Informal settlements and their thousands of marginalised citizens in South Africa’s major metros will be key battlegrounds in next week’s general election.
Durban - Informal settlements and their thousands of marginalised citizens in South Africa’s major metros will be key battlegrounds in next week’s general election, despite being considered voting blocs for the ruling African National Congress .
But one of the country’s most visible and vocal shack dweller movements, Durban-based Abahlali baseMjondolo, is adamant that it will not be urging its members to vote for any particular party, as it had done in the past. Instead, any vote but one for the ANC would be encouraged. “Political parties see shack dwellers as voting banks and nothing else. They think we will just easily donate our power to them so that they can exploit and kill us, just like the ANC councillors are doing here in Durban,” said Zikode.In 2014, the organisation’s KwaNdengezi chairperson, Thuli Ndlovu, was gunned down in her home after blowing the whistle on corrupt ANC eThekwini councillors Mduduzi Ngcobo and Velile Lutsheku.
“The challenges facing South Africa are as a result of the current dominant economic system of capitalism. However we are independent from any political party. We want to keep our autonomy. “We are not surprised that [the ANC] are ashamed to campaign in our communities. They have never in the first place represented the interests of the poor, other than successfully lying and breaking promises,” said Zikode.
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