4 December 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Abahlali baseMjondolo Takes the Minister of Police to Court to Account for Police Repression in Durban

On the 12th of September 2006 S'bu Zikode and Philani Zungu, then the chairperson and deputy chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo, were arrested on their way to a radio interview and subject to severe assault in the Sydenham Police Station. When people in the nearby Kennedy Road shack settlement rallied in support of Zikode and Zungu they were attacked by the police and Nondumiso Mke was shot in her knee with live ammunition. The arrest and assault from police at the hands of the police was highly politicised and followed intimidation from senior politicians that including a warning that the movement must stop its communication with the media. For background to this see the statement online at http://abahlali.org/node/72

Abahlali baseMjondolo Women’s League Press Statement
30 November 2012

Breaking the Silence on Woman Abuse

Each and every day is a challenge to women who are facing different kinds of abuse. It is often hard for them to speak out about it. Some of the women are abused by their boyfriends or husbands. Others are abused even within their families by their family members and because they are woman they feel that they must keep quiet about it. Women are also abused by landlords, government officials and politicians. Some rich women are also abused by the men in their communities but rich women are not abused by government officials and politicians. Being poor makes a person vulnerable to all kinds of abuses because poor people are not taken as people that count in this society. We are not taken as people with rights. In fact keeping some people poor is a kind of lifelong and day to day abuse too.

27 November 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

New Branches & New Struggles in KwaNdengezi & Isipingo

On Sunday the 18th of November 120 people, mainly women, participated in the launch of the new Abahlali baseMjondolo(AbM) branch in KwaNdengezi. On Sunday the 25th of November we launched another new AbM branch in the Uganda settlement in Isipingo. We currently have 64 branches, 55 in KwaZulu-Natal and 9 in the Western Cape.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Launch at KwaNdengezi

The Politic of Human Dignity

presented by Lindela Figlan at the Anarchist Bookfair, London, 24 October 2012

The meaning of dignity is often misunderstood. Many people only think of dignity in relation to the economic status of those who are better off. This is understood to mean that a person with no money is taken as a person whose life and voice does not count and is therefore a person with no dignity. It is also understood that a person with money does count and is therefore a person with dignity. But no amount of money can buy dignity.

Money can buy many things. With money you can live in a house that will not be demolished without warning, that does not leak in the rain, that has water, toilets and electricity. With money you can even give your children their own rooms. With money you can buy your children education and know that if they fall sick or meet with an accident they well be well looked after.

We Demand that the Manase Report be Released

by Thinabantu Khanyile & Bandile Mdlalose

Everybody knows that in Durban housing development does not really operate to meet the needs of the people. In reality it has three main objectives. One is to remove the poor from the city to the human dumping grounds. The second is to make poor people dependent on the state and thereby the ruling party. The third is to enrich people that are loyal to the ruling party. Everybody knows that corruption is rampant in housing from the top to the bottom. Low-cost housing has made some people millionaires. Everybody also knows that housing and other services are going to party members. This, along with repression and co-option, is one of the main ways that the ruling party tries to break independent organiszation. For instance if there is a fire they often try to prevent people from rebuilding on their own and then replace the people’s shacks with government shacks (amatins) which are only given to party members.

Land is at the Heart of our Struggle

Yes I have to be bold and proud to be a South African. But I’m not proud because our lovely country belongs to the wrong hands. Our struggle began with the question of land and land remains at the centre of our struggle today.

In the old days the people in this country were so united. Even those who were not interested in politics they ended up in politics. This unity came from the fact that they were crying for the land of their forefathers that had been confiscated by those who thought the land was supposed to be under their authority. The people's land had been stolen, fenced and sold.

22 October 2012
Abahlali bakwaNdengezi Press statement

Road blockade and protests to restore democracy and end corruption in
KwaNdengezi and Shallcross

The struggle for land, housing and dignity continues in KwaNdengezi.

Mduduzi Ngcobo, the KwaNdengezi Ward 12 councillor has been terrorizing this
community for a long time. It must be remembered that this community had to
march on the 31 August 2012 demanding that the Speaker of eThekwini
Municipality Logie Naidoo intervene in what the community calls Ngcobo acting
as both a referee and a player in new housing project. But as always Logie is