Following this article in the M&G the following letter was sent to the Mail and Guardian but, despite their publishing three letters attacking Abahlali baseMjondolo in a specially dedicated extension of the letters page, it was not published. (Scroll down to read What Happened at or to the SMI)

Letter from the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign to the Mail and Guardian

The Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign (WCAEC) was, together with the Anti-Privatisation Forum, Jubilee South Africa and the Landless People’s Movement, a founder of the Social Movement Indaba (SMI) in 2002. That is why it is incorrect for your reporter Niren Tolsi (“On the far side of left”, December 8-14) to echo the claim of SMI secretariat member Mondi Hlatshwayo that the WCAEC “invaded” the December 2006 SMI in Durban. The SMI was set up as a platform for social movements and we regarded its space as our space. Yet some SMI ‘leaders’ attempted to deny us and Abahlali baseMjondolo access to the meeting!

A large crowd of Grassy Park shackdwellers loudly proclaimed themselves as Abahlali base Mjondolo outside the Cape Town High Court this morning, singing the songs of Durban comrades. They persuaded George Galloway who had come along to support them and visit other shackdwelling communities to represent them in court when their lawyer didn't show up! Galloway gladly agreed but at the final moment the lawyer appeared and the eviction was put on hold.

Cape Town Anti War Coalition wrote:
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 11:51:15 +0200
From: "Cape Town Anti War Coalition"

October 28, 2005 10:59 AM

If you live in a place called Cotswold Downs in Hillcrest and work in a place called Derby Downs in Westville you are safe. But if you live in a township called Mandela Park in Khayalitsha, or a settlement called Lusaka in Reservoir Hills, the state may well come for you, with men with guns and dogs and tear gas, and throw you out of your home or just flatten it.

Yesterday, a tragic and, in fact, pitiful scene unfolded a stones throw from the occupation of Councillor Jayraj Bachu's office. The smalll Lusaka settlement (around 50 shacks) received a final eviction notice. The notice, in suitably Orwellian style, came with a large logo in the centre of the page featuring the flag, celebrating figures (rock art style) and the words "10 YEARS OF FREEDOM SOUTH AFRICA 1994 - 2004". At the bottom of the page the legend "WE CARE, WE BELONG WE SERVE" appears in bold and in the bottom right corner stick figures appear to be doing a Mexican wave under the slogan "BATHO PELE - PEOPLE FIRST".

Thursday - November 3, 2005 3:22 PM

The eThekwini Metro has been steadily removing basic services from informal settlements. A policy decision has been taken stop the provision of pre-paid electricity altogether. There are also instances where the Metro has stopped cleaning out pitlatrines thereby effectively making them unusable. (In Kennedy Road this has been overturned after mass marches on the local councillor). In some places (e.g. Quarry Road) portable toilets have simply been removed leaving people with no sanitation of any sort. Yesterday Pamery Ridge (at the bottom of Shannon Drive in Reservoir Hills) had their water disconnected. This is yet another act of direct aggression towards shack dwellers from the eThekweni Metro that could cost lives. Imagine raising a child without water throughout the whole day in the Durban summer water... Imagine if AIDS, as it does, produces diarrhea and you simply can't wash all day...As usual no one even bothered to inform the people of the decision. When the local Co!

November 12, 2005 5:07 PM

the good news is that:

1. the metro has now made a crucial concession in that they are now prepared to negotiate with the abahlali base mjondolo movement. (previously they always insisted on only negotiating with the leadership of individual settlements) the abahlali base mjondolo now represent 16 settlements.

2. on Friday the metro made an offer. 6 409 houses in a new development (on moreland land) on the large stretch of prime but vacant land that runs from phoenix to the gated communities at mount edgecomb as well as 600 houses in clare estate. they also promised some houses on ukzn land (where the banana city settlement is)....this doesn't appear to be a simple case of people who have been agitating being bumped up the housing ladder. as far as we can tell the plan has been to remove all the shack dwellers from clare estate and reservoir hills and to dump them in rural ghettos like parkgate (7 km's outside of verulm and a r21 journey from durban). these promises, if kept, would be a major break with the neo-apartheid development model of the city as they would see poor people being housed in rich suburbs and on prime private land near to gated housing developments and office parks for the super rich. the offer has been made in writing with the proviso that it must be accepted at a council meeting in two weeks time. however it also includes a 'suggestion' that the march on mlaba be turned into a rally in asherville 'where the leadership of Council will address the communities. the written offer includes clear time frames. they are different for different areas but are all in 2006.

November 17, 2005 11:21 AM

eThekwini City Manager Michale Sutcliffe was on SAFM this morning. I didn't hear him but I am told that, amongst other things, he recycled the racist agitator thesis to explain why 20 000 people have mobilised themselves as Abahlali base Mjondolo to oppose his policies and denied that he ever banned the march organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee. (Affiliated to Abahlali base Mjondolo)

His office is responsible for granting permission for marches. The exact text of the fax banning the march is below (followed by the response from the Freedom of Expression Institute). The fax states that "the march is prohibited".....If that is not a ban then this 1984. But at least Sutcliffe has had to account for himself somewhere. Although 3 000 people from Foreman Road and nearby settlements were prepared to put their bodies on the line in defence of their basic democratic rights, and Andile from FHR and Simon from FXI have been superb the media have generally treated Sutcliffe's assumption of the right to (illegally) 'prohibit' basic democratic rights as a non-issue. If this kind of repression becomes normalised we are going to be in deep trouble.

Tuesday - December 6, 2005 12:51 PM

Hi, just a note on democratic practice in abahlali base mjondolo.

So often democracy within movements and organisations has followed the same stolid thinking of any other bureucracy. People are elected to a positon (or simply assume it) and then occupy that position long after the circumstances in which that seemed to make sense have changed. Sometimes this get ludicrous with movements that haven't existed for years having positions in movement fora while actually existing mass movements are excluded altogether. A democratic practice within struggle has to have structural mechanisms to take account of the fluidity of struggle and it has to take account of the fact that mass participation in decision making is vastly more democratic and renders movements vastly less vulnerable to co-option or co-ercion than representative approaches to democracy. A radically democratic approach also makes gender representation come right and ensures that lots of people get experience reducing dependency on individuals.

December 21, 2005

zoleka thombo's case was postponed today. she is the kennedy road person who was arrested on a charge of possessing stolen property (a fence pole) after kennedy road took back the 'promised land'.

and the committee for academic feedom in africa has prepared a statement against the ukzn banning of ashwin. it will be out soon. no doubt this will real raise international awareness.

and there was another really good show on radio al ansaar this afternoon. on forced removals this time. mnikelo ndabankulu (foreman road) and siyacela ndenza (formerly of lusaka, now removed to mount moriah) were excellent.

Sunday - January 15, 2006 3:40 PM

Comrades!

Yesterday, the residents of Kennedy Road, together with comrades from
other informal settlements, successfully prevented KZN Premier, S'bu
Ndebele, from using the settlement as a stage set for an ANC rally.

Despite the ANC's cash, buses, and a *large* police presence, the
Abahlali kept up the resistance, in blistering heat until, finally,
the oleaginous Yacoob Baig called his superiors to tell them that he
hadn't been able to make the settlements safe for democracy.

Fuller reports on this will follow, but there was great coverage on

February 9, 2006 11:28 AM

Abahlali baseMjondolo applied for legal permission to march on the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal on the 20th of February. They have just been informed, by telephone, that the march will not be allowed to go ahead. They have requested Sutcliffe to put this in writing so that it can be formally contested. There has already been something of a small but militant protest at Sutcliffe's verbal banning and some people are optimistic that the police's shock at this display of force will produce a shift.

March organisers estimate that around 20 000 people will participate in this march. Two taxi associations are supporting the march but that still means that the bulk of the people will have to walk into town. People have made it clear that they are willing to do that. The initial response is that, as when Sutcliffe illegally and unconstituionally banned the Foreman Road march scheduled for 14 September 2005, people will again march in defiance of Sutcliffe's ban. But meetings will need to be held in each settlement before a collective decision is arrived at.