Daily Vox: #BabyJayden Funeral: “We Are Under A Dark Cloud Today”
Residents of Foreman Road informal settlement in Durban gathered on Saturday for the funeral of Jayden Khoza, the two-week-old baby who died during housing protests in the settlement on Monday. Khoza’s parents allege that the child died after inhaling tear gas fired by police during the protest.
Siphelele Sivunga a spokesperson for Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Durban-based group fighting for housing and basic services, “As the Foreman Road family we are under a dark cloud. Jayden was in a struggle because his people were in a struggle”. Continue reading
ENCA: Funeral held for baby Jayden
The Times: Funeral for baby killed in Durban housing protest
Teargas killed two-week-old baby Jayden.
Jayden Khoza‚ the two-week-old boy who died after allegedly inhaling teargas during a housing protest in an informal settlement in Durban‚ will be buried at eMolweni cemetery in Inanda on Saturday.
The service will be held at Foreman Road settlement‚ Clare Estate‚ where the protests took place on Monday.
Hundreds of residents took to the streets in the area‚ saying the eThekwini municipality disregarded their rights to dignity and ignored their pleas for housing and electricity.
Baby Jayden will be laid to rest tomorrow
Friday 02 June 2017
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Baby Jayden will be laid to rest tomorrow
Baby Jayden, killed by police on Monday this week, will be laid to rest at eMolweni cemetery in Inanda. The service will be held at Foreman Road settlement. The service will start at 10am in the morning and proceed to the cemetery at 12:30 pm.
Abahlali baseMjondolo members will be having a night vigil (Umlindelo) today from 20h00 till the morning to give baby Jaden the respect and dignity he deserved, but which was denied to him in an oppressive society. It is the movement, our strength and togetherness, that has ensured that Baby Jayden will be laid to rest with the dignity denied to him in life. It is the movement that will seek justice for Baby Jayden. Continue reading
CounterPunch: Lessons on Political Culture and Consciousness From Struggles of the Global South
Paddy O’Halloran, CounterPunch
“It took me a period of two and a half years to understand a ‘we’ and ‘us,’” says T.J. Ngongoma, recounting how he joined Abahlali baseMjondolo, or “Residents of the Shacks,” a South African grassroots movement. In March 2015, Ngongoma spoke with students in Grahamstown, South Africa, many of whom participated in what became a mass revolt of university students later that year. He spoke about sustaining a “political-social movement”: the importance of democratic practices, time and patience, learning, and collectivism. The two and a half years it took Ngongoma to understand “we” and “us” reveal something important about the movement: they had created a rich political culture different from their surrounding society. The culture of Abahlali is a radical collectivism organized and mobilized in resistance to the dehumanization and exclusion of the urban poor. Membership in the movement and participation in the culture demanded learning. Continue reading
The Mercury: ‘Elitist’ suburb residents reject low-cost houses development
Kwa-Zulu Natal | 2 June 2017, 10:50am
Durban – Residents of an upmarket uMlazi suburb have opposed the construction of low-cost houses in the area, saying the development will depreciate property values and lead to many social ills in the middle-class neighbourhood.
Since March, the residents of section-W have been protesting and vandalising already built eThekwini Municipality low-cost houses.
About 200 more houses still need to be built in the space, which the community has earmarked for a clinic, children’s park and recreation centre.
Local councillor Amon Dladla on Thursday accused the residents of being “elitist” for refusing to be associated with the poor in order to protect the value of their properties. Continue reading
The Mercury: Community ‘wants justice’ after baby dies during protest
Kwa-Zulu Natal | 2 June 2017, 9:08pm
Durban – An independent pathologist will carry out a post-mortem on 2-week-old baby Jayden Khoza, who died after police fired tear gas during a protest at Foreman Road informal settlement on Monday.
The community had been holding a protest about service delivery challenges in the settlement when police allegedly fired tear gas near shacks.
According to baby Jayden’s parents, the infant had been sleeping in his parents’ shack when tear gas entered it and thereafter the child stopped breathing. Continue reading
GroundUp: Evictions turn violent in Newtown
Update: Late on Friday, 2 June, the Gauteng High Court set aside Prasa’s Writ of Ejection, suspending the eviction. Justice Carlese ordered that insofar as the eviction had been carried out already, evictees were to be reinstated.
Hundreds of people from the Bekezela informal settlement in Newtown have been forced onto the streets after the Red Ant Security Relocation and Eviction Services (Red Ants) evicted them from their homes.
Residents say shortly after 8am, men carrying out the eviction descended on the informal settlement and began throwing people and their goods onto the street. Continue reading
East Coast Radio: ‘Death of baby Jayden won’t be in vain’: Abahlali
Newborn dies in Durban protest
A second post mortem will be conducted today on the body of little Jayden Khoza – who died during a police raid at Durban’s Foreman Road Informal Settlement.
eThekwini Municipality is currently looking at whether it would be possible to supply people in the Foreman Road Informal Settlement with electricity. Continue reading