Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Nomfundo Xolo is a journalist from KwaZulu-Natal. She writes about housing, spatial injustice, social movements and public access to health.
She also produces content on social change, emerging activism and journalism to better tell South African stories.
Izakhamizi zasemijondolo yaseSiyathuthuka sezibhekane nezimo eziningi ezingezinhle ezibashiye bengenamizi, zaqeda nangamaphupho ekusasa elingcono.
The traumatised residents of Siyathuthuka shack settlement have now faced several calamitous events that have destroyed their homes, their dreams and any prospects of a dignified life.
The funeral of murdered Abahlali baseMjondolo activist Nokuthula Mabso was held at her home in Esidumbini, KwaZulu-Natal, on 14 May.
A leader of the commune’s food sovereignty projects, the fearless Mabaso had given most of her adult life to the struggle for land and dignity.
Nokuthula Mabaso is the second activist to be assassinated in this Durban commune in two months.
Bodies are still missing after heavy rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal caused massive flooding. Now distraught families are left to pick through the wreckage of their lives.
Residents of a land occupation in Durban held a pageant to showcase their young people and bring some much-needed sparkle and hope amid the state’s brutal evictions and arrests.
In addition to damaging public infrastructure, the floods in KwaZulu-Natal have devastated the lives of shack dwellers and township residents, many of whom now have to start over while grieving.
For the communities still reeling from the devastating effects of last year’s turmoil, the president’s testimony and the undertakings he made hold no hope for either peace or justice.
There’s been no justice for the 21 Abahlali baseMjondolo activists killed since the shack dwellers’ movement began in 2005. Ayanda Ngila’s death looks to be no different.
The men who killed the Abahlali baseMjondolo activist in broad daylight have left a violent mark, particularly on the settlement’s young residents. It will not easily be forgotten.
Inquiry hears counter-accusations from those in power who should have protected citizens during the July riots, while those who still suffer the consequences speak of their enduring loss.
A recent slurry spill into important rivers in rural KwaZulu-Natal has made survival even harder for villagers who depend on their water. But Okhukho residents say it’s part of living near a mine.
KwaNibela residents rely on the fish and reeds they harvest within the protected iSimangaliso Wetland Park. But authorities consider this poaching, threatening the community’s lives and livelihoods.
For communities along the Wild Coast, the ocean is much more than a resource from which they get a sustainable harvest to feed their families. It is also their nurturing healer and partner.
Residents of a shack settlement in Cornubia on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal continue to suffer from ill health after a toxic chemical spill. And the company responsible does not seem to care.
Theatre, besides being a form of entertainment, can be a powerful medium of protest too. Residents of a land occupation in Tembisa recently staged a participatory play to illustrate the point.
The national police commissioner said there were not enough officers to respond effectively to the July riots while victims are left dealing with indelible scars on their psyches and lives.
Witnesses to the attacks carried out by so-called neighbourhood watch groups in the north of Durban during the July riots have told the human rights commission the bloodshed was racially motivated.
The socialist commune Abahlali baseMjondolo built from the eKhenana land occupation in Durban has won international admiration and solidarity, but it now faces a new wave of repression.
Residents in the shack settlement in Durban North are caught between an apathetic municipality, a government they say wants them to ‘remain this way’ and greedy landlords.