http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/24/south-africa-shack-bahlali-basejondolo
South Africa's shack-dwellers fight back
Abahlali baseMjondolo, a movement campaigning for South Africa's notorious shack developments, has been labelled 'neurotically democratic' – but its leader prefers to call it 'living communism'
Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian
Does protest work? And if so, does it need autocratic leadership? Judging from a shanty town in Durban, South Africa: yes, and definitely not. In September 2009, a mob armed with clubs and spears entered the Kennedy Road settlement and trashed it. They ransacked various homes and wounded dozens of residents, killing two.
The targeted houses were carefully chosen. One was the home of 37-year-old S'Bu Zikode, the president of Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), a radical political movement that was born in the camp. The mob was linked to the local ANC branch – South Africa's ruling party – and the attack was an attempt to punish AbM for its actions over the past four years. Since 2005, AbM has introduced participatory democracy not just to Kennedy Road, but to 64 settlements in the region.
AbM's struggle is rooted in land. Around 10% of South Africans live in shack developments, and Kennedy Road is one of the most notorious. A decade ago, there were just six toilets for 6,000 residents.
In early 2005, it looked as if something might change. The ANC promised that a nearby plot would be given to the locals. But a month later came different news: the plot would be sold to developers, the locals forcibly removed. So the protest began. In March, the residents blocked off a local freeway. "We are tired of living and walking in shit," one shouted.
Next came painstakingly egalitarian weekly meetings. Leaders were elected, but no decision was taken without the agreement of the "shack-dwellers" – Abahlali baseMjondolo, in Zulu. "It is a politics that every ordinary person can understand," Zikode has said.
By 2007, the local authorities had no choice but to negotiate. Yet AbM still refused to allow a few leaders to make decisions on their behalf. "Neurotically democratic", according to one academic, they sent 28 inexperienced delegates to negotiate, and these had to report back to their assemblies to allow for collective decision-making.
But the neurosis works: AbM eventually secured tenure and services for several settlements, and still campaigns for others. Through its participatory structures, it is not just a petition for change; it embodies the change it calls for. It is, Zikode once said, "a living communism".
Previous articles on Abahlali baseMjondolo in The Guardian