Mzonke Poni is an activist in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the 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 organises land occupations, builds communes

of the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and was previously a leader of the

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa.

. 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 in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest

Arrest in June 2009

On 1 June 2009 he was arrested on the site of the Macassar Village Land Occupation 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 backgrou ...

and the

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

, both of which are affiliated to the ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, 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 Squatter leaders Abahlali baseMjondolo members South African communists Living people Housing in South Africa 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