SJC demands release of secret Makhaza toilet report

Makhaza Toilet Campaign, Press releases

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) is staging a picket outside the Cape Town Civic Centre on Wednesday 20 October 2010 at 12h00, to hand over a memorandum and legal application to the Mayor. We will demand the release of a report from an internal investigation into the construction of toilets without walls and roofs in Makhaza. The City has refused to release this report. We feel that the release of the report’s findings is very much in the public interest, and that the City is legally obligated to release it.

Khayelitsha demands safety, security and equal access to justice for all

Press releases, Safety and Justice Campaign

Protest Thursday 23 September Provincial Legislature Cape Town

Today, we protest the incompetence, inefficiency and injustice of the agencies charged with ensuring the safety and security of all people in South Africa. We demand real and sustained action to build safe communities and ensure justice for victims of crime.
We are brought together by the case of Zoliswa Nkonyana, a 19-year-old, openly lesbian who was murdered on 6 February 2006. The escape of four of the suspects last week from the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s court is only the most recent incident in the on-going struggle to hold her attackers to account, and find justice for the deceased and her family.

DA miscalculates reduction in Khayelitsha crime

Press releases

On Monday 13 September 2010 the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) sent a letter to Dianne Kohler Barnard MP (DA shadow minister of Police), copied to Helen Zille (Leader of the DA and Premier of the Western Cape). In this letter (attached as annexure A) the SJC explained that what appeared to be an error in calculation had been made in a widely circulated DA statement dated 29 August 2010, in which Kohler Barnard claimed that crime in Khayelitsha had declined by 70% over five years. We illustrated that this decline was in fact 24% over 5 years. Moreover, if one uses the latest police statistics, the reduction in crime in the area has decreased to 17% since 2003/2004.

Directions to Irene Grootboom Memorial Lectures Series 1st Lecture: Site C New Hall Khayelitsha

Irene Grootboom Lecture Series, Press releases

Attached and written below are the directions to the first lecture of the Irene Grootboom Memorial Lecture Series on the 4th of October at Site C New Hall in Khayelitsha. Vuyiseka Dubula, General Secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) will be discussing the organization and its members relationship with Government over the past 12…

Social Justice Coalition response to the call for an investigation into the building of the unenclosed toilets in Makhaza, Khayelitsha

Makhaza Toilet Campaign, Press releases

The Social Justice Coalition (SJC) welcomes and applauds the decision by the Cape Town City Manager, Achmat Ebrahim, to launch an investigation into the building of the unenclosed toilets in Makhaza, Khayelitsha (“Cape council probes decision on open toilets”, 24 August 2010 Cape Times). We hope that this decision will lead to a speedy resolution of this unhappy debacle, and that the findings of the Human Rights Commission will be adhered to.

Archbishop of Cape Town to lead visit to Khayelitsha in order to assess toilet situation

Makhaza Toilet Campaign, Press releases

On Monday 23 August Archbishop of Cape Town the Most Reverend Dr Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town and Chairperson of the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum (WCRFL), will lead a group of senior religious leaders in a ‘prayerful solidarity visit’ to Khayelitsha. The religious leaders from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i and African Traditional communities will be escorted by the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) on an assessment of sanitation, including toilet, facilities in RR Section and Makhaza, and will listen to residents affected by inadequate sanitation.

Social Justice Organisations denounce the arrest of Sunday Times journalist, Mzilikazi wa Afrika

Good Governance, Press releases

A free press is essential to democracy, transparency and the attainment of equality

We are organisations that campaign for social justice. The success of our work is dependent on respect for the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. The right to free expression and freedom of the press and other media are essential components of democracy. That is why they are contained in the Bill of Rights. They are one of the essential means by which all people in South Africa, especially the vulnerable, exploited and poor, can hold government and the powerful private business sector to account.

Open Letter to Mayor Dan Plato: Leadership is urgently needed in Makhaza

Press releases

Dear Mayor,

1. In a statement last week and an associated opinion piece in the Cape Times (27 May 2010) the SJC – a grassroots social movement campaigning non-violently for improved sanitation services in informal settlements – condemned the politicisation of the provision of toilets to residents in Makhaza. We urged all parties to refocus on the fundamental issue, specifically that countless people in Makhaza have been and continue to be deprived of their constitutional rights to health, safety and dignity.