Lindela Figlan

Symbol of hope silenced

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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.

Hamba Kahle MaThambo

Hamba Kahle MaThambo

We think of you encouraging the people about humanity. We also think of you as a widow although you had a husband. Your husband's political activities often took him very far from you. And you always had your own struggles that you fought too. But because of what you were having in your mind you and your husband decided to spend so much of your lives apart while you were both still alive. You decided to lose a lot of things in your life because you had the humanity that made you decide to stand with the poor people. But now that you have passed away many of our people are still crying unwiped tears because they have no place to stay. But we as the Foreman Road Development Committee we don't blame you. You played your role. You went very far and we pray to God to bless you so that you can now wait peacefully. Now we must play our role. We pray to God to give us the strength that we need for the struggle ahead.

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