Police shooting at Marikana Land Occupation

Police are now shooting at the Marikana community while we have marched to Philippi East SAPS to secure the release of our arrested comrade. We are in front of Beautiful Gate on Stock Road. Friends and media are urged to rush to the scene.

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AbM-WC Press Statement
17h00 on 30 April 2013

Earlier today we sent out notice that the City's Anti-Land Invasions Unit, Law Enforcement and SAPS had arrived again at Marikana shack settlement to destroy our homes. This was the third time they destroyed our community.

This time they came with a few more police vehicles than on Sunday. People protested the police but were peaceful and restrained. Police proceeded to destroy all but a couple of our homes. Luckily, this time, no one was hurt or beaten by Law Enforcement. But, once again, they purposely broke people's belongings: beds, cupboards, stoves, etc. The City of Cape Town must be held liable for the illegal destruction of our property.

Shacks Demolished at the Marikana Land Occupation

Update: 29 April 2013 10:18 p.m After massive pressure from comrades at the police station the police agreed to release the two arrested comrades at around 9:00 p.m.. At the same time shacks were rebuilt on the newly occupied land.

Update: 29 April 2013 4:18 p.m Two hundred comrades have barricaded the police station. Others are defending the occupation and rebuilding. The Police Commissioner has said that they are being used by the third force.

UnFreedom Day 2013 in Cape Town

Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape Press Statement

UnFreedom Day in Cape Town

Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA, a democratic and membership based organization, has held its UnFreedom Day event in Durban every year since 2006. This year UnFreedom Day will be held in Cape Town for the first time. UnFreedom Day will be mourned at the Sweet Home Farm Community Hall in Philippi, on 27 April 2013. The event will begin at 09:00 in the morning.

28 February 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Launch of the Sweet Home Farm Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

The Sweet Home Farm community will be launching its branch under the banner of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement South Africa, this coming weekend on the 2013-03-02 @ 11:00 in their Local Community Hall next to St. Barnabas Anglican Church. One should remember that, this is a membership based organization struggling for the restoration of human dignity of the majority of poor South Africans. Sweet Home Farm is situated in ward (80) eighty, Philippi in Cape Town, a place where people live in shacks .

Abahlali kwaLanga TRA Press Statement
19 January 2013

Residents in Joe Slovo and Langa TRA continue to be sidelined by corruption

We as Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM) are not satisfied by the way the government treats our communities. The worst part is that those who are richer do not feel ashamed to steal from the poor. We have been crying to our government, but we have been ignored.

The only thing we are fed by these people we are looking up to is lies. In the Langa TRA’s, ever since the Housing Development Agency (HDA) took over, corruption has increased. People have been robbed of their houses. They have been told to sign in order to get their housing but nothing came up. Later they were told the houses they had signed for were not theirs. These families now are stranded. They are being kept by their extended families.

Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape - QQ Section Branch

Abahlali with QQ Section residents are circumventing politics and delivering aid directly to BM fire victims

On Saturday, the 12th of January, residents of QQ Section will be handing out used doors, mattresses, food, new school uniforms and other items to the victims of the recent BM Section fire.

We have been able to acquire these items through our own means. However, most of the aid that is meant to go to the victims of the fire, is being given out by Disaster Management (associated with the DA) or by SANCO and various NGOs (associated with the ANC). The aid is being politicised and the political parties are using the aid for their own electioneering benefit. Often, the aid is not even going to those who need it most.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape
1 January 2012

Government policies are behind the shack-fire epidemic in Cape Town

As residents of QQ Section shack settlement and members of the movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, we would like to say that we are not happy about what happened early this morning across the street from QQ Section.

A massive shack-fire, which started at around 4am, swept through almost the entire shack settlement of BM Section leaving thousands homeless and at least three (but possibly as much as six) people dead. We have a few Abahlali members in the settlement and, as residents of QQ Section, we also have a large number of friends and family who also were affected by the fire. We therefore remain in living solidarity with all those affect by the fire in BM section and other shack fires in WD Section and in Du Noon.

31 August 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape Press Statement

Housing Development Agency trying to illegally evict resident in Langa TRA - today

For months, the local residents committee in Langa Temporary Relocation Area has been illegally selling government built shacks. Many of the people buying the shacks already have alternative accomodation and are doing it in the hopes that they will 'cut the line' and be allocated a RDP house. They don't need a TRA structure. This corruption has been supported by the Housing Development Agency and we now have evidence that at least one member is directly involved in the corruption taking place. On top of that, HDA apparently has decided to demolish some of the TRA structures – we don’t know why because they refuse to communicate this to us.

'Langa housing projects a mess of corruption and mismanagement'

To MEC for Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikiza
To Operations Manager of the N2 Gateway project for HDA, Bosco Khoza
To Cape Town Mayor, Patricia de Lille

Attached you will find a letter from the provincial executive of Abahlali baseMjondolo detailing some of our concerns and grievances. The situation in Langa is a ticking time-bomb. We hope that you will come meet with us as soon as possible to address them rather than pass the buck to someone else.

Forward with the struggle of the poor, forward!

Thembelani Maqwazima (AbM General Secretary) @ 0712604119

16 July 2012
Abahlali baseKwaLanga

Thandeka, who suffers from epileptic seizures, illegally evicted from her home in Langa TRA by our corrupt committee

This is the story of Thandeka Ngcelwane who, last week, was allocated No.59, a government built shack in Langa Temporary Relocation Area. However, while she was away from her new home for a few hours to visit her brother, the TRA committee headed by Zukisani Sibunzi broke the lock on her door and put someone else in the home. When she returned she found a lady in her home and her belongings removed – Thandeka had been illegally evicted from her home and, since her old shack in Joe Slovo was now demolished, she was left with nowhere else to go.