Category Archives: Zandile Gumede

M&G: March on Durban city hall: ‘As shack dwellers we deserve some dignity’

Thousands of people marched to the Durban City Hall on Monday against alleged violent evictions of shack dwellers in different informal settlements around Durban. The protestors, marching in solidarity with the shack-dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) were joined by the Right2Know campaign. The Daily Vox asked some of the marchers why they were there.

Sphiwe Skhakhane, 31, unemployed, Cato Manor I will not be bullied by the municipality or anyone else. I won’t let anyone evict me from my own land. The municipality does not own any land, nor does the government. This land belongs to our forefathers and that makes it ours and the future generations’. Some of us are unemployed and have families to shelter and feed, yet the police and municipal security guards keep on victimising us. We are tired and the mayor must be held accountable for our suffering; she promised us houses.  Continue reading →

Abahlali to March in Durban and Bizana on Monday

Saturday, 24 June 2017
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Abahlali to March in Durban and Bizana on Monday

Abahlali baseMjondolo will march to the Durban Mayor Cllr Zandile Gumede on Monday, 26 June 2017. The march will start from Curries Fountain Sports Grounds at 9:00am and finish at 12:00pm at the Durban City Hall. The Memoranda will be handed over to both the Mayor of eThekwini and to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Each branch has carried out its own process to produce its own set of demands. We will be demanding the restoration of our dignity, an end to violent and brutal evictions and land, housing and dignity for all.   Continue reading →

We March on the Durban City Hall on 26 June 2017

14 June 2017
Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

We March on the Durban City Hall on 26 June 2017

When the new mayor, Zandile Gumede, took office last year we were promised a new era in the City’s relationship with its impoverished residents. We asked for and were promised an end to evictions and repression. We asked for and were promised participatory democracy and participatory development. We asked for and were promised honesty and respect. We asked for and were promised justice for the repression that we had faced in the past, including the armed attacks by ANC supporters in 2009, and the assassinations in 2013 and 2014.  Continue reading →

City Press: ANC’s pre-election olive branch to Abahlali

Paddy Harper, City Press

The ANC chairperson and mayoral candidate in eThekwini, Zandile Gumede, has offered an olive branch to Abahlali baseMjondolo, the movement representing shack dwellers, on the eve of the local government election.

It is a move that may shift its 17 000 members situated around Durban to vote for the governing party.

Her commitment to engagement with the movement, and her assurances that “demolitions are not the answer”, may give the ANC the upper hand in a number of wards located in formerly Indian areas around the city, where Abahlali has a strong presence – including the Kennedy Road and Cato Crest areas, as well as Siyanda, north of the city. Continue reading →