Category Archives: Abahlali

Letter of Invitation to all Church Leaders

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Letter to KZNCC and other Church Leaders

Invitation to a Prayer Service

Abahlali BaseMjondolo in Durban is a formation of poor communities living in shacks around Durban. It was formed to represent and advocate for the rights of the poor to have access to services such as land, houses and jobs in their areas. It is not affiliated to any political party.

Shack communities always face challenges such as shack fires, police brutality and neglect by government. Throughout these challenges some church leaders have stood in solidarity with the poor living in shacks.

Invitation to this prayer service marks the beginning of a process of dialogue between the church and people living in shacks to explore the meaning of “preferential option for the poor” and being church in the context of poverty and landlessness.

Date : 27 May 2007

Venue : Kennedy Road Hall (near Springfield Landfill Site)

Time : 13h00

“Whatever you do to any of my little brothers and sisters, you are doing it to me” said Jesus

Yours Faithfully

Sibusiso Zikode, Abahlali BaseMjondolo

IZINKULUNGWANE ZIZOBHIKISHA ZIPHIKISANA NOMPHATHI WESIGCAWU uYACOOB BAIG NGO MHLAKA 14 SEPTEMBER 2005

PRESS RELEASE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2005

IZINKULUNGWANE ZIZOBHIKISHA ZIPHIKISANA NOMPHATHI WESIGCAWU uYACOOB BAIG NGO MHLAKA 14 SEPTEMBER 2005

Giya! Giya!
Bathengisa Ngathi

NINI: Ngehora lesishayagalombili ekuseni, ngolwesithathu, zingu 14 September 2005.

KUPHI: Ukubhikisha kwabantu kuzosuka ehholo lomphakathi kuKennedy Road ose 286 Kennedy Road, nase Clare Estate. Ukubhikisha kuyophelela emahhovisini akhe umnumzane Baig elisekhoneni lika Randles no Spark’s Road eSydenham.

NGOBANI: Lezinkulungwane zifuna imihlaba, izindlu, izidingo zomphakathi ezibalulekile kanye nenhlonipho, baphinde bamnikeza amaviki amabili okushiya esikhundleni umnumzane Baig. (Ungafunda encwadini yezikhalazo engezansi ukubona izidingo zethu eziphelele).

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MORE FAMILIES LEFT HOMELESS BY ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY

Wednesday, November 22, 2006
MORE FAMILIES LEFT HOMELESS BY ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY

More than 35 families from the Juba Place settlement in Reservoir Hills are preparing to go to court after the eThekwini Municipality smashed up their homes, in the rain, over the weekend. Shack owners were coerced at short notice into accepting relocation to what people call 'formal jondolos' in Nazareth. These houses have no electricity and have toilets which don't work. Most people did not want to be moved away from work and schools and feel unwelcome and nervous in Nazareth where local people had expected the houses. The Municipality moved people out of Juba Place at gun point and now has to protect them from local people in Nazareth at gun point. Meanwhile shack renters in Juba Place were simply left homeless. So much for the constitution..

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MEC’s Office Instructs Shack Dwellers to Stop All Communication with the Media

06 September 06:47 PM

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Release 6 September 2006

On Thursday last week Abahlali baseMjondolo announced that we would use the Promotion of Access to Information Act to compel the eThekwini Municipality to disclose its plans for shack dwellers to shack dwellers. The next day we received a sudden invitation to attend a meeting with the office of the provincial MEC for housing at 3:00 pm.  Continue reading →

Another person dies in another Durban Shack Fire

13 August 2006

ANOTHER PERSON DIES IN ANOTHER DURBAN SHACK FIRE

At around 8:30 p.m. on Friday 11 August a candle fell over in the front room of a shack in the Kennedy Road settlement. Four people lived in the large shack. They were all able to get out except for Mr. Zithulele Dhlomo whose room was at the back of the shack. He was an old man, around 70 years old, and the way out was blocked by fire burning hot from the plastic sheeting in the roof. He was burnt to death.

Last week there was a major conflagration in the Jadhu Place settlement. Before that it was Quarry Road and before that it was Lacey Road. The fires happen more or less every week. These fires are not acts of god. They are a direct consequence of the eThekwini Municipality's infamous and unconstitutional 2001 decision to suspend the provision of electricity to shack settlement. The policy states that 'In past (1990s) electrification was rolled out to all and sundry…electrification of the informal settlements has now been discontinued'.

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