Update: The nine comrades were released on bail of R500 each. They will appear in court again on 7 June 2014.

Sunday, 19 May 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Eleven Abahlali Members Arrested in KwaNdengezi; Nqola Assaults Activist

The Abahlali baseMjondolo KwaNdengezi branch have vowed to challenge the authoritarian rule of the KwaNdengezi councillor Mduduzi Christian Ngcobo who is known as Ngola.

Nqola continues to plan housing development in the area and to construct, employ and allocate housing on his own without involving the community in any decision making. He continues to intimidate and assault activists in the community. He continues to give houses to the people that are not from the community. In all of these actions he claim that he has the full support of the eThekwini municipality.

9 May 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo eMarikana Press Statement

"They destroyed homes, not structures": Protest at Parliament Today

We, as the residents of Marikana, will picket outside Parliament today to show the government that the shacks they destroyed were not unfinished or empty structures, they were our homes that we lived in, that we ate in, that we slept in.

Unathorised March on Parliament - 9 May 2013

We come as Abahlali, as residents of Marikana, and as shackdwellers who are are being oppressed by government. We do not come as supporters of any political party.

17 April 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement Press statement

The suspect in the KwaNdengezi bush knife murders and Ward 12 Cllr Nqola Ngcobo return to Court

Abahlali bakwaNdengezi with the support of Abahlali baseMjondolo in general will be going to the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court today.

We will be protesting at the bail application of the accused in the KwaNdengezi bush knife murders. We will demand that bail be denied in the interests of the safety of the community and that there be a thorough investigation into these murders that looks closely at the motive for the killing. It will be remembered that last time the magistrate had ordered that the suspect‘s state of mind be examined by relevant doctors. The suspect had killed two comrades in one Abahlali family and then ran to another Abahlali family where he assaulted Mr Shozi. This was in a community where Abahlali members have been under serious intimidation, including threats of violence, for some time.

20 March 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League Press Statement

Anti Wonga, Crime and Rape Protest in KwaMashu on 21 March 2013

As tomorrow is Human Rights Day the Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League will be holding a protest on some of the issues that are concerning the youth.

The March Went Off Very Well - The Threatened Counter March by the Councillor Fizzled Out

Our protest will raise awareness and concern about the use of the drug called wonga that many of the young people had been involved into. This drug is a killer to our young people who are our treasure. We as the movement regard our young lions to be the future of our country. The most difficult thing is that once people crave this drug they committee crime like stealing things and sell them to get this drug. Once they consume this drug some people also commit other crimes like rape.

6 March 2013
Woman’s League Press Statement

Abahlali baseMjondolo Women's League Marched into the Durban City Hall Today

Protocols are a waste of time for the poor; Appointments are delaying tactics while we suffer.

On Saturday 2 March 2013, Abahlali baseMjondolo Woman’s League had its General Meeting. The KwaNdengezi branch was present and shared their painful story of living under constant threat from their Ward 12 councillor and that they are not even sleeping in their own homes due to threats.

27 January 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press statement

Protesters Threatened in KwaNdengezi

Abahlali KwaNdengezi are currently engaging in a protest against corrupt and authoritarian development. Abahlali KwaNdengezi have had no choice but to defend their homes, their graves, their culture and of course their dignity against the eThekwini Municipality's failed housing project in their area. They are currently protesting against a corrupt housing project that is being imposed on people from above without consultation or respect. Once again we see that failing political leadership creates hatred and violence in our communities.

The community of Sweet Home near Cape Town have been lobbying for better living conditions for much of 2012. Claudia Dijkkamp investigated.

7 December 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

March Gets Underway Despite ANC Intimidation in Clare Estate this Morning

From early this morning Ward 23 councillor Themba Mtshali went from shack settlement to shack settlement in Ward 23 intimidating people and warning them not to participate in today's march - which was been unlawfully banned by the local SAPS. Mtshali was accompanied by his BEC and his (always armed) bodyguards.

There was also a large police presence in the area. The police were heavily armed and had two water cannons. In light of the fact that it was the police that unlawfully banned the march and their history of violence against our movement - and their support of violence against us from the ruling party - their presence there may also have been a form of intimidation. We know that their work is often to protect the politicians - not the people or what's left of our democracy. However the marchers were able to assemble and to begin the march. The police did not try to disperse them so it seems that they have backed down from their ban in face of the pressure. There is also a strong media presence. However ANC supporters have massed at the councillor's offices and are saying that they will block us from delivering our memorandum.

6 December 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Threats of Violence Against Tomorrow's March

Our movement often gets reliable information from within the ANC and government structures from people that are sympathetic to our movement and our struggle. Today we have been informed by a number of highly credible sources that the Ward 23 Councillor, Themba Mtshali, and the chairperson of the local BEC of the ANC, have been mobilising people to disrupt our march tomorrow. We have been told that they aim to prevent the march from going ahead and to use their own violence to justify the illegal ban on our march.

Memorandum of Demands to the Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal Dr. Zweli Mkhize and Cllr Themba Mtshali - Delivered by a March on the Offices of Themba Mtshali on Friday, 7 December 2012

We, the residents, men and women, of Ward 23 and members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA in KwaZulu-Natal are democrats committed to the flourishing of this country. We speak for ourselves and direct our own struggle. We have been mobilized by our own suffering and our hope for a better future.

It is time to take seriously the fact that land is a serious problem in our country. It is time to take seriously that land was stolen from our ancestors and that this has impoverished us. It is time to take seriously that housing development in this city is a corrupt mess that does not just leave us without houses or services but has also terrorized our communities.