Adriaan Basson is Invited to Lunch at the Ekuphumleni Settlement

31 October 2025
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Adriaan Basson is Invited to Lunch at the Ekuphumleni Settlement

News24 has done excellent and brave work in exposing the extreme corruption at the Tembisa Hospital and reporting on the assassination of Babita Deokoran, a hero to us all. We welcome and support this work. However, some of their reporting on poor people is extremely unethical, inaccurate and prejudicial. This cannot continue.

We have taken note of the extreme anti-poor article published by News24 on 28 October under the title “Ballito shack dwellers to be kicked off prime property meant for business park”.

The article can be found here: https://www.news24.com/southafrica/crime-and-courts/ballito-shack-dwellers-to-be-kicked-off-prime-property-meant-for-business-park-20251028-1078#

It refers to this matter: https://abahlali.org/node/18532/

There are many serious problems with the article. The first problem is that the headline
brazenly misrepresented the outcome of the case heard in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in relation to the attempt by the KwaDukuza Municipality to evict people from the Ekuphumleni settlement. The headline falsely claims that the residents will be “kicked off prime property” whereas the court order makes it clear that the eviction order is suspended and the municipality must still return to court. This is a serious problem as most people do not have a subscription to News24 and are only able to read the misleading headline.

The second problem is that the article allows the municipality to claim the court ruling as a victory without noting that there were two draft orders before the court, one drafted by our lawyers and the other by the municipality’s lawyers. The court ruled in favour of our order. This was not a victory for the municipality and to allow them to claim so is a material misrepresentation of the facts.

The third problem with the article is that it quotes representatives from the KwaDukuza Municipality, the Caledon Estate – a gated community for the very rich – and the Dolphin Coast Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association. Not a single resident of the settlement is quoted, nor are their lawyers or anyone from our movement, to which the settlement is affiliated. This is a basic violation of journalistic ethics and professional standards. Everybody knows that to be fair one must hear both sides of a dispute.

The fourth problem with the article is that it presents the residents as dangerous criminals, as drunkards and as dirty and unhygienic. These are the same stereotypes that have been mobilised against poor African people in cities for more than a century, and they have always been used to legitimate state violence. No evidence is given for any of these claims, and they are made against the residents in general. Rich people are just allowed to express their extreme anti-poor prejudices as if they are facts. It is very disturbing that News24 has allowed very rich people to openly vandalise the dignity and humanity of poor black people in this way. If News24 allowed white people to vandalise the dignity of black people in this way it would correctly be a huge scandal. We as poor people have the same right to dignity as all other people and it should be a scandal for our humanity to be vandalised like this.

This is not the first time that News24 has treated poor black people living in shacks in this way. On 29 July 2021 Zamekile Shangase, a member of our movement who had held a leadership position in her branch, was shot dead by the police in the Asiyindawo settlement in Lamontville in Durban during one of the notorious ‘show your receipt’ police raids. She was unarmed, of course. Some stones were thrown at the police and a few young men banged on the side of a police van during the raid but nobody fired on the police.

At the time we issued this press statement: https://abahlali.org/node/17334/

On 31 July News24 published an article on this matter: https://www.news24.com/investigations/exclusive-unrestsa-durbans-stolen-ammunition-used-to-attack-cops-20210731

The article does not even bother to name Zamekile Shangase, she was as disposable to News24 as she was to the police. Not a single person from the settlement was quoted, including any of the many eyewitnesses to the shooting. It was only the police and two experts who were quoted. Neither of the experts had any knowledge of the events. The article presented false claims by the police as if they were facts, as did the two experts. The article falsely claimed that the police had to return fire after they came under fire from a dangerous criminal gang and that a woman was killed in the crossfire.

Both of these articles are in clear violations of multiple provisions of the press code. They do not report the news “truthfully, accurately and fairly”. They do not “present news in context and in a balanced manner, without any intentional or negligent departure from the facts whether by distortion, exaggeration or misrepresentation”. They do not ensure that “opinions, allegations, rumours or suppositions” are “presented clearly as such”. They do not “seek, if practicable, the views of the subject of critical reportage [in this case whole communities] in advance of publication”. They do not “avoid discriminatory or denigratory references to people’s… social origin” and they do “refer to such status in a prejudicial or pejorative context”. The article on Shakas Head is a clear case of “advocacy of hatred” – class hatred.

This cannot continue.

We want to resolve this situation and are issuing a public invitation to the News24 editor Adriaan Basson to spend a day with us. This will include a visit to the Ekuphumleni settlement where he is invited to share a meal with the residents, get to know them as human beings and discuss their experiences and their views on their situation. We look forward to a constructive and respectful discussion.

Contact:

Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274
Snenhlanhla Mcanyana 073 832 3331
S’bu Zikode 083 547 0474