This article has now been translated into Spanish, Italian, French and Russian.

Friday, 16 July 2010
Serving our Life Sentence in the Shacks

People all over South Africa have been asking the leaders of Abahlali baseMjondolo as to why the government continues to ignore the demands of the shack dwellers. They have been asking why after all the marches, statements, reports and meetings the Kennedy Road settlement continues to get burnt down through the endless shack fires. They have been referring in particular to the recent Kennedy Road shack fire on Sunday, 4 July 2010 that took four lives, leaving more than three thousand people displaced and homeless.

http://www.fahamu.org/publications/item/a_place_in_the_city/

A Place in the City

Inkulumo ka-Mengameli waBahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA.wokuvulwa kwehhovisi labahlali e-Siyanda, Isonto, 28 February 2010.

Mphathi wohlelo, abaholi babahlali baseMjondolo, bonke abaholi abakhona ngokwezikhundla zabo nabobonke Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Ngithanda ukuzwakalisa ukukhathazeka okukhulu ngokuthi ngingakwazi ukuba phakathi kwenu namhlanje , futhi ngifisa ukudlulisa ukuxolisa okukhulu kini ngokuzithoba. Nakuba ngifisa nazi ukuthi nginani ngokomphefumulo.Kubeyintokozo enkulu kimi ukubona abaholi benu beshabasheka, behla benyuka ukwakha lelihhovisi ngokusizwa ngamalunga omphakathi. Lelihhovisi lakhiwe ngezithukuthuku zabasebenzi abampofu, lelihhovisi lakhiwe ngothando nobubele ngakho-ke angingabazi ukuthi lizowusiza lomphakathi wabahlali.

Click here to read this document in word.

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.