THE Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers) were left fuming after Durban Mayor Zandile Gumede failed to present herself, or send a representative from her office, to receive a memorandum of grievances from the organisations. The group, who said they were marching against lies and repression,said they had suffered by the hands of the Gumede.
The march started at Curries Fountain sports ground and proceed to the Durban City hall where Gumede was expected to receive the memorandum.
Thapelo Mohapi, the general secretary of the organisation, said all parties were informed about the memorandum handover to the mayor or her legal representative. “We are agitated by her no show, it shows she does not care,” he said.
“Our people can’t continue to be treated in this manner. When the new mayor, Zandile Gumede, took office last year we were promised a new era in the city’s relationship with its impoverished residents. For some time repression and evictions stopped. But now all the mayor’s promises have proven to be lies. Armed and violent evictions have returned. Armed and violent repression, sometimes fatal, has returned. The old dirty tricks, trying to divide the movement by offering development and tenders to some while excluding and repressing others, have returned. Now we face the politic of lies and the rule of the gun. We face a gangster state that only sees development as a way for politicians and their friends to get rich,” he said.
The organisation said they were not opposed to Gumede because she is a woman, but because she had chosen the politic of lies and repression. “She has chosen the rule of the gun. She has chosen the politic of oppression. She has betrayed all of us, including the thousands of women in our movement, and all other impoverished women in the city. The new Mayor has lied to us several times. She lied to the elderly, physically challenged and most vulnerable group of our society. She promised them blankets but only delivered lies. She went on to make promises to the victims of ANC attacks and assassinations. She promised to engage and commit her administration to work with Abahlali on a clear program of action that will see lives of shack dwellers changing,” said Mohapi.
