http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/91749
Thapelo Tselapedi
Abahlali BaseMjondolo (AbM), the acclaimed, leftist shack dwellers’ movement which erupted onto the public arena in 2005, recently decided to give its electoral support to the opposition, centre-right Democratic Alliance (DA) in South Africa’s 2014 National and Provincial Elections.
A ruckus has since coalesced around this decision. While some have called for respect for the movement’s political agency, alongside a wait and see approach, others have outright condemned the decision.
Writing in the Daily Maverick, Julian Brown reminds us that ‘almost no one seems to be interested in Abahlali’s own explanation – that they are the target of violent repression, and that they have taken a pragmatic decision to oppose the power behind it’.