Shack dwellers movement launches a new branch

THE Abahlali baseMjondolo shack dwellers movement, launched a branch in Cato Manor in Umkhumbane on Saturday. The movement said the move was a long time coming, as it had had many members in the area who were now ready to constitute and elect a council and officially become part of the organised structures of our movement.

“The comrades in Umkhumbane have faced serious repression and regular attacks in the struggle for land and dignity. There are comrades who have lost their eyes and ears and some are not walking properly. Mlungisi Mokoena, an 18 year old pupil, was shot in both legs by the Anti-Land Invasion Unit for refusing to let them demolish his home. Women have been severely beaten by these armed men,” said the movement’s KZN chairperson, Mqapheli Bonono,

Bonono said that the area had now become a war zone with the poor treated as second class citizens.

“If you are impoverished, black and not a member of the ruling party you are treated as if you are beneath the law, as if you can be attacked and evicted with impunity, as if you do not count as a person. The Mayor of eThekwini has refused to recognise that people occupying land in Cato Manor should have the same rights as other people.We will continue to resist repression, and to take the struggle for land and dignity forward, by building the democratic power of the impoverished and oppressed from below. We have recently reported the unlawful and brutal repression in Cato Manor and other matters, including the murder of our comrade and leader Sbonelo Mpeku last Sunday, to the UN Special Rappoteur for Africa,” he said.

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