Media Home Page

Media Policy

Abahlali baseMjondolo has always been ready to discuss its goals with the media. Its representatives are, unlike the government, keen to offer honest and straightforward answers to questions from the media, and to offer resources to help print, radio and TV sources get the best and most accurate story to their constituents. All Abahlali meetings and events are open to all media at all times without exception. If journalists visiting us do not speak isiZulu and isiXhosa we will always be happy to arrange translation into English, Portugese or French.

Media Coverage

Abahlali have appeared in all major South African newspapers, radio and television stations and many popular magazines (in isiZulu, isiXhosa and English), and in international media such as the New York Times, The Times (London), The Economist, Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse, Le Monde diplomatique, CNN etc, etc. Quite a bit, although certainly not all, of the print media coverage over the last three years is archived on this website. The biggest gaps are in the coverage in the various local newspapers which are not online and some of the foreign newspapers which require subscriptions for online access.

Press Releases

The latest press releases are available here. There is an archive of older press releases here. If you would like to be added to the Abahlali press mailing list (which is a low volume email list that exists only for the purpose of facilitating easy contact with the media) please email us here.

Direct Contact

To contact members of Abahlali online use the contact form or write or phone using the contact details below. If you are calling from outside South Africa, the international dialing code is +27, and the first 0 is dropped. e.g. To contact S'bu Zikode, dial +27 83 547 0474. If you want to contact people via the internet please understand that it might take a couple of days to get a reply. There is an internet connection in the Kennedy Road settlement but neither the phone line nor the electricity are always available.

Abahlali baseMjondolo
c/o Mr S’bu Zikode
Kennedy Road Development Committee
P.O. Box 26 Umgeni Road 4098
Tel: (27) (031) 269 1228
Fax: (27) (031) 269 3749
Cell:(27) 083 547 0474

Mnikelo Ndabankulu has been elected to be media liason person for 2009. His new number (as of February 2008) is 0797450653. If you can't get Mnikelo you can also try:

Louisa Motha 0781760088
Shamita Naidoo 0743157962
Mashumi Figlan 0725274600
Philani Zungu 0729629312

Quick Background Reading

*We are the Third Force, The famous response by S'bu Zikode to the paranoid claims that Abahlali is 'third force', November 2005
*Taking Poverty Seriously: What the poor are saying and why it matters, Article by Win Wei Ngiam on the political thinking in Abahlali baseMjondolo, November 2006
*Memorandam of Demands Handed to Superintendent Glen Nayager of the Sydenham Police Station, April 2007
*Operation Murambatsvina comes to KZN: The Notorious Elimination & Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Bill, Press Statement, June 2007
*Memorandam of Demands to Mayor Obed Mlaba, September 2007
*The University of Abahlali baseMjondolo, Overview of the movement by Richard Pithouse, October 2007

Useful Archives on this Site

Past articles and press statements on some themes of recurring media interest are collected together here:

* An archive of entries on Motala Heights
* An archive of documents on the Slums Act
* An archive of entries on the Kennedy Road 6
* A library of writing from the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo
* A library of academic articles on Abahali baseMjondolo

(We'll soon also collect and collate the articles on evictions; fires; marches; police harassment; a list of illegal, criminal and/or unconstitutional actions by the eThekwini Municipality; and the struggles of Abahlali's Cape Town ally, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. But at the moment you'll have to use the search function to get a sense of what has been loaded here in the past.)

Pictures and Video Footage

Photo galleries, with many pictures at print quality resolution, are available here as well as some short films.

Copyright policy
This site is copyleft. All resources on this site may be reproduced freely, credited to Abahlali baseMjondolo unless otherwise stated. Articles are posted under 'fair use' entitlements, for information, not for profit.

    Latest updates on Abahlali.org    

Protest Happening Now at Kennedy Road

| | | |

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Abahlali baseMjondolo have started shacking

On Tuesday, 10 October 2011 at 10:00am in our office we held a press conference
were we said that if the Councillors, Mayors, and all sorts of government do
not meet with the people on the grassroots and have a collective decision
making then we will be unable to stop the anger of the people.

While we were still having the conference the Siyanda ward 41 councillor, Mr
Lucky Mdlalose, was busy employing his own friends to work in the community.
This this resulted in the anger of the community mobilizing them to stop the

Re-Launching the Kennedy Road AbM Branch

| |

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
2 September 2011

Re-Launching the Kennedy Road AbM Branch

In September 2009 the Kennedy Road Development Committee, a structure that was always subject to annual election with the right to recall ,and which was working hand in hand with Abahlali baseMjondolo, was expelled from Kennedy Road by armed members of the ANC. Willies Mchunu then imposed an ANC committee on the community. He called this the 'liberation' of the settlement and said that the elected structures were 'illegitimate' and that the unelected committee imposed by armed force was 'legitimate'. The committee imposed by Mchunu did nothing for the community. Things went from bad to worse. The houses that the ANC promised after the attack were never built.

AbM Women's League 2011 AGM

| |

8 August 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Woman’s League

Making the women’s voice heard and ensuring that full gender equality remains a priority for social movements and other demanding deep change and transformation


Four Hundred Women Attended the AbM Women's League AGM, eMmaus, Pinetown, 9 August 2011

The Abahlali baseMjondolo Woman’s League of S.A was formed in 2008 at a meeting in the Kennedy Road settlement. It was formed to strengthen the fight against poverty, evictions and all forms of abuse. The Abahlali Women’s League has struggled against gender inequality as we believe that we are all equal in front of the eyes of God and that we should all be treated equally.

Statement on the Return to Kennedy Road

| |

21 August 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Statement on the Return to Kennedy Road

Those members of the ANC that attacked our movement in September 2009, that banned our movement in the Kennedy Road settlement after the attack on the pain of death, that destroyed and looted our homes for months, that sold our sites to new people, that made death threats to state witnesses in the trial that followed the attack on our movement and attacked one witness and issued public death threats against many of us have now run to the media to say that they are scared of the return of the displacees to Kennedy Road. They have even gone to the police to ask that we must be prevented from returning to the settlement. They are trying to present themselves as victims.

Celebration of the 6th Anniversary of AbM

| | |

25 August 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Celebration of the 6th Anniversary of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement S.A.


Gogo Shange Speaking at the 6th Anniversary Celebration of Abahlali baseMjondolo

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” Romans 8: 31-36

Displacees Return to Kennedy Road

| | |

Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Abahlali Press Statement

The Kennedy Road Development Committee, the Kennedy 12 and other Displacees Return to the Kennedy Road Settlement

Our acquittal in court without freedom to return to resetting our feet in Kennedy Road would be pointless.


The ruins of Mondli Mbiko's home in Kennedy Road

After two and half year the Kennedy Road Development Committee, members of the Kennedy 12 and their relatives, as well as some members of AbM, went to Kennedy Road on Sunday to check on their homes and sites that they were residing on when our movement was attacked. We were about a hundred people.

Municipal Security and Shack Dwellers Clash in the Kennedy Road Settlement

| | | | |

Sunday 3 July 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Municipal Security and Shack Dwellers Clash in the Kennedy Road Settlement this Morning
Attempt at Armed De-electrification Successfully Resisted

This morning Municipal Security Guards arrived at the Kennedy Road shack settlement and began disconnecting people from electricity. The community had previously negotiated an understanding with the Municipality that they would not send their security guards into the settlement to disconnect. However this morning this agreement was violated and the people resisted the disconnections. There was a confrontation,rubber bullets were fired and stones were thrown. A young man was shot in the chin with a rubber bullet at close range. A road blockade was then organised following which both the SAPS and the Metro Police arrived on the scene. But the attempt to disconnect people from electricity was successfully resisted.

Police & Municipal Security Break the Ward Councillor's Promise & Return to Kennedy

| | | | |

04 July 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Police & Municipal Security Break the Ward Councillor's Promise & Return to Kennedy

Yesterday the new ward councillor Bhekisani Ngcobo arrived at a road blockade erected to defend the community against armed de-electrification by the eThekweni Municipality and promised residents of the Kennedy Road shack settlement that the municipality would stop trying to disconnect them from electricity. Today the Municipal Security Guards arrived, with police back up, and tried to continue to disconnect the people. The people resisted and organised another road blockade. Right now the police have stepped back but it may be that they are waiting for reinforcements.

The Kennedy 12 Will be Back in Court on Mandela Day

| | | |

17 July 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

The Kennedy 12 Will be Back in Court on Mandela Day

We wish to remind all our comrades and friends that we will be back in court, for the third part of the trial of the Kennedy 12, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 July 2011. You are all invited to join us at the court.

While the rest of the country and the world will be celebrating Mandela Day by remembering the struggle of Tata Mandela we will be celebrating our daily Mandela Day in court where we continue to face state repression in the third year since our movement was attacked in the Kennedy Road settlement.

Cape Town Municipality Tries to Deny the Right to March

| | | |

Press Release

With or without the permit from the city our march to Cape town high court then to the city of Cape Town goes ahead. in terms of gatherings act when we want to march, the law says we must notify the city and SAPS within 7 days. And the law further suggests that if the city refused to grant permit they need to provide us with written reasons, and they have not done it yet, so we are going to stick to the law and go ahead with our march. It's up to the city if they want to make relevant authorities to be present during our march. Till then Aluta Continua

1. The poor communities of the Western Cape will no longer dance to the tune (service delivery) of government. Which mean the poor will take their land in South Africa.