surfing, running life and stories

For at least the last twenty to thirty years, May/June have been the months of protest in South Africa around living conditions. 2007 was no exception. With the continued poor service delivery in 2008 in the Western Cape, we will hopefully see communities out on the streets, exercising their Constitutional right to peaceful protest. In the past, protesters have backed down after politicians have made promises. Since the tyre burning in Ocean View and Masiphumele in 2007, how much progress has been made by local and provincial government to adress land and housing issues. As with the rest of Cape Town, in the Kommetjie area, there are large tracts of land, owned by various government structures which are unused or underutilised. 2008 is the time for local, provincial and National government to stop power plays, sort out land issues and build houses. This is government's Constitutional duty. (Section 25.1) `No-one may be deprived of property..’ and Section 26.1 `Everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.’ And if communities know that government have the resources and yet do not deliver, communities need to use the space given them by Section 17 of the Constitution and protest.