http://blog.mondediplo.net/2009-10-01-Operation-coup-de-poing-a-Durban

On n’avait plus vu cela depuis les années 1990. Largement manipulées par le pouvoir blanc de l’apartheid, les violences politiques qui accompagnèrent de 1987 à 1994 le cheminement de l’Afrique du Sud vers la démocratie avaient vite disparu une fois Nelson Mandela installé à la présidence. Depuis, les conflits sociaux se jouaient le plus souvent dans des manifestations pacifiques et devant les tribunaux. Mais, au Kwazulu-Natal, tout cela vient de déraper.

2 October 2009

Attacks on Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the AIDS Law Project (ALP) are concerned by reports of violence and intimidation against members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement (ABM) in the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban. ABM is a community based organisation that works to improve conditions for shack dwellers.

According to a statement released by several civil society groups, local ANC people allegedly drove leaders of the ABM and others out of the settlement. We have received further reports that the people carrying out the attacks sang anti Mpondo slogans and that the police allowed the violent attacks to be carried out. Furthermore, it is alleged that the police, instead of arresting the attackers, have arrested members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee, an organisation targeted by the attackers.

Dear Comrades,

We are following the terror that has been unleashed on the Kennedy Road settlement and Abahlali baseMjondolo activists in particular with outrage and offer our heartfelt solidarity to your organisation and to the people of Kennedy Road. We will do our best to support Abahlali baseMjondolo at this critical time through spreading the appeal for solidarity to working class activists and social movements nationally and internationally.

From the reports we have been given by Abahlali baseMjondolo comrades, it seems clear that the state, through the local branch of the ruling, ANC, and the police under the cover of a Zulu-chauvinist ethnic cleansing are attempting to crush Abahlali baseMjondolo in blood. The presence of police

Statement of Support from KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council (KZNCC)

1 October 2009

KwaZulu Natal Churches response to the Kennedy Road Killings

KwaZulu Natal Council of Churches (KZNCC) is deeply shocked at receiving news about the murder of people during the barbaric attacks at the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban. The attacks on Kennedy Road violate the Kennedy road people’s rights to associate, to move freely and to speak freely. As Churches in KwaZulu Natal, we are very much concerned about the wanton violation of democratic rights for which our brothers and sisters died.

http://politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=145247&sn=Detail

by Paul Trewhela, Politics Web

A fascistic and xenophobic attack was made over two nights this week against a peaceful informal settlement in the Durban area, apparently in the name of the African National Congress, resulting in the murder of at least two settlement dwellers. The police appear to have made a principle of their absence, despite appeals for help. A dominant motive of the attackers appears to be ethnic hatred of isiXhosa-speakers.

http://blog.newint.org/majority/2009/09/30/shackdwellers-strugg/

by Sokari Ekine

On 27 September the Kennedy Road settlement in Abahlali, South Africa, was attacked by a group of 40 heavily armed men. They destroyed 15 homes belonging to members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC), including that of S'bu Zikode. Some people were killed, including two of the attackers. The police were called, but only arrived on Sunday morning, when they arrested eight KRDC members but none of the armed gang. Residents are fleeing the Kennedy Road settlement and both the elected chair and deputy of Abahlali are in hiding following threats on their lives.

Solidarity Statement of the Center for Constitutional Rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights makes this statement in solidarity with the people of Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Our organization had the honor of hosting and visiting with leaders of the shack dwellers movement this past summer. We are impressed with the work that the organization has done to make the human right to housing come alive in South Africa.

We are quite sad to hear of the attack on the community and ask that those responsible for these attacks be brought to justice.

Further, we ask that those who have lost their homes due to illegal attack and eviction be given justice and adequate housing.

DECLARACION DE APOYO A NUESTR@S HERMANAS Y HERMANOS DE SUDAFRICA DEL MOVIMIENTO DE LOS DE DE CASAS DE CARTON (Abahali baseMjondolo) DE PARTE DE MOVIMIENTO POR JUSTICIA DEL BARRIO EN NUEVA YORK, EU

A nuestr@s hermanas y hermanos del Abahlali baseMjondolo [AbM] (Movimiento de los de Casas de Carton), el Kennedy Road Settlement en Durban, Sudafrica: ??

Reciban un cordial saludo y un abrazo muy solidario de parte de Movimiento por Justicia del Barrio. Queremos decirles que a nosotr@s, la gente sencilla y humilde del Este de Harlem, Nueva York, nos llena de rabia todo lo que esta pasando con ustedes nuestros hermanos y hermanas, allá en su patria. Nos duele profundamente escuchar que 3 miembros de su comunidad fueron declarados muertos y puede haber mas, muchos estan desaparecidos, y hay mas aun que estan gravemente heridos. Esta represión en la forma de invasion y redadas violentas que empezó en la noche del Sabado, 26 de Septiembre, y todavia no ha parado, en su comunidad es un ataque flagrante contra la democracia y el movimiento de la gente pobre.

HE Ms Lindiwe Mabuza

South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

South Africa House

Trafalgar Square

London WC2N 5DP

Fax: +44 (0) 20 7451 7283

30 September 2009

Your Excellency

I am writing to you from the UK charity War on Want to express my grave concern over the recent attacks by armed assailants against shack dwellers residing in the Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban.

These attacks were reported to us by Abahlali baseMjondolo, a non-violent community-based group advocating for the provision of basic services to informal settlements and for an end to forced evictions in South Africa. War on Want is an organisation fighting to end global poverty and to promote human rights, and was a staunch supporter of the struggle against apartheid. War on Want has worked in partnership and solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo since 2008.

Slum Dwellers International Statement on the Attacks on Kennedy Road Settlement, Durban, South Africa.

SDI echoes the outrage that has been widely expressed in response to the violent attacks perpetrated against AbM in Kennedy Road over the weekend. These attacks come as no surprise. They mirror similar acts of violence that are regularly perpetrated against slum dwellers throughout the world. Only last month shack dwellers in Old Fadama, Accra, Ghana, also had to deal with an outward manifestation of ethnic violence, which was in fact an attack launched by vested political and property interests against organized communities of the urban poor. Almost two years ago SDI members were seriously affected by the violence against the urban poor that ripped through Kenya's informal settlements. At this very moment SDI linked groups in Gauteng and Cape Town face similar threats. SDI groups in Zimbabwe had to deal with devastating evictions in 2005. The list goes on and on.