Mnikelo Ndabankulu

Mnikelo Ndabankulu was a founder member of Abahlali baseMjondolo and was elected as the movement’s spokesperson on 23 November 2008. He previously held this position in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He lives in the Foreman Road settlement where he is Deputy Chairperson of the Foreman Road Abahlali baseMjondlo Committee. He is 25.

Mnikelo has been involved in all of the movement’s major mobilisations from planning to action. He has often been subject to police harassment and on 28 September 2008 he was arrested on charges of ‘Public Violence’ and ‘Attending an Illegal Gathering’ when he went to visit 13 comrades who were being held at the Sydenham Police station. He has recently been closely involved in the struggle to keep Foreman Road electrified. The comrades there are able to re-electrify everyone within two hours after police de-electrification.

Zodwa Nsibande

Zodwa Nsibande was elected as the first General Secretary of the Abahlali baseMjondlo Youth League on 16 June 2008 and re-elected on 16 June 2009. She is also the National Administrator of the movement working out of the office in the Kennedy Road settlement. She is 25.

Zodwa has been involved in all the activities of the movement but has played a particularly important role in the annual Back to School Campaigns, the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo, resistance to evictions, resistance to xenophobica, solidarity with comrades who have been arrested, Haiti solidarity, UnFreedom Day Campaigns, the 2008 City Wide Shack Fire Summit and preparing for the movement's Annual General Meetings.

Mazwi Nzimande

Mazwi Nzimande was elected as the first chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League on 16 June 2008. He was re-elected to the position on 16 June 2009.

Mazwi is 18 years old and in his final year at Protea Secondary School in Chatsworth Durban. He lives in the Joe Slovo settlement which is between Chatsworth and Lamontville and is an additional member of the Joe Slovo Abahlali baseMjondolo Committee.

He has been involved in many struggles against evictions and police harassment and has worked in solidarity campaigns for Abahlali baseMjondolo activists who have been arrested. He has qualified as a people’s electrician at the University of Abahlali baseMjondolo and has worked closely with Philani Zungu on Operation Khanyisa. He has been particularly involved in appropriating free access to electricity in the Joe Slovo and Pemary Ridge settlements.

Sibusiso Innocent Zikode

A short biography

S'bu Zikode was born in 1975 in the village of Loskop, near the town of Estcourt in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. He was raised by a single mother who was often away from home as she worked as a live in domestic worker. As a school boy he was very involved in the scouting movement and he graduated from the Patrol Leaders Training Unit at Lexden in Pietermaritzburg in 1990. He attended Bonokuhle High School in Loskop from 1992 to 1996.

In 1997 S'bu registered as a law student at the former University of Durban-Westville but, due to an inability to pay his fees, had to abandon his studies later that year. After that he was worked as a security guard and then as a petrol pump attendant. In 1998 he met Sindy Mkhize, his life partner.