For the past decade, civic activist Mervyn Govender has been involved in a war with the eThekwini metropolitan municipality and the cartel of politically-connected tenderpreneurs dominating city housing projects in Durban’s Indian areas.
In the latest skirmish last week, Govender secured a court order rescinding the orders evicting seven families from their homes in council schemes, which have subsequently been sold to Section 21 housing companies.
Now Govender, 44, plans to take his fight for social justice in housing from the courts — and the streets — to City Hall and is standing as the Forum 4 Service Delivery candidate for ward 49 in Phoenix, north Durban.