by Anna Selmeczi, 2011
In late October 2009, following members’ reports on the workshops or
conferences that they attended or the journeys to which they were
delegated, a middle-aged woman took the floor of Abahlali baseMjondolo’s
general meeting held in the fully packed ‘Board Room’ of the office
building where the movement now has its headquarters. She said she lived
in Richmond Farm where years ago she bought a plot to build her shack
on but for the past few months she had been threatened with eviction and
the demolition of her home because the landowner sold the same piece of
land to someone else; this time with a title deed. When she resisted
the orders of the new owner to move out, people affiliated with the
local party committee started to threaten her. Detailing the manifold
and humiliating ways they are trying to chase her away – such as
throwing human feces at her shack – she soon burst into tears and could
not stop crying for several minutes. In their efforts to comfort her,
other women in the room chanted a song and someone went out to refill an
empty bottle to get her some water.
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