Abahlali baseMjondolo

Written by Mzonke Poni (Chairperson, Abahlali baseMjondolo, Western Cape Region)

On Wednesday 31 August Abahlali baseMjondolo in the Western Cape had an important meeting with a number of church leaders and church organisations. The meeting was held in Khayelitsha and was called by the church leaders.

The church leaders present included:

Victory for Abahlali baseMjondolo - Defeat of our detractors!

We celebrate the victory that the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has won in court today where ALL of the 'Kennedy 12' have finally been acquitted of ALL charges against them.

The prosecution case in the trial of the Kennedy 12 is heading for collapse.

This follows a three-day hearing in which three state witnesses testified before magistrate Sharon Marks at the Durban Magistrates' court.

Under cross examination from defence attorney, Advocate Jimmy Howse, state witness Thembi Sibongile Nxumalo admitted that she is in the habit of falsely incriminating innocent people.

As 2010 draws to a close our growing inequality, deepening political intolerance, widespread contempt for the poor, awful propensity to violence against our women and children, our greedy exploitation of other people's poverty and joblessness, and our rape of the resources of the world that we share, are all an affront to God.

All these remain markers of the presence of death against which we commit ourselves to fight.

The cost of faith is high in worldly terms, but the reward is unfathomably rich - it is life.

[The following was presented at the University of Chicago by S’bu Zikode, President, Abahlali baseMjondolo Shack Dwellers’ Movement, South Africa with Dr. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations as discussant]

There was joy and jubilation at the Durban Magistrates' court on 12 July as the Kennedy 5 who had been in custody since their arrest in September 2009 were finally granted bail.

After a two-hour closed door meeting between the state and the defence team, it was agreed that the five be granted R1 000 bail each.

The five appeared visibly relieved after more than ten months of incarceration.

People all over South Africa have been asking the leaders of Abahlali baseMjondolo as to why the government continues to ignore the demands of the shack dwellers. They have been asking why after all the marches, statements, reports and meetings the Kennedy Road settlement continues to get burnt down through the endless shack fires. They have been referring in particular to the recent Kennedy Road shack fire on Sunday, 4 July 2010 that took four lives, leaving more than three thousand people displaced and homeless.

Written by Emma Pomfret, Christian Aid (Thursday, June 3, 2010)

The first black South African to hold the position of Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Natal, and chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council (KZNCC), Rubin Phillip is currently in the UK to raise awareness about the plight of the Durban-based shack-dweller movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Written by ANiSA Associate

On 20 April 2010, the shack dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo released a statement speaking out against the sustained intimidation, oppression, and violence that Abahlali have endured at the hands of the ruling party, the ANC, specifically the organized attack against them on Kennedy Road on 28 September 2009.

Abahlali baseMjondolo are not a threat to national peace and security but are a social movement seeking the basics for survival.

This emerged at ‘A Conversation with Abahlali' organised jointly by Diakonia Council of Churches and the Democracy Development Programme on 29 April. The purpose of the conversation was to listen to Abahlali and accord the public a chance to ask questions regarding this movement.