We Are Still Not Counted As Human: Reflections on the Struggle for Dignity in South Africa - Softcover

Zikode S'bu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1997742152 ISBN 13: 9781997742159

Publisher: Daraja Press, 2025

Synopsis

WE ARE STILL NOT COUNTED AS HUMAN contains reflections from S'bu Zikode, the President of Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), the largest popular movement to emerge in South Africa since apartheid. Founded in Durban in 2005, AbM now organizes over 180,000 members across four provinces. The movement was catalysed by a deep disappointment in 2005 when the ANC betrayed a promise of land for housing, responding to protests instead with police violence and criminalisation. This moment clarified that for shack dwellers, 'freedom and the African National Congress (ANC) were two different things' and that their demand for inclusion in decisions about their lives was treated as criminal. The central demand became the recognition of their dignity and humanity, captured by the statement, 'We are still not counted as human'. AbM developed a unique political philosophy based on 'a politics of the poor' and 'living politics'. This approach was necessary because existing political systems excluded the poor, leading AbM to develop their own language and ideas, guided by the principle: 'nothing for us, without us'. The movement insists that governance and development must be participatory. AbM's political praxis is grounded in the values of ubuntu and centres on building democratic socialism from below, often referred to as a 'living communism' achieved through building communities and communes. This stance has been met with intense, sustained repression, including constant police harassment, torture, criminalization, and informal violence. This violence, which has claimed more than twenty lives, is intended as a lesson to teach poor people to 'know our place'. Despite the horrific level of repression, the movement sustains its democratic structure and growth by centring its humanity, recognizing that courage and perseverance in the struggle are responsibilities that come with being human. AbM views itself as a space where people become 'more human' by listening and acting together.

About this title

About the Author

Sibusiso Innocent Zikode is the president of the South African shack dwellers' movement, which he co-founded with others in 2005

Edition details

• Publisher: Daraja Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1997742152
• ISBN 13: 9781997742159
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 54