National Association of Democratic Laywers

02 October 2009: For immediate release

STATEMENT BY NADEL RE: KENNEDY ROAD, DURBAN ATTACKS

The National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL) joins other progressive organizations in condemning in the strongest terms the brutal and vicious attacks on the people in the Kennedy Road settlement within the Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality.

NADEL notes that there are conflicting accounts as to who the perpetrators are. Some statements reflect the attacks as being the result of Xenophobia while others see the attacks as aimed at destroying the leadership of the informal settlement. It is also claimed that the authorities are behind the attack because they want to get rid of the settlement.

What is not in dispute is that the residents of the Kennedy Road settlement are poor and marginalized. They live in shocking conditions and it is an indictment on all of us that, fifteen years into democracy, a large percentage of our population still live under those conditions. What is even more shocking are the claims that the police are not protecting the residents from these attacks.

NADEL calls on government:
1. to comply with its obligations in terms of the Constitution and protect the inhabitants of the Kennedy Road settlement;
2. to investigate the attacks by way of an independent body and bring the perpetrators to book;
3. to offer support in all forms to all the victims of the attack, in particular safety and security.
NADEL calls on all civic organizations, NGOs, chapter 9 institutions to support this call.

ISSUED BY: NADEL

Raj Badal
Chairperson
Durban Branch

Tel: 032 – 533 1010 / 533 2546