South Africa – Zabalaza for Socialism

Shifting Political Terrain

Richard Pithouse24 July 2026

Every country gets the fascism that it deserves. The arrival of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), March and March and a set of allied organisations on the political stage is not just a matter of new forces emerging within the field of contestation. It is also an ongoing and rapid reconfiguration of the field. This […]

The Politics of Division Has Entered Our Homes

Luke Sinwell15 July 2026

According to community reports, a woman was raped during an apparent housebreaking in Thembelihle this past weekend. A criminal case has been opened and the survivor received medical attention. This is not only the story of a terrible crime. It is a warning about the direction in which our communities are being pushed. Too often, […]

Lessons of 1976: ‘Be united to face the common enemy’

Noor Nieftagodien10 July 2026

On 30 June 2026, a few hundred people marched through Soweto as part of the broader campaign of xenophobia that in recent weeks has swept across some parts of the country. In the same month, the country marked the 50th anniversary of the historic 1976 uprising, when tens of thousands of Black students nationally mobilised against […]

March Separately, Strike Together: Xenophobia, Working-Class Fragmentation, and Strategic Crossroads

Rehad Desai and Luke Sinwell8 July 2026

500 Migrants outside the Malawian consulate Woodmead, Johannesburg In townships and informal settlements across South Africa, violence against foreign nationals is no longer episodic. It is increasingly organised and spoken about in ways that normalise it. Groups such as March and March have become associated with mobilisation that targets migrants in the name of jobs, […]

Ratanda: Two Residents Die After Water Protest, Community Calls for Mayor to Step Down

Siyafana Sonke Campaign7 July 2026

Ratanda, a working-class township south of Heidelberg in Gauteng’s Lesedi Local Municipality, has water again. Water has returned. Katleho Mokoena and Sipho Motaung will not. Katleho Mokoena (23) died after police confronted residents protesting weeks of water shortages on Wednesday, 1 July. Sipho Motaung later died in hospital from injuries sustained during the same protests. […]

INPUT BY SAFTU GENERAL SECRETARY ZWELINZIMA VAVI AT THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION SEMINAR

Zwelinzima Vavi7 July 2026

THIRTY-TWO YEARS OF DEMOCRACY: A WORKING-CLASS ASSESSMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION Comrades, colleagues, leaders of the movement, intellectuals, veterans of the struggle, and fellow South Africans,I must begin by locating myself.I am not speaking here as a neutral observer.I am not speaking as an academic standing outside the battle.I speak as a trade unionist.I […]

No Borders, No Bosses, No Xenophobia: Build Proletarian Power from Below.

Socialism From Below6 July 2026

Keep Left/Socialism from Below statement There is no migration crisis. There is a crisis of capitalism. The violent events of 30 June remind us that xenophobia is a weapon used to divide the working class and excuse our rulers’ failings. South Africa’s crisis is rooted in an economic system that concentrates wealth in the hands […]

MAYOR’S REFUGEE DECEIT FLAMES ETHEKWINI TENSIONS

Siyafana Sonke Campaign6 July 2026

Siyafana Sonke Action Campaign condemns the utterances by Ethekwini Mayor, Cyril Xaba, feeding into the disinformation campaign targeting vulnerable migrant and refugee communities. According to Mayor Xaba’s comments in a recent podcast, he informed the interviewer that displaced refugees were demanding ‘free housing’, to the detriment of South Africans. The Siyafana Sonke campaign will not […]

THEMBELIHLE WAS BUILT THROUGH STRUGGLE: IT WILL BE DEFENDED THROUGH UNITY

Siyafana Sonke Campaign6 July 2026

The Siyafana Sonke Campaign salutes the residents of Thembelihle informal settlement in the South of Johannesburg, Lenasia, who continue to defend the values on which their community was built: solidarity, dignity and the right of all people to live without fear. Thembelihle was born out of struggle. It emerged because poor and working-class people, denied access to […]

‘The amabutho are back’: Abahlali warns of rising xenophobic violence

Thapelo Mohapi25 June 2026

I grew up in Bhambayi in Inanda, to the north of Durban. In 1993 more than two hundred people were killed in political violence between Inkatha and the ANC. In 1990, when I was eight, two friends of my father who were visiting from Lesotho were murdered. My brothers and I saw the bodies. In […]

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Tag: South Africa