Sibusiso Innocent Zikode is the president of the South African shack dwellers' movement, which he co-founded with others in 2005.Has South Africa Truly Defeated Apartheid?, New York Times, 26 April 2024 Abahlali baseMjondoloSouth Africa's new apartheid? . Riz Khan, Al Jazeera, 23 November 2010 claims to have an audited paid up membership of over 115 000 across South Africa.Abahlali baseMjondolo demands justice for its members lost to “the politics of blood”, Peoples' Dispatch, 3 October 2023 His politics have been described as 'anti-capitalist'.The Politics of Grieving & the Ubuntu Electricians , Drucilla Cornell, Social Text, 2011 According to the Mail & Guardian "Under his stewardship, ABM has made steady gains for housing rights."
Biography Zikode was born in the village of Loskop in 1975 and grew up in the town of Estcourt, in the midlands of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. He was raised by a single mother working as a domestic worker.To Be Betrayed By Your Brother, Rosaleen Ortiz, City University of New York, 2010 He completed Matric at Bonokuhle High School where he joined the Boy Scouts Movement.Is this Man the Next Nelson Mandela? , by Raj Patel, OZY, 19 September 2013
A few years later he enrolled as a law student at what was formerly known as The University of Durban-Westville and is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. However he was unable to pay fees or rent and in 1997 had to abandon his studies and move to the Kennedy Road shack settlement.Has South Africa Truly Defeated Apartheid?, New York Times, 26 April 2024 He found work at a nearby petrol station as a pump attendant.'Unrest in South African shanty towns – ready to host the World Cup?' , The Observers, 23 July 2009South Africa's Enduring UnFreedom, Boston Review, 24 April 2024
Activism Zikode has served a number of terms as the elected head of the South African shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo since October 2005. Before that he was the Chairperson of the Kennedy Road Development Committee. Although the movement campaigns for basic services, like waterReport Details Toll Taken by Lack of Water, Sanitation , Moyiga Nduru, IPS, 2006 and electricity,Economies Go Underground , Robert Neuwirth, Forbes, 2010 as well as land and housing,Abahlali baseMjondolo March on Jacob Zuma, Durban, South Africa, 22 March 2010 , UK IndyMedia Zikode is clear that its demands go beyond immediate material needs. He has said that ""The house on its own cannot solve the problem. It's not only money that creates dignity. All governments should accept that our communities are part of the greater society."Economies Go Underground Robert Neuwirth, Forbes, 09.09.10, He argues for an immediate assertion of equality"The Will of the People: Notes Towards a Dialectical Voluntarism" , by Peter Hallward, Radical Philosophy, 2009 and for meaningful engagement with the poor by saying that, "The government and academics speak about the poor all the time, but so few want to speak to the poor"."The real winners and losers: of the beautiful game" , Sunday Herald, 9 August 2009
Commenting in response to Zikode's newspaper article 'We are the Third Force' veteran South African journalist Max du Preez commented that "I have never read anything as compelling, real and disturbing as the piece written in The Star last week by S'bu Zikode"."Shacks of Fear", Max Du Preez, Daily News, 17 November 2005
Academic Mark Hunter argues that Zikode evokes a conception of housing rooted in an idea of dignity rather than a technical, numbers driven approach to the housing crisis.Love in a Time of AIDS, Mark Hunter, UKZN Press, 2010
Zikode's writing has been anthologised in the Verso Book of Dissent The Verso Book of Dissent and published in newspapers like The GuardianDespite the state's violence, our fight to escape the mud and fire of South Africa's slums will continue , The Guardian, 11 November 2013 and Libération.Les promesses non tenues de Nelson Mandela , Libération, 10 December 2013
Awards and recognition On 16 December 2009, he was presented with the Order of the Holy Nativity by Bishop Rubin Phillip.Anglican Church honours Abahlali leader , Paul Trewhela, Politicsweb, 18 December 2009
In 2012, the Mail & Guardian newspaper declared him to be one of the two hundred most important young South Africans.
In 2018, a new land occupation in Germiston in the East Rand, outside of Johannesburg, was named after Zikode.When homes are built in the dark and demolished in daylight , Dennis Webster, The Daily Maverick, 14 May 2018
In 2019, a new land occupation in Tembisa outside of Johannesburg was named after ZikodeHousing activists under threat in Thembisa, Maru Attwood, New Frame, 2022
On 25 March 2021, he was announced as the 2021 recipient of the Per Anger Prize, awarded by the Swedish government for humanitarian work and initiatives in the name of democracy.Per Anger-priset till rättighetskämpe i Sydafrikas kåkstäder
Repression In February 2006, Zikode was prevented by the police from taking up an invitation to appear on a television talk show., by Carol Paton, Financial Mail, 16 February 2006 In September 2006, Zikode, and the then Deputy Chair of the movement Philani Zungu, were arrested on trumped up charges and tortured by Superintendent Glen Nayager in the Sydenham Police Station."Shack Dwellers on the Move" , Radical Philosophy, January 2007'I was punched, beaten' , Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian, 16 September 2006,
In September 2009, Kennedy Road was attacked by a mob reportedly affiliated with the African National Congress.South Africa's shack-dwellers fight back , by Patrick Kingsely, The Guardian, 24 September 2012 Violence continued for days. Zikode's home was destroyed during the violence and he and his family fled. Zikode, who went underground for some monthsSOUTH AFRICA: Poor people's movement draws government wrath , IRIN, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 22 April 2010 because he feared for his life, considered himself a political refugee.
In its 2012, South Africa report Amnesty International reported that Zikode had been publicly threatened with violence by a senior ANC official.Amnesty International South Africa Report , 2012
In April 2013, Zikode, along with two others, successfully sued the Minister of Police for violence against his person.Minister of Police to pay damages to Abahlali members for police brutality , Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa
In July 2018, following the assassination of a number of its members, Abahlali baseMjondolo issued a statement claiming that Zikode's life was "in grave danger".Abahlali baseMjondolo leader S’bu Zikode’s life is ‘in grave danger’ , Musawenkosi Cabe, Magnificent Mndebele and Dennis Webster, The Daily Maverick, 8 July 2018 It was later reported that Zikode was living underground.Abahlali civic leader in hiding from hitmen… again , Eric Naki, The Citizen, 23 August 2018
Political commitments
Zikode supports building radical democracy from below and has called for 'a living communism'.To resist all degradations and divisions: an interview with S’bu Zikode , Interface, 2009Politics of Grieving , by Drucilla Cornell, Social Text, 2011South Africa's shack-dwellers fight back , by Patrick Kingsely, The Guardian, 24 September 2012 He has stressed that land is fundamental to his politics.No freedom without land , The Daily Vox, 2013 He is an advocate of land occupations.No freedom without land , The Daily Vox, 2013 and supports the occupation of unused land.Despite the state's violence, our fight to escape the mud and fire of South Africa's slums will continue , S'bu Zikode, The Guardian, 11 November 2013 He is also an advocate of what he terms 'living politics',S'bu Zikode on Living Politics, 'Sleeping Giant', 2007 a form of politics that speaks directly to lived experience and is expressed in plain language.
References
External links Revolutionary Ubuntu Living Learning Testimony from Brother Filippo Mondini Citation for the Order of the Holy Nativity to S'bu Zikode Is this man the next Nelson Mandela?
Online articles and speeches We are the Third Force Transcribed speech given at the University of KwaZulu-Natal We are the Restless Majority Make Crime History Silencing the Right to Speak, is taking away Citizenship When Choices Can No Longer Be Choices Land & Housing: The burning issues 2008 AGM Speech Meaningful Engagement The ANC Has Invaded Kennedy Road Party Politic Vs Living Politic in Kennedy Road Democracy is on the Brink of Catastrophe Serving our Life Sentence in the Shacks (with Zodwa Nsibande) Land is a Political Question When Loyalty Becomes a Threat to Society When the Poor Become Powerful Outside of State Control Presentation at CUNY Graduate Center for Place, Culture and Politics The Politic of Land and Housing, Presentation to University of Chicago Students in Cape Town Transcription of talk on Frantz Fanon, Rhodes University, South Africa, 2011 No freedom without land, 2013 Despite the state's violence, our fight to escape the mud, shit and fire of South Africa's slums will continue, The Guardian, 11 November 2013
Interviews Resisting degradations and divisions (text) Interview with S'bu Zikode, 30 September 2009 (video)
Online films Txaboletan bizi direnak by Elkartasun Bideak, 2009 (English dialogue with Basque subtitles) Amandla Awethu by Elkartasun Bideak, 2009 From the Shacks to the Constitutional Court by Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza, 2008 Dear Mandela by Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza, 2008 A Place in the City by Jenny Morgan, 2008 The Right to Know: The Fight for Open Democracy in South Africa by Ben Cashdan, 2007 Nayager Falls, Abahlali Rises by Sally Gilles and Fazel Khan, 2007 Breyani & the Councillor by Sally Gilles and Fazel Khan, 2006 Kennedy Road and the Councillor by Aoibheann O'Sullivan, 2005
Talks
Talk on Repression in Durban, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 10 October 2013
Poems and songs by Aryan Kaganof Abahlali by the Dlamini King Brothers