Mzonke Poni is an activist in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. He is the former chairperson of

Abahlali baseMjondolo Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which primarily campaigns for land, housing and dignity, to democratise society from below and against xenophobia. ...

of the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

and was previously a leader of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. The ''Sunday Times'' has described him as "the face of an ANC nightmare - an angry activist mobilising the township masses to protest at what he calls the government's failure to create a better life for the poor." Poni lives in the QQ Section Informal Settlement in

Khayelitsha Khayelitsha () is a township (South Africa), township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town, City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa language, Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to ...

Arrest in June 2009

On 1 June 2009 he was arrested on the site of the

Macassar Village Land Occupation The squatter's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo occupied a piece of vacant state owned land in Macassar Village, near Somerset West outside of Cape Town on 18 May 2009. The occupation was later destroyed by the city's anti-land invasion unit. Ba ...

and charged with public violence. Abahlali baseMjondolo claimed that the arrest was an act of political intimidation and that Poni was assaulted while in police custody. On 29 September 2009 all charges against Poni were dropped. He represented himself in his trial.

Call for a Week of Informal Settlement's Strike in October 2010

In October 2010 Abahlali baseMjondolo in Cape Town called for a month of direct action. Poni publicly endorsed road blockades a legitimate tactic during this month of action. The

Treatment Action Campaign The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is a South African HIV/AIDS activist organisation which was co-founded by the HIV-positive activist Zackie Achmat in 1998. TAC is rooted in the experiences, direct action tactics and anti-apartheid backgro ...

and the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

, both of which are affiliated to the ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

, issued strong statements condemning the campaign with the former labelling it 'violent' and the latter labelling it 'anarchist' and reactionary'. Abahlali baseMjondolo responded by saying that their support for road blockades roads was not support for violence and that "We have never called for violence. Violence is harm to human beings. Blockading a road is not violence." They also said that in their view the attack from the SACP was really due to the movement's insistence on organising autonomously from the

.Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape Responds to the South African Communist Party
/ref>

References

External links

Khayelitsha Struggles

Works

Public Violence
(26 September 2009)

(9 April 2009) * ttp://abahlali.org/node/4611 The Big Threat to Informal Settlements(28 November 2009)
Upgrading of Informal Settlements (Don't destroy it upgrade it)
(13 October 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Poni, Mzonke South African activists Shack dwellers 21st-century squatters South African squatter leaders Abahlali baseMjondolo members South African communists Living people South African housing rights activists Year of birth missing (living people)

Arrest in June 2009

Call for a Week of Informal Settlement's Strike in October 2010

See also

References

External links

Works