A dark cloud hangs over Lesufi’s informal settlements war

‘History repeats itself, first as a tragedy and then as a farce.”

This quote and observation that has proven to be true over centuries is attributed to German philosopher and economist Karl Marx.

Marx also authored the Communist Manifesto and his writings are, for all intents and purposes, considered to be what gave birth to the world conflict as we know it: East versus West, or capitalism versus communism.

Given that the ANC was once labelled “communists” under apartheid rule, it would be expected that the likes of Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi would understand it runs the risk of repeating history as a farce, as said by the philosopher who laid the foundations for communism.

Lesufi has declared war on illegal informal settlements… and that should be commendable in a country that has a constitution premised on law and order.

The premier and his analysts have decided that part of the reason there is no progress in service delivery is because some unscrupulous syndicates have decided to use people’s desperation for housing to benefit themselves and back government into a corner, because the constitution has made it almost impossible to evict tenants without providing alternative accommodation or housing.

Lesufi has gone on a crusade over the past few days to shout for all to hear that his provincial government is saying “this far and no further” to those contributing to the spread of illegal informal settlements.

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“We have identified about 400 informal settlements in Gauteng and we are going to take them down… by force if necessary. We will also do evictions in the dead of the night, even at 2am,” he said.

Surely this is the point at which one of his comrades would have jumped up and said: “Wait premier, hold on! You do know about Sophiatown, right? District Six?”

This would not be to equate Lesufi’s actions to apartheid’s inhumane forced removals, but to remind the premier of Marx’s history repeating itself as a farce.

But Lesufi would not need such a reminder, surely? He has been the face of ANC renewal, in Gauteng at least.

He is the force that has stepped in to do what the ANC should have been doing for three decades: creating an atmosphere for job creation, keeping crime down and creating direct jobs in government to replace the corrupt tender system.

Most importantly, though, he has chosen to be at the forefront of ensuring that government programmes meant to alleviate poverty go to the intended recipients and not syndicates abusing the system.

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Any resident of Gauteng who has lived near an informal settlement will attest to the fact that the premier is right: illegal informal settlements are the preferred hideouts of undocumented immigrants, crime prevention in illegal settlements is almost impossible because of lack of road access, stolen water and electricity to keep the illegal settlements going deprive deserving and registered recipients of what is due to them.

So, the question is not whether these should go, it is more how they should go.

Reverting to 1950s and ‘60s early-hour and pre-dawn raids to get rid of these settlements is not only inhumane, but it will sabotage a process that is intended to bring relief to the poor.

It invokes unnecessary historic trauma and screams showmanship.

The best way to prevent the drama of forced removals is to use the intelligence the premier is going on about to stop the illegal settlements before they are even erected.

The intelligence must be used to get rid of the syndicates, instead of waiting until it becomes necessary to bring the army in to evict so-called squatters.

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