UnFreedom Day: Abahlali BaseMjondolo reject national holiday

UnFreedom Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated by some 80 000 people in South Africa annually while the rest of the country commemorates the first democratic and non-racial national elections held on 27 April 1994.

Abahlali BaseMjondolo (AbM), the largest shack dwellers movement in the country, organised the first UnFreedom Day in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in 2005 to highlight the “lack of freedom” poor people in South Africa experience. Five thousand individuals heeded the call at the inaugural rally and since then AbM’s membership has grown and its influence can be felt in cities across the country.

UNFREEDOM DAY: AN ANNUAL REMINDER OF SOUTH AFRICA’S INEQUALITY

AbM describes itself as a radically democratic, grass roots and non-professional shack dweller movement, which started as a road blockade organised by residents of Kenedy Road Shack Settlement in Durban in 2005.

In March 2021, AbM leader S’bu Innocent Zikode won the Per Anger Prize for 2021. The award is bestowed by the Swedish government in honour of the eponymous ambassador to people engaged in humanitarian work in the name of democracy.

Zikode, and AbM’s work, focuses on the right to home, land and the survival of poor people living in shacks across South Africa, one of the most unequal countries in the world. Zikonde has been highlighting the difficult conditions shack dwellers live in for years.

“A shack without water electricity and sanitation is not worth calling a home,” said Zikonde.

“On the contrary, it means life-threatening circumstances that are particularly harsh towards women, children and minority groups. The injustice is even more apparent now that the pandemic affects those who are already disadvantaged.”

According to Zikonde’s acceptance speech, the majority of Abahlali basMjondolo’s more than 80 000 members are women and its arms are open to all regardless of ethnicity or nationality.

‘THE PRICE FOR LAND, FOR DECENT HOUSING AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY IS PAID IN BLOOD,’ SAYS ZIKONDE

AbM celebrates UnFreedom Day and rejects “any so-called freedom” because freedom is meaningless to the social movement without the right to access land, the city and basic services including water, sanitation and electricity.

In his speech, Zikonde says the price for these rights is paid in blood, twice. Over ten years, 18 AbM activists have been “lost.”

“The poor are not poor by choice. It is the history of colonialism, apartheid and land dispossession that keeps us in deep poverty. The commodification of land and state corruption keep us poor,” said Zikonde.

He calls for the social value of land to be prioritised above its commercial value, urging young South African’s to support AbM’s struggle for land, decent housing and dignity.

“I also call on the government of South Africa to stop evicting poor people and to stop the use of violence when dealing with poor people.”