DURBAN - Shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo will hold a Heritage Month celebration in Gauteng on Saturday to show support for those affected by the recent xenophobic attacks in the province.
Abahlali said it had seen rapid growth in the Eastern Cape and Mpumulanga and was "steadily advancing" in Gauteng. The organisation has branches in five provinces, with KwaZulu-Natal housing its head office.
"Our movement continues to grow and to support the impoverished to organise themselves and to build a democratic counter-power to the state and capital," said the organisation on Friday evening.
"The recent xenophobic attacks were centred in Gauteng, and they continue in various neighbourhoods. In a number of neighbourhoods people continue to be removed from their homes by xenophobic mobs. Some of our members tell us that they are still sleeping with their IDs under their pillows.
"Our members in Gauteng have been doing excellent work, often in solidarity with our comrades in NUMSA, to build popular solidarity and opposition to xenophobia," said the organisation.
It was vital that Abahlali worked with its members and "progressive forces", it said, to continue building a movement based on solidarity among the oppressed in Gauteng.
Saturday's Heritage Month celebration will take place at Vusumuzi section, Tembisa, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The event starts at 10 a.m.
Abahlali's founder and president, S’bu Zikode, will address the meeting.
"We will be celebrating our diverse cultures, and making it clear that for us a comrade is a comrade and a neighbour is neighbour without regard for the province or country in which they were born, or what language they speak at home. We will also be taking a clear position for the full equality of women in communities, in the struggle and in society, and against the ongoing attacks on women.
"We invite all those who are opposed to xenophobia, and for the full equality of women, to join us in Tembisa as we work to build progressive and democratic politics from ground level."