'Political parties see shack dwellers as voting banks and nothing else,' says S’bu Zikode.
08102018 Abahlali baseMjondolo leader Sbu Zikode amongs the members during KZN provincial march in solidarity with NUMSA on the streets of Durban to handover over memorandum of demand at City Hall, Durban. Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency 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. It is also highly litigious, considering its impoverished membership. In KZN, it has about six pending court cases.
“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. This time round, said Zikode, members were being encouraged to vote for any party but the ANC. The movement also no longer claims apolitical status. Instead, Zikode calls it “a political social movement”.
“We have also agreed that Abahlali will not vote for [our] graves or a party that kills us like that of the ruling ANC, whose councillors are threatening us and found guilty by the court of law. So, voting for them is like digging our own grave.
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