Abahlali baseMjondolo articles

News articles syndicated from Abahlali baseMjondolo, the the South African shackdwellers movement's newswire.

UPM: Mass Rally of the Unemployed in Durban to Demand Decent Work and a Guaranteed Income for All

Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement
31 August 2010
MASS RALLY OF THE UNEMPLOYED IN DURBAN TO DEMAND DECENT WORK AND A GUARANTEED INCOME FOR ALL
VENUE: Glebelands Stadium, Umlazi
DATE: Wednesday 1 September 2010
TIME: 11:00
CONTACT PEOPLE: Ayanda Kota 078 625 6462, Nozipho Mnteshana 079 740 5074
SPEAKERS: Nozipho Mnteshana, Chairperson of the Unemployed People’s Movement in Durban and S’bu Zikode, President of Abahlali baseMjondolo South Africa
A million jobs were lost last year. Many people who are working remain poor. We cannot continue like this. Therefore we, as part of a growing solidarity and militancy on the part of the organisations of the working class are demanding:
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Business Day: Let’s see the real value in RDP houses

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=119621
Let’s see the real value in RDP houses
ON AUGUST 10, the North West human settlements department issued a media release — “RDP house turned into a tuckshop — Mohono acts,” which described how the North West human settlements MEC Desbo Mohono had made a “startling discovery” during her visit to assess progress on a new housing project in Tlhabologang, Coligny. Here she found one of the RDP houses occupied by a businessman operating a tuckshop from the premises, while the owner, who lives on a neighbouring farm, charged the tenant R700 a month in rent.
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LPM: Mass Eviction Threatened in Lenasia, Johannesburg

Pre-Cast Landless People’s Movement Press Statement
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Mass Eviction Threatened in Lenasia, Johannesburg
On Friday last week a court order was delivered to the residents of the Pre-Cast shack settlement in Lenasia, Johannesburg. The court order comes from the owner of the land and demands that the state must pay him an immediate rental of R850 per month per shack and then either buy the land from him for R 11 413 800 or evict us all and return the land to him. The landowner is Mr. Horilel Ajodha.
Some families have been here for as long as thirty years, others for as long as twenty years. We are working here and schooling here. Our lives are here.
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Die Arbeit der Gewalt: Eine Zeitachse der bewaffneten Angriffe auf Kennedy Road

http://akkrise.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/die-arbeit-der-gewalt/
Die Arbeit der Gewalt: Eine Zeitachse der bewaffneten Angriffe auf Kennedy Road
Am 26. September 2009 führten gewalttätige Angriffe einer bewaffneten Gruppe zu zwei toten Männern und geschätzt tausend Vertriebenen aus der Barackensiedlung Kennedy Road in der südafrikanischen Stadt Durban. Diese Zeitachse, die sich um die Nacht, in der die Angriffe begannen, und auf das Gemeindehaus konzentriert, schlägt drei bedeutsame Dimensionen vor: 1) die Mobilisierung von Mitgliedern politischer Parteien und das Gespenst von ethnisch Anderem, gebunden an materielle Verhältnisse, vor allem an Beschäftigung und staatliche Ressourcen; 2) neue Formen von Politik in einem darauf folgenden sozialen Drama über einen staatlich unterstützten Zusammenbruch durch kriminelle Banden und illegale Kneipen; 3) angezweifelte Ansprüche politischer Souveränität, die in Zeiten von Wahlen als „Entwicklungs“projekte artikuliert werden. Indem diese drei Dimensionen vorgeschlagen werden, diese Zeitachse, inmitten der Vorfälle dieses Tages, werden in groben Zügen Bilder entworfen, Verschiebungen in der Interaktion zwischen Abahlali baseMjondolo, einer sozialen Bewegung der Armen, und den Behörden, in der Zeit von 2008 und 2009, auf lokaler, Gemeinde- und Provinzebene. Diese Dimensionen, die sowohl die Artikulationen während der Angriffe durch bewaffnete Männer als auch die öffentlichen Stellungnahmen der Behörden danach mit sich bringen, verschmolzen, und vertrieben Mitglieder von Abahlali aus ihren Häusern und dem nationalen Hauptquartier in der Siedlung Kennedy Road.
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Business Day: Media has it wrong about secrecy law’s victims

http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=119007
Media has it wrong about secrecy law’s victims
SOMETIMES the national debate’s confusions can help the grassroots citizens it usually ignores. This is surely why the Protection of Information Bill is being denounced by the media as a threat to journalists, despite the probability that it would do much to imperil the rights of citizens, particularly the poor, and little or nothing to threaten the media and those who work in it.
Media coverage of the bill has been long on rhetoric and short on accuracy and thoroughness. Any of us who have not been living in a bubble know that it threatens to allow the government to classify information and to jail anyone who publishes that information. What few of us know — including, probably, many who write and comment on the bill — is that section 17 qualifies this.
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Interview with S'bu Zikode on the Public Sector Worker's Strike in France 24

Interview with S'bu Zikode on the Public Sector Worker's Strike in France 24
http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100819-south-africa-strikes-unions-block-hospitals
What the unions are asking for is completely legitimate. Most civil servants are very badly paid in comparison to government officials and legislators -these unjustifiable gaps must be breached. We know that legislators pay themselves generous bonuses each year, as well as a driving subsidy and other benefits. Then they say they can't afford to raise salaries... No Way. They're crazy.
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Demands of the Women's March on Jacob Zuma

The Abahlali baseMjondolo Women's League march on Jacob Zuma will take place tomorrow on Friday 27th August 2010. It will begin at 8:00 a.m. at Botha's Park and proceed to the City Hall. The President's office has nominated a representative to collect our memorandum. As usual the office of Mike Sutcliffe, the City Manager, has not yet granted us the permit that he, in blatant violation of the law, still uses to curtail our right to protest. We have complied with all the legal requirements to stage a legal march and will be marching whether or not Sutcliffe decides to allow us to exercise a basic democratic right.
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