Category Archives: cato crest

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

24 April 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

Once again ‘Freedom Day’ is here. Once again we will be told that we are free. Once again we will be lectured about our about freedom and told to accompany the politicians, businessmen and the rich to their stadiums.

21 years of shack life has not been easy for us. In 21 years of ANC rule lies and evictions have become the order of the day. The land has not been restored to the people. Our dignity has been vandalized. In 2005 we delcared our humanity. The response of the ANC has been lies, the denial of life saving basic services, arrest, assault, imprisonment, illegal evictions, torture, armed attacks by members of the ruling party, the destruction of our homes by members of the ruling party and assassination. The vandalization of our humanity has become even more extreme. We are not alone. We do not forget Marikana. We do not forget all the people murdered by the police on protests around the country. We do not forget all the harassment and violence against people born in other countries. Continue reading →

The ANC and SACP are Building Shacks in the Marikana Land Occupation with the Permission of the Ward Councillor and Municipal Security Guards

18 October 2014
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

The ANC and SACP are Building Shacks in the Marikana Land Occupation with the Permission of the Ward Councillor and Municipal Security Guards

 
About twenty men, members of the ANC and the SACP, are building shacks right now in troubled Cato Crest in Ward 101. They are building their shacks in a piece of land that has been left vacant in the Marikana Land Occupation in order to build a community hall.

 
The men who are building shacks on this land said that the local ANC councillor Mzimuni Ngibi has given them permission to build the shacks. This has been confirmed by the security guards who are now placed in the settlement to guard against further land occupation by Abahlali. The security guards came and negotiated with the men and the councillor was then called to confirm that his comrades have the right to build.

 
We would be happy if everyone who is desperate for housing was allowed to build but only the ANC is allowed to build. The Land Invasion Unit and its law enforcement do not apply to ANC but only to people who are non-ANC. The same security guards have demolished several shacks built by Abahlali but today they smile while negotiating with the rulers of this country. Continue reading →

From Assassination with Bullets to Assassination with Words

17 October 2014

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

 

From Assassination with Bullets to Assassination with Words

On the 6th of October 2014, exactly one week after Thuli Ndlovu was assassinated, The Mercury published an article by Bongani Hans and Sihle Manda that was nothing but an attempt to assassinate the reputation of S’bu Zikode, of our movement and of the many people who are striving for land and housing in Durban independently of our movement.

The article, ‘Shacks pop up in Durban land grab’ by Bongani Hans and Sihle Manda is online here: http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/shacks-pop-up-in-durban-land-grab-1.1760398#.VDfdg2eSxps

It has since been republished by The Post and the South African Housing Federation which also circulated it via email. Continue reading →

M&G: The assassination surge on those fighting corruption

by Richard Pithouse, Mail & Guardian

On Monday evening, not long after the sun went down, a man with a gun stepped out of the dark and into the everyday domestic routine in Thuli Ndlovu’s home in KwaNdengezi, Durban. He shot Ndlovu seven times, and her neighbour’s teenage son twice. Ndlovu died on the spot. Her neighbour’s son is in a critical condition.

Ndlovu was the chairperson of the KwaNdengezi branch of Abahlali baseMjondolo. Like Nkululeko Gwala, a member of the same organisation, who was assassinated in Cato Crest, also in Durban, in June last year, she had been subject to serious intimidation for some time and had told her family and comrades that she expected to die. Continue reading →

Another political eviction in Sisonke Village, near Lamontville

1 October 2014

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

Another political eviction in Sisonke Village, near Lamontville

On Sunday 28 September 2014 the ANC Ward 74 councillor Nolubabalo Mthembu called an ANC meeting to discuss ways of replacing the Land Invasion Unit with an ANC demolition team. This meeting took place at the Lamontville Community hall in the afternoon at around 1pm. The Task Team Committee was launched to carry out the illegal eviction of the nearby Sisonke settlement. Sisonke Village, formerly known as Madlala Village, made headlines early this year when they approached the Constitutional Court after they had been subjected to more than 24 illegal evictions. Continue reading →