Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release
Friday, 19 March 2010

Sutcliffe Continues His War on the Poor

The notorious Michael Sutcliffe continues to launch illegal attacks on our basic democratic rights.

He has now given in to our pressure and removed his illegal ban on our right to march but he has issued a permit that only allows us to march from Botha Park to Albert Park. Our march on Jacob Zuma, scheduled for 22 March 2010, was planned to go from Botha Park through Pixley KaSeme Street and to the City Hall. But Sutcliffe’s unilateral imposition of unreasonable restrictions on our right to protest means that we will only be able to march about 600m and that our march will be kept far away from the centre of the city – it will be hidden away, just like a transit camp.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Conference on Friday 19 March 2010

Venue: St Paul's Church, 161 Pine Street, Durban 031-305 466
Date: Friday 19 March 2010
Time: 10h00 a.m.

There is a deep corruption at the top of our society and a deep anger at the bottom of our society. As the dirty deeds of the tenderpreneurs are being dragged into the light by the media and as the police become ever more violent the poor are taking to the streets across the country in ever greater numbers. We continue to believe that the only way for this country to heal itself is for the poor to organise the poor so that we can increase our power and decrease that of the politicians, the rich and their civil society. Since the attack on our movement in September last year we have expanded into eight new areas despite ongoing repression and harassment. Now is the time to unite all our branches, the old areas and the new, to defy the ongoing campaign of repression, and to take our demands to the streets of our city.

Click here to see some pictures.

Siyanda, 13/03/2010

Shack Fire in Siyanda

Around 2:30 am, the male occupant of shack 171 woke up with heavy smoke and heat. He left his shack and saw that the smoke was coming from the wall of shack 170. The three women, and young child, that lived in shack 171 were away that night.

He called the neighbours, and around 5 of them came to put out the fire, which they manage to extinguish in a very short time. The male occupant of shack 170 went back to his shack to bathe to go to work. In the meantime one of the neighbours called the owners of the shack 171 to tell about the fire and that the wall of the shack was damaged.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
11 March 2010

Mike Sutcliffe Bans another Abahlali baseMjondolo March

The notorious Mike Sutcliffe has banned another Abahlali baseMjondolo march. We have, as always, scrupulously followed the laws that govern protest and we have informed the City in good time that we intend to march on Jacob Zuma on 22 March 2010. Yesterday the march convenor, Troy Morrow from the Hillary AbM branch, was verbally informed that permission to march has been denied. The excuse that has been given this time is that the City does not have enough police officers to be able to ensure security at our march.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
3 March 2010

The Third Force is Gathering its Strength

The goal that our attackers wanted to achieve when they ambushed us on the night of 26 September 2009 has not been achieved. A surprise attack was launched against our movement, the spontaneous resistance to the attack was broken by the police, our office was destroyed, hundreds of our members and supporters were chased from Kennedy Road, thirteen of our comrades were jailed and illegally detained and we have been banned from openly organising in the settlement where our movement was founded. But our movement was never just in Kennedy Road. Before the attack there were fifteen settlements affiliated to our movement in Durban and more than 50 branches across Durban, Pinetown, Tongaat, Howick, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town. The goal of the attack was to destroy our movement to punish us for our victory against the Slums Act, to deny us the victory that we had won to have the Kennedy Road settlement upgraded where it is and to neutralise us before 2010. But our movement still exists. In fact it continues to grow. Since the attack we have launched four new branches and we will launch another four new branches soon.

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.

11 December 2009
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

Today the five members of the Kennedy Thirteen who are still in detention returned to court for their 7th attempt at requesting bail. On each of the 6 previous occasions the state failed to provide any evidence against the accused and the Magistrate postponed the bail application to give the state more time to produce some evidence of their guilt. On each case the state has failed to produce this evidence at the next hearing. This has led Bishop Rubin Phillip to call this case a 'travesty of justice'.

Click here to read this statement in French.

30 November 2009
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

All We Want is Justice

The Kennedy Thirteen were back at court on Friday for their 6th attempt at requesting bail. After two months in detention all charges were dropped against one of the thirteen, six were given bail and the other five were remanded in custody to give the police one more chance to bring some evidence against them to the court. The next court date has been set for 11 December 2009. This will be the 7th opportunity given to the police to provide some evidence of guilt.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
29 October 2009

Invitation to the Celebration of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Victory Against the Notorious and Now Buried Slums Act

On 14 October 2009 the Constitutional Court ruled against the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and in favour of Abahlali baseMjondolo. The court found that Section 16 of the Slums Act was unconstitutional and invalid. The Slums Act now has been struck down.

Abahlali baseMjondolo will be holding a celebration of our victory against the Slums Act this Sunday, 1 November, at 9am. The celebration will take place the Richmond Farm Transit Camp. All progressive communities, journalists and members of the public are welcome.

Update: The Kennedy Road 13 have now appeared in court on 6 occasions since they were first arrested to request bail. On each occasion there has been a highly intimidatory and armed presence from the ANC, often making open threats of various sorts including death threats. On each occasion the prosecution have not been able to bring any evidence before the court indicating that the accused are guilty of the crimes with which they have been charged. On each occasion a ruling has been postponed while the police have been given more time to produce this evidence. On each occasion they have failed to do so. The next bail hearing will be on 18 November.