Update: 27 January 18:32 - the bosses have flown down from Jo'burg to negotiate with the strikers and the strike has been suspended while the negotiations are ongoing. So far things are looking very positive.

150 contract workers at National Print, in Westmead, Pinetown, have walked off the job. The night shift workers will also refuse to work tonight.

The contract workers have decided to go on strike in protest at the attempt by the CEO to suddenly reduce their working hours and, therefore, their income. January is the month when poor families struggle to pay school fees and to buy school uniforms, books and stationery. This is a very bad time for people to suddenly lose most of their income.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5243863

Symbol of hope silenced
Abahlali community is not perfect. Nor does it pretend to be, writes Sarah Cooper-Knock.

November 13, 2009 Edition 1

In the wake of the violent attacks on Kennedy Road in September, Abahlali baseMjondolo has once more been carried into the media spotlight by a whirlwind of vitriolic criticism and impassioned defence.

The ferocity of this exchange exposes not only the base injustice of those attacks, but also a broader battle for the soul of South Africa. This battle is waged over conceptual and material issues: the political space for opposition; the role of citizens in a democracy and service delivery to the country's poorest citizens.

Lot 35 Motala Heights

Eviction of 23 Families in Motala Heights; Intimidation by Landlord and the Pinetown Legal Aid Board

This week 23 families living in tin-shanty houses in Motala Heights, Lot 35, were issued with letters, demanding that they pay exorbitant increases in rent - effective immediately - or face eviction. A pensioner, seeking advice about the letters, was told by the Pinetown Legal Aid Board that he would be “in the firing line” if he challenged the so-called landlord. Yesterday, relatives of the so-called landlord threatened an area coordinator for Abahlali baseMjondolo for assisting the families, warning that they would “come to your home and deal with you.”

Meaningful Engagement

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits, are hosting a colloquium on the topic of 'Meaningful Engagement' today. The speakers were asked to prepare and circulate their papers in advance. This is S'bu Zikode's contribution to the discussion.

I thank Lauren Royston and Kate Tissington for the opportunity to comment on the topic of meaningful engagement.

Our movement is always very happy to visit CALS. CALS is an important ally in the struggles of the poor and all our movements hold your organization in high respect. You have worked with us and not for us. You have not been scared to confront power whether it is the provincial government or a gangster landlord. We remember how Stuart Wilson sat taking instruction from Uncle James in Motala Heights while Ricky Govender’s thugs threw rocks at Uncle James’ house. We know how hard and how well Stuart and your team worked on the Slums Act case.

To see more short films by Elkartasun Bideak click here.

Press Releases from Motala Heights

Thursday, 30 April 2009
Abahlali baseMjondolo Motala Heights Press Statement

Police Support for Landlord Intimidation Continues in Motala Heights

Three families from lot 35 in Motala Heights are facing a plainly unlawful attempt at eviction. Yesterday some of them went to court, with the support of the UKZN law clinic, as part of the process of contesting their eviction.

When they returned home from court they were subject to severe harassment from the landlord’s family. It started with verbal abuse - a lot of it highly racist. People were threatened that they would be beaten out of their homes if they tried to ‘be clever’ by ‘running to the court.’ After some time the verbal abuse escalated into physical violence. The nephew and then the pregnant daughter of one of the women facing eviction were both assaulted.

20 April 2008
Press Statement from the Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch

Six Families Under Threat of Eviction in Motala Heights

One of the homes where people are threatened with eviction.

In 2006 the eThekwini Municipality illegally and violently tried to evict all the shack dwellers from Motala Heights. Abahlali baseMjondolo repelled this eviction and the shack dwellers remain in their homes today.

In 2007 and 2008 the most notorious of the local landlords, Ricky Govender, tried to illegally evict two families from the tin houses. Abahlali baseMjondolo repelled these evictions and those families remain in their homes today.

Update: Click here to see some pictures and to read Bongo Dlamini's story.

Bongo Dlamini, 19 year old struggle artist elected as the chairperson of the Abahlali baseMjondolo youth league on 16 June 2008, has just lost his shack in a fire in the Motala Heights settlement in Pinetown. Neighbours were able to put the fire out quickly and it did not spread to other homes. But Bongo has lost everything he owned. He was going to design the new Durban Abahlali banner after the old one, designed by Mbongeni Msomi from Mpola, was given to the comrades in QQ Section in Cape Town to celebrate the launch of their AbM branch.

3:03 p.m.
Wednesday 25 June 2008

Update: All charges brought against James Pillay by Leon Govender were dropped in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court today. The Pinetown SAPS now have to account for why they twice arrested James on patently ridiculous charges after assaults and intimidation by Govender's thugs and, the first time, held him for 47 hours and 45 minutes. The good news is that James and his wife Mallie remain in their house despite Govender's ongoing attempts since 2005 to have them evicted.