LRB: The Mandela Complex

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2015/04/17/harry-stopes/the-mandela-complex/

Harry Stopes

In December 2013, a group of people living in shack settlements in Newlands West, Durban, entered and squatted a development of 16 nearly complete apartment blocks on Castle Hill, about ten miles north-west of the city centre. They stayed for more than a year before they were evicted on 17 December 2014. The developer calls the site Hilldale; the squatters called it the Mandela Complex.

Since 1994 the main government policy for housing the poor in South Africa has been to provide free homes, for private ownership, through the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). To be eligible for an RDP home, your total household income mut be less than 3500 Rand a month. That isn’t much (currently around £200), but there are millions of South Africans who earn less, or nothing at all – a quarter of the workforce is unemployed. Around 180,000 RDP units have been built in Durban since 1994. Continue reading →

Daily News: End this war on Africans now!

http://www.iol.co.za/news/end-this-war-on-africans-now-1.1845720#.VS-F3CGqqko

Shackdwellers’ association, Abahlali baseMjondolo, issued a statement on Tuesday night, fearing the worst as xenophobia sweeps the Durban area.

There is a war in our city. Our African brothers and sisters are being openly attacked on the streets.

In 2008, our movement stood firm against the attacks on people born in other African countries. We committed ourselves to shelter and defend our brothers and sisters. There were no attacks in any of our communities.

For some time now we have been working very closely with the Congolese Solidarity Campaign. Continue reading →

M&G: Not in our name: Religious leaders plan march to end xenophobia

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-15-not-in-our-name-religious-leaders-plan-march-to-end-xenophobia

Sarah Evan, Mail & Guardian

Religious and political leaders are planning a peace march to the Durban City Hall in a bid to stop attacks between foreign nationals, police and residents of the city, a spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal government said on Tuesday.

“On Thursday there will be a march led by various sectors by government from Curries Fountain as a stand against xenophobia, as an expression of commitment to ending this kind of violence and to protecting lives,” said Thami Ngwenya.

Meanwhile, EWN reported that foreign nationals have armed themselves in anticipation of further attacks. No further attacks were reported overnight. Gift of the Givers Foundation has opened a refugee camp outside Durban to accommodate foreigners who have fled the area.   Continue reading →

Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement on the Ongoing Xenophobic Attacks

Tuesday 14 April 2015 – 5:22 p.m.

Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

 

Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement on the Ongoing Xenophobic Attacks

A view from below – umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu

There is a war in our city. Our African brothers and sisters are being openly attacked on the streets.

In 2008 our movement stood firm against the attacks on people born in other African countries. We committed ourselves to shelter and defend our brothers and sisters. There were no attacks in any of our communities.

For some time now we have been working very closely with the Congolese Solidarity Campaign. We have been working to build a politic from below that accepts each person as a person and each comrade as a comrade without regard to where they were born or what language they speak. In this struggle we have faced constant attack from the state, the ruling party and others. We have been attacked for having members from the Eastern Cape, members born in other countries and Indian members. We have always stood firm against these attacks. Our movement has survived almost ten years of repression. Continue reading →

Workers’ Liberty: “Poor people can think for themselves”

http://www.workersliberty.org/node/24902

In South Africa, the governing African National Congress (ANC) considers itself the only legitimate voice of the poor. Self-organising among the poor is met with brutal repression by the state and its organs.

Christoph Plutte and Anja Hertz talked to Ndabo Mzimela and S’bu Zikode of Abahlali base Mjondolo, a grassroots organisation of people living in informal settlements in South Africa who struggle for the dignity of shack dwellers and against evictions and repression by the state and its organs.

In 2014, South Africa celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first democratic elections. What does it mean to be poor in the “new South Africa”?

The word “democracy” is a nicer word for the oppression we face today, so that people will be loyal to the ruling class. We are still being excluded from the processes where the rules that affect our lives are being made. We are still in shacks because of the same system that is ruling the country today, controlled by the ruling class, so we can’t fool ourselves and say we are free. Continue reading →