Richard Pithouse, Mail & Guardian
On May 11, Karabo Mokoena’s body, burnt and mutilated, was found in a ditch, discarded along with the ordinary detritus of our lives, in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg. Her name took a very public place, along with Anene Booysen, Reeva Steenkamp, Nokuphile Khumalo, Rachel Tshabalala, Nosipho Mandleleni and so many others, in the grim record of what our society does to women. Continue reading
This article by Imraan Buccus was published in The Mercury and the Sunday Independent.
A REVOLUTION seems to be building in South Africa.
As inequality and developmental deficits persist, South Africans are standing up and demanding social justice. The “rebellion of the poor” has most often emerged from the informal settlement. But since the beginning of regular protests from informal settlements, protests have also spread to the mines and to university campuses.
But the informal settlements have been more or less constant sites of struggle. There is no doubt that shack-dwellers have often been given the short end of the stick in their attempt to carve out an existence on the fringes of the cities. Despite this, one often hears middle-class citizens talking about how frustrated they are “with these people constantly protesting”. The poor are often spoken about in truly derogatory ways. The middle-class often express prejudices that sound like they come straight from the colonial script. Continue reading
3 June 2017
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Comrade Nompilo has Just Been Arrested
This morning Baby Jayden Khoza, killed during a police attack on the Foreman Road settlement, was buried in Inanda.
Now Comrade Nompilo has been arrested at a new land occupation in Mayville. The movement is currently mobilising to secure her safety and release.
The struggle goes on.
Land. Housing. Dignity.
For more information contact Comrade Zondi on 078 340 9972
Police states do not announce themselves like melodramatic thunder and lightning after a hot summer’s day on the Highveld. Police states creep up on you slowly. That means we should look out for the signs of violence becoming synonymous with state power over time, and a rule-bound society systematically becoming less governed by lofty democratic principles such as the rule of law.
On Tuesday there was a thuggish group outside the home of South African Communist Party (SACP) second deputy general secretary Solly Mapaila, chanting: “Hands off Zuma!” A charge has reportedly been laid against them. The intimidation came a day after Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema — who seems to be a reliable political sangoma nowadays — warned ominously that Mapaila’s life might be in danger, especially since, unlike other senior SACP leaders, he is not in government and is therefore freer to speak out against state capture. Continue reading
Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian
On June 4 activist Napoleon Webster will have spent 150 days in Rustenburg prison.
He has been charged with the murder of an ANC councillor in Marikana, in the North West province, but his lawyers and supporters are adamant it is a stitch-up.
They contend that Webster, an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member who has been involved in support campaigns linked to the 2012 Marikana massacre and in Marikana’s housing struggles, is being persecuted for his activism. Continue reading