Successful Meeting with Ministers Hlabisa, Simelane and Others

17 June 2025
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Successful Meeting with Ministers Hlabisa, Simelane and Others

On Saturday 14 June our movement held a successful meeting with national, provincial and municipal government. The meeting was attended by a national delegation from our movement and several senior politicians, including Mr Hlabisa, the CoGTA Minister, and the Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Thembisile Simelane, among others.

Important commitments were made in terms of land, housing, evictions, responding to disasters, and sustaining channels of communication around key issues. A commitment was made to allocate a billion rand to upgrade shack settlements during this financial year.

The road to this meeting has been long.

On 19 March 2005, residents of the Kennedy Road settlement in Durban blocked a major road in protest at betrayal and lies. They blockaded the road because they wanted to be able to engage the ward councillor, Yakoob Baig. When he arrived at the protest, he arrived in an armoured police vehicle and told the police that the protestors were criminals and that they must be arrested. People were beaten and arrested.

In late 2006, our movement, which was formed on 4 October 2005, finally secured a meeting with the provincial Housing Department after a year of intense struggle in the face of violent state repression. We had high hopes for that meeting. It came after a huge march on Mike Mabuyakhulu, who was then the MEC for Housing in KwaZulu-Natal. That march was illegally banned by Michael Sutcliffe, who was then the city manager for the eThekwini Municipality, and then unbanned by the court.

We thought that we would be heard at last and that this meeting with Mabuyakhulu would mark the beginning of some progress. But when we got there, they started by accusing us of working with an agent of a foreign intelligence agency paid to destabilise the country and threatening us with arrest. We were then told that if we wanted to be able to meet with the government regularly and to be able to get houses, we must join Slum Dwellers International (SDI). The instruction was clear: stay on our own and keep thinking and speaking for ourselves and be arrested, or join SDI and be obedient and be rewarded. We refused to join SDI. We announced this on the radio. Within days the arrests and beatings started.

We faced severe repression in November 2009, and Willies Mchunu, who was then the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Community Safety, announced that a decision had been taken to ‘disband’ our movement. We had to go underground for some time, and when we rebuilt an open presence and returned to mass protest, we won a meeting with Nigel Gumede, who then chaired the housing committee in the eThekwini Municipality, in October 2011. Gumede openly threatened our President, S’bu Zikode, at that meeting, saying: “Ngingumbulali.”

In June 2013, the assassinations started when Nkululeko Gwala was shot hours after then ANC regional chairperson Sibongeseni Dhlomo publicly said that Nkululeko would be “sorted out.”

Things were very different on Saturday.

On 25 April this year, thousands of comrades braved the heavy rain in Durban to mourn unfreedom and march against the official Freedom Day celebration. The CoGTA Minister, Velenkosini Hlabisa, accepted the memorandum with humility and respect and promised to respond to it.

The meeting that was held on Saturday proceeded with the same spirit. For twenty years, senior politicians have sent junior officials to accept our memoranda at marches and then thrown them into the bin.

Along with Ministers Hlabisa and Simelane, the KZN MEC for CoGTA, Mr Mfu Buthelezi, and the eThekwini Deputy Mayor, Cllr Zandile Myeni, were present. Apologies were received from the Minister of Water and Sanitation, the KZN MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, and the eThekwini Mayor. The KwaDukuza Municipality did not attend and failed to extend an apology.

Our delegation included leaders from KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

The following agreements were made:

1. The KZN MEC for CoGTA will convene a meeting with Abahlali and the KwaDukuza Municipality in two weeks’ time.
2. The eThekwini Deputy Mayor will convene a meeting with the leadership of our movement to engage on the details of issues raised by Abahlali baseMjondolo in the eThekwini region.
3. Minister Simelane will arrange meetings with Abahlali baseGauteng, Mpumalanga, and the Eastern Cape to engage on issues of concern to the movement in these provinces.
4. CoGTA will consider training and empowering Abahlali baseMjondolo members on disaster management—such as dealing with fires and floods.
5. A working relationship will be built with both ministries and all the municipalities where the movement has a presence.
6. Minister Hlabisa will facilitate in terms of the IGR (intergovernmental relations) and enable and monitor the working relationship with our movement going forward.
7. We will seek to resolve conflicts over land use with negotiations rather than litigation.
8. One billion rand will be set aside in this financial year for the upgrading of shack settlements.
9. The Minister will ensure that municipalities’ plans and budgets include provisions for the issues and priorities raised by the movement.
10. We welcome and appreciate the respectful spirit in which the meeting was held and look forward to ongoing engagement in the same spirit. We thank Minister Hlabisa for making this meeting possible.

As we continue to build the democratic power of the oppressed from below, we remain willing to engage with all levels of government whenever there are opportunities to advance the interests of our movement, of the poor in general, and to move towards a more just society.

Contact:

Thapelo Mohapi, General Secretary, 084 576 5117

Melita Ngcobo, Gauteng 069 283 1243

Zanele Ngobese, Gauteng 073 946 2231

Sandile Mofokeng, Mpumalanga 078 320 0796