Thursday 22 October 2009
Party Politic Vs Living Politic in Kennedy Road
The Kennedy Road settlement, like all other Abahlali
baseMjondolo settlements, has been embarking on a living politic.
This politic is a living politic because it talks about the
realities of our democracy – a democracy that serves the interests of a
minority while the majority our people continue to live and to die in inhuman
conditions.
Our living politic talks about the fact that shack
settlements have been denied life saving basic services such as water and
sanitation. It talks about the fact that there is no road access, no refuse
collection and no electricity. It talks about the fact that people’s lives need
services like electricity.
It is a politic that talks about the fact that the
intelligence of the majority has been denied while all decisions are taken by a
minority.
It is a politic that says that everyone has been created in
the image of God and that therefore we are all equal.
It is a politic that says that everyone in our society
counts be they rich or poor and without regard to what language they speak or
to where they or their ancestors were born.
It is a politic of truth that can be seen by anyone driving
through Kennedy Road. Anyone can see that poverty, unemployment and
hopelessness remain a challenge. It is a fact that cannot be denied that crime
remains high and that ethnicity – the politic of some that is used to attack
the politic of all – remains a challenge.
But the Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC) and
Abahlali baseMjondolo have been working very hard to build a politic of all – a
politic that does not divide the poor.
We have long opposed the criminalisation of all shack
dwellers and demanded fair and supportive policing for shack dwellers. When the
state stopped criminalising our movement and agreed to negotiate with us after
the March on Mlaba in late 2007 we were able to begin negotiations with the
Sydenham Police. We eventually developed a partnership to work against crime.
This partnership was one of the fruits of our struggle.
All of these efforts of years have been turned into a party
politic, a politic from the top down, a dirty politic, a politic full of fear,
threats, arrests and death. Therefore what is happening in Kennedy Road is no
longer a living politic that starts from the lives and thinking of ordinary
people. Most people are confused and frightened. They cannot tell you who is
the real enemy or why the poor must now fight the poor. It is a party politic.
The attack on our movement in Kennedy Road was planned at a
very high political level. It was planned at a level that has the power to
remote the South African Police Services. It was planned at a level that can
send war lords to destroy our movement. It was planned at a level that has tax
payers’ money to sponsor buses to bring our attackers to court to try and
render our comrades accused of murder guilty before they go to trial – to
demand that they must not be given bail and must be made to stay in Westville
Prison even though no court has found them guilty of a crime.
The reasons for the attack on our movement are simple.
The politicians are trying to hide the simple truth of what
has happened and what continues to happen. They are trying to blame those who
were attacked by shifting the focus onto the KRDC, onto Abahlali and onto our
offices.
The state itself does not talk about the dead people. It
doesn’t talk anything about the people who have been displaced. It doesn’t talk
anything about the people who have had their homes destroyed. It doesn’t talk
anything about the whereabouts of our children, many of whom are schooling. It
doesn't talk anything about the people who threatened with death for speaking
the truth about their lives.
The Disaster Management unit in the City has not responded
to this crisis because it has been instructed not to respond.
Our struggle was criminalised from 2006 until the end of
2007. But we did not give up. We stood firm confident that our struggle was
grounded in the truth of our lives. After 2007 our movement became a platform
for poor people to engage the state. We developed some good relationships
including with the head of the Human Settlements Department in the provincial
government. At our last meeting with her on the 27th of August a task team was
set up to investigate the evidence that we had brought forward of
misallocation, mismanagement and corruption in housing. As a result of this
some high level officials are being investigated as we speak.
By constant struggle in and outside of the courts Abahlali
baseMjondolo has successfully stopped most illegal evictions in the City. We
insist that good land must be used to house the poor. Others insist that that
same land must be used for the rich to become richer. Every time that we stop
an eviction we make powerful enemies.
Abahlali baseMjondolo has taken the Provincial Department of
Housing to the highest court of our land – to the Constitutional Court to
challenge the already buried KwaZulu-Natal Slums Act. We know that this has
angered most high profile officials and politicians.
The attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo is aimed at destroying
our movement, its leadership, its membership and its head quarters in Kennedy
Road. The aim is to replace our elected structures with a ‘comrade KRDC’ that
will take its instruction from the party and not from the people – from the top
and not from below.
I want to take this opportunity to express some words of
gratitude to all of you that have given a moments’ silence to Kennedy Road. I
want to thank all of you that have contributed to our struggle from the date
when we first made our submission against the Slums Bill up until today. It has
been a long journey from the shacks to the Constitutional Court and we have not
walked the distance alone.
We have returned home from the Constitutional Court to a war
on our movement and on our democracy. I want to thank all of you who have been
collecting food hampers, making donations, organising protests and sending
statements of solidarity.
I want to thank the Students for Law and Social Justice and
all the students and academics around the country that have rallied to support
our movement and to defend our democracy.
If the attack on our movement is not resisted there will be
new attacks on other movements and other people. When you stand with us you
also take a stand for your own future.
S'bu Zikode
