Category Archives: Caelin Roodt

Mahala: Poor Man’s Burden

http://www.mahala.co.za/reality/poor-mans-burden/

by Samora Chapman and Caelin Roodt, Mahala

According to Abahlali baseMjondolo, the uprising in Cato Crest is being quelled by all means necessary: death threats, unlawful arrests and police brutality. Many unaligned shack dwellers have also fallen victim to violent suppression. Collateral damage, wrong place, wrong time, the poor man’s burden.

We headed to Cato Crest to find out more about the deaths. Our soft-spoken guide, Ndabo Mzimela does not come across as a political activist. But he became the Chairperson of the Cato Crest branch of AbM when his predecessor, Nkululeko Gwala, was assassinated on 26 June this year.

On 26 June a community meeting was held to discuss Nkhululeko the ‘troublemaker’. The meeting was attended by James Nxumalo (Mayor councilor of Durban) and Sibongiseni Dhlomo (MEC of Health).

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Mahala: Tropical Paradise & the Divide

http://www.mahala.co.za/reality/tropical-paradise-and-the-divide/

by Samora Chapman and Caelin Roodt 12.11.2013

The ridge that rises above the Durban city is green and lush. The suburbs, laid out, are clean, ordered and affluent. Mansions look out over the city, through shady palms to the sparkling Indian Ocean beyond. It is paradise. Or so it appears.

On the other side of the ridge, to the West… the slums begin. Cato Crest is the corridor where the first and third world meet.

In the slums, black sewage runs between shacks so closely packed that there is scarcely room to breathe. The smell of shit and burning rubbish fills the air. Huge rats, fires, floods, death and disease are familiar strangers, always dropping in to pay their visits. The lot of the poor and dispossessed.

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Mahala: To Kill a Poor Man

http://www.mahala.co.za/reality/to-kill-a-poor-man/

by Samora Chapman and Caelin Roodt / 05.11.2013

Now is the time for the whole world to turn their gaze upon the atrocities occurring in the townships of Durban, South Africa. These are real stories from recent clashes between Durban shack dwellers and the powers that be.

On Monday 7 October Nyati Gcinithemba was shot in the chest at the entrance to the uMlazi Courts. He was unarmed, leading a chorus of voices, singing songs of freedom. Nyati and 30 other members of Abahlali base-Mjondolo (a shack dwellers movement) were calling for the release of three fellow activists who had been held by police all weekend for attending protests in uMlazi.

Nyati refused to stop singing, even after being shot, beaten and handcuffed.

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