola Wentzel and family

Court case of two innocent people
Jolene Arendse

Untitled
Zuleiga Dyers

You can still get married on the pavement
Qiyaamudeen Alexander

Geagte Lesers/Dear Reader
R Levember

To the minister of housing
Shamiela Fataar

The fire and the struggle on Symphony Rd
Dawn, Gerald, Nicole (13 years old), Courtney (7 years old) and Dominique Hendricks (1 year and 3 months old)

Letter to the former Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu
Mr and Mrs Davids

Our Struggle on the road for 14 years
Mr Abdulgaliek Samuels and Family (Faiezah, Abdia, Shakeera, Ismail, and Tashreeq)

Stragel [Struggle]
Mr Saal and family

The Pavement and the TRA dwellers
Aunty Badru

In South Africa you have to fight for a house
Doreen Lewis

The world seen through a struggling soul…
Miss L. Jansen

Do you think that is right?
Jeanette J Smith

Struggle for Freedom, Struggle for a Home
Jacolene Faroa

A South African senior citizen
Matilda Groepe

To all my fellow comrades in da struggle: Don’t Give Up!!
Comrade Vicky

Hier het ek geleer om te deel/Here I’ve learned to share
Florrie Langenhoven

My Struggle
Sharon Coleridge en famielie/Sharon Coleridge and family

The struggle
Alfred Arnolds

What is rightfully ours is houses
Bahiya Claasen

A Gift From God
René Onverwag, and the Onverwag Family

Aluta Continua!
Kareemah, Zainodien, Madenieyah, Zaid, and Mushfeekah Linneveldt and Shanur Davids

Struggle for Houses
Valerie and Melvin Solomons

We didn’t lose faith in staying in the struggle
Lee-ann Erasmus and the Erasmus family

These conditions are not for elderly people
Cynthia Twigg

Survival and my Struggle
Amanda Engelbrecht

Here I’ve learned
C.D. Small

To Whom it May Concern
Bonita, Dwayne and Ashwin Seconds, and Daniel Mathys

Living on the Pavement: My Life on Symphony Way
Mina Mahema

We won’t tolerate any violence in our road
Jerome Daniels

My Story
Mncedisi Shaun Plaatjies

We deserve a house!
Sarita, Nigel, Kurtly, Shane, Charl, and Gabriel Jacobs

Ons ‘bly of gly’ huis/Our ‘Stay or Go’ house
Nicolene Manewel

Ongetitled/Untitled
John (Daddy) Pa, Jeniffer (Mommy) Ma and Sandonique Schultz (Daughter) Dogter, ouderdom 16/John (Daddy) Pa, Jeniffer (Mommy) Ma and Sandonique Schultz (Daughter, 16 years) Dogter

You can light your candle when you want to
Nicholas Reynolds

I choose to take a stand
Arnold Hendricks-Van Wyk

Our sea of troubles here in Symphony way
Sharon Payn

From the poor man to the rich man to conciliate the grounds of where we come from
Conway Payn

How the pavement changed our life
Bonita, Kaylin, Cameron and Dowayne Jubelin, and Henry Kammies

My Silver Lining
Shamiela Mullins and family

To Whom it May Concern
Miss M. De Jongh

Our Days of Struggle
Willem and Susan Hendricks

Die pad is toe/The road is closed
Kashifa, Sedick Jacobs, Zakeer and Sedeeqa Jacobs/Kashifa, Sedick Jacobs, Zakeer en Sedeeqa Jacobs

Postscript: Symphony Way is not dead. We are still Symphony Way. We will always be Symphony Way.

Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign press release