Baby Jayden will be laid to rest tomorrow

Friday 02 June 2017

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

 Baby Jayden will be laid to rest tomorrow

Baby Jayden, killed by police on Monday this week, will be laid to rest at eMolweni cemetery in Inanda. The service will be held at Foreman Road settlement. The service will start at 10am in the morning and proceed to the cemetery at 12:30 pm.

Abahlali baseMjondolo members will be having a night vigil (Umlindelo) today from 20h00 till the morning to give baby Jaden the respect and dignity he deserved, but which was denied to him in an oppressive society. It is the movement, our strength and togetherness, that has ensured that Baby Jayden will be laid to rest with the dignity denied to him in life. It is the movement that will seek justice for Baby Jayden.

Yesterday we gathered in the Foreman Road settlement for the memorial service. People shared the struggles that they face everyday.

Today the representatives from the mayor’s office were in the Foreman Road settlement to see the conditions the people in the area live under. They said that they were ‘devastated’ and ‘touched’ to see the appalling conditions in which people live and raise their children. The electrification of the settlement has been promised.

In 2004 the then Mayor Obed Mlaba visited the settlement and promised houses. Many promises have been made since then. None of those promises have been kept. The people of Foreman remain without houses, without electricity and without concrete paths on the steep muddy banks.

What kind of government lies to its people election after election and crisis after after crisis for more than twenty years? What kind of government only visits its people when its police have killed a baby? It is clear that we do not count to this government. For more than twenty years the politicians have used the people, our suffering and struggles, as ladders.

In 2005 we said ‘Sekwanele!’ (Enough!). We meant it. Enough is enough.

The struggle to build the power of impoverished and oppressed people from below continues. The struggle for land, housing and the recognition of our dignity continues.

Jayden Khoza. Say his name. Jayden Khoza.

Thapelo Mohapi 062 892 5323

Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274

Siphelele Sivunga 083 3603138