25 August 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Celebration of the 6th Anniversary of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement S.A.

Gogo Shange Speaking at the 6th Anniversary Celebration of Abahlali baseMjondolo

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” Romans 8: 31-36

http://www.counterpunch.org/pithouse08012011.html

No Easy Path Through the Embers

By RICHARD PITHOUSE

In Texaco, his novel about the history of a shack settlement in Martinique, Patrick Chamoiseau writes of a “proletariat without factories, workshops, and work, and without bosses, in the muddle of odd jobs, drowning in survival and leading an existence like a path through embers.” But Texaco is also a novel of struggle, of struggle with the “persistence of Sisyphus”- struggle to hold a soul together in the face of relentless destruction amidst a “disaster of asbestos, tin sheets crates, mud tears, blood, police”. Texaco is a novel of barricades, police and fire, a struggle to “call forth the poet in the urban planner”, a struggle to “enter City”. It's about the need to “hold on, hold on, and moor the bottom of the your heart in the sand of deep freedom.”

Dancing and tears and moving forward at Kennedy Road
A statement of solidarity to Abahlali baseMjondolo from CLP
July 2011

All of us at CLP [Church Land Programme] were so happy when the 'Kennedy 12' were finally acquitted this week. We congratulate the movement on this victory and for the strength you have all shown throughout the process. We were proud and privileged to find some practical ways of helping during the ordeal. From the times we were able to see some of you in prison and in court, and during the time we were able to provide you with shelter in safe accommodation, the 'Kennedy 12' became much more than a group of 'the accused' to us. We got to know you well as real people.

19 July 2011
Democratic Left Front

Press statement: Celebrate the acquittal of the Kennedy Road 12! Investigate the role of the SAPS and the ANC in the September 2009 attack on Kennedy Road

Mnikelo Ndabankulu speaks outside the court

The Democratic Left Front (DLF) salutes the 12 members of Abahlali BaseMijondolo (AbM) from Kennedy Road in eThekwini who were acquitted of all charges of murder. Their arrest and trial followed a September 2009 attack on AbM in the Kennedy Road informal settlement eThekwini. All evidence pointed fingers at ANC-mobilised and police-supported attackers who were heavily armed and used ethnicity part of their strategy. ANC involvement in the attack was confirmed by ANC provincial statements that heralded this attack as the ‘liberation’ of the area. For months after the attack the homes of AbM leaders were openly and publicly attacked with impunity by the local ANC. Many had to leave the area.

HALALA FOR the Kennedy 12

We see this as a great day for the 12, their families, their movement and the struggle of the poor in South Africa. From day we as the SDCEA were suspicious of the so called charges that were brought against Abahlali comrades ,we believed that these were trumped up to destroy the movement of the poor.We as the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance wish to extend our deepest congratulations to our comrades and our brothers in the movement for their steadfast resolve to challenge this injustice since their arrest.

We will continue to stand by the poor no matter what the situation . We have heard in the courts the false evidence presented from some of the witness presented and knew this could never stand the test of the truth as it was clear that there was no evidence against any of the accused and that there had been an attempt to frame them.

Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI)
[Media Release, 18 July 2011]

"Kennedy 12" Acquitted

Magistrate criticises “dishonest” and “unreliable” witnesses

Twelve members of Abahlali baseMjondolo - a shackdwellers movement based in
Durban - brought to trial on spurious charges ranging from public violence to
murder, were acquitted today in the Durban Regional Court.

The activists were prosecuted in the aftermath of the attacks on Abahlali’s
members residing in the Kennedy Road Informal Settlement on 27 and 28 September
2009. Abahlali members were evicted from the settlement by an armed gang

18 July 2011
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

The Victory in the Kennedy 12 Trial is a Victory for all the Poor in South Africa

The Kennedy 12 have been acquitted of all the charges bought against them after the attack on our movement in September 2009. It is a great day for the 12, their families, our movement and the struggle of the poor in South Africa.

We wish to begin by extending our deepest, heartfelt gratitude to all our comrades and our partners around the world who have supported the 12 and our movement since the attack. We must thank our Alliance partners, the Rural Network, LPM, and the AEC; our comrades in the UPM and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front; Bishop Rubin Philip of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, the Diakonia Council of churches, and all the other church leaders that stood with us; the German churches; the Church Land Programme; the Human Rights organization around the world, particularly Amnesty International, the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York; our comrades in the grassroots organisations in the US from Chicago to New York City and the Bay Area in California, our comrades in Moscow (Russia), Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Belgium. We also want to thank all the academics and leading scholars who signed a powerful petition in our support and all those who academics who wrote articles in our defence while we and our supporters were under attack. Most importantly we want to thank our Legal Team from the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI). There are so many of you, we cannot mention you all by name, but we thank you all. We are not alone in this struggle.

STATEMENT BY BISHOP MICHAEL VORSTER
NATAL COASTAL DISTRICT – METHODIST CHURCH OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

ON THE ACQUITTAL OF THE “KENNEDY 12”

In September 2009, a violent attack took place in the informal settlement known as Kennedy Road in Durban, wherein two people died. A group of young men from the shackdwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, were arrested, detained and eventually charged with several crimes, including murder. After many months and numerous delays two were released, leaving twelve who became known as the “Kennedy 12” and who were to face a long and protracted legal process which was fraught with suspicion and allegations of political interference.

Monday, 18 July 2011
Press Statement by the Unemployed People’s Movement

Halala Abahlali baseMjondolo! A Victory for One is a Victory for All!

Rev. Mavuso celebrates outside the court

In September 2009 Abahlali baseMjondolo was violently attacked by the local ANC in the Kennedy Road squatter camp in Durban. The attackers were armed and shouted ANC and ethnic slogans. To their eternal and permanent disgrace the provincial ANC heralded this attack as the ‘liberation’ of the area. For months after the attack the homes of Abahlali baseMjondolo leaders were openly and publicly destroyed with impunity by the local ANC.