http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-12-23-freedoms-prisoners

Freedom's prisoners
NIREN TOLSI | DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 23 2009 06:00

Among the debris of the Abahlali base­Mjondolo president's destroyed home lie the remains of freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Almost three months ago Sbu Zikode had to flee his shack in Durban's Kennedy Road after armed mobs rampaged through the settlement in a frenzy of ethno-political cleansing that left two people dead.

Today Zikode, leader of one the largest social movements in the country (with more than 20 000 members), remains underground, living in a safe house with his family and forced to convene the organisation's meetings in secret -- his freedom of movement and political association crushed.

Presentation at the Development Action Group Workshop
Cape Town, 18 November 2009

by Mnikelo Ndabankulu

We Want the Full Loaf (not just a child support grant)

The Slums Act

The Slums Act first came to our ears as a Bill in 2006. The information about this Bill came to us indirectly through our sources.

It was clear that we needed to discuss this Bill as Abahlali. M'du Hlongwa and I both went to the Government Communications to ask a copy. We had two copies and we shared these copies and we analysed the Bill. We had a number of meetings where we read the Bill together going one line by one line.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=85924

Ruling in Abahlali case lays solid foundation to build on
Marie Huchzermeyer
Published: 2009/11/04

ABAHLALI baseMjondolo hit the headlines recently. First, attacks on Durban’s Kennedy Road informal settlement drew a ground swell of newsworthy international condemnation, including a statement from US intellectual Noam Chomsky. A week later, media reported on the outcome of Abahlali’s Constitutional Court appeal on the KwaZulu-Natal slums act.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
29 October 2009

Invitation to the Celebration of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Victory Against the Notorious and Now Buried Slums Act

On 14 October 2009 the Constitutional Court ruled against the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and in favour of Abahlali baseMjondolo. The court found that Section 16 of the Slums Act was unconstitutional and invalid. The Slums Act now has been struck down.

Abahlali baseMjondolo will be holding a celebration of our victory against the Slums Act this Sunday, 1 November, at 9am. The celebration will take place the Richmond Farm Transit Camp. All progressive communities, journalists and members of the public are welcome.

Click here to read the version of this lecture published in The Witness.

University of KwaZulu-Natal Forum Lecture
Thursday 22 October 2009

Party Politic Vs Living Politic in Kennedy Road

The Kennedy Road settlement, like all other Abahlali baseMjondolo settlements, has been embarking on a living politic.

This politic is a living politic because it talks about the realities of our democracy – a democracy that serves the interests of a minority while the majority our people continue to live and to die in inhuman conditions.

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5210685

Time is perfect for rethink on housing policy

October 21, 2009 Edition 1

Imraan Buccus

THE Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of the application brought by Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM) and declared a section of the KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act, introduced with much fanfare in 2007, to be unconstitutional.

The judgment means the Act will now not be reproduced in the other provinces, as mandated by the Polokwane resolutions. And, perhaps more importantly, the whole policy of eradicating slums by forcibly removing shack dwellers to peripheral transit camps lies in tatters.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-18-landmark-judgment-in-favour-of-poor

Landmark judgment in favour of poor
NIREN TOLSI | DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - Oct 18 2009 06:00

In a major legal victory for poor people's rights to housing and shelter, the Constitutional Court this week struck down the KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act. The court upheld shackdweller movement Abahlali base Mjondolo's (ABM) application that the Act was unconstitutional.

The KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act empowered municipalities to evict illegal occupants from state land and derelict buildings, and to force private landowners to do likewise or face fines or imprisonment -- all at the behest of the provincial housing minister.