Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC)
Emergency Press Release, Sunday 27 September 2009

Kennedy Road Development Committee Attacked – People Have Been Killed

Last night at about 11:30 a group of about 40 men heavily armed with guns, bush knives and even a sword attacked a meeting of the Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC) in the Kennedy Road community hall. There was no warning and the attack was a complete surprise. The Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League was holding an all night camp for the Youth League nearby. The camp was not attacked but the people at the camp were intimidated and threatened. An international film crew at the camp witnessed the attack.

Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Press Statement from Residents of Tin Town Settlement, King Dinuzulu Township, eShowe

Serious Crisis in Tin Town as Residents Confront Mass Illegal Evictions, Death Threats, A Ban on Political Meetings, Rampant Corruption and Denial of Basic Services Including Water

On Saturday, a woman in the Tin Town settlement, King Dinuzulu township, eShowe was threatened with necklacing by the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) for Ward 13 if she held a community meeting in her home to discuss shack demolitions with representatives from Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban.

http://www.khayelitshastruggles.com/2009/07/re-urgent-update-on-abm-wc-protest.html

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Re: an urgent update on ABM-WC Protest

5 Protestors Shot With Rubber Bullets in Cape Town

The ABM-WC is calling an end to state criminality of criminalizing it's members by applying old apartheid tactics of arresting, assaulting, and shooting people with rubber bullets when they exercise their right to freedom of expression and the right to protest.

The movement will not be silenced by the state under the leadership of so called ANC government, and will continue to be vocal using any forms of engagement.

Click here to see the pictures that went out with this press statement.

Police Suppress LPM Youth March,
But Our Frustrations Grow Stronger

On the 26th March, the day before we, the LPM youth, were to have our march to demand that our councilor step down, the JMPD prohibited us. The reasons the police gave for this were that we are violent and unruly and that they “know” us. They referred to a march organised by the Gauteng LPM that happened in 2002 when we refused to leave Mbaziama Shilowa’s office. This march, we explained, was not organised by the youth. Regardless, they said they didn’t have the time and manpower to plan a safe and peaceful march and that if we carried out the march, they would be “hard” on us. We took this to mean that they would arrest us over the weekend and also brutalise us by beating us and shooting us with rubber bullets. The government will not meet with us, and now we believe they are even working with the police to suppress our right to express ourselves openly by marching. There is a real problem in our democracy when the government and the police have time to suppress and brutalise us, but not to help us publicly express the demands that we feel will improve our futures.

12 March 2009

Leader of Landless People’s Movement (LPM) Fears for her Life and Children: Calls for Solidarity and Advice from all Comrades

Maureen Mnisi, with comrades Kajola Thebola, Lekhtho Mtetwa & Maas van Wyk - in Maureen's home in the Protea South settlement, November 2008

As a single mother of five and a prominent activist who has come under threat by the police, government and now even the middle-class in her own community, Maureen Msisi asks for solidarity and advice to give her more courage to push forward the struggle of the poor. This is not the first time that Maureen’s life and family has been in danger because of her campaigns for the interests of poor people. In 1995, Maureen formed the branch of the ANC in Protea South hoping it would bring about a change that would better our lives. But members of the local civic at the time felt that she was challenging their power and they responded violently by attacking her. She was shot in the back and stabbed 3 times with a machete, breaking her leg and scarring her neck and hand. Almost 15 years into our new democracy, she continues struggling for the same changes in the lives of her people in Protea South, but now under the banner of the LPM. Today, she fears that if she continues on with the struggle, her life and her children’s futures will be in danger.

Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement
9 October, 2008 - For Immediate Release

A few days ago, Jerome Daniels and Riedwaan Issacs were released parole after their lawyer lodged an appeal to the ruling of Magistrate Van Graan. Jerome and Riedwaan, who have been serving their sentences in Polsmoor and Goodwood prisons, where sentenced by Van Graan who argued that he needed to hold the defendants responsible even if they were not present during the incident and that he furthermore needed to "teach the Anti-Eviction Campaign a lesson".

The AEC maintains that the ruling is both politically motivated and an attempt discourage poor South Africans from participating in social movements such as the Anti-Eviction Campaign. Residents of Symphony Way have stated that "if the justice system was fair, the Magistrate would never have sentenced Jerome and Wanie in what his judgment stated was in the interest of the community. Because if you ask anyone in our community, the judgment meant that we had lost two of our most tireless community workers. This was obviously not in our interest."