Statement by the Conference of the Democratic Left

Press release

The Conference of the Democratic Left is shocked to hear of the attack on the offices of Abahlali baseMjondolo in Kennedy Road settlement in Durban, which resulted in at least three and probably more people being killed. We condemn this outrage in the strongest possible terms. The reports say that this was an attack instigated by the ANC, involving tribalists and criminals and that it was connived in by the police. This is additionally shocking and we condemn all these anti-democratic manifestations in the strongest possible terms. Abahlali baseMjondolo is a democratic and non-violent organisation. We call on all democrats, particularly in the SACP and COSATU to condemn these attacks as an assault on our non-racial democracy. The ANC government in KwaZulu-Natal and nationally needs immediately to set in motion an investigation of these events, particularly the conduct of the police who the following morning went to Kennedy Road to arrest not those responsible but residents of the informal settlement, some of them not even present when the attack took place. Those responsible in the police and the ANC need to be brought to book. If this is not done the ANC government will have blood on its hands. If the ANC will not launch an investigation then COSATU must do so. We note that this attack goes along with other manifestations of the criminalisation of peaceful protest under the Zuma government, and the attempt by the Zuma government to destroy trade unions in the armed forces. These are all signs of an increasingly repressive attitude towards peaceful mass protest coming from a government that claims itself as progressive and ‘pro-working-class”.