shannon in south africa

"Fire & Hope" - Almost 10 years later....

2011-09-20T10:14:00.002-04:00

See more on CitizenShift

In the last few weeks I met with many of the 'stars' that appeared in my short film "Fire & Hope" in 2002. It's amazing that it's been almost 10 years since we did this project -- and it's been so interesting to follow all these kids as they made their way through the world. It's really an extended family!

One of the 'stars' has continued a career in doccies! Check out Glitterboys and Ganglands

Kickstarter Rick Turner writing project

2011-02-01T17:35:00.007-05:00

We are at the last 2 week push of my dear friend Billy's writing project on Kickstarter. We uploaded a short video now too that you should check out if you have a moment here.

Billy is trying to raise a small amount of funds to get a manuscript ready on the life and work of South African educator and radical philosopher Richard Turner who was assassinated at 36 by the apartheid state.

The way Kickstarter works is that if you don't reach your goal you don't receive any of the pledged funding, so this last $1000 is critical.
The great thing is you get something back for your pledge -- a copy of the book, a DVD, a CD and other 'gifts' depending on the amount.

Thanks so much for helping keep great, radical, work alive!

Help build a house for the kids

2010-08-31T13:42:00.004-04:00

If you are having problems with the Chip-In as some people seem to be, you can also make a secure transfer via Pay-Pal directly to my email, or send a check by post.

The New Land

2010-03-01T14:24:00.001-05:00

Inkani

2008-09-19T21:15:00.008-04:00

Inkani traces the growing resistance of poor communities over the last seven years in Durban, including the violent evictions in Bayview, the Ten Rand march, the Marcel King shooting and the Abahlali base Mjondolo marches and victories.

Shannon Walsh & Heinrich Bohmke (2006)

Crossmoor shackdwellers march on city demanding housing, water, and toilets

2007-06-20T09:54:00.000-04:00

About 500 people from the Chatsworth community of Crossmoor marched on city hall today in demand of housing, water and sanitation. The community is insisting that the city provides immediate access to water and toilets for the more than 300 families that have been living for nearly 12 months without either.

The memorandum outlining the plight of the shack dwellers was meant for the eyes of City Manager Mike Sutcliffe. Yet Sutcliffe was nowhere to be found.

Visven Reddy and Paris Singh, both Chatsworth councilors, came forward to accept the memorandum, but the community refused to hand it over to either of them. Both councilors, they insisted, had been contacted numerous times and knew the issues well, yet had done nothing to rectify the situation.

The lively crowd resolved to wait for someone who would take their demands seriously. Finally eThekwini's Housing Department Head, Couglan Pather, arrived to accept the memorandum.

After a heated discussion, Falakhe "Fundise" Mhlongo told Pather that the community will give the city seven days to respond to their demands. If after seven days there is still no water and no toilets, they will connect their own water and make the streets their toilets.

They cannot wait any longer, he insisted.

Part of the Crossmoor settlement has a case in court after the city tried to forcibly evict them, leaving many homeless for months. Another portion of residents came to the land in Crossmoor after being forced out of the nearby Bottlebrush settlement while it was being upgraded.

Udaka

2007-06-13T08:36:00.000-04:00

Gcina Shange rocks it in a durban shack settlement. Our latest endeavour as From The Well productions. Udaka means 'mud' and the song talks about coming from the shacks....

Blocking the G8- Ten days in Germany

2007-06-10T07:30:00.000-04:00

Just returned from the protests in Germany against the G8. We successfully blockaded a few of the major roads, caused some good mayhem, and were able to form links with autonomous movements all across Europe. An amazing experience. I will write a full reflection in the next few days with a few more pictures from the event. Seeing the millions of cracks, or 'the million bee stings' John Holloway was calling it, was inspiring, even if in some ways the politics of the North that found most expression here might not have real resonance with the South, I think some of our everyday practices are more alike than we think.

Crossmoor Residents Blockade Road, Demand Water and Toilets

2007-05-01T04:22:00.000-04:00

April 28th, 2007

Billows of black smoke stood out against the white sky in Crossmoorjust after dawn on Saturday morning. A few hundred shack dwellers fromCrossmoor settlement (called Ekupholeni, or "a place to relax" byresidents) blockaded Crossmoor Drive with burning tires.

With the sun having set on Freedom Day only hours before, it wasdisheartening to see placards held by the protestors which read "Wewant toilets and water" and "This is a better life for all?"Their demands were a sad reflection of the actual state of affairs forso many South Africans more than a decade after so-called Freedom.

Ekupholeni settlement braces against the slope of a hill in Crossmoor,Chatsworth, and is home to nearly 200 people, a majority of which areheaded by women with children."This is not what we fought for. We need toilets, we need water. We can't continue to live like this." beseeched Falakhe "Fundise" Mhlongo, one of the community leaders.

Fundise knows what he is talking about. He is one of the hundreds inthe area who have been struggling to find any shelter at all. Many people have come to Ekupholeni after having been forced out of nearby Bottlebrush shack settlement and they literally have no where else togo. At the same time, the City's Protection Services have been destroying any structures that are erected in the area, forcing people to sleep in the bush and open air.

Only a few weeks ago a young woman was raped when her shack was broken down by municipal services and she was forced to sleep in the open bush. The perils of living under this kind of pressure can barely be imagined.

Compounding the stress of homelessness, or eminent homelessness, there is not water or toilets accessible on the site. At the moment, people make their way anyway they can, using water from a local tuck shop or sympathetic neighbours, and attempting to find some dignity in the surrounding bushes.

The police had a large presence at Saturday's blockade, but chose to attempt mediation with community leaders rather than forcibly breakingup the protest. A woman with a toilet seat around her neck may have hit a sympathetic note with the officers.

SAPS Superintendent Ram Chunder, explained that, "since there are children and women involved, and there seems to be real grievances,we'd like to see if we can help resolve this through mediation. We are trying to get a meeting with the local councilor and Mike Sutcliff to at least see if some water storage facilities could be put in."

A small delegation of community members went with the SAPS mediatorsto Metro Police station in the hopes of meeting with Minority Frontcouncilor Paris Singh and City Manager Mike Sutcliffe.

"We need water and toilets and we want them to act."

At Metro Police station neither City Manager Mike Sutcliff or ParisSingh appeared. Apparently they were both away on holiday. Arepresentative for Singh who did met with the delegation told thecommunity to expect a visit from the councilor in the coming days.

It doesn't look like residents of Ekupholeni should hold their bladders.

At least 2 are dead after terrible fire in Kennedy Road this weekend

2007-05-01T04:17:00.000-04:00

While many people vacationed this long weekend, Kennedy Road was again the site of tragedy. The worst fire yet to hit the settlement left at least 2 people dead and hundreds homeless.

With so many people homeless and left with no belongings there will need to be a serious amount of fundraising and support done in the coming days.

Posted below is the article written about the fire in The Mercury. It's a terrible situation, a product of the way in which people are forced to live: with no electricity, burning candles and paraffin, in shacks made of scraps that burn so easily. Fires like this one are so preventable if only the city would take seriously the plight of the poor.

For comment or to offer support - building materials, food, blankets, medical assistance - please contact Thobile Hlongwa at 094 758 6875

Two die in Kennedy Road shack fire, by Bronwyn Gerretsen

Making Movies in Lacey Road

2007-04-20T06:22:00.000-04:00

Over the last few months I've been running video workshops with youth in Lacey Road. It's been really enjoyable and the first round of videos are almost done. Here are some shots of one of the crews hard at work on their production, a fiction about the perils faced by a girl living in Lacey Road.

Contribute caregiver kits!

2007-04-20T06:13:00.000-04:00

Over the next few months we will be starting a drive to create home-based care kits for caregivers working in Kennedy Road, Lacey Road and some of the other shack settlements in Durban.

Caregivers are working as volunteers in the settlements to look after those suffering from HIV and AIDS. With so little, they are doing so much to take care of people in their communties.

Volunteers we spoke to expressed an urgent need for simple kits with basics like bandages and latex gloves to help them do their work better.

The kits will include antibacterial soap, petroleum jelly to moisturize and protect dry skin to prevent infection, antifungal cream, cotton balls to clean mouths and sores, latex gloves, washcloths, notebooks and pens to keep records, and a flashlight with batteries in case patients need help in the night.

If you would like to help by contributing a kit, holding an event to fundraise for caregiver kits, or donate funds towards makign kits please email me:
shannondawnwalsh at gmail dot com

For Martha

2007-04-11T08:12:00.000-04:00

I've not been writing much about the personal experiences, struggles, connections and trails I've been having working in Kennedy Road, Lacey Road and Crossmoor.

I'm spending a huge amount of time these days, especially in Kennedy Road, dealing with emergencies around health and poverty. But it's also been a lovely time of quiet moments in the night around candle-light sharing silence and stories, the family dramas, the laughter and the daily annoyances. The growing pains of some of the youth, and the inching along through a difficult system to get grants, education, health care. Some things have been hard to write about here - it seems easier to write about formal politics than the intimacies of the struggle for bare life, sickness, and sadness.

But there are stories to tell.

Easter weekend was a hard one. On Good Friday we lost Martha Mthembu. Mother to 6. Thirty years old. Only one month younger than I am.

I will dearly miss her, but we will dignify and glorify her memory through the absolutely divine children she left behind and who I am, I must admit, quite smitten with.

For them, for now.

Kennedy 5 admitted to prison hospital after 8 days of hunger strike

2007-04-11T07:29:00.000-04:00

Terrible news of the deteriorating condition of the 5 men in Westville prison. Friday will see everyone in court again, hopefully with some progress made.

Last night there was a rally and small march from the Kennedy Road hall to the Sydenham Police station focused on Glen Nayager. Their list of greviences included charges of racism, criminilisation of the poor, 'making poverty a crime', and the lack of respect for shackdwellers' homes. The memorandum they prepared also focused on how police are protecting and working with criminals, working with enemies of Abahlali, threatening journalists, not allowing cases to be opened against police and ignoring crimes against shackdwellers.

The police banned the march and S'bu and other leaders ended up chatting with the notorious Nayager at the Kennedy Road office while people gathered in the hall danced and sang.

Later a small group of 14 marched on the station to hand over a detailed memorandum to Nayager. The full memorandum is here.

It's worrying that stronger solidarity is not being built in a situation in which the five jailed men are becoming increasingly ill. The case has been confusing and complicated, that, mixed with perhaps fears from the communtiy might be partially responsible. Hopefully Friday will see the release of the men so that a more detailed investigation can be conducted.

Kennedy Road Arrests on Human Rights Day

2007-03-23T05:31:00.000-04:00

Last week I was home in Montreal. It's amazing the amount of shit that can happen in such a short amount of time.

The latest disturbing news is that on the 21st of March, 9 residents of Kennedy Road were arrested, including Ma Gwala who I've written about before here and whoes family I've been very close with over the last year. The arrests appear to have targeted members of the Kennedy Road Development Forum, and Abahlali.

From first hand reports it seems that, as usual, the Sydenham police acted with brutality, headed by the notorious Sgt. Glen Nayager. Nayager is known to be violent and oppressive against residents of shack settlements in the area. Police brutality originating from the Sydenham station has been the focus of many reports over the last few years and can not be understated.

Details about the incident and updates on what is happening can be found here.

Crossmoor has also had a major turn of events since I've been gone, which I'll write about more extensively once I have had a chance to visit the site and hear from people there.

The state of emergency for poor people in this city does not cease.

This is what democracy looks like

2007-02-27T09:39:00.000-05:00

Bayview flat dwellers resist the installation of pre-paid meters

In a heated exchange yesterday morning Bayview flat dwellers drove eThekweni Municipality contractors out of Bayview when they arrived to install pre-paid electricity meters.

Bayview flat dwellers had not been consulted about the pre-paid meters and refused their installation. As one resident stated bluntly, “We can not afford to have to pay for electricity. The meters have only R5 credit. It’s the middle of the month. When that R5 runs out what are we suppose to do for the rest of the month?”

While residents managed to avert the installation of the meters, the battle was not yet over. In an antagonistic move later that afternoon, the municipality cut power from ten blocks of flats in Bayview housing 36 families. Many of the flat dwellers who had their electricity cut were in good standing and had their electricity bills paid in full.

After waiting hours for power to be reconnected, over 200 Bayview flat dwellers descended upon the home of councilor T. Palan, demanding he emerge from his home and address the people who had voted him to power over these disconnections.

Chanting “This is what democracy looks like” flat dwellers sat in the street waiting for some admission that the councilor would live up to his promises. At a community meeting just the day before Palan had promised to take seriously the concerns of Bayview flat dwellers. By Monday, residents were shocked and outraged that plans had gone ahead to install the pre-paid meters and further, that their power had been illegally cut by the municipality.

Councilor Palan did not emerge from his house to address the crowd.

Late into the evening word finally came through that officials had reconnected electricity to the ten blocks of flats. The crowd erupted in cheers, disbursing only after delivering a memorandum which issued a vote of no-confidence to councilor Palan.

For more information about the ongoing situation in Bayview contact:
Brandon Pillay 072 283 7746
Orlean Naidoo 072 67102901

Eviction looms for residents of Crossmoor

2007-02-27T05:18:00.000-05:00

Urgent action is planned over the next few days as members of the Crossmoor community prepare to resist eviction from the land they have been living on for the last nine months. The courts will hear the cases of 110 residents who have contested the eviction on the grounds that they have nowhere else to go. They continue to occupy the open field where their shacks once stood, under blazing sun and pouring rain. March 1st the city is slated to forcibly evict everyone left looking for shelter on this land. The community has vowed not to give up without a fight.

In mid-February, after nine months of hoping that justice would grant them even the most basic form of shelter, the residents of Crossmoor shack settlement were served with eviction notices. Only 13 shacks remained standing after protection services demolished the houses of the 380 residents who had been living there. Since August people remained on the land in whatever way they could: out in the open field, sleeping in the bush, hiding for shelter in the stairwells of nearby flats, or seeking refuge in the homes of kind neighbours in the area. "We are not animals. We cannot live out here in the bush! We are tired,” expressed community leader, Fundise.

Only one toilet stands on the site and there is no water. Local residents donate water and electricity when they can. In an area where many people don't have a lot to begin with, the strain is beginning to take its toll on the community and patience is at a breaking point.

And patience is about all the consolation Crossmoor residents have at the moment. The High Court once again postponed their case against the city for illegally demolishing their shacks. In December, they were told they would have to wait until May, nearly six months, before their case would be heard. In the meantime, 24 hour private security guards were hired by the city to keep watch over the settlement, ensuring that not a single new structure was erected. Not even a tarp for protection from the rain or the scorching sun. It was under these conditions that eviction notices were served, stating that the remaining 13 shacks would now go to, and everyone would be forcibly removed.

Surooj, who was one of the first residents of this settlement and who was lucky enough to remain in one of the 13 shacks, was evicted from her former residence when she lost her job and was unable to pay the rent. She said she was angry and depressed when she got the news that the city was going to evict her from the shack she had built in Crossmoor on March 1st.

"We are going to contest the evictions. What can we do? We are desperate. The conditions are bad, it's not healthy living for us at all – one toilet – but there is not much we can do."

February 7th, only days after the eviction notice was served, residents lined up throughout the evening to help each other sign individual letters of contestation against the eviction. They were deposited the following morning to the High Court and to the city's attorneys, each telling the story of how they have no where else to go.

But serving contestations to their eviction felt like too little for many of those left homeless and sleeping in the open air. As one community member decried, “"We are here about one year now. We tried to build our shack but they broke them down. They can't just broke our shacks down because we are the poors…Tonight we will rebuild our shacks. It's the only thing we can do.”

In desperation many of those who had been left homeless attempted to rebuild shacks. Working together from dusk till dawn a number of new, sturdy shacks were constructed for those who had no choice left but to try to find some kind of shelter. Within hours of the rising sun the police and Protection Services reacted with vengeance.

One father was setting the final touches on a rudimentary shelter for his wife and their three young children when Protection Services brutally axed apart their home. Sleepless and at the end of his rope, he gathered together a small piece of foam and bent it into an upside-down ‘V’ to protect his small infant and 2 year-old from the sweltering mid-morning sun.

“I will just have to start again. I have no roof to put over my children’s head’s tonight,” he lamented, staring at the shattered remains of the home he tried to give his family. Before coming to Crossmoor they had been living in a car.

Anxiously people tried to save their homes from destruction, including pensioners, young women and families with small children. They were met with gunfire as Protection Services and the police shot rubber bullets indiscriminately into the crowd. One man was shot in the chest and the hand.

After demolishing the last hope for shelter many of these people had in a callous show of insensitivity the 'servants of the community' returned that afternoon and set ablaze the materials that remained from the destructed shacks.

With little hope of successfully rebuilding and no where else to go things are looking very bleak in Crossmoor. But Crossmoor residents have decided that they will not leave without a fight. Many have said they will die on the land rather than be forced out.

The demands being articulated in Crossmoor are for shelter at its most minimal level: the demand for a house in this situation is a demand for the most basic ability to place even a tarpaulin over one's head. To fight for the right not just to a house, but for a shack, for a plastic sheet, for shelter from the elements. And again we see the city operate in such distasteful ways, as though the poor are expendable, beyond the law, living in a state of exception. Crossmoor reminds us of the growing number of people who are not only being denied access to water, electricity and decent homes, but who are being denied the very right to life itself.

Where does the city think these people will go? The battle will not end on March 1st. The residents of Crossmoor will not leave this land quietly. They have no choice but to resist.

sub_mare

2007-02-12T04:12:00.000-05:00

We won't pay to discuss our own poverty!

2007-02-04T04:22:00.000-05:00

Activist interventions into the 'open space' of the World Social Forum

"The World Social Forum is suppose to be a space for us, but we are denied entry if we can't pay the 500ksh ($7us). We shouldn't have to pay to discuss our own poverty!" decried David Odhambo Ayimo, a local activist from the Nairobi slums on day two of the World Social Forum in Nairobi. About 300 people had gathered outside the gates of the Kasarani sports complex. Comrades from South Africa and elsewhere joined Nairobi activists to demand free entry to the WSF for Kenyans.

Trevor Ngwane from the Anti-Privatization Forum spoke to the crowd. "We are very unhappy that the local people of Kenya cannot go in here, because this World Social Forum is about poor people, about the unemployed, about the working class."

Singing and chanting the group marched through the gates erupting in jubilant cheering as entry was gained. This simple, but concrete action won the spontaneous coalition's first victory. As the action died down, Orlean Naidoo from the Westcliff Residents Association in Durban told her newly found Nairobi comrades "I don't want to be inside with the NGO types, but out here with the real people who are suffering the same things we have at home in South Africa."

Later that afternoon, in the occupied offices of the Secretariat, answers were demanded from Professor Edward Oyugi about the high entrance fees, the telecommunications corporation CelTel's monopoly at the forum, volunteer mistreatment and the high prices for food and water.

"If we said all poor people could come to Kasarani for free," Oyugi explained, "I can tell you, there would be no space here to walk." The crowd erupted: "But that's what want! That is what the World Social Forum is all about! Another world is possible!"

"We learned socialism from you, and now it is the students who must teach the teacher?"

By day four, the protests had moved to the Windsor Hotel food-vending tent, which was owned by the notorious Minister of Internal Security, where exorbitant prices made food inaccessible for Kenyans and others on a limited budget.

Falsely described in some local reports as a group of "40 street children who raided the tent of a food caterer" and who prompted "anarchist chaos", the group was large and diverse. Those who spoke had a clear anti-capitalist message.

Frances O., one of the more vocal young activists, spoke directly to the WSF participants who were enjoying cappuccinos under the tents of the exclusive Windsor Hotel restaurant. "They are stealing from us! They are selling water. Next they will be selling air. This is suppose to be the World Social Forum, not the World Capitalist Forum!" The activists included many new faces from those I'd seen at the other protests, yet they were equally loud, passionate and principled in their analysis.

"Join us!" implored Frances. "This is not right". Very few WSF participants stood up from their shaded seats to stand in solidarity with the protest.

Assumptions early on that perhaps there 'weren't any Kenyan social movements' was further maintained as the protesting activists were depicted as disgruntled hooligans and 'poor people from the slums'. The activists became a sideshow, like the other cultural performers on display in Nairobi -- discussed and observed – from a distance, and preferably over a Tusker beer or a Kenyan coffee under the shade of the Windsor Hotel tent. The principle that the forum was "opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital" was understood differently indeed.

Even without the physical solidarity of the majority of WSF participants concessions were won, yet it was sad and ironic that these concessions had to be demanded from the forum itself.

I admit that I felt hopeful, at least, with these young people, and ran around with a camera trying to capture their energy and message. At the same time, hope was mixed with sadness.

These battles are not rhetorical, as was starkly clear to me as I watched a group of five men split the 'spoils' from the 'pillaged' food stalls. A single packet of sugar was shared out between them, one man studiously pouring small portions of sugar into each outstretched hand. Is this the socialism we imagined to be taking place at the WSF?

Open Space or a farce of solidarity?

Something certainly felt wanting in Nairobi. There can be little doubt that domination of the formal WSF space by church groups and large NGOs (and one felt there was more than a tinge of nepotism and patronage in these relationships) sapped out some of the more radical analysis in favor of developmentalist agendas. It may also have been the significantly fewer number of young people at this forum (only 250 in the youth camp in Nairobi compared to 30,000 in Porto Alegre) that robbed the space of creative energy and fresh insight. There was also the much discussed visible lack of Kenyans in many of the panels I attended, likely due to the high entrance fees.

Regardless of the possible reasons, the under-representation of Kenyans and African social movements was stark, especially in contrast to the domination of Northerners. I must agree with Firoze Manji's remarks that "one couldn't help feel the absence of politics" during a week in which "social movements from the South were conspicuous by their numerically small presence at the forum".

In this light, focusing on the disruption caused by Kenyan activists around the exclusion of the poor from the Nairobi WSF becomes clearer. Of course the protests created a media spectacle, appreciated by activists and journalists hungry for 'action'. But it is not just for the spectacle of their struggle that the protests emerged as an important way in which to understand the WSF in Kenya. It also made stark the contradictions, bored rhetoric, complacencies and omissions in how the space is being actualized.

The WSF's principle of creating "an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate" and "free exchange of ideas…by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism" looks good on paper, but is it possible within the current depoliticized construction of the forum? It is a negligent optimism that imagines that when you open the doors (more or less, as some fees apply) you erase the structures of capitalism that mark our interactions not only within the world but within our organizations, our lives and our relationships. (And, please, don't open the doors too widely, because we'd be swamped with the masses!)

An 'open space' is of course a space where contestations can, and should, occur. Yet it is telling that many of our comrades from Nairobi spent so much time and energy demanding entry into the forum rather than building links, exchanging ideas, discussing the issues they face, and solidifying networks. The mere struggle to access the space, to eat and to drink water became central preoccupation around the WSF for many of the poorest activists in Kenya.

Clearly, the WSF is not truly a space for those struggling to survive or to find solutions towards sustaining bare life at any immediate level. When confronted by the actual masses and the lessons, struggles, and ideas that they might bring to the table, 'we' (the elite which travels the world to attend these meetings), watch unmoved, as 'they' divide up the sugar.

If we are honest, we must either claim that there is no role for the 'poor' in this space, no means to strategize with a starving person, or that we have failed in the project, even the miniscule one, of finding adequate ways to speak to one another and build together in contexts like this one. Kenyan social movements may have had something to say about the struggle for a better world beyond poverty, but what ironically blocked them from saying it was their very poverty itself.

Within a terrain organized to include petty capitalists, exploited workers, market forces, Northern domination, academic and NGO supremacy, and the disempowered poor, we must admit the Left looked like a caricature of itself. It is a zone of bad faith. We have created a carelessly, callously, exclusionary space. And for those that do consider themselves part of the masses (such as the Orlean's and Trevor's amongst us) the battle in these moments becomes one of asking for concessions from the WSF, not from neoliberalism.

Tragically, when we have a space in which we could actualize another possible world, we fail miserably, barely even making a gesture towards creating something outside this political economy. We assume on a micro-level the structures and inequities of capital with only a minor amount of apprehension. If this is the way that world might look, I'm not sure I'm interested.

I don't know that it's not even more of an ironic tragedy that while the gleaming towers of multi-nationals remain untouched, and while Davos goes ahead without protest, the organizers of the WSF come under attack and the food vendors in Nairobi have their packets of sugar appropriated. If the WSF is not a vehicle of struggle, not part of a program of action between these players and movements, it's telling that it becomes hobbled with expectations of something better within its very interior. Petitions and grievances from the poorest among us are starting to seem best brought to the foot of the WSF and a Left who hasn't done much for them lately and is promising nothing.

Realities like these may be one indicator for why attendance of WSF has been declining. The actions of the Nairobi activists peeled away the veneer of 'commonality within difference' to show our disabilities around actualizing a creative space in which that is possible. 'Sharing' and 'coming together' is depoliticized, missing the power at work in any space and therefore replicating it. Celebrating horizontality without situating responsibility is a dangerous omission. Under the shade of the Windsor hotel, we must admit there is a farce of solidarity.

The contradictions that surfaced through the protests taught us very little about this 'other world' we are meant to be building. How can we digest the interactions and 'solidarities' that broke down, and will continue to break down within this style of engagement?

Of course there were many important achievements made at the WSF that shouldn't be overlooked. Still, it is important to not only romanticize our solidarity, but to analyze our exclusions. If another world is possible, ways of actually creating a responsible, politicized, horizontal space on a broad scale without reinforcing the 'world that exists' are questions that linger for me post-Nairobi.

*Pictures by Lenore Cairncross

Crossmoor in court

2006-12-21T02:51:00.000-05:00

Crossmoor residents appeared at the high court last week only to have their case pushed back again, this time till May. The shacks of Crossmoor residents were destroyed by the city and now hundreds of people, most children, have been left out in the open. A 24-hour security and police presence ensures they do not erect any new structures, even to sheild people from the rain.

No shacks in KZN by 2010

2006-11-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

Mike Mabuyakhulu strikes again. The Kwazulu-Natal housing MEC again has publically announced that the department would 'eradicate all squatter camps' by 2010, evidently just in time for the World Cup. He made this statement as part of the launch of a multi-million-rand slum-clearance project in KwaMbonambi.

As reported in the Sunday Tribune, Mabuyakhulu said legislation would give "municipalities more powers to deal with the scourge of land invasion and to stop the proliferation of slums".

There will be dark days ahead for Abahlali as the pressure increases.

Read the article on the new Abahlali baseMjondolo website. It looks like Raj Patel and other Abahlali members have been working hard to collect an amazing amount of materials for the site. Very worth checking out.

close-up

2006-11-13T14:13:00.000-05:00

Not entirely relevant to this blog, but this is a short experimental film I made. Can't say I totally understood this reading of the film, but this is what the good folks at the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival had to say:

"This film shows a clear portrayal of American foreign relations as depicted through the fractured prism that is feminine society. Just long enough to have re-occurring characters, the film uses them to seduce even the peripheral viewers, black widows speaking in tongues, they are of a fearsome level of coquettish beauty." - Roscoe Zipco

SHELL and BP "Pain of Africa" protest

2006-11-10T15:11:00.000-05:00

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) & groundWork held a protest yesterday, pictured above, outside the Shell refinery in South Durban. They are continuing to urge communities to stand united against corporate power which puts profit over people’s health and well-being.

Over the last three weeks there have been accidents, fires and explosions coming from the Shell & BP (SAPREF) Refinery in south Durban, exposing residents to cancer causing toxins and other noxious elements. People's homes are literally feet away from the towering smokestacks.

The refinery is smack in the middle of poor Indian and black communities just outside of Durban. It is one of the most accident prone refineries in the region, and over the last number of years, it has been the cause of devastating environmental and health damage. (The picture here is of the Engen refinery in Wentworth)

SDCEA and groundWork held public discussion of the effects of the refineries on the health of people in the area in addition to holding this protest. They are calling for negotiations with Shell to respect their obligations to reduce pollution in Durban.

A picture of Sapref, the Shell and BP-owned refinery on "Black Wednesday", April 2004 .

This is a good background article (and also where I stole the picture from)

Major Crisis as eThekwini Municipality Violently and Illegally Evicts

2006-11-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

As predicted, evictions worsen. Motala Heights is the latest target. This is the press release from the events of the last few days. Evictions are violent, and the police are treating people without dignity or respect. Pictures by Richard Ballard.

Major Crisis as eThekwini Municipality Violently and Illegally Evicts Shackdwellers in the Motala Heights Settlement (Pinetown)

On 1 November 2006, in Motala Heights, armed municipal security watched as municipal workers loaded building materials from shacks they had demolished a few days earlier and children played in the sites where their homes once stood. This was the fourth time the municipality had visited the area since Saturday 28 October and each visit had been devastating. They had fired guns, used spray guns on people, hurled insults, and threatened leaders. By sheer force the municipality had rendered more than 15 families homeless.

Abahlali baseMjondolo, a regional movement of shackdwellers for land and housing, to which the Motala Heights settlement belongs, is furious at these actions. Two months ago, Abahlali baseMjondolo used the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in order to request information on how the housing process will unfold for those living in informal settlements. The request was directed to the city manager on the plans for upgrading shacks in a number of wards, as well as for new housing developments. The government had 30 days in order to reply. Towards the end of this period, the municipality requested and extension of another 30 days, which was granted and is set to end this Monday, 6 November. Therefore, these demolitions occurred in spite of the fact that Abahlali members including those from Motala Heights were still waiting for information concerning issues of informal settlement clearance. Zandile Nsibande, Committee member of Abahlali, commented that

'It is amazing what they are doing in Motala heights because we are waiting for answers to our 'w' questions (what, when, where and how houses will be delivered) which the municipality promised to give us on the 6th'.

The ordeal began at 8:00 am on Saturday morning 28 October 2006, when about 30 metro security arrived driving vehicles with NDM number plates. They brought with them a further 15 unskilled labourers with large hammers. Shack dwellers reported that the demolition team was lead by Bhekani Ntuli and Kumbuzile Mkhize of the Housing department, while the security team was led by Mr Mthembu. Without any warning, the
demolition team set about demolishing shacks in various parts of the settlements. The shacks still contained furniture, clothes, groceries and other belongings. It was believed that the timing of the clearance (Saturday) was deliberately intended to stifle attempts to get court interdicts against the demolitions.

Shacks were not demolished in one part of the settlement but rather were scattered throughout. Owners of these shacks were transferred to Nazareth housing development in ward 16. Some of those remaining believe that the allocation of houses to these people was not done on a fair and transparent basis but was rather based on a close relationship with the councillor. As one resident said: 'If you have a connection to the Branch Executive Committee of the ANC, which is aligned with the councillor, you are allocated a new house. Others are not.'

Furthermore, even among those shacks that had been allocated housing, only one family per shack had been accommodated in the new housing development. Others living in each shack, therefore, were left stranded. Abahlali has been consistently critical of the municipality's one house, one shack approach to housing because it leaves many homeless.

'This is why Abahlali has been campaigning for one family one house, not one shack one house' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson of Abahlali). Many of those left homeless had been staying in these shacks for a number of years and in some cases for more than 12 years.

About 19 people slept either in other shacks or in the open on Saturday night. On Sunday 29 October, the settlement was filled with echoes of hammers as shacks were being hastily reconstructed by those left homeless. The municipality visited in order to check which shacks were being rebuilt.

On Tuesday 31 October, the municipality returned in order to re-demolish the newly erected shacks. Mr Ngcobo, an elected community leader attempted to present a letter that had been sent by Shanta Reddy, a lawyer acting on behalf of the community to the Mayor (Obed Mlaba) and City Manager (Mike Sutcliffe). The letter was intended to point out that such evictions would be illegal and the local authority should not
proceed with them. The security staff refused to look at the letter and proceeded to pepper spray Mr. Ngcobo from close range. Shots were fired and people scattered. Mr. Ngcobo then attempted to hand it to a SAPS member saying this was a letter to the mayor. He replied sarcastically that the mayor for the area was 'Mr Govendor', a neighbouring land owner. (Attempts to lay a charge of assault for being pepper sprayed the same day were stonewalled by police at Pinetown police station).

Although the land on which the Motala shack settlement is built is owned by the municipality, many report that Mr. Govendor is putting pressure on the councillor, Mr Dimba, to clear the shacks. All land adjacent to the settlement is currently undeveloped. Mr Dimba told the shack dwellers recently that they must go back to the farm where they came from.

On Wednesday 1 November, the team from the municipality returned in order to remove the timber and other building materials, and remained from 9-3pm. Abahlali brought a camera crew that day. A community leader asked if they could retain the metal from the rubble in order to take it to recyclers to sell it for money for food. The reply from a security staff member was that once the camera was gone they would assault him.

During the clearance, it was announced that the entire settlement was to be cleared. The settlement began 30 years ago and now consists of 227 shacks. Recent information suggests that demolitions will resume on Tuesday 7 November. There were also threats that the ablution block and water supply would be destroyed in order to drive away those who did not want to move. This ablution block was built by the government in 2004 and is the only sanitation other than self built pit latrines.

Many say that they are reluctant to move because Nazareth (the new housing development) is near Marianhill in ward 16 while they are in ward 15 near Westmead. Residents depend on living close to their places of employment, normally as domestic workers and gardeners in the nearby suburb of Motala Farm and as workers in the factories of Westmead. Many families also have children enrolled in the good local schools. They have not formally been shown the place of proposed relocation and have no idea what education and other facilities there will be. The spokesperson for Abahlali states that:

'Abahlali supports the National Policy called Breaking New Ground which states that in situ upgrading must be prioritised and relocation should be the last resort' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson for Abahlali)

Those who have seen it say that they houses are of poor quality. Houses at Nazareth are described by some Abahlali members as nothing more than 'Formal Jondolos', or formal shacks, because there is little difference between the new house and the old shack. There is no running water, which makes it impossible to use the toilets. There is no electricity and the floor is rough.

Furthermore, there is a concern by those living in Motala Heights that there might be friction in Nazareth, as a result of the fact that there are informal settlements nearby whose residents are desperate for the housing. Residents of Motala wonder, therefore, why they are being moved in from far away when there are local residents in Ward 16 who would prefer that accommodation.

The situation is currently tense as Motala residents anticipate further demolitions on this coming Tuesday, 7 November. All media are invited to witness the improper housing demolition expected to resume Tuesday. The Legal Resources Centre is attempting to secure a meeting with key people in the city with regards to these demolitions. Monday is also the deadline for the response for the access to information application which was submitted by Abahlali two months ago.

Abahlali believes the current actions of the municipality to be intolerable. 'The way they treat us reminds us of the way we were treated before democracy. This is why they say there is no freedom for the poor' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson for Abahlali). The affected community say they are angry:

'The people from Motala farm are angry and that could lead to friction similar to the clash in Umlazi recently. This kind of treatment makes it difficult for people to cope. A more consultative process where people have inputs on the process would make people less angry' (Bheki Ngcobo)

These events are taking place in the context of pronouncements from local and provincial government that they intend to clear shacks within the next few years. As reported in the Sunday Tribune,

'[The Housing Department's] aim is to eradicate shack settlements by 2010 ... Mabuyakhulu said he wanted the law to be passed before the end of the current financial year. He wants municipalities to employ special units similar to the so-called Red Ants - the shack settlement-clearing security guards in Gauteng which are used to demolish illegal settlements. "Our diplomatic approach is not working. We are now taking a stronger approach," he said.' (Mbanjwa 2006).

(see Mbanjwa, Xolani (2006) 'KZN push for an end to slums' Sunday Tribune. 23 April 2006. Also see article by same journalist on p five of Sunday Tribune 5 November 2006)

In response to the slum clearance policy of the government, the spokesperson for Abahlali states:

'What does this mean? Does it mean that everyone will get a house or that shacks will be demolished even if people are not allocated a house? If everyone is allocated a house we will appreciate that. But if not, it means that the street kids will be joined by street families as the government throws people out of their shacks.' (Mnikelo Ndabankulu)

As it waits for the response of the municipality to its diplomatic and legal request for information, Abahlali continues to mobilize shackdwellers to ask questions and demand answers from the municipality.

The Fear of Umbrellas and the Handcuffed Homeless

2006-11-07T08:23:00.000-05:00

Below is a great article by Heinrich about the evictions in Crossmoor and the wrongful arrest of Sbu Zikode and Philani Zungu. Evictions have been really picking up by eThekwini. The months ahead will likely to be filled with many more scenes like this and visits to the courts.

The Fear of Umbrellas and the Handcuffed Homeless
by Heinrich Böhmke, 15 September 2006

Much of the academic and activist reporting on social
struggles in Durban is overblown, sentimental (in the worst
sense of the word) and serving more to promote the
reporters and display their eloquent indignation than to
build these movements or nurture their autonomy. As
Desai's timely Harold Wolpe lecture showed, this style of
operation - and style of being - is silly and dangerous.
It prevents a proper assessment of where we really are,
what we are capable of, how power operates between 'us'
and, importantly, what is to be done. As we have seen
recently, we can't even ask these questions without
hysterical turf-wars erupting and all that goes with it:
the e-mail slanging matches, sulking, lies,
self-righteousness, paranoia.

So it is with trepidation that I add to the noise coming
from Durban, either by sounding sentimental myself or
provoking the wrath of whatever band of commentators has
already staked claim to the groups I am going to speak
about.

This week, after months of skulking and shirking, I went
with a friend to the site of an eviction. Where wooden
homes had been, there were only soft indentations in the
soil now. I observed an elderly woman in one of five small
family groups gathered around a fire in a pit in Crossmore,
Chatsworth, in terrible weather, open an umbrella. As she
performed this precise and tiny act, she was watched over
by 8, 24-hour security guards and two 4x4 Protection
Services vans filled with armed men. This woman was part of
a group of homeless people who had earlier been living in
20 shacks erected on that piece of land for two week
already. This original act was illegal, alright, but since
they had occupied this site for a long enough period,
according to the law they could not be evicted without a
Court order.

When the Durban Council sent their men to evict them, the
community rustled up some lawyers and achieved an interdict
to stop the demolition last Friday. On Sunday, the very
day their victory was noted in the press, the City Council
demolishers arrived anyway and broke half of these same
structures down, including the shack of the granny with the
umbrella. I got this stuff on tape. It was ugly. The
city's men were shown the interdict. They read and
understood it. They apparently consulted with Sutcliffe as
it all happened. But, it is fair to say, they took the
tactical risk that it was better to completely flout the
law and risk censure from essentially toothless courts (in
matters holding government agents accountable) than to
allow this idea, this methodology, this proliferation of
even flimsy parasols, to spread.

Some people see rank evil in the Council men's acts. It is
hard not to. But, for the first time in a long while,
there was a whiff of desperation mixed in there too. I've
seen the tide turn against me enough to recognise the first
squints of hesitance creep into the gaze of others. Back
to the tattered umbrella. Sitting out in the open, with
her shack newly voided and the material charted away and
with her worldly goods and a small fire at her knees, the
granny I watched fingered the catch on the stem and opened
the scraggly thing. It was just unfurled when the 4x4
doors opened, the security came loping and the granny was
rounded upon, howled at, accused of erecting a structure
and ordered to take it down "immediately". A bullshit
defence, "following explicit orders", they said. Evil. Of
course. Nevertheless, I believe them about the
instructions on the suppression of umbrellas. Desperation!

Still, I was not sure though until I saw Council's replying
affidavit in the on-going court battle. There are 300,000
completely homeless people in this province (their
figures). If just 10% of them get the notion that they can
force government's hand by actions such as the
Crossmorians, there will be:- a, b, c, d. As I read the
list of bad things in their affidavit that would happen if
this small band were left unmolested, it sounded a lot like
an insurrection.

While we were witnessing this umbrella incident, my pal and
I were told of Sbu Zikhode and Philani Zungu's arrest.
Although we do ourselves (and our own mental health) no
good by actually believing the conspiracy theories we
sometimes put out there, the trumped up nature of the
charges against these leaders of abaHlali and the racist
illogic of it all is plain to see. Also plain to see is
the hatred and fear of Black people on the part of certain
cops. But to miss the fact that the tearer-down-in-chief
of shacks in Crossmore was African and the squatters mostly
Indian, while the most enthusiastic oppressor of Sbu and
Philani was Indian but got on famously with his crew of
African gun-slingers =96 is to misunderstand and, in fact,
deny the brilliant nature of the oppression of abaHlali
that is now suddenly, barbarically, here. The cops' hatred
and fear for all races of homeless people is rabidly
ideological. It flows from the sort of bilious enmity that
produces politics. It feeds on the fear of an eneny become
formidable.

Again, I was not too sure about this. But having bluffed
my way into the police-station to consult with my
"clients", I saw Sbu unnecessarily lying on the ground,
hands cuffed behind his back with Philani propped up
against the wall moaning from his "resisting arrest,
slipping on soap" injuries. I did not abandon my role. I
tried to reach a deal with the arresting officers; a fresh
faced young constable and his surly searge.

They were having none of me. But then the phone calls
began. To this little prick. First someone he knew.
Seemed high up. Super. Then, one after the other, other
brass phoning him. He told the story three times of the
arrest. During the last call, he fairly stood stiff when
talking to whomever was giving him the 3rd degree,
reassuring, half-apologising for having brought this to
pass, not sure of himself, but too late now to turn back.
Yes, certain cops hate abaHlali with an undisguisedly
racist glee. But some of Constable Bagwanjeen's superiors
were openly happy about Sbu and Philani's arrest for other,
murkier reasons. And some cops were openly unhappy about
Sbu and Philani's arrest, resigned to the danger of it.

I think the last type are the clever ones. The ones who
know already that there is something to fear and hate.
Something almost impersonal in its force, uncotainable.
"Like a tide that is turning", from a song by Kennedy
Road's own choir, the Dlamini King Brothers. I don't claim
to know or speak the truth. These are mere speculations.
But, I sense a feeling in some of the cops I met in
Chatsworth and Sydenham on Tuesday night, that soon it will
be them fetching bowls of water and cloths for abaHlali's
feet not so long into the future.

shack living...

2006-07-12T07:01:00.000-04:00

For the last week, i've been living with Nomvula at Kennedy Road. The experience has been really enlightening. I've had the good grace to meet some amazing people there and make some lasting friendships. At the same time, it's been a really hard experience - things i won't forget easily. I'll update the blog in the next few days with details...

Umlazi on Trail

2006-07-04T03:51:00.000-04:00

UMLAZI MAGISTRATE COURT, July 4, 2006
Yesterday morning at Umlazi Magistrate Court Judge Sam Harrylal presided over the second bail hearing for the two men accused of shooting Komi Zulu. In what appears to be a political assasination, Zulu, a community leader in E-Section Umlazi, was shot and killed at 5 a.m. on June 3rd, 2006.

Zulu was on his way to work when he was attacked by two men who shot him several times before fleeing the scene. The applicants were arrested from Councilor Bhekisas Xulu's residence. One of the men was an occasional driver for the councilor.

The courthouse was packed with more than a hundred community members in red shirts as well as a group of supporters for the applicants wearing ANC t-shirts, some with images of Councilor Xulu. Many people were forced to remain outside the overcapacity courtroom.
Tensions ran high throughout the day, as testimony was heard from the Investigating Officer, Sibusiso James Mbikwana. Testimony was also heard for the defense from regional ANC Youth League leader Sibonelo Mthembu, who offered to house the applicants if released on bail at his place of residence in Chesterville.

Councilor Xulu himself made a brief appearance at the courthouse.

Both Mbikwana and Mthembu agreed under examination that there has been political violence and tension occurring in E-Section since local elections on March 1st, 2006.

As a woman from E-Section explained outside the courthouse, "The people they are scared. These two men are really dangerous. They say today is the day they get out and they say them will come and kill us. But I don't care. There is nothing we can do. If they want to come kill us they will kill us."

The prosecution objected to bail, citing the potential for violence against the applicants or against witnesses in the case. Investigating Officer Mbikwana also recommended that bail not be given to the two accused men.

Mbikwana presented to the court a petition created and signed by nearly 300 community members in Ward 80 pleading for bail to be denied. The petition explained that violence in the community has decreased since the two men had been apprehended.

As the two factions spilled out of the courthouse, tensions mounted, and a number of journalists were threatened for taking photographs, and accused of unfair reporting for not interviewing Councilor Xulu. There was a brief confrontation between the two groups before the crowd began to disperse.

The case will continue this Friday, July 7th at the Magistrate Court in Umlazi.

Fire, water and women in the shack settlements of Durban

2006-06-29T06:34:00.000-04:00

-Image by Nozuko Lulama Hulushe of Kennedy Road stand tap

Arriving in Durban just before the March 2006 municipal elections I was met with the loud cry emerging from around the city: "No land, No house, No vote". Led principally by Abahlali baseMjondolo (shackdweller's movement) in Durban, the call was an indictment of the current municipal regime, echoing earlier calls by the Landless People's Movement in 2003 to withhold votes until land was won (Alexander, 2006). A deepening entrenchment of neo-liberalism in South Africa is fueling the fire in which the rich get richer, and more and more of the country is thrust into poverty, the majority of whom are black. By many estimates there are more than 3 million people living in shack settlements in South Africa. For the poor little seems to have changed since the end of apartheid.

Life in the shacks is untenable. In Kennedy Road, an informal settlement comprising of nearly 7,000 residents, women spend hours of queuing for water at a single stand tap that serves 700. There is only one toilet for hundreds of residents. There is no garbage pick up. There is no electricity. Women speak of the perils of shack fires and the lack of access to water as two points in a revolving cycle of hardships in the settlements. While the city insists homes are being built, the municipality seems more intent on a process of 'removal' and 'Slum Clearance' than on adequately addressing the needs of the poor (Pithouse, 2006).

The situation of shack dwellers draws to light not only understandings around how class is constructed in a post-apartheid context, but as Amanda Alexander and Andile Mngxitama remind us, it also elucidates the deeply raced and gendered oppressions through which neo-liberalism is rooted in South Africa (Alexander & Mngxitama, forthcoming). Nomvula Mdlalose from Kennedy Road writes :

It has been long time since we have been in this place. I’ve even given birth to three children since I have been here. I came here in 1992 when I was young. I haven’t seen any progress or development here. There is only illness from diseases, from TB to HIV, that has taken so many people. They leave behind small children because of AIDS.

Black women are on the front lines of both in terms of the oppression and the resistance to the hardships of life in the shacks. As has also been apparent through the continuing repression of Abahlali baseMjondolo, poor black men continue to feel the systemic oppression meted out by the state through police, prisons and courts on the level of their bodies, as well as through the difficulties of day-to-day life in the shack settlements (Zikode, 2005).

These harsh realities lurk just beneath the glossy surface of the city, potentially unnoticed by visitors. Yet shack dwellers refuse to be silent. A steadily growing mass of communities throughout eThekwini have mobilized under the banner of Abahlali baseMjondolo to demand their right to decent living conditions. Their stories and voices will not go unheard.

The response to shacks

By the city's own admission, there are 205 000 households in the eThekwini municipal region who may have to wait until 2022 to have a home. Without a hint of irony Mayor Obed Mlaba wrote that this is his strategy of 'bringing homes to the people' (Mlaba, 2006).

A child living in a shack today has the mayor's shaky promise of a home once they nearly reach adulthood. This is the appallingly inadequate reality that thousands of people living in shack settlements in Durban are being asked to accept.

It is hard to imagine how a mother might explain the news to her children that it may be 16 more years before it is possible to begin to build a better life.

How would mayor Mlaba explain this news to his own children if he were faced with the situation? How would he describe to his daughter that while stadiums are being built, she must wait for a home to live in?

Would he attempt to convince her of the benefits of the Grand Prix to the greater South African society, hoping to drown out her despair beneath the drone of fast cars? 'Dear child', he might implore her, 'with events such as the World Cup, yacht, cycling and canoe races all around us, we can wait for a house and continue to live in this poverty. Only 16 more years at worst…'

How would he explain to his daughter as she grows into womanhood how the prosperity of Durban is more important than a childhood that excludes fear of sickness, poverty, insecurity and potential death? And, if she makes it through the difficulties of living in the shack settlements, will it not be with a tinge of dreadful sorrow that this child, now grown, finally receives a home?

Of course, there is no way to explain to any of the hundreds of thousand of people living in shacks in Durban why their lives are not first on the agenda. The city's 'budget is limited' only by what it has chosen to prioritize.

These are people's lives. These are years that cannot be reclaimed. Given the swiftly dropping life expectancy in South Africa, which has decreased from 62 years in 1990 to 47 years in 2005, this urgency becomes all the more critical (UNFPA, 2005). It is in this context that the plight for a home is the very plight for life itself.

"Lokhu akuphephile.
Angiyithandi lempilo. Wonke amasonto ingane iyagula.

This is not safe.
I don’t like this life. Every week a child becomes sick."
- Image and text by Nontobeko Ngcobo

Over the past year a mass-based social movement calling itself Abahlali BaseMjondolo has grown throughout Durban. While the communities comprising the movement are diverse, their demands are unified: the government must make good on its promises to provide land and housing to the poorest of the poor (Zikode, 2005). Abahlali has managed to bring the conditions in which they live, their struggle for dignity and the basic necessities of life into the forefront of public discussion. The 2006 "No Land! No House! No Vote" campaign garnered an impressive amount of media attention during the lead up to the election.

The call to withhold votes brought forth the many contradictions apparent to the poor of Durban. How can democracy be said to function for those whom the political system has failed so significantly? How can people find faith in a system that continues to exploit them, repressing even their access to forums within which they can express their concerns?

"We are tired. We are really tired", laments Nonhlanhla Mzobe, one of the founding members and elected deputy chair of Abahlali baseMjondolo. She has lived in the Kennedy Road informal settlement since she was three-years old. Her 16-year-old daughter was born in the shacks. Perhaps Mlaba could gain some insight from Nonhlanhla on what it means for a child to grow to adulthood in the shacks.

Fighting Back

On February 27th 2006, in the lead up to the elections, the police suppressed a legal Abahlali BaseMjondolo march and wrongfully arrested 4 young men for 'illegal gathering' at Foreman Road. A few months later, after jail time, numerous visits to the courthouse, and the doling out of legal fees, all charges were dropped against the men. In November 2005 police fired rubber bullets at protesters and arrested a number of community members (Alexander, et al, 2005). The events surrounding the suppression of this march, and other instances of repression and arrests for peaceful Abahlali protests, are an unmistakable reminder of how the city is attempting to silence the poorest of the poor. What does this mean for the vibrancy of South Africa's post-apartheid social movements?

Yet, even within the context of repression, the marches continue as people fight for their right to the basics of life.

In the large settlements around Durban the sprawling shacks are hard to miss. In places like Kennedy Road and Foreman Road thousands of shacks dangle off steep, refuse strewn, slopes. I had my first encounter with these communities while in Durban as a visiting scholar with the Center for Civil society at UKZN. The shacks are a colourful mish mash of materials, shapes and sizes. The dangers of living in these settlements are innumerable. Many of the most sever dangers– open refuse and sewage, deaths and injuries from shack fires, inadequate water supply and toilets for residents including those living with HIV and AIDS – would be preventable if the municipality were to provide the same services as they do elsewhere in the city.

Fire and Water

"We live in shacks that leak when it rains and the water gets inside the house. Next to our houses there are loads of garbage and mosquitoes. This place we live in is not suitable for people. Would you live in a place like this?"
- Nomvula Mdlalose, resident of Kennedy Road, image by Nozuko Lulama Hulushe

In the time I was able to spend in a few of Durban's informal settlements speaking, working and organizing with people, I was struck by the realities of life in the shacks, especially how the lives of women were shaped and formed around such a precarious existence for themselves and their children. At Kennedy Road, for example, women's bodies were constantly impacted in immediate and intense ways by the dangerous environment in which they live.

Some of their stories are hard to forget.

Zodwa Nsibande story is one of those. On the evening before her exams Zodwa was burned in a shack fire. An active member of Abahlali BaseMjondolo, she knew of the danger of shack fires. Only a year before, one-year old Mhlengi Khumalo died in a shack fire caused by a toppled over candle. In 2005 at least six people, mainly children, had died from shack fires caused by fallen candles (Goldstone, 2005). Zodwa was cooking with an ethanol stove meant to be safer and cheaper than using paraffin. But the stove wouldn't turn off and Zodwa's clothes caught fire. She was treated for severe burns to her legs, face and body. It is impossible to reconcile the image of the thousands like Zodwa that are living in Durban without the basics of homes, water and electricity --- their lives at risk--- living side by side with residents who are enjoying all those same amenities.

Only a few weeks earlier Zodwa, aware of the many hazards facing her community, had written:

"Life is too hard here in Kennedy Road, not only for adults, even for children. Here are our children. They don’t have proper places to play. They are playing near the dumping place which is very dangerous to them as well as unhealthy because there are toxic things in this dumping place.

"We are appealing to the government as well as his officials to build parks and playgrounds for our children so that our children should be safe and crime free."

The danger of deadly shack fires is an everyday reality. Yet it is a reality that can be averted. The city has provided no access to electricity in Kennedy Road since 2001. At night candles flicker within the wood, tin, and cardboard structures while food is cooked over paraffin. A moment's neglect can set a shack ablaze, which in turn will often cause the destruction of many other homes. In April 2006 a fire in Lacey Road left 250 people homeless. Weeks later the settlement at Joe Slovo was on fire. Still, nothing has been done to provide residents with electricity. The city claims that it doesn't have sufficient funds. Yet as Raj Patel and Richard Pithouse rightly point out, "The claimed lack of funding is not some objective reality. It is a political decision." (2006) While other projects such as the World Cup boom ahead, the shack settlements are still in the dark. The terrible burns Zodwa suffered could have been prevented.

Shack fires are one of the perils the residents of shack settlements are forced to contend with. Women living in the shacks have a lot to say about the conditions they face. As Christiniah Zizile Ngwazi writes next to a photograph of herself in the settlement:

"This is the house I live in. This shack built from planks and covered with plastic as a roof. When it rains it is as if I live in a pigsty. It leaks and the chickens come in and then there is a lot of mud and water. Also, the houses burn down frequently. There are many dead bodies because of shack fires."
-Text by Christiniah Zizile Ngwazi

If it is not fire it is the rain. Working with women like Christiniah and Zodwa who are fighting for change was inspiring and humbling. It made me keenly aware of my privilege as a white foreigner, and all that I take for granted with the simple gestures of turning on a tap and sleeping in a warm bed at night. It also made me reflect on how to support the work they are doing in a way that is not patronizing, but useful, and takes the voices, lived experience and knowledge of women living in these conditions seriously.

Zandile Nsibande is another active member of Abahlali BaseMjondolo. She is also Zodwa's mother. Zandile took photographs and wrote about the challenges of living in Kennedy Road. Her story is about water.

This is our tap where we fetch water. The distance from my shack to the tap is 2 km. It is very hard for me to carry 25 liters, especially when I’m dong the washing. I have to go 4 times to fetch water to do my washing. I’m going 2 times to fetch water for my house work, so I’m using 50 liters for house work beside washing.
Life is very hard at Kennedy Road informal settlement. The main challenge at the tap is the queue because there are 700 people for one tap.

Christiniah also talks about the time and energy it takes to access water:

I live in Kennedy Road in a shack. I have been living here for ten years but I have seen no progress. We tread in the mud when we go to the tap to get water which is 5 km away. There is only one tap and so we have to stand in line and wait our turn. You can wait for about two hours to get water, especially at the times when the workers are coming home from work.
-Image and photo by Christiniah Zizile Ngwazi

Fire consumes the shacks and the water queue gets ever longer. So often it is women who are left with the burdens of fetching the water, caring for the sick and HIV infected, watching over children who have nowhere safe and clean to play, cooking over open and dangerous flames and loosing valuable time in the water queue. The dangers and perils of life in the settlements are especially high for these women.

Theirs are just a few of the many voices in settlements like Kennedy Road who are saying enough is enough. A social movement was set in motion as shack dwellers recognized the necessity of speaking out on their own behalf about the injustices they face. Abahlali BaseMjondolo is an example of the way in which people are taking power into their own hands in an attempt to make positive change for their communities.

In a place like Kennedy Road, where 7,000 people live with only 5 stand taps, where children die when shacks go up in flames, where people are forced to relive themselves in the bushes because there are so few toilets, and where children must play in refuse --- in a place with all these harsh, daunting realities --- it is with urgency that people demand a better life. Even under such dire circumstances, people continue to stand up with dignity and honor and say ‘enough is enough’ and to demand their rights to ask for the basic necessities of life which many of us take for granted. The demand for land and housing reflects with utmost clarity what people need. This is what they want, and if the transformation of this country is really going to take place, this is what they must have.

Umlazi in Crisis

2006-06-14T00:07:00.000-04:00

People in Umlazi who protested earlier in March (see below: "Blood on Xulu's Hands") are now under more pressure than ever. A number of people have already been killed for speaking out.

While I'm back in Montreal for the next few weeks, the news coming in from Umlazi speaks to urgency and importance of this moment for people in Umlazi and for social movements in South Africa more generally. A mass meeting was held this past Sunday in Umlazi to plan a way forward.

This press release recounts the crisis in detail:

Saturday, June 10, 1:28:41 PM

UMLAZI POLITICAL VIOLENCE CRISIS * PRESS RELEASE 5
The Sunday meeting is held against the backdrop of a major political crisis which has gone largely unnoticed by elites in the media, political and human rights industries. The key points in the unfolding of this crisis are as follows:

1. A group of activists within the ANC, many with long histories in the SACP, opposed the nomination of the incumbent Ward 80 Councillor, Elliot Xulu, to stand in the local government elections. It was widely felt that he was corrupt, had failed to deliver and had not demonstrated any commitment to democratic process. It was also felt that 15 years was too long for anyone to serve and that it was high time that the ward had a women candidate. Attempts to secure a credible candidate though party structures collapses. Protests against the renomination of Xulu failed.

2. It was decided to put up an independent candidate, Zamani Mthethwa, to oppose Xulu.

3. The Mthethwa campaign suffered major intimidation from the beginning including death threats, threats of assault, whippings, assaults, disruption of meetings, open removal of election posters etc.

4. On election day there were widespread reports that Xulu had been seen committing blatant electoral fraud.

5. On 2 March Xulu was reported to have won the election by 71 votes. This announcement was greeted with protests demanding that the IEC investigate the widespread allegations of electoral fraud. The Public Order Policing shot and killed a passer-by, Monica Nomthandazo Ngcobo (25). The police said that she had been shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet. The autopsy later showed that she had been shot in the back with live ammunition. Shortly after Ngcobo was shot and killed by the Public Order Policing Unit on the street members of the Unit entered the house of Zamani Mthethwa’s younger brother, S’busiso Mthethwa (31) and shot him in his house. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds but survived the attack. From this date till the present Xulu’s home has been guarded around the clock by a team of 88 police officers.

6. On 8 March a group of people wearing ANC t-shirts gathered outside Zamani Mthethwa’s home and hurled insults at him and his family. The group then went to the Ngcobo home where Monica’s father chased them away. They then went back to the Mthethwa home and broke all the windows with stones in full view of the SAPS Area Crime Combating unit who had been deployed to guard Xulu’s house full time.

7. Supporters of the Mthethwa campaign reported ongoing and sustained intimidation including the regular firing of weapons around their houses. The police at Xulu’s militarised compound never came to investigate all these ongoing gun shots.

8. On 31 March Women of Umlazi organised a large march against police brutality and against Xulu. Xulu followed the march in his car threatening marchers. One of his henchmen video taped marches who attacked him to get the camera fearing that the video evidence would be used to identify people for attack by Xulu’s henchmen. 12 people are arrested for public violence. The Umlazi SAPS took possession of the video camera and recordings.

9. On 12 April Sinethemba Myeni, 36, a longstanding SACP activist and a strong supporter of the Mthethwa campaign was shot in the head 5 times by 5 gunmen who entered his home and identifying themselves as ‘the police’. He died in the arms of his family.

10. On 3 May Mazwi ‘Komi’ Zulu. 46, also a longstanding SACP activist and a strong supporter of the Mthethwa campaign, was attacked by 2 gunmen while on the way to work, suffered multiple gunshots and died at the scene.

11. On 14 May Komi Zulu was buried at a huge funeral at the Merebank cemetery. No ANC or SACP official offers any form of support. As hundreds of mourners returned from the funeral they saw people drinking around a braai in Xulu’s compound and heard people ululating.

12. On 21 May Xulu convened a small ANC meeting to electe a new Branch Executive Committee. Only card carrying members were allowed to attend. But more than 700 ANC members opposed to Xulu had paid for cards but never received them.

13. On 28 May various organisations worried about the ongoing crisis, including Women of Umlazi and others, called a mass meeting with the community and the Umlazi SAPS to try and chart a way forward. The Umlazi SAPS agreed to work with the community and the community agreed to set up democratic structures to ensure that this can happen effectively.

14. On 1 June the Umlazi SAPS arrested two men for the murder of Komi Zulu in Xulu compound. They are employees of Xulu.

15. On 5 June the suspects appeared in R Court in Umlazi. Community members and the Umlazi SAPS both brought petitions requesting the prosecutor to withhold bail. The suspects were detained in custody. The next court date was set for 12 June.

16. 11 June * a follow up mass meeting with the E-section community and the Umlazi SAPS is scheduled.

[picture by Raj Patel]

The women of Kennedy Road

2006-05-03T10:19:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks Amanda Alexander, Andile Mnguni and I have been running a photography and writing project with women in Kennedy Road. The project has turned out to be an amazing experience, not only for the fact that we are finally hearing from the women who are so often marginalized within the greater movement here.
The women absolutely poured over the images they made. It was great to hear from these women, young and old, about the experiences of what they are facing in the Jondolos. Their pictures told so many stories: women working, caring for children, waiting in lines for water, doing the washing, standing on garbage heaps, caring for their HIV positive relatives....and pictures of children playing, sleeping, eating, living. Their stories told of the realities of living in the shack settlements. Here is a teaser from Saturday's workshop.
An exhibition of their work is planned at the University to coincide with a lecture by Pregs Govender on the Zuma rape trial on May 18th.

Mourning Freedom

2006-04-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

For the last few weeks I've been busy helping organize the "UnFreedom Day" rally, which happened yesterday. It was a great success and a huge inspiration. It was amazing to see the unity bubbling here between communities that have been divided for so long. Something about laughing, dancing and singing together is so important in sustaining the struggle. For me, it is moments like these that keep me going....

Heinrich Böhkme and I also screened the 10 minute film we have been making called "Inkani" at the event. “Inkani” traces the last 7 years of the struggles that have been happening in post-apartheid Durban -- a story that is not often heard. The film is made up of archival and new images from actions, marches and repressions that have been part of these communities experience over the last number of years. We filmed these same communities watching images of themselves and plan to integrate these images into the final cut of the film before it screens at the Durban International Film Festival in June.

Here is my report on the day:

Thousands from Durban’s poorest communities marked this Freedom Day with their own event: “UnFreedom Day”. “UnFreedom Day” mourned a freedom that has yet to be found. After 12 years of democracy, the gap has increased between the rich and the poor, and many are suffering more now than ever before. How can there be freedom when people’s rights are disrespected, and they must continue to demand the basic necessities of bare life?

Joining together across race, creed, and place, these communities may have been mourning freedom, but St-John’s hall was alive with unity, talent, inspiration and hope.

Together the young and old danced, sang, toyi-toyied, laughed, shouted and shared their collective experience of oppression under the current government. Their demands are simple and thoughtful. They can not endorse a government which continues to refuse to provide basic services – sanitation, homes, water, and electricity – to the city’s poorest of poor. They demand decent homes, free basic services, rights for informal workers, a healthy, clean environment, and equality for all. They fight against forced relocations, evictions, water and electricity cut offs, lying politicians, pollution, state repression, police brutality and land theft. The hall, bursting with people, brought home one message: “There is no Freedom for the Poor”.

“UnFreedom Day” was organized across racial divides from Wentworth, Chatsworth, Bayview, Isipingo, Umlazi, Chatsworth Flat Residents, Marianridge, Merebank, Sydenham, Newlands, Pinetown, Ward 15, Abahlali baseMjondolo (shackdwellers) movement branches from Kennedy Road, Foreman Road, Jahdu Place, Lacey Road, Shannon Drive and Reservoir Hills, as well as many other communities. There was a unity of purpose around the collective realization that the issues within each community are shared across borders and partitions that once may have divided them.

The day was bursting with inspiring talent, including gospel singers from Kennedy Road, the Clouded House girls dance troupe from Wentworth, Zwelithini Gamede from Kenville, the Crush hip-hop crew, Alan Murphy (a.k.a. REM) and Crush, Imfene from Foreman Road, Xhosa dancing, a drama performed by children about Chatsworth evictions, and many others…

There were also a number of speeches and testimonies about the conditions people are living in across eThekwini that continue to oppress them, including a call to support those who had lost shacks in Lacey Road after a recent fire and a moment of silence to commemorate Strini Moodley’s death led by Des D’Sa. There were powerful speeches made by Pine Town’s informal traders, Pastor Patrick Kakazi, Mbongeni Msomi from Ward 15, S’bu Zikode, Orlean Naidoo and others.

Mourning for these communities comprised not only of stories of hardship and oppression, but also a celebration of what they have in common – a celebration, in fact, of the unity, talent and determination that continues to grow, even in the face of such difficult and trying times. “UnFreedom Day” was a clear sign that a new, unified movement is growing across eThekwini municipality. It is a movement committed to stand together and to fight back, in opposition to the old antagonisms that once divided them, and to demand real freedom now.

The blood on Xulu's hands

2006-04-01T05:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the residents of Ward 80 in Umlazi, a township outside Durban, staged a large march to demand the removal of their corrupt councillor, Elliot Xulu, and to rally against police brutality. The march was planned by a group of women, mainly pensioners, organized under the name "Women of Ward 80".

About 1000 people took to the streets in the hot sun and under the threat of the councillor. The night before councillor Xulu and his thugs had driven around E section with a loudspeaker threatening that people would be arrested or killed if they marched against him. There is a lot of fear in the community around the
repercussions of speaking out against the councillor, so the large number of people who were present spoke to how fed up people are of the conditions in which they are living.

At one point, marchers spontaneously sat down in the middle of a busy intersection (pictured here in a photo taken by Raj Patel), much to the shock of the police, before continuing again on their way.

Residents of Ward 80 were also marching to draw attention to the tragic killing of Nomthandazo Monica Ngcobo. The day after the election residents held an impromptu demonstration against Bhekisisa Elliot Xulu's re-election which they claim was marred by significant corruption and intimidation. Monica, 23 years old, was heading to catch the bus when the Public Order Police shot out at the gathered crowd. Monica was struck with live ammunition in the back.

“I saw her, where she was lying”, said one onlooker. “She was still alive. She was bleeding. We never saw the wound because she was lying on her back. Maybe if the paramedics had arrived earlier… she lay there for a long time. About an hour.”

Her family was present at the march, demanding that Monica’s death not be in vain.

Overall, confrontation with the police was minimal, even though they did attempt to thwart the march early in the day, would not let marchers enter the grounds of the court to which they were marching, and later arrested 20 young men on the charge of public violence. The youths had thrown bricks at one of Xulu's thugs who was attempting to film the protesters, ostensibly to be able to identify who was marching. The thugs (possibly with Xulu as well) zoomed off in black cars with darkly tinted windows as though they were in a gangster movie.

In the end, the memorandum of demands had to be handed off to the police sergeant since neither the local government minister Mike Mabayakhulu or the councillor Elliot Xulu pitched up. A number of marchers were disgruntled (obviously) about handing off the memorandum to the police. Yet for others, it seemed like the best thing to do since there was no one else on hand. The reverence for police (in the context of opposing police brutality) and the ANC government (in the context of opposing the councillor) was slightly disturbing, but seems to be the place where this struggle is situated at this early stage.

Raj Patel wrote a great summary of yesterday's events here.

Raj also got some great pics posted on Indymedia South Africa here, and also stolen by me above.

LA demo: Huge protest against Anti-Immigrant Law

2006-03-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

This could be the best news I've heard all week. Maybe things can change.
Between .5 - 2 million people protested on March 25th in Los Angeles against Anti-Immigrant Law. Similar protests have been happening throughout the states all week. Plans are in the works for a national work stoppage called "A Day without An Immigrant" in late May.

The millions keep marching! An unreal 3 million people march in France on the March 28th a million workers join walkout in England. Check out this blog about the French demos.

Governments should be afraid of their people.

Women's rights on trail

2006-03-28T05:43:00.001-05:00

Friday, March 24th I was on the street with about 70 supporters of women's right to speak out against rape and sexual violence gathered outside the High Court in Durban. It was a surprisingly small number given how much media and political space has been taken up by the issues around sexual violence as of late. The action was meant to support the complainant who filed rape charges against Jacob Zuma and who is suffering very poor treatment of her case in the public and judicial arena. Solidarity actions were held in Jo'burg (where the Zuma trial is happening) and Cape Town.

The Zuma trail has been a sick display of how rape continues to be demonized. Zuma is accused of raping his daughter's friend, which he denies, and the complainant has now had to further undergo the humiliation of having her sexual history aired publicly and in court, Zuma supporters burn images of her, and have her identity revealed through media slippages. There is so much more work that needs to be done.

Dennis Brutus and Chris Abani at Westville prison

2006-03-28T00:59:00.000-05:00

On March 23rd I had the great blessing to join Chris Abani and Dennis Brutus on a visit to Westville prison where they were giving a writer’s workshop to young inmates. Dee Dee Halleck and I were hoping to film the workshop, which untill the last minute seemed like it was going to happen. Unfortunately, one of the more senior officials (and others in the prison) seems to want to take down the amazing supervisor of the prison educational program, Dominic Zulu. If he let my camera trickle into the facilities, without proper permission, it could be used against him in the future. Some prison officials have a hard time imagining that prisoners can be whole, beautiful and creative people. The work Zulu is doing is incredible, including turning out some of the top matric test results in the province, and there was no way I was going to jeopardize his position to film. Instead, camera safely in the office of the supervisor, I had the fine pleasure to be a silent participant in the workshop.

Beautifully, one by one young men and women stood up, some heads bowed, some proud, and read their stories; flights of fantasy, tales of truth, pain, dreams, and desire. They had been doing writing workshops as part of a series that happens once a year during the Time of the Writer festival. Some of the youth had been involved over multiple years. One young woman particularly struck me. She was very boyish in her demeanour, tough but warm. Her story was of two sisters, repressed and abused by their guardian, who finally take the power back and escape together into an unspoken utopia.

Society girls

2006-03-28T00:29:00.000-05:00

Still time, as usual, for living large.

Above is me with my roommate Futhi, and below, the lovely Amanda Alexander, who works here at CCS.

Strategies for social movement organizing

2006-03-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday at Kennedy Road, Raj Patel gave a great workshop on strategies for organizing social movements. He presented a few different organizing styles: Technocratic, union style structures, and alternatives like the Zapatistas and MST. Raj had a wonderful way of outlining how these systems function as well as how money intersects and interacts with all of them.

The room was beautifully stuffed with bodies, and people got down to some pretty interesting conversations around power, money, accountability and involving people as leaders. I'm sure it will be the beginning of a more substantial conversation, but it was a really important start. It made me think a lot about the reflectivness we should, but often don't, approach our movements with. It also drew me back to Harsha Walia's great article on challenging patriarchy in social movements.

Afterwards we had some great eats prepared by women in the Kennedy Rd. community kitchen. I got to pick the brains of Fred, a community organizer from Eastwood. He told me about his community's very militant struggles to get houses, which included squatting on a chosen piece of government land with an engineer in tow who plotted out the land with sound urban design. They won the land, though not without a struggle that included (and still does as this is recent news) some pretty vicious death threats (like a dead, maggot eaten dog in a coffin outside his doorstep, etc.) Fred was great and so full of spirit. He told me as well about the tactics they used to pressure councillors, like cutting the councillor's electricity when power was cut in their settlements, etc.

The Red Shirts Strike Again!

2006-03-17T01:55:00.000-05:00

So yesterday a disturbing (almost comic) article came out in the "Rising Sun" newspaper here in Durban making quite a stir about the "Red T-Shirts" (Abahlali BaseMjondolo). In what appears to be the coercion of a novice journalist by people acting to undermine the movement, the journalist (Sphelele Cele), wrote that S'bu Zikonde is an 'evil spirit flying around to terminate good'. His evil-ness was testified to by two people (that no one knows) from Kennedy Road, who claimed they were 'forced' to participate in marches under threat of death! People were also forced to wear the red t-shirts and forced to march on the city in demand of land and housing.

And what were the recommendations of these fearful folks? Bring in the police! In what reads like something written by a public official Cele writes that the community members said, "the proposed way forward was for SAPS to step in and do everything in their power to prohibit illegal marches against councillors and ensure the safety and security of informal settlements. Last but not least, people need to concentrate more on finding ways to help the government to help them, they concluded."

Comic in some ways, yes, but also very disturbing to see the ways in which the movement and S'bu are being attacked. What is heartening though, is that there are enough people to counter these claims, enough people who have participated in meetings, marches, making and giving out t-shirts, that there is no way that these ludicrous claims can be justified.

After a flurry of phone calls from people in the community and elsewhere angry about the article, the Rising Sun has agreed to hear some of the 'other side' of the story and has interviewed a few different people, including me. We will see what happens.

Ultimately for me, the most offensive part of the article is the assumption that people living in the shacks would need to be forced to march or to wear t-shirts asking for their basics needs, and I replied to the paper to that effect:

In a place like Kennedy Road, where 7,000 people live with only 5 stand taps, where children die when shacks go up in flames caused by kerosene lamps, where people are forced to relive themselves in the bushes because there are so few toilets, and where children must play in refuse --- in a place with all these harsh, daunting realities --- it is difficult if not impossible to imagine they would need to be forced by an ‘evil spirit’ to demand a better life. That even under such dire circumstances, the fact that people continue to stand up with dignity and honour and say ‘enough is enough’ and to demand their rights to ask for the basic necessities of life which many of us take for granted, to me is amazing, and reinforces the validity of their claims. To ask for land and housing these people need not be coerced. This is what they need. This is what they want, and if the transformation of this country is really going to take place, this is what they must have.

We have dreams too, or, "Si, se puede"

2006-03-16T05:09:00.000-05:00

An amazing 300,000 to 400,000 immigrants and their supporters marched in Chicago yesterday to demand changes to the US immigration system. Apart from marching, students didn't attend school and workers stayed home. At one high school, 2,500 students walked out after attendance was taken in support of their parents and their parents parents, as well as other immigrants. The rally was sparked by a controversial bill to "crack down on those who employ or help illegal immigrants". The march brought into focus how important immigrants and so called 'illegal' people are to the functioning of the city.

"Most people don't realize how much work we do, but it's part of their daily lives," said Alex Garcia. "We are putting up all the buildings and cooking all the food. Today, they'll understand."
Read the story here.

Quietness

2006-03-14T02:33:00.000-05:00

Thinking a lot about Iran the last few days, and the sickening way in which Iran is currently being targeted by the US for 'regime change'. Edward Said, I'm sure, is turning in his (still warm) grave. Rumi flutters to mind. This is one of my favorites, with all the struggle and love mixed together...

Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky,
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.

The speechless full moon
comes out now.

Vulindlela Video Workshops

2006-03-13T05:45:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday I organized video workshops with the "Learning Together" team from the Visual Methodologies Centre at UKZN. The workshops were held at Gobindlovu Secondary School in Vulindlela district, a rural area about 1.5 hours from Durban. It was a large group, about 20 learners, 5 teachers, 6 health care workers and 4 parents. We split up in groups, each of which had a facilitator to help provoke discussion and build technical skills.

The idea was to bring teachers, learners, health care workers and parents together to make short videos on the issues that they felt were most significant in their lives. Astoundingly, we somehow pulled it off, and each group screened a 2-3 minute video at the end of the day. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of the various groups making storyboards and shooting their videos. Through working together and bringing forward some of the challenges and inspirations in their lives, there was a real sense of community solidarity and commitment to tangible solutions.

Through a process of collective brainstorming and voting lead by the participants, topics were chosen for the video. The approach was wide open, with absolutely any topic of relevance to the lives of the participants being a possible subject. Sadly, but unfortunately not surprisingly, two of the three groups of learners made their videos entirely around the subject of rape. A mixed group of boys and girls made “Rape at School: Trust no one” that told the story of a learner being raped by a teacher. Another group of all girls made “Raping gave me HIV/AIDS”. It is always startling to see the statistics manifest themselves in such a direct and disturbing way.

Weeks before, we had been to the school to meet with teachers who told us of how burdened they feel as educators. Many of them told us they were taking anti-depressants to get through the day. The prospects are very bleak for these teachers, who pay 30zar (6$) a day in transport costs to get to work, which amounts to a huge portion of their salaries. Classes in this school often contain 80 pupils. At the same time, many learners are faced with huge difficulties, stemming from extensive poverty in the area, with HIV infection rates sitting close to 40% and many young people coming to school hungry. Many children in the school are orphans, looking after other siblings in the home as well as being primary breadwinners themselves. In a school of nearly 800 pupils there are only 20 textbooks.

Where do teachers find inspiration in this context? How do young people talk about their lives, their dreams and their struggles? Obviously, while the continuing systemic political, economic, and racialised exploitation these communities are facing in a post-apartheid context can not be ignored, finding local, immediate solutions seemed to be heartening. While just a first step in a much longer project with this school, the local health clinic, parents and young people in the community, the video workshop seemed to effectively open discussion around problems and solutions that hopefully can be explored further in the coming months.
[Photos taken by facilitator Jackie Simmons]

Abahlali vs. the State: Taking to the streets

2006-03-09T02:33:00.000-05:00

Abahlali BaseMjondolo Movement march
Monday, February 27, 2006
The police and municipal government's crackdown on the Abahlali BaseMjondolo (shack dweller's) Movement march on February 27th was yet again a clear indication of the crisis of democracy in South Africa. The call "No land, No house, No vote" was a stark reminder of how the right to vote must be accompanied by a right to representatives who will support the legitimate demands of poor in the current political arena. This is not the case for Abahlali BaseMjondolo or many of the poor in South Africa.

How can democracy be said to function for those whom the political system has failed so significantly? How can people find faith in a system that continues to exploit them, repressing even their access to forums within which they can express their concerns? Monday's events were an unmistakable reminder of how the city and its' police are suppressing the poorest of the poor through the illegal use of state apparatus.

FOREMAN ROAD
Monday February 27th began early. Raj Patel and I arrived at Foreman Road just after 6 a.m. Raj had received early news that police had already moved into the Foreman and Kennedy Road settlements. At Foreman Road police vehicles and armed officers blocked all exits to the settlement, including a distant footpath. At least 10 police cars and armoured trucks crowded the road. A standoff ensued the residents milling about on short section of the street above the settlement. Some residents sang and toi-toied beside the large and armed police presence. An ETV camera crew was already on the scene. I started filming immediately upon entering the settlement. The story that follows is based on that footage and my hand-written notes.

Immediately, Raj presented Sgt. Glen Nayagar with the "Regulation of Gatherings Act". The Act plainly states that citizens have the right to assemble and march if notice is provided to the authorities. As Raj made clear to Nayagar, since post-apartheid 1994 amendments, marching and public gatherings are legal if the city has been given due time to contest. Abahlali duly gave notification within the appropriate time frame. The police react offensively to this information, and continue to insist the march is illegal. Raj asks to know who requested the police prohibition of the march. Nayagar claims he received orders from his 'superiors'. When Raj inquires further as to who specifically endorsed the police action, Nayagar put him off. "Are you intentionally obstructing this legal march", asks Raj. Nayagar responds that he doesn't want to argue about these things.
[Image: Raj Patel explains the "Regulation of Gatherings Act" to Sgt. Nayagar.]

By this point, it is clear that the police were acting from orders above their heads. When pressed, Nayagar admits they have no documentation with them to justify their claims that the march is illegal. He states that his 'documents are in order' and that Abahlali would have to take him to court for him to present it.

Hoping to avert the complete repression of the march, Mnikelo and Raj attempt to negotiate. Finally, after much discussion between Sgt. Nayagar, Mnikelo and Raj, Nayagar says the police will not prohibit people from leaving the settlement to get on a bus if they go two-by-two or in single file. He insists that if people gather they will be arrested. When Raj protests, "But this is their home", Nayagar replies that they must get off the street and go into their shacks. It is evident that the police are not leaving Foreman Road, nor are they entertaining the idea that the march is legal. While claims to letting the marchers exit the community were made, no sign to that effect was apparent.

At this point, police tell residents they must clear the road, which everyone duly obeys by crowding tightly onto the small sidewalk between the road and shacks. This demand was undoubtedly meant to intimidate residents. The 'clearing' of the road was completely unnecessary since the large convoy of police cars totally blocked the roadway making it impossible for other traffic to get through.

Still, people's spirits remained high. There was singing, dancing, joking and laughter from the crowded sidelines. Philani made a police siren with the bullhorn as he shooed people back from the road, mimicking and poking fun at the police. Children of all ages were part of this mass huddle, dancing and singing happily. Weaving through the police line were children and mothers heading to school and people on their way to work. Any day in Foreman Road you would see a similar mix of people talking and hanging out on the street, since it is the main thoroughfare in the community.

By about 8:00 am, under this subdued context, riot police were called in to disperse remaining residents from this small area they were confined to on the road. It was hard to see whom the police were attempting to push from the street. The riot cops formed a front line followed by reinforcements with batons and guns. After orders from Sgt. Nayagar, police charged the residents, on their own street, in their own community, forcing them down the slippery alleyways of the settlement.

The police charge quickly becomes an exercise in futility, as the street itself was almost empty, residents having been huddled at its edges. Most of the people who were still pushed up against the shacks rushed into the nearby alleyways. Nayagar ordered the police to arrest anyone in sight, even those on the pathways leading down into the settlement, directing police towards women standing on the sidelines near their shacks. People ran in all directions towards their homes. Nayagar insisted the residents be followed into the settlements. He ordered a small group of riot cops to chase people down into the alleyways. Residents were slipping and sliding on the muddy and sewage-laden stairwells and alleyways.

There were, of course, many small children amidst this mayhem, including a baby wailing in the arms of her father less than a meter away from the heavily armed police. One cop emerged from a doorway grasping a resident forcibly by the shirt. The young man pleaded with the cop: "I stay here!" he said, pointing at the shack he was being pulled out of.

After backing a group of men and women into a corner the police demand the residents return to their homes. Frantically the residents point to their homes, above them on the hill, which the police had chased them away from. After some threatening remarks, the police ascend and again storm the streets. This time, under orders by Nayagar, a small group of officers go directly to the home of Philani Ntazi.

Nayagar orders the officers, "In there! The brown door there! Go inside there!" The cops push open the door with their batons and drag Philani from his home into the armoured police truck. Luvuyo Mkhize is also pulled from his home next door. Neither Luvuyo or Philani resist arrest. Ludumo Mgibi is also arrested after being dispersed by police.

Later we discover M'du Hlongwa, 26, from Lacey is arrested as he waits for a taxi to take him to Kennedy Road. The four arrested men are taken to Sydenham community police station.

Shortly afterwards, the superintendent of the police arrives on the scene in a shiny new Mercedes. Again he demands to see the ‘permit, which has not, and does not, exist in South Africa since post-Apartheid amendments made marching and public gathering legal after notification to the city.

Given no other choice, Mnikelo, Raj and S’bu rush to the Durban high court to get an injunction highlighting the legality of the march.

By 8:00 the bus driver meant to take residents to begin the march from Botha park arrives at Foreman Road. The police threaten to arrest him if he attempts to take people to the march. The driver complies, visibly shaken by the large police presence.

The police joke to each other about Foreman Road residents; “These people come and shit in my yard. They have no respect." “They want to leave their mark like dogs.” “They’re waiting for a court order to be able to march, but now they’ll be too late” they snicker.

SYDENHAM POLICE STATION
M’du, who managed to keep his cell phone on him in jail, gives an interview on Lotus Radio reporting from his cell how he and the three others have been beaten by police after having been denied toilet facilities in the cell. M’du reports that they were told to "Piss where you are" in isiZulu and English after numerous requests to go to the toilet. Finally, M’du did just that, and pissed out of the cell into the corridor, after which the police beat them.

At noon Richard Ballard and I bring food to the four detainees. Patrick Bond arrives on the scene with some visiting international scholars. Police Chief Marays and Captain Lazarus meet Bond and lead Richard, Patrick and I into the cells. M'du and Ludumo show marks on their bodies from the beatings. After a quick, cursory inspection, Marays waves them off claiming, “they are making it up”. When asked if there was a doctor on site, Marays says there is not. He asserts that 'hooligans' like these are always making false claims of harassment and abuse by police. Outside the station he screeches at Bond, who reminds Marays of the constitutional right to protest, “The constitution is not meant to protect hooligans! The constitution is meant to protect all of us, and that includes the police!”

JAHDU PLACE
Similar events to those occurring at Foreman Road are also unfolding at Kennedy Road and Jahdu Place. At Jahdu Place, masses of riot police descend into the settlements, blocking all exits and harassing people.

Earlier that morning residents had boarded eight buses, only to be prohibited from stopping at Botha Park by police. The buses, still full, returned to Jahdu Place. While waiting to find out whether the interdict would allow the march to go forward, a standoff between police and about 500 residents ensues after police demand residents return to their homes. Riot police charge residents, threatening to shoot, chasing them up the hills into the settlement.

[Image: Jadhu Place standoff with police, by Steph Lane]
By 1 p.m. the High Court of Durban finds the march legal. The interdict states clearly that, "the march organised by (Abahlali BaseMjondolo Movement) from Botha Park to the City Hall in Durban on 27 February 2006 to highlight issues of landlessness and lack of housing is not prohibited or illegal". It also states that, "the [the city and the police] are interdicted and restrained from preventing or prohibiting the march". Cheers and dancing erupt at Jahdu place as the verdict comes through on Fazel Khan's cell phone. Preparations begin again to get residents to Botha Park. Jubilation is high.

At long last the march is happening. Hundreds of Abahlali activists move down West Street to City Hall, followed by a police escort.

SYDENHAM POLICE STATION
Back at the Sydenham police station, Ashwin Desai negotiates with Lazarus and Mayars to have the four arrested men released to attend the march in light of the High Court's ruling on the legality of the event (thus nulling, it would be assumed, the charge of 'illegal gathering'). After some negotiations, the police agree to let the men out with no bail, and an order to appear in court on the 3rd of March. Shaken but relieved, the four emerge from their cell at Sydenham.

FINALLY AT CITY HALL

M'du, Philani and Ludumo arrive just in time to give speeches in front of the at least 500 people gathered before City Hall.

To cheers and chants S’bu hands over Abahlali's demands to Mike Mabuyakhulu at City Hall. The day has been won, but not without sacrifices, beatings, harassment and intimidation by the city and their officers. The struggle continues!

Displacements and Deportations

2006-03-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

Economic displacement, state propagated fear and a precarious existence seems to be the order of the day. While Abahlali Base Mjondolo are fighting for rights to land, electricity and housing here in Durban, on the other side of the ocean in Montreal refugees, (im)migrants and so called 'illegal' people are fighting against deportation and detention. I can't help but see the interlinking aspects of these struggles which revolve around the basic ability to have a home, to feel safe and to be able to create a life for oneself.

[Image credit: Solidarity Across Borders]

I heard today from Amir, who will find out in the next few days about the decision around his Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) application. I feel shaken at being here and being powerless to lend my support, at least in spirit, to his case. These processes are so biased and unfair. Harsha Walia has written a very good article about the racist underpinnings of Canadian Immigration policy with some discussion of the PRRA. I hope Amir knows how many of us he has touched with his fiery poetic spirit and incredible intellect.

Abdelkader Belaouni is also still in sanctuary at St. Gabriel’s Church in Point St. Charles, Montreal. Kader is a blind Algerian refugee who has been living and working in Montreal. A wonderful, warm man active in the community, Kader sought sanctuary on January 1st 2006 at the church before he was to be deported.

Backed with a great deal of public and community support, we hope that the government can be pressured to grant Kader permanent residency in Canada. Read more about Kader's case here and help by signing a petition directed at the new Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Monte Solberg to support Abdelkader Belaouni's case.

Abahlali in court

2006-03-03T04:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning we went to the courthouse with M'du, Philani, Luvuyo and Ludumo for their scheduled appearance at 8:30 a.m. on the charge of 'illegal gathering' garnered at Monday's Abahlali pre-march. The guys were in good spirits overall, Ludumo and Philani wearing their red t-shirts.

By noon their names still hadn't been posted on the 'first appearance' list, and after inquiry the secretarial staff told us that their dockets had not been filed by Sydenham police station. A few of us zipped over to the station while M'du and company continued to wait for their names to come up. At the station Cpt. Lazarus informed us that indeed the dockets had been received by the police liaison officer of the court on the 28th of February. Lazarus mentioned again that he thought the case would be dismissed. Lazarus is the same officer that made the original agreement with Ashwin to get the guys released without bail on Monday.

Back at the court, now about two o'clock, the guys' names finally appeared as the last case of the day. M'du, high court judgement in hand, attempted to inform the prosecutor of the recognition of the legality of Monday's march. Prosecutor Mklize refused to speak with him. Their case was finally called at about 2:30 and took about 30 seconds. Mklize asked the court for a postponement for further time in which to investigate the case. The judge set the new court date for April 12th.

After the judgement we explained the interdict to the assigned defence lawyer, who told us to speak with the operating Inspector for the case in the Sydenham police station (Inspector Balkissor), and have him relay that the police expect the case to be dismissed to the prosecutor. I spoke briefly to Mklize to these ends, and he claimed there was no object from his point of view to dismiss the case, and in fact that the prosecution would like to collect "further information". Whatever that may mean, beyond legalese, I'm not sure. Mklize also said it would be of no use to speak to the police Inspector as they were clearly planning to go forward with the case.
(image by Steph Lane)

No-vote campaign comes to fruition

2006-03-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

March 2, 2006
By Mercury Correspondents

Threats of a no-land, no-house, no-vote campaign, which had been echoing since early last year, came to fruition yesterday when polling stations in Durban's protest-torn Ward 25 recorded low turnouts.
In Ward 25, which includes Sydenham, Springfield and Asherville, several informal settlement dwellers refused to vote.
Communities that are members of the Abahlali base Mjondolo housing movement stood by their threat that they would not vote if they had not received any solid promises in writing for housing.
When visiting voting stations nearest to these informal settlements, The Mercury found many other stations had recorded low turnouts, too.
At the Jadhu Place informal settlement, community members said the 4 000-strong informal settlement community had not voted.
At the Springfield Hindu School polling station, which was the nearest polling station to the Jadhu Place informal settlement, empty polling halls and an absence of queues bore testimony to the impact the no-vote campaign had had in the area.
The IEC Presiding Officer at the Springfield Hindu School Polling Station, Omar Mohamed, said it seemed that people were staying away. However, there had been a rush at the last minute, he said.
Mohamed said there were 2 380 registered voters at the station, but only 841 people had turned out to cast their ballots.
When The Mercury arrived at the Foreman Road settlement, people were dancing and chanting no-vote slogans.
At the Thekwini College in Springfield, which was the closest voting station to the Kennedy Road informal settlement, IEC Presiding Officer Mohamed Jetham said only 342 of the 1 300 registered voters had voted.
There was a similar situation at Collegevale Primary School in Sydenham, where there were also virtually no queues.
Several problems were experienced in the IFP stronghold of KwaMashu A-Section. Angry voters threatened to turn violent after being pushed from polling station to station because their names had not appeared on the voters roll.
Hundreds of frustrated potential voters toyi-toyied outside a temporary voting station in Musa Road, KwaMashu, after it became apparent that their names had not appeared on any voters rolls. Many supporters walked away from the polls out of frustration.
Local resident Alpheus Mathonzi said people had registered at the voting station, but that their names had not appeared on the voters roll.
At the KwaMashu temporary station, IEC Presiding Officer Nokuthula Mlambo said that some people who had been sent to other voting stations had found their names, but others had not.
She said some people had taken the incident politically and had threatened violence, but police had helped to neutralise the situation.

Abahlali Base Mjondolo Movement march

2006-02-28T01:40:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from yesterday's march. I'll update the blog with the full story later today.

Standoff with police at Jadhu Road

Rally at City Hall

A Memorandum of Demands
Monday, 27 February, 2006

We the shackdwellers of Durban, democrats and loyal citizens of the Republic of South Africa, note that this country is rich because of the theft of our land and because of our work in the farms, mines, factories, kitchens and laundries of the rich. We can not and will not continue to suffer the way that we do. Our voices cannot be stifled. Today, like every day, we braved heat, hunger, thirst, exhaustion and police repression. Today, we had our day in court. Today, we won a recognition of our right to speak. Today we march on the city because today we stand up for our right not only to speak, but to live, to breathe, to eat, to sleep and to work in dignity and safety.

Today, we demand adequate land and housing to live in safety, health and dignity.

Today, we demand the creation of well-paying and dignified jobs.

Today, we demand the writing-off of all rental arrears.

Today, we demand participation in genuinely democratic processes of consultation and citizenship.

Today, we demand safe and secure environments in which we can work, play and live.

Toay, we fight HIV/AIDS and today we demand well-resourced and staffed health facilities.

Today our children are in danger, and today we demand attention to the needs of our communities' youth.

Today we cannot afford electricity, and today demand that these services be made free for the poor.

Today we suffer without toilets or water, and today we demand our rights.

Today, people from around the city and the country are uniting in support of our struggle we express our support for our comrades elsewhere. We have stood with, and will continue to stand with our comrades in Chatsworth, Crossmoor, Marianridge, Merebank , Shallcross, Emandeni, Clarewood, and Wentworth in their fight against the eThekwini Municipality's attempts to evict them from their municipal flats. We will also continue to stand with the people of South Durban in their struggle against environmental racism; with poor students facing exclusion from technikons and universities and with comrades all over the country fighting for land, housing, work, education, healthcare, safety and democratic development. We affirm that their struggle to resist eviction from their homes and to win basic services is just. We stand with them against the repression of their legitimate struggle.

Today, we demand answers. We have approached the municipality on many occasions, and have been promised the earth. Yet still we have no land. The municipality says it will house us. We demand to know when. We demand to know where. We demand to know how many houses. We demand to know who will be resettled. We demand all this today.

Today, we have fought and won. Today we beat Mike Sutcliffe. Today Obed Mlaba tried to silence us and we would not go quietly. Today the police tied us up, and we broke free. Today, and every day, until the government acts, we will raise our voices for the poor, and we will fight for justice.

Fruitful struggle?

2006-02-25T04:51:00.000-05:00

Being here is always so difficult. I have so many conflicting emotions about what I am doing, how I can find ways of being supportive and keep an awareness of the position and baggage with which I come. Already I'm worried about how to fit in, if I should try to fit in these struggles at all, how I can support and learn in ways that will not be disruptive or divisive to the struggles that are happening here. I worry about the academic vacuum that I’m being pulled into (letting myself be pulled into?) that engenders so much division. I worry also about whether i really have a right to be here, to be welcomed here. Have I earned it? Not really. But perhaps it isn't something that needs to be earned, but rather acknowledged and humbled by. All this travel, opportunity and privilege need to lead somewhere and not just become a perpetuation of a statused position. It concerns me a lot and I hope I can keep my wits about me to not fall into the many traps and trappings of privilege afforded to me. An american woman, Steph, I met here a few days ago was very inspiring in her analysis. She is mostly shadowing and reporting on the Abahlali baseMjondolo movement, and she seems to have a very good analysis of her role (or lack thereof) in the struggles of people here. Through Steph I also stumbled on a blog by Richard, a researcher and activist here, who has some amazing insight into these questions. He writes about Fanon's ideas that "the intellectual must be in the unstable zone of actually existing rebellion. (And fully in it, on its terrain, speaking in its language etc.)" which seems very true. It will be a struggle to understand how (and whether) to do this kind of research and support, but I hope, it will be a worthwhile and fruitful searching.

Economy, Society and Nature Colloquium

2006-02-25T02:54:00.000-05:00

Starting Tuesday, the Centre for Civil society will be hosting a colloquium to launch their 2006 focus on Economic Justice research projects. The colloquium is titled Economy, Society and Nature. As they write, "we will launch this theme by reviewing some of the finest traditions of South African, regional and global political-economic theory and contemporary analysis". I'm really excited to be able to take part in this event. It means a lot of reading, listening and learning in order to keep up with the deep political economic analysis I'm sure will be at work here.

They describe the colloquium as follows:

We are mainly concerned with market-nonmarket interactions and new forms of 'primitive accumulation'. Given the sustainability and volatility problems that capitalism faces today, the time is opportune to consider whether formal markets, the informal economy and other nonmarket aspects of society and nature are divorced or interconnected. Under contemporary conditions of 'globalisation', does the fight against exploitation, racism, sexism and ecological destruction require contesting the market itself? If so, how?

Four scholar-activists - Harold Wolpe in South Africa, Guy Mhone and José Negrão in Southern Africa and Rosa Luxemburg in Europe - developed consistent arguments about the way market forces systematically exploit other modes of production, society (especially women's unpaid labour, via racist colonialism) and the natural environment. In Pretoria, government explains this legacy as 'first and second economies' and claims a 'developmental state' is being built to fix matters. How do we understand it - and what do we do about it?

Social scientists will be addressing the problems from 28 February through 2 March, in an event open to the public. On 3-4 March, activists from across KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and the region are especially invited to help move from analysis to praxis, with open discussions and strategic debates in the framework of the Rosa Luxemburg Political Education Seminar.

Shack Dwellers from all over Durban and beyond to march on Monday

2006-02-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

SHACK DWELLERS' MARCH
27 February 2006

Houses First, the Man Later

No House! No Land! No Vote!

WHEN: 8:00a.m. Monday 27 February 2006
WHERE: The march will start at Botha Park and will proceed to the city hall where our demands will be presented to Mike Mabuyakhulu.

WHY: Why are people marching in their thousands? We need answers to our questions about housing * when, how, where and how many houses do they plan to build? How can we be sure that we can get houses after all these lies for all these years? The government must give us proof because they have been telling us lies for a long time.
ORGANISERS: The shack dwellers of this country. We invite all other poor people everywhere to join us and say “enough is enough!”

SUPPORTERS: This march is organized by Abahlali baseMjondolo and is also supported by, and will include representatives from community organisations including the Banana City Informal Settlement Area Committee; the Bayview Flats Residents' Association; the Combined Staff Association (UKZN); Eastwood Community Forum (‘Maritzburg), Groundwork; the Mandela Park Anti-eviction Campaign (Cape Town); the Right to Work Campaign; the Socialist Students' Movement (UKZN); the Sydenham Heights Flats Resident’s Association; eThekweni Eco-peace Party; the eThekweni Social Forum; the Wentworth Development Forum and the Westcliff Flat Residents' Association as well as people from Cato Crest, KwaMashu, eMandeni, Umlazi, Palmiet, Clermont, Puntan’s Hill, the Reservoir Hills Taxi Association, the Clare Estate Taxi Association and Durban Informal Traders.

The Shack Dwellers’ Struggle

Many promises to people living in shacks have been broken. Across South Africa shack dwellers have been blocking roads and saying ‘Enough!’ There were more than 6000 protests last year. In Durban, in Wards 23 and 25, thousands of people marched on councillors Yacoob Baig and Jayraj Bachu to demand that promises to provide land, housing and basic services like water, electricity and toilets be kept. People have also been marching against plans to move shack dwellers out of the city to rural places like Verulum far away from work, schools, clinics and police stations. The media have understood that people are suffering and have supported the marches very strongly. Other struggling communities have also offered strong support.

Mabuyakulu must know that our councillors are rouges.

We cannot continue to suffer like this. The time has come to say “Enough!” and to demand that the promises made to us be kept. The time has now come to march on Mike Mabuyakhulu. We must tell Mabuyakhulu that if we don’t get satisfactory answers to the questions that we have asked about land, houses and basic services then we will not vote in the elections.

THEY ARE SELLING US!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

NO LAND, NO HOUSE, NO VOTE!

Durban South Photography project

2006-02-23T03:16:00.000-05:00

The day after I arrived here I was whisked away to give a presentation at the Visual Methodologies for Social Change conference that Claudia Mitchell, Nadyene Delange, Jean Stuart and the bunch at the Visual Methodologies Center at UKZN's Education faculty had organized. The presentations were really interesting overall and it was amazing to be in a space with an entire group of people basically working in the same area as we are.

One interesting presentation was made by Marijke Du Toit about the Durban South Photography project. Jenny Gordon is the photographer and she takes some quite interesting pictures of people in their environments in Wentworth (South Durban). This series is about the physical impact of the Engen oil refinary on these people's lives. A disproportionately high number of people in the community suffer from asthma and other respitory illnesses.

the first days of durban

2006-02-22T07:31:00.000-05:00

I have only been here a few days but i'm already drowning in the politics of this place. As of today, I've got a desk at the Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's main campus. Everything is madness here as the university has just been on strike last week and there is still a great deal of negotiating to be done. The university has four unions, many of which are sending different messages to their membership. The Centre is very involved in all this as an oppositional voice, and I'm still trying to understand the role they play here.

At the same time everyone is dealing with Ashwin Desai's case, the activist/academic who was barred from the university by the vice-chancellor Makgoba (ironically just before the strike).

I'm finally meeting the other people here at the Centre, and I already feel intimidated and awe inspired by everyone's knowledge, passion and conviction. We have started making plans for video workshops to happen and I'll also be filming the upcoming march on monday of the shackdwellers movement. It will be an exciting and busy time here I think.