The eKhenana occupation in Cato Manor, Durban has established various community projects through organizing from below and international solidarity, including the Frantz Fanon Political School, Thuli Ndlovu Community Hall, Sifiso Ngcobo Poultry Solidarity Project, and Nkululeko Gwala Food Sovereignty Garden. These projects were developed through exchanges with Brazil's MST and serve the local community by providing food, income, and infrastructure. The occupation faces repression from the state and ruling ANC party for building autonomy instead of relying on the government.

1. Building Autonomy & Solidarity from Below on the
eKhenana Occupation
The eKhenana Occupation now has the Frantz Fanon Political
School, the Thuli Ndlovu Community Hall, the Sifiso Ngcobo
Poultry Solidarity Project and the Nkululeko Gwala Food
Sovereignty Garden
Since our movement was formed in 2005 we have been
committed to building organic organising from below. Our
movement was built settlement by settlement and occupation
by occupation. From the beginning we also worked to build a
living solidarity with other struggles. In the early years we
offered solidarity to comrades in countries like Haiti and
Zimbabwe. When our movement was under attack we received
international solidarity from organisations as far away as the
United Kingdom, the USA and Turkey.
During the last five years we have been sending our comrades
to the MST political school in Brazil. Through working together
with the MST comrades, and other comrades at the school, we
have learnt the ways of organising in different countries. From
the MST we have learnt about agroecology and the importance
of making our occupations sites of production, as well as places
to live, build community and access the cities.
There were gardens in our branches before we developed our
relationship with MST. In 2008 the strong women in Motala
Heights founded the Motala Diggers. But from the MST we
have learnt to organise urban farming on a much bigger scale
and how to organise co-operatives to manage the farming and
to distribute the produce on a democratic and collective basis.
Yesterday we officially opened the garden and poultry farm at
the eKhenana occupation in Cato Manor, Durban. This work
came as a result of learning exchanges with our comrades in
the MST. The seeds for the garden came from the MST. This
garden serves the community. It feeds many families that are
headed by children and do not have anyone employed. The

2. money that is made from selling the excess produce via the
shop run by the cooperative has paid for all kinds of important
things such as PPE and transport for people needing to go into
central Durban. The cooperative recently donated a mobile
sound system to the movement.
Food sovereignty is now a very important part of our work in
our movement. We believe that we can create our own food
and not rely on the government, who come with unhealthy food
parcels when elections are coming and pay people small grants
that can just keep them alive. Mostly when people receive the
grants they take the money straight to the supermarkets owned
by the big capitalists. The grants are not a subsidy for the
oppressed to build autonomy. They are a subsidy for the
capitalists.
The politic of autonomy is always dangerous, and has created
many enemies in the ruling party and the state in the past. This
is because as the poor we are supposed to rely on the state for
everything, including land, housing, services and food. When
we create our own autonomy by organising ourselves;
occupying land; building our own homes, halls and community
infrastructure; arranging our own access to services; and
developing our own capacity to disrupt, march and engage the
media the politicians say that we ‘are running our own authority’
and our efforts are met with violent repression.
In 2009 our movement was attacked in Kennedy by the ANC in
the presence of the police. One of the reasons why we were
attacked was that at that time we had a drop in centre which
provided various kinds of support to people in the settlement
including bread for many families. The ANC said that ‘Zikode is
running his own authority’ and celebrated when we were
attacked.
Our ideology of Ubuhlalism is about working together as the
poor to build our own democratic power and to find solutions to
our own problems. We believe that as the poor we are our own
solutions. We believe that a neighbour should not sleep when

3. their neighbour does not have something to eat.
The eKhenana occupation has faced serious repression,
including more than twenty armed and violent attempts at
eviction. The state used the Covid-19 lockdown as cover to
wage regular attacks on the occupation. Women were most
abused and targeted in these attacks. Despite the devastating
effects of police brutality towards women during violent
evictions, the women on the occupation have never lost sight of
the fact that meaningful change for them cannot come through
appealing to elites for reform from above but only through unity
from below. Women took the lead in building and sustaining
solidarity on the occupation. Women’s power has always been
the foundation of our struggle and today women remain in the
forefront of the struggle in eKhenana.
The food sovereignty project in eKhenana that was officially
opened yesterday was named after our late comrade who we
lost in our struggle, comrade Nkululeko Gwala. Gwala was the
chairperson of the Cato Crest branch. He was assassinated in
2014 after threats were made against him by senior leaders in
the ANC in Durban.
We also officially opened a poultry farming project that was
named after Sifiso Ngcobo. Sifiso Ngcobo was the chairperson
of Ekukhanyeni branch. He was assassinated in 2018 after he
received many threats from the ANC.
We also opened the Thuli Ndlovu Memorial Hall in honour of
our late KwaNdengezi chairperson and member of the National
Council who was assassinated by two ANC ward councilors in
2016.
The names of the of these fallen comrades were engraved in
this living struggle so that this history remains with the
movement.
From the local to the global level solidarity among the left is
very important. We need to ensure that we work together as the

4. human race.