Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Tuesday 8 March 2011

The Intimidation of Grassroots Activists Continues in Kennedy Road and Motala Heights

At about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday the 20th of February Nozuko Hulushe, the chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo in the Kennedy Road settlement, went to fetch water. She was accosted by a man that she had never seen before. He rudely and aggressively demanded to wash his face in her bucket of water and she refused. After she finished he washed his face at the tap and then insulted her and assaulted her.

22 January 2011
Abahlali baseMotala Heights

Metro Police Destroy a Home in Motala Heights

The Metro Police attacked Motala Heights today. They came with axes and succeeded to destroy Mr. Buthelezi's home before the community could mobilise. They then attempted to destroy a second home but we mobilised quickly and stopped them from destroying any more homes.

Sunday 16 January 2011
Abahlali baseMotala Heights Press Statement

Ricky Govender Bulldozes the Motala Heights Shembe Temple

The notorious gangster landlord Ricky Govender has bulldozed the Motala Heights Shembe Temple. This surprise attack on our community and our culture was carried out without warning or notification and we hereby give notice that we will not allow Ricky Govender to vandalize our community or our culture.

Update: 15/01/2011 Zandile Mdletshe and the Kennedy Road ANC did not pitch up to the mass meeting on Wednesday. The new KRDC then sought and obtained a meeting with Yakoob Baig and Jackson Gumede who said that development projects had always been allocated through the area committee of the ANC but they agreed (clearly aware of the popular pressure and the collapse in any significant support for the Kennedy Road ANC) to let the Kennedy Road community decide. The new KRDC called another mass meeting the following evening and invited the police to attend it and to witness it. At that meeting it was decided that the project must stop pending a resolution to allow democratic decision making about this and other development projecets.

Motala Heights Abahlali baseMjondolo Branch
Press Statement 6 January 2010

Unlawful Attacks on Education Rights in Motala Heights

Today people are celebrating the matric results across the country. Here in Motala Heights, as in many poor communities around the country, we are planning our resistance to the illegal exclusion of poor children from our country's schools. Every year the first campaign on the Abahlali baseMjondolo calendar is the struggle to keep our children in school and to have them respected in school.

There is an archive of entries on Motala Heights here.

Press Statement from Abahlali baseMotala Heights
30 October 2010

Motala Heights Will be a Community for All

When we joined Abahlali baseMjondolo and started our struggle in 2006 the municipality, led by the ward councillor Derek Dimba, were trying to destroy the jondols up on the hill. They were coming with guns and tear gas and evicting the people and destroying their homes. They were doing this illegally.

In the tin houses down in the valley the landlords, led by the gangster businessman Ricky Govender, were also evicting the poor people. They were coming with thugs and they were also evicting the people and destroying their homes. They were also doing this illegally but the polices were supporting them as they supported the municipality.

Update: 27 January 18:32 - the bosses have flown down from Jo'burg to negotiate with the strikers and the strike has been suspended while the negotiations are ongoing. So far things are looking very positive.

150 contract workers at National Print, in Westmead, Pinetown, have walked off the job. The night shift workers will also refuse to work tonight.

The contract workers have decided to go on strike in protest at the attempt by the CEO to suddenly reduce their working hours and, therefore, their income. January is the month when poor families struggle to pay school fees and to buy school uniforms, books and stationery. This is a very bad time for people to suddenly lose most of their income.

http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5243863

Symbol of hope silenced
Abahlali community is not perfect. Nor does it pretend to be, writes Sarah Cooper-Knock.

November 13, 2009 Edition 1

In the wake of the violent attacks on Kennedy Road in September, Abahlali baseMjondolo has once more been carried into the media spotlight by a whirlwind of vitriolic criticism and impassioned defence.

The ferocity of this exchange exposes not only the base injustice of those attacks, but also a broader battle for the soul of South Africa. This battle is waged over conceptual and material issues: the political space for opposition; the role of citizens in a democracy and service delivery to the country's poorest citizens.

Lot 35 Motala Heights

Eviction of 23 Families in Motala Heights; Intimidation by Landlord and the Pinetown Legal Aid Board

This week 23 families living in tin-shanty houses in Motala Heights, Lot 35, were issued with letters, demanding that they pay exorbitant increases in rent - effective immediately - or face eviction. A pensioner, seeking advice about the letters, was told by the Pinetown Legal Aid Board that he would be “in the firing line” if he challenged the so-called landlord. Yesterday, relatives of the so-called landlord threatened an area coordinator for Abahlali baseMjondolo for assisting the families, warning that they would “come to your home and deal with you.”