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Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Abahlali baseMjondolo take to the Streets, demand end to vicious evictions in
eMmause

South Africa’s largest social movement calls for respect, and human right to
decent housing and safety

Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal

This morning, Abahlali baseMjondolo(AbM) members and allies will be joining a
march from Shepstone Road to Tollage Road to call for an end to all demolitions
and evictions in the eMmause community. Since late 2010, hundreds of people
have had their shacks destroyed by the landlord, Mahogany Ridge 2 Property
Owners Association. Hundreds more have been brutally evicted. These actions by
the landlord present a gross violation of people’s right to housing and
safety. Today we are marching for land and housing in the cities.

We have a right to cities, a right which we are prepared to live for or die
for. AbM is in over 64 communities nation wide and has over 10,000 active
members.

The marchers will acting peacefully to bring attention to the desperately
broken system of democracy that has developed since the end of apartheid. It is
in reality a system that has, to put it simply, replaced one set of white
elites with another set of black elites, all with little interest in real
democracy. Democracy for the poor has meant being moved at the will of the
rich, living in shacks and waiting decades for permanent housing. Democracy for
the poor in this country has also meant being continually marginalized from
conversations and tables where decisions are being made about our lives and the
lives of our children and families. We are now in the middle of the census. But
we are tired of having government officials coming to count us, talk to us and
make empty promises. They want us to stop building shacks because they do not
want us to help ourselves while they themselves are living in decent places.

Abahlali is calling for simple things: justice, housing as a human right, and
the chance to be full participants in our lives without being threatened or
attacked by political officials. Abahlali's aims are peaceful but have been met
with disdain and brutality. Abahlali is calling for an end to the
politically-motivated repression and fear mongering which we have been forced
to endure at the hands of the government and its thugs.

The protest is also meant to highlight a recent series of disrespectful and
dangerous interactions Abahlali has had with government officials. Indeed,
despite more than six years of rallies, workshops, and community mobilization,
Abahlali had until last week been repeatedly denied its democratic right to
meet with and discuss its demands with elected officials.

Marchers will make their way to the offices of Mahogany Ridge 2 Property Owners
Association where they will present a list of demands which include, that a
hazardous electrical fence that was erected by the landlord be immediately
removed, and that the land should rightly be given back to the relevant South
Africans from whose grandparents it was stolen. This march marks the beginning
of a series of protests that will culminate on December 3rd, the global day of
action against climate change. We will claim the space as the masses on
December 3rd. We are calling for justice, equality, human dignity. We call for
the world not to stand aside and look on as we are being oppressed.

For more information please contact:

Muzi Mkhize Protest March Convener: 083 301 9856
Khanyi Dlamuka eMmaus Coordinator: 071 218 3007
AbM Office: 031 304 6420 (071 424 2815)

Memorandum of Demands to Mr. Glen Lion Demsy, Mahogony Ridge 2 Property Owners
Association, Wednesday, 19 October 2011

We, the residents, men and women of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA in
eMmaus, in Pinetown, in KwaZulu-Natal are democrats committed to the
flourishing of this country. We speak for ourselves and direct our own
struggle. We have been mobilized by our own suffering and our hope for a better
future. It is time to take seriously the fact that the distribution of land is
a serious problem in our country and that land was stolen from our ancestors
and that this has impoverished us. It is also time to take seriously the fact
that land continues to be taken from the poor in the name of development and
the market and that this continues to impoverish us.

For too long the commercial value of land here in eMmause, in nearby Motala
Heights and in many other areas has been put before its social value. We demand
that social value of land come before its commercial value.

For too long we have been living under constant threats of eviction in our own
land. We demand an immediate and permanent end to all evictions. We demand land
security.

For too long the right to cities has been denied to the shack dwellers and the
poor in this country. We demand the right to live in the cities.

For too long the provision of basic services has been denied to us and the
poor. We demand the provision of all basic services such as water and
sanitation, electricity, road access, refuse collection etc to us.

For too long we have been fenced in the shacks and transit camps. We demand Mr.
Demsey immediately remove the electric fence that has been installed on this
land. We also demand the immediate removal of security guards from our
community.

For too long the state and the business sector have united against the poor. We
demand that the eThekwini municipality to stop sending Mr. Mdletshe to threaten
us with eviction. We demand that Mdletshe stop himself from being used as the
puppet of the eThekwini municipality and that he decide to work with the people
of this city.

For too long our struggle has been redirected to courts because it is too
expensive for us to struggle there. We demand that that you withdraw your court
proceedings and negotiate a way forward with us.

If we are given no option to negotiate we are prepared to fight for this land
and against all evictions and harassment in courts and in streets.

Land is not for sale in Africa. We demand that you return your money to those
who sold this land to you and bring our land back.

Just as people around the city, the country and world are uniting in support of
our struggle we express our support for our comrades elsewhere.

If this memorandum is received without conscious Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement
SA will reconsider another plan B… We will not give up the struggle for this
land or for the right of all people to live in peace and safety.------------
http://www.abahlali.org
http://www.khayelitshastruggles.com/
http://www.antieviction.org.za