19 March 2013
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Nigel Gumede Must Go

Everyone knows how serious the land and housing crisis is in Durban. According to the eThekwini Municipality there are more than 400 000 shack dwellers waiting for houses in the city. There are also 11 000 families rotting in transit camps. But the city is failing to build enough houses for the people. The Sunday Tribune reported that they only built 1 268 houses in the last financial year. And these houses are more like dog kennels than homes. Every year money from the housing budget is returned unspent. And after the scandals around the Manase report, Nqola and S'bu and Shauwn Mpisane everyone knows how bad the corruption is. Many people have been killed in struggles over housing. Cato Crest is just one example. We have also seen people being killed in places like KwaNdengezi and Uganda. Calls, letters and marches to the housing department go ignored. Court orders are also ignored. We have called for a public citywide list for the people in need of housing so that there could be transparency in the housing allocation. But the politicians refuse this idea so they can corrupt, monopolize and politicise housing delivery.

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.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
5 December 2012

SAPS Attempt to Illegally Ban Protest in Durban

The Abahlali baseMjondolo branch in the Palmiet Road shack settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, has decided to march on the Ward 23 councillor, Themba Mtshali. They have been supported in this decision by all other Abahlali baseMjondolo branches in the ward.

Mtshali is one of the shack dwellers who became a councillor in the last local government elections as part of the ANC's strategy of trying to contain our movement – a strategy that has included serious repression and intimidation, attempts at co-option, channelling our victories through ANC structures and bringing non-AbM shack dwellers into positions of leadership in the local party structures. However like all other councillors Mtshali is remoted from above and is only an instrument for implementing top down decisions by the party and municipal structures. He does not engage people democratically. In fact it is impossible to even arrange a meeting with him. He has failed the people of Ward 23 and in particular he has failed the poor of Ward 23. Even though he was poor himself a few years ago he is now a councillor and so, as with all councillors, we are not worthy of respect in his eyes because we are poor.

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-07-19-darkness-visible-in-jacob-zumas-kingdom-by-the-sea

Darkness visible in JZ's kingdom by the sea

by Niren Tolsi

With the African National Congress beset by factionalism, is the province still 100% Jacob Zuma? Niren Tolsi investigates.

"Wherever I go I carry a gun these days," a longtime ANC member from the eThekwini region in KwaZulu-Natal said, "not because I am afraid of thugs or political opposition, but because I am afraid of my own."

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
12 July 2012

Puntan's Hill Shack Dwellers Blockade Umgeni Road

At around 3 a.m. this morning angry residents of the Puntan's Hill shack settlement blocked Umgeni Road with tyres in protest at their dissatisfaction with Cllr. Bhekisani Ngcobo. When Ngcobo was mobilising for votes he promised them that as soon as he takes office as a councillor he would electrify their shacks. The shacks have never been electrified and last week someone was killed while trying to make a self-organised connection.

Ngcobo has not kept any of his promises. The community have tried several times to talk to him but he has neglected them and ignored their demand. Once more the poor have been used as ladders by politicians. This is why they decided to block the road this morning.

27 January 2012
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

The Interim Eviction Order Against the Shallcross Occupation has been Set Aside

The interim eviction order granted by the Durban High Court to evict residents of Shallcross (Ekuphumeleleni, Inkanyezi Housing Project) was set aside this morning. The High Court has ordered the eThekwini Municipality to stop any further eviction of residents pending the 24th of February 2012 on which date this matter has to return in court. In the meantime the evicted residents have returned to their homes for the second time.

Abahlali wishes to express its disappointment at the fact that the attorneys that South African Nation Civic Organization (SANCO) has promised its members in the area since December did not pitch up in court. This was despite insistence of the SANCO leadership last night that they have lawyers which mislead the community. However Abahlali wish to thank its Legal Team - Nichols Attorneys with the support of SERI - for being able to represent the residents and for doing such a good job.

March to Demand that "Nigel Gumede Must Go" 24 November 2011

The permit for the march (a legal fiction in democratic South Africa that is a hangover from apartheid but something that the municipality illegally insists on) was denied but AbM marched anyway in defiance of this de facto ban on the march. With the COP 17 meeting coming up the police did not respond with violence and the march, of more than 3 000, proceeded peacefully in the pouring rain. The officials left the crowd standing in the rain and only came to accept the memorandum when there was a threat to occupy the City Hall.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
23 November 2011

Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League March to Demand the Resignation of Nigel Gumede – Thursday 24 November 2011

After years of broken promises and intimidation protesters march to demand an end to Housing Chairperson's reign of disrespect

We are human beings, not dogs. Nigel Gumede treats us like dogs but we will defend our humanity.

The Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League has organised a march to demand the immediate removal of Nigel Gumede as the Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee and Infrastructure for the eThekwini Municipality. People from more than 20 shack settlements in Durban as well as our comrades who are taxi workers, street traders, hostel dwellers, and others will march in solidarity with us on Thursday 24 November 2011. The march will leave Botha Park at 8. We will display the power of the people to show the weight of our demand that: Nigel Gumede must go!

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League to March to Demand the Immediate Removal of Nigel Gumede from Office

AbM Youth League to take to the streets and demand the removal of Nigel Gumede as Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee and Infrastructure for eThekwini Municipality

WHAT: On Thursday, 24 November 2011, Abahlali baseMjondolo's Youth League will march to demand the immediate removal of Nigel Gumede as Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee and Infrastructure for the eThekwini Municipality. This demand comes in the wake of threatening statements that have come from Gumede toward Abahlali baseMjondolo Chairperson, S'bu Zikode, and other members of Abahlali over the last two years. These statements by Gumede, especially in the context of the repression that AbM has faced, show that Gumede is a serious threat to democracy in Durban. Gumede's intimidation undermine our confidence in the official goodwill that will be needed to make the current negotiations

Memorandum from Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement South Africa

DATE: 5 November 2011
RE: Call for the immediate removal of Nigel Gumede as Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee and Infrastructure for eThekwini Municipality

March to Demand the Resignation of Nigel Gumede & the Right to Know - 5 November 2011

Today, Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) is marching to urgently call for the immediate removal of Nigel Gumede as Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee and Infrastructure for the eThekwini Municipality.