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DIOCESE OF NATAL ANGLICAN CHURCH OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

Rhodes University, 30 October 2009

http://www.ru.ac.za/modules/blog_include/blog_content.php?blog_id=756

Democracy is on the Brink of Catastrophe

The road to real democracy has not been easy to those who are still searching for the truth in it. It is like the long road of Abahlali baseMjondolo to the Constitutional Court. Democracy means different things to different people. To some leaders democracy means that they are the only ones who must exercise authority upon others. For some government officials democracy means accepting anything that is said about ordinary men and women. With the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo in Kennedy Road we have now seen that this technocratic thinking will be supported with violence when ordinary men and women insist on their right to speak and to be heard on the matters that concern their daily lives. On the one side there is a consultant with a laptop. On the other side there is a drunk young man with a bush knife or a gun. As much as they might look very different they serve the same system – a system in which ordinary men and women must be good boys and girls and know that their place is not to think and speak for themselves.

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.

Click here to download the Living Learning booklet in pdf.

Living Learning

Just two days before Abahlali baseMjondolo was violently attacked in Kennedy Road, the movement was in celebratory mood as hundreds of shackdwellers crowded into the eMmause Community Hall on Heritage Day, 24th September, for the launch of a new booklet, Living Learning.

Living Learning is the collected notes from an extraordinary series of discussions between militants of two key movements in contemporary South Africa, Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Rural Network. When, in late 2008, they made the decision to publish them, these authors explained that “this Living Learning is a living testimony and a record of how we made reflections and distinctions about what we face in life and in our learning. Living Learning is part of a living politics”.

Click here to see this video interview on YouTube.

The ANC Has Invaded Kennedy Road

S'bu Zikode's house destroyed by the ANC militia - along with all the houses of AbM leaders in the settlement.

The ANC has invaded Kennedy Road. We have been arrested, beaten, killed, jailed and made homeless by their armed wing. This is what it took for Yakoob Baig and Jackson Gumede to finally take back the settlement.

This was a very well organised crime. It is not just an attack on the KRDC. It is not just an attack on AbM. It is an attack on our politic.

Meaningful Engagement

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits, are hosting a colloquium on the topic of 'Meaningful Engagement' today. The speakers were asked to prepare and circulate their papers in advance. This is S'bu Zikode's contribution to the discussion.

I thank Lauren Royston and Kate Tissington for the opportunity to comment on the topic of meaningful engagement.

Our movement is always very happy to visit CALS. CALS is an important ally in the struggles of the poor and all our movements hold your organization in high respect. You have worked with us and not for us. You have not been scared to confront power whether it is the provincial government or a gangster landlord. We remember how Stuart Wilson sat taking instruction from Uncle James in Motala Heights while Ricky Govender’s thugs threw rocks at Uncle James’ house. We know how hard and how well Stuart and your team worked on the Slums Act case.

This interview was published in Interface in November 2009.

Click here to read an annotated version of this interview in pdf and here to read a summary.

To Resist All Degradations & Divisions
An interview with S’bu Zikode

Tell me something about where you were born and who your family were.

Click here to read this speech in English.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA.
14 December 2008

Inkulumo Emuva koMhlangano Wonyaka Ka-2008, ngu-Baba u-S’bu. Zikode

Isingeniso

Bahlali njengoba sonke sazi ukuthi sisuka esikhathini esinzima kanganani, nesehlukile kakhulu kwesejwayelekile eMbuthweni wethu esiwuthanda kakhulu. Umbutho okuthe amandla awo aphoqelela bonke abantu abahlala eMjondolo ukuthi bame ndawonye futhi basho ngezwi elilodwa ukuvikela ilungelo lethu lokuhlala emadolobheni.

Text of a speech by S'bu Zikode at the Diakonia Council of Churches Economic Justice Forum - an audio recording of the speech, including the discussion afterwards, is available from Diakonia. Click here to read the report on the speech in the Sowetan.

Land and Housing

Thursday 28, 2008

I have been asked to speak on the burning issues of land and housing. I only get these invitations because of the strength of the movement of which I am part and so, on behalf of Abahlali baseMjondolo, I thank Diakonia for this platform.