Picture by Sally Giles
Wednesday, 21 March 2007, Human Rights Day
12:47:02
Most of the Kennedy Road Development Committee Spend Human Rights Day Being Assaulted in the Sydenham Police Station
Kennedy Road and Other Settlements Are Currently Mobilising to March on the Sydenham Police Station
************updates are being added below as they come in********
At 3:00 a.m. this morning 9 residents of the Kennedy Road shack settlement were arrested by the notoriously racist and violent Sydenham Police who have made their violent persecution of Abahlali activists overtly political. At 11:00 a.m. this morning two of the nine, Sindi Maluleka and Zonke Mxele, were released. They reported that they had been punched and subject to verbal abuse that specifically targeted their membership of the 'red shirts' i.e. the shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. They also reported that on their release they had been told that they would be re-arrested if they did not swiftly contact Detective Inspector Luthuli on 073 232 0022 to inform him of the whereabouts of another 10 Kennedy Road residents, all of whom who have leadership positions in the community, who are being sought by the Sydenham Police.
The arrests follow the citizen’s arrest, and later death in detention at the Sydenham police station, of a man alleged to be responsible for an act of violent criminality. On Thursday 15 February 2007, Thina Khanyile, a Comrades Marathon runner, was out on a training run. He was attacked and stabbed by a man who was not known to him under the bridge that crosses Umgeni Road near the bottom of Kennedy Road. While he lay bleeding on the pavement his assailant robbed him of his running shoes. Luckily for Khanyile another resident of Kennedy Road, working as a truck driver, passed him soon after the attack and quickly took a detour from his work route to take him up Kennedy Road to the community hall in the settlement where the Kennedy Road Development Committee gave him first aid and was able to call an ambulance. Despite the massive bleeding Khanyile survived the attack.
On the following Sunday, 18 February 2007, Tsepo Buthelezi sought out the Kennedy Road Development Committee to tell them that a friend of his who was visiting him from Ntuzuma was Khanyile’s attacker. He found some members of the committee standing around a braai with many other residents of the settlement. The man from Ntuzuma was restrained and Khanyile was called to identify him. He immediately identified him as his attacker. At this point the police were called to come and arrest the man. While waiting for the police emotions ran high and the man was punched by a number of people for a short while before others stopped the beating. When the police arrested the suspect he did not appear to be in a bad condition. He was conscious, lucid and there was no major bleeding. In fact he walked to the police van and climbed into it himself. The gathered crowd saw that the police kicked him and punched him as he was climbing into the van. It is true that Khanyile's attacker was assaulted in Kennedy Road but he was also being assaulted by the police at the very moment when he was handed over to the police. However when the Sydenham police swooped on the Kennedy Road settlement this morning they told the people that they were arresting that the suspect had died in their custody a week after the arrest.
At this point four important points need to be noted:
1. The Sydenham Police are notorious for their habitual, illegal and often highly racialised and highly politicised use of violence in and out of their station. Numerous complaints have been laid against them for assault and there is now, despite Glen Nayagar’s (the Superintendent) regular intimidation of journalists and confiscation of photographic evidence of police violence, considerable video and photographic evidence of the endemic violent criminality in the Sydenham Police station. S’bu Zikode and Philani Zungu, President and Deputy President of Abahlali, are currently preparing to take the Sydenham Police in general and Nayager in particular to court for the violent assault that they suffered in the cells on 12 September last year after they were, like around 160 others in the last two years, arrested in ludicrous trumped up charges (not one of these arrests has ever resulted in a trial let alone an conviction - but they have resulted in plenty of, often highly racialised, police beatings). The Mercury newspaper has also laid formal complaints against Glen Nayager for threatening a journalist with violence if he reported on the violence that he had seen. The violence of the Sydenham Police station has often made international news and has been covered in publications like The New York Times and the Economist. Given this history it is very possible that they were the ones who assaulted the suspect so badly that he died.
2. The Sydenham Police have often denied people medical attention while in their custody even when people obviously have serious wounds (wounds, in previous cases, inflicted by the Sydenham Police). Given this well documented history it is very possible that they were guilty of gross negligence and once again failed to allow someone in their custody to seek medical attention
3. Tsepo Buthelezi is well known as the most dangerous criminal living in the area. He is armed and has a history of violence and is widely feared in the settlement. However despite numerous arrests for serious offences, including, house breaking and car hijacking, he is always swiftly let out of custody and charges are always dropped after his many arrests and he is often seen in the company of the Sydenham Police. Many people are convinced that he is working as a police informer in exchange for these favours from the police. Given the now long history of serious political repression against the Kennedy Road Development Committee and Abahlali by the Sydenham Police, including systematic violence and illegality on the part of the police, it is very possible that they have seized an opportunity to use their informer to settle their scores with the Kennedy Road Development Committee.
4. The people who have been arrested, and the ten others on the list to still be arrested, are all people who play active leadership roles in the community and are all in the Kennedy Road Development Committee. It is true that some of them where there when Khanyile’s assailant was identified, restrained, briefly assaulted and handed over to the police but most were not and some of those who were there were the very people seeking to have the suspect swiftly handed over to the police and the very people that stopped the beating of the suspect. One of the arrested me is so sick that he hadn't left his shack for months until he was pulled out of it at 3:00 this morning. None of the ordinary community members who were there have been arrested. Furthermore the two people who were released this morning under instruction to inform on the whereabouts of the ten people now being sought by the police were absolutely clear that while being assaulted they were subject to political abuse – they have no doubt whatsoever that the death in detention of Khanyile’s assailant is being misused to criminalise and attack the entire leadership of the Kennedy Road settlement.
A mass meeting was held in the Kennedy Road hall from 11:30 to 12:30 at which the two people released this morning, Sindi Maluleka and Zonke Mxele, spoke. It has been decided to march on the Sydenham Police station in protest. People are currently arriving from other settlements across Durban and Pinetown to join this march. This march will be legal – the Regulations of Gatherings Act of 1993 does in fact allow for emergency marches of this nature. But the police will, no doubt, declare it illegal and attack the marchers without warning as they did on 12 September 2006 when people marched on the Sydenham Police station to protest against the arrest of Abahlali President, S’bu Zikode, and Deputy President, Philani Zungu, while on the way to an interview on iGagasi FM. That day they used live ammunition against marchers resulting in major injuries. It was just sheer good luck that no one was killed. The Mail & Guardian reported that:
"The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) criticised police conduct in both Kennedy Road and at the Sydenham station, saying it constituted "illegal repressive behaviour", which "prevented citizens from exercising their constitutional right to gather, associate and freely express themselves" and violated the Regulation of Gathering Act. The FXI added that the action of the police "as if they are above the law, is an extremely disturbing trend of late in all parts of South Africa".
People from Kennedy Road also tried to march on the Sydenham Police station on Human Rights Day 2005, exactly two years ago, after 14 people, including two children, had been arrested during a protest on Umgeni Road two days before. That day they were also assaulted, tear gassed, bitten by dogs and racially abused. The 14, including the two children, were later detained in Westville prison for 10 days before, as usual, the charges were dropped. Is this what Human Rights Day has come to in Durban - i.e. that the Sydenham Police spend the day attacking unarmed people in the streets?
For updates and more information please contact:
Mondli Mbiko 07331936319
Anton Zamisa 0793801759
S’bu Zikode 0835470474
Please also see the following important articles about policing by Abahlali members. S’bu Zikode’s important article also addresses the dangers of the vigilantism that flows from the police seeing all poor people as criminals rather than citizens requiring the protection of the police and the consequent breakdown in trust between poor communities and the police.
Make Crime History by S’bu Zikode
http://abahlali.org/node/551
The Strong Poor and the Police by Philani Zungu http://abahlali.org/node/549
Police Brutality by System Cele
http://abahlali.org/node/570
Fucker Stole My Camera and Shot My Mates by Raj Patel
http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/raj/blog/2005/11/fucker-stole-my-camera-and-shot-my.html
The following newspaper articles are also useful at this time:
‘I Was Punched & Beaten’, Mail & Guardian
http://abahlali.org/node/590
Democracy Took a Beating in Foreman Road, Mercury
http://abahlali.org/node/190
Democracy Takes a Beating in Durban, Sunday Tribune
http://abahlali.org/node/883
It is also very instructive to see how the Sydenham Police present shackdwellers on their website
http://www.sydenhamcpf.org.za/SAPS/SAPSRaid20050729.pdf
The names of the people still in custody are:
1. Cosmos Nkwanyana
2. S'thembiso Bhengu
3. Delisile Gwala
4. S'bongiseni Gwala
5. Dumezweni Cibane
6. Ngezo Mzimela
7. Thina Khanyile
They are all members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee except Khanyile who is the man who was stabbed and almost died on 15 February while training for the Comrades Marathon.
UPDATES BELOW
From Richard Pithouse:
we all know the script. people came from shack settlements all over durban and pinetown in support. they blocked the road outside the settlement with uncollected bagged refuse. they didn't threaten or hurt anyone. they just blocked the way. 8 vans from the sydenham police station arrived. there was no warning to disperse or discussion. their opening move was rubber bullets. at least this time they didn't use any live ammunition although there was plenty of waving sub-machines gun around.
what we need to think about more seriously though is how radically racialised it all is. we can talk about the world bank and the market and everything we say might be true. but when it comes to a situation like this race is a visceral reality.
i arrived back at the settlement with two bahlali, middle aged women to whom i was giving a lift back from the police station, minutes or perhaps even seconds after the police broke up the road blockade. the police are overwhelmingly indian. the shack dwellers, there, although not every where in durban, are all african. i was the only white person there. the initial response of the police was to wave me through. when the abahlali women got out of the car a police officer opened the back door and then locked it for me and warned me to 'be careful in this place' before closing it. they clearly assumed that i was dropping off my workers. they clearly assumed that i was a person who was worthy of their protection. class doesn't explain these assumptions. although i was the only white person on the scene i wasn't the only middle class person there. a group of african people from a church had the misfortune to arrive at kennedy road, from behind the raod blockade, to give out food parcels just before the police arrived. they were standing there, in yellow t-shirts holding a huge wooden cross, when the police came. they just stood there, understandably bewildered, when the rubber bullets were fired. two van loads of people, 17 in all, were arrested. as far as we know 16 were from the church and only one was a kennedy road resident. a young teenage church girl in her model C school tracksuit top tried to point this out, she got, casually, pepper sprayed in the face at point blank range. of course the police changed their attitude to me once they recognised me but the indisputable fact is that in a situation like today, a situation where the 'normal' order of things and people is temporarily upset, their initial assumption is that their job is to help white people and casually assault black people.
but the notorious glen nayager, the man who has singlehandedly made it impossible for shack dwellers in clare estate and reservoir hills to have any hope that the local police will see them as anything other than criminal, is not just a racist. he is genuine sadist taking pleasure from inflicting pain. when the police wanted everyone to leave the open area in the settlement near the road and go back to their shacks a girl, maybe about 15 or perhaps 16, who was at a sweets and cigarettes stall hesitated for a moment obviously worried about leaving the goods. her hesitation was marked on her face as a flash of fear, not defiance. nayager himself, with his machine gun dangling in his left hand, whipped out his spray with his right hand, got her right in the face, and punched her on the chest with the back of his fist knocking her down the stairs. his smile was probably the same smile that we'll see in the photographs that he had his colleagues take when he beat philani zungu unconscious in his station late last year. and we may get to see those photographs. because as bad as the sydenham police under nayager are they are not all the same. there are officers, indian and african, who are sickened and looking for support.
From Sindy Mkhize:
Hi all
People are not released yet they’ charged of muder
Yesterday Zama & Lungie went to police with the small kids for Delisile
They could ‘ allow them to leave the kids
We think they we appear in court on Friday /on Monday
Thanks
Sindy
From Andile Mngxitama:
Well im not surprised by the “murder” charge. Perhaps, abahlali need to be made aware of how the LPM Gauteng chapter (this has similar characteristics with Abahlali- it’s an urban squatter community based), was basically judicially terrorised into disarray, after a long and consisted legalised attack on the movement. Some of the examples of how the state used judicial means to demoralise the movement were:
1. the whole Protea South youth leadership was charged with murder (this was the most vibrant youth chapter in the LPM in Gauteng). They were thrown in jail for more than three months - bail was high - only to be acquitted by the high court (think about the stress, resources etc which comes with this kind of pressure).
2. the Eikehoff youth leadership was not so lucky, some are serving long sentences.
3. the Democracy 52 were on trial for more than 2 years. Every month or so we had to appear in court, the possibility of a five years jail sentence hang above the heads of activists like a sword (the resources needed -financial, legal, emotional etc - was a real big factor). The message sent to surrounding communities was clear - if you join that movement you will end up in jail (the transcript of the court hearings make clear how far the collusion between the police and the judiciary can go in asserting the “rule of law” against the poor). But the charges could not stick and the magistrate made many mistakes as she tried to help the prosecuting side. For my part the racism of the whole thing was shocking.
What’s important about a murder charge is that: you can not get bail easily. And then when you get it its set very high (the poor can’t afford this). The basic idea is to keep un-sentenced trouble-makers in jail for as long as it’s possible.
From Jacques Depelchin:
Dear All, Richard,
Thank you for sharing the update. And what should be the reaction of someone reading this from thousands of mile away? Outrage, but then what? This reads very much like a report from Haiti, but it could also be from Nairobi or some favela in Brazil. Now that they are reinventing poverty through poverty studies, shouldn’t places like Abalhali baseMondjolo produce texts for students who shall be taking these courses at places like UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Is it possible that one could see the emergence of solidarity, full stop, not solidarity studies? What would it take? Every single one of you out there could be a teacher.
I am writing this as a member of Ota Benga Alliance for peace, healing and dignity, but also as a person looking for ways to link up arms, beyond words, beyond sentiments, with those who are treated worse than trash.
If there are members of the police station who are sickened why do they not connect with the residents? Shall there be demonstrations, common demonstrations in front of South African embassies or consulates? Are there fax numbers, addresses, say of the policy station. Anything through which people down there shall be able to see that Abalhali is not just a geographical location, but people being trampled upon, being beaten up, being killed simply for being poor and affirming their oneness with humanity.
Do take care, Jacques
Reply to Jacques from Richard
Dear Jacques and others
The contact details for the Sydenham Police station are as follows:
SAPS PRO at the Sydenhan Station
Captain Myentheran Lazarus: phone (27) (31) 203-2711
Station Manager at the Sydenham Station
Superintendent Glen Nayager: (27) (31) 203-2709
Station Fax Number at the Sydenham Station
Station Facsimile Number: (27) (31) 209-8762
General Sydenham Station Phone Numbers
Sydenham Station: (27) (31) 203-2700 / (27) (31) 203-2703 / (27) (31) 203-2704
We can't be certain if contacting them will make a difference. Nayager personally assaulted S'bu Zikode and Philani Zungu last year, and had his colleagues photograph the assault, while we were protesting outside and while journalists from two newspapers were outside and others were phoning. But it certainly can't hurt to make sure that they know that they are being watched and that the people in their cells are not alone and in these kinds of circumstances everything must be tried. So, sure, if anyone is prepared to phone or fax through messages of concern about the way that the prisoners are being treated or to express a general concern about the crass racism and systematic violence, as well as the habitual theft from shack dwellers by armed police officers on 'raids', all of which the station has become widely known for that would be worth doing.
To see a few seconds of the Sydenham Police in action take a look at the video clips at http://abahlali.org/node/235 and http://abahlali.org/node/234 They only capture the opening moments of a sustained attack at Foreman Road and don't show the use of live ammunition or the shooting of people at point blank range with rubber bullets while they were curled on the ground but its enough to get a sense of who Abahlali is dealing with here.
Richard
From Farhana Loonat:
Hi,
I just called Sydenham police station, and spoke to Nayager. I suspect that I was only put through to him because I said I was calling from the University of Virginia in the US. Anyhow, when i got to Nayager, I
expressed my concern at reports on people being assaulted at Sydenham police station, and was like, 'if you have any complaint, you shouldnt call me. you should write your 'little story' and get it investigated'. For me this suggests that Nayager is so comfortable, even in his suggestion that the complaint be investigated, because he
knows that even that is such a challenge. I am sure most of you are aware of Raj's experience when he tried to report the theft of his camera.
I also forwarded the story to the SABC in Durban. I have not yet received a response, but do expect one shortly. But at the same time, i must say that I am not very hopeful about the SABC. My own time at the SABC in Durban made it clear that my country was being 'informed' by really shady people. I worked in the newsroom, and what i saw and
heard shocked me. I was really sickened when i heard a woman who also works in the newsroom suggest that the woman involved in the Zuma rape case was a slut. I dont think this is the space to let loose on the full SABC experience., so i will let it rest.
Farhana
From Richard Pithouse:
22 March, 6:50 p.m.
Dear All
There is some good news. Ma Gwala was released today. Many of the people on this list who have visited Kennedy Road know Ma Gwala as she does the cooking for the creche every day and for other functions at Kennedy Road. She is a wonderfully warm and special person who cares for 5 children in her small shack, including one orphan and one very sick child. Zama and Lungi who work at the creche took the 5 children to the police station yesterday and today in a powerful protest to show the police officers and workers at the station the human cost of the arrest of Ma Gwala. The anti-Nayagar people in the station have been very covert in their reaching out to the community so far but it seems that Nayagar came under more direct internal pressure in response to the women's protest over the last two days and he was finally persuaded to speak to Zama and Lungi who told him that they would expect him to arrange child care for as long as he detained Ma Gwala. He then released Ma Gwala. She is the furtherest thing from a murderer imaginable and was clearly picked up just because she is such a committed and respected activist in the settlement. She received a hero's welcome today. Her husband who is very sick, so sick that he hasn't left his shack from months, is still in detention however.
Just minutes ago Dumezweni Cibane and Ngezo Mzimela were also released. We'll here from them what happened inside later tonight.
Cosmos Nkwanyana, S'thembiso Bhengu, S'bongiseni Gwala (all of the Kennedy Road Development Committee) and Thina Khanyile (the man who was stabbed for his running shoes) will appear in the Durban Magistrate's court tomorrow at 9:00. S'bu Zikode has spoken to Mark Serfontein, who successfully represented the Siyanda 5 recently , and who has agreed to appear tomorrow pro bono.
Other good news is that S'bu was on iGagasi FM live during the road blockade yesterday and the media response from local newspapers has been very good in that they have all been actively seeking to speak to people in Kennedy Road and are making serious efforts to get both sides of this story. (The more general trend is for the media to just run police statements as fact but Abahlali have built up good networks and credibility over the years by always telling the truth and, no doubt, Naygar's habit of threatening journalists with violence hasn't exactly helped his credibility with the media)
There have also been overtures from important church figures looking to develop support and this is very much appreciated. More will be said about this soon. And Mnikelo Ndabankulu has prepared a powerful draft statement that condemns vigilante action but also condemns the criminality of the Sydenham Police and the misuse of the assault on Thina Khanyile's assailant to try and settle political scores with the Kennedy Road Development Committee.
Kennedy Road and Abhalali are standing firm and spirits have been lifted by the release of the three people and the solidarity from various quarters.
Richard
*****************
Friday, 23 March
So, almost two years to the day after the 14 heroes stood in front of Magistrate Asmal, it was another red day in the Magistrate's Court (and there have been plenty in the last two years). The 4 accused have been remanded in custody for a further 7 days for further investigations to be conducted and will appear in court again on Friday next week for a bail hearing. None of the accused is employed. S'thembiso Bhengu runs a small shop in the settlement selling sweets, cigarettes and fruit, Cosmos Nkwanyana and his wife buy vegetables in town and hawk them in the settlement. Often they can't afford to eat any of the vegetables they trade in. He has shingles as a result of malnutrition. Mr. Gwala has been too sick to leave his shack for months. He and his wife, Ma Gwala, also have a very sick child and care for an orphan too. Thina Khanyile is also unemployed. They can ill afford to be locked away from their families for a week let alone the months that may well lie ahead. But although there could be a very long legal process it seems highly unlikely that the state could get a conviction. They may have their informer who is telling them what they want to hear in exchange for getting off from criminal charges. But there were a lot of people who witnessed what did in fact happen. Some residents of the settlement did assault the man who stabbed Khanyile for his running shoes. But its certain that none of the arrested KRDC members are guilty of anything at all, let alone murder.
So the 4 accused will spend another week in the Sydenham Police station which, as bad as it is, is still better than Westville prison. The state is clear that they still want to make more arrests in the coming days.
During the long wait in the court yesterday System Cele told me that one of the police officers, warning her that she was about to get more teeth broken, screamed at her that 'you much keep your AIDS and dirt inside - don't bring it onto our road'.
Just one small correction - lots of people are reporting that the leadership of Abahlali baseMjondolo has been arrested. This is not the case. Kennedy Road is one branch of, at last count, around 36 ABM branches. It is a very important branch, probably the largest. But it is the local Kennedy Road leadership that is being targeted. People who hold office in the ABM secretariat and who live in Kennedy Road have not been targeted. It therefore seems pretty clear that this is not, as with the arrests and assault of S'bu Zikode and Philani Zungu late last year, an attack on the movement from the city or provincial or national level. It seems clear that this is about a very local elite settling its scores with Kennedy Road.
Richard
Friday, 30 March 3:17 p.m.
I was not at court today but after speaking to people who were I can tell you all that the news is not good. The attitude of the I.O. and the prosecutor was very hostile. The people now entering their second week in detention are being casually referred to as 'dangerous criminals' and more arrests are threatened. The Kennedy 5 have been remanded in custody till 13 April which means that, if there is in fact a bail hearing on that date, that they will have been in detention for more than a month before being able to apply for bail. And of course they may well be denied bail and if they are granted it it is not at all clear how it will be afforded. Furthermore the I.O. is clear that he intends to arrest the remaining 4 members of the K.R.D.C. - in other words he is determined to arrest the whole committee.
More bad news is that the Kennedy 5 have now been taken to Westville Prison, a truly frightening place. Apparently the argument is that these 'dangerous criminals' may escape from the cells at the Sydenham Police station. As bad as the Sydenham Police station there is, at least, the possibility of some leverage over their more local power. There are channels through which information can flow from the station to the communities outside and the officers there know that they are within very close and quick marching distance of 3 large strongly Abahlali settlements with a combined population of well more than 10 000 people.
A sliver of good news is that active steps are now been taken to move ahead with suing and investigating the Sydenham Police for various previous incidents of illegal and abusive behaviour towards shack dwellers - and there is a long list. There are now assaults on a more or less daily basis as well as petty forms of victimisation like people being fined a hundred rand for 'drinking in public' when in fact they are drinking in a shack which is a home and which has 4 walls and a ceiling. Also, with help from Dorothy Holscher and some of her students, some first steps are being taken towards trauma counseling for people who have been assaulted, arrested or who have family members inside. This is really important for the people concerned but also for the movement. Abahlali, with its deep democratic commitments and its equally deep commitments to make sure that it is what S'bu calls a home for the poor, a place where everyone (old and young, poor and very poor, men and women) is respected and valued right now (rather than as a final goal of some long political process), has never and could never endorse any politics that in any way allows some people to render others as cannon fodder. The counselling is one way of concretising this commitment. Arrangements have also been made for the immediate food and other needs of the families. A lot of people are asking what they can do. Abahlali welcomes all ideas. Money is important but so, also, are expressions of support. It really helps for people to know that they are not alone in times like this.
A further sliver of good news is that articles by M'du Hlongwa and S'bu Zikode, written a while ago, appear in the Mail & Guardian today on page 30 and 31. They are online at the following urls:
The No Land, No House, No Vote Campaign Still on for 2009 by M'du Hlongwa http://abahlali.org/node/510
Make Crime History by S'bu Zikode http://www.abahlali.org/node/551
The articles make very important arguments that deserve a wider readership. But it's also really important at this time while Abahlali and the KRDC are being presented as 'dangerous criminals' by the state (and the handful of vanguardists in the left NGOs who have donor funding but no constituency and behave with exactly the same paranoid authoritarianism as the state when the poor threaten their power by daring to speaking for themselves) to have an opportunity for people in Abahlali to have a chance to represent themselves as they are, as rational people engaged in a deeply ethical project that, ultimately, holds the promise of a broader redemption, via a humanising movement, of an increasingly pathological society.
When the letters from Kennedy Road were sent out last week S'bu's letter was accidentally left out (although it has been on the website). It is below.
S'bu has just phoned to say that the police helicopters are circling above Kennedy Road again.
Richard
"Now that our humanity has been vandalized by the police in this way we have finally fully understood that we are not citizens of this country."
-S'bu Zikode
Friday, March 30, 2007
Socialist Student Movement and Democratic Socialist Movement:
Comrades,
We wish to express our full support as you defend the arrested Kennedy Road comrades. The arrests and the hostile treatment in court today amount to a blatant attempt by the state to weaken the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement. We need to fight to keep alive the possibilities of exercising
our hard won rights to protest and freedom of association within the limits of the bourgeoisie democracy. It is incumbent upon the leftist organizations of this country to expose all human rights abuses done by the police and courts.
The outrageous attack against Abahlali shows the weakness, not the strength, of the state and the capitalist system that it represents. In the face of mass struggle, of modest demands for housing and basic services, the state has shown again and again that the only response it can come up with is the police dogs, police bullets and police cells. Now they are apparently getting even more desperate. So, comrades, be strong!
We support Abahlali’s call for two independent investigations; one into the death of Mzwakhe Sithole, who died after a week in custody at the Sydenham police station, after being handed over to the police by Kennedy
Road residents, and another one into the operations of the Sydenham police station. Be strong!
Today, we were unable to be at the court as we have been organising pickets and meetings at the Westville and Howard College Campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal against the financial exclusions that have already shut out 101 students in the past few weeks. At least 549 others,
in these two campuses only are still under threat of exclusion. We will continue with daily pickets next week, aiming at a bigger protest Wednesday.
We are urging all social movements and working class organizations, big or small, to speak up in solidarity with the Abahlali comrades. If you keep quiet now, next time the police might come for you.
Yours in solidarity
Liv and Xolani Shange for the Democratic Socialist Movement and the Socialist Student Movement
