ABM Youth League

Our Powerful Northern Unified Branch Based School of Thoughts Session, Yesterday.

We continue to stand in Solidarity with Youth Human Rights Advocaters around the world.

Aluta Continua!!!



FREE Swaziland Youth Congress - PYL

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18D5qqmxjM/

21 March 2026
Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League

*We Remain Oppressed Despite Having Rights On Paper*

The Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League raises its voice in pain, anger, and resolve. We declare that in South Africa today, the rights of the poor, including the youth, are systematically denied. We are treated with systemic contempt and economically drained. Another generation is being sacrificed while corruption and elite enrichment continue unchecked.

We refuse to be only remembered in June. One-day events do not bring change in our lives. On Human Rights Day, we call on the government to recognise youth as human beings deserving of respect and dignity, for which the youth of 1976 fought. On this day, when the Sharpeville Massacre is remembered, we remind the government that state murder did not end in 1994 but has continued with Marikana, Operation Vala Umgodi and the many people who have been killed by the police and land invasions unit during protests and evictions. Along with all of our own comrades who have been killed in the struggle for land and dignity, we also remember all other whistleblowers and activists who have given their lives, such as Fikile Ntshangase, Babita Deokaran, and many others.

We are told that we live in a constitutional democracy. Yet the right to employment is denied to millions of young people. We are educated into poverty and graduate into joblessness. Children are denied the right to education by fascist organisations like Operation Dudula and March On March, because their anger is misdirected and they are funded by those who wish to divide the poor. Their politics is anti-Pan-Africanist and turns the poor against each other instead of confronting injustice. We ask: Ubuntu benu buphi? Where is your humanity? The children of Jacinta Zuma continue to stay in school while our African children — our children — are denied access to schools by fascist mobs.

The world should be clear that we stand in solidarity with the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa — lawyers for the poor and the oppressed — the true litigators of humanity who are doing the work of God. As Cabral reminded us, “We are soldiers of humanity.”

In the midst of the crisis of mass unemployment and impoverishment, Gwede Mantashe insults young people as being lazy and not looking for jobs, while it is systemic policy failures – failures by the ANC government that are producing unemployment. This crisis is deepened by a criminal justice system that has been captured and fails to act in the interests of the people.

Many people without work and without a future try to reduce their pain with drugs and alcohol. We continue to lose young people to the streets. There is no support for the people struggling with these challenges.

When we look at parliament we only see older people. This reflects the structural exclusion of the youth from real political power. When we look at the few people who get jobs they, like the ones that get tenders, are related to high-ranking officials. High-ranking officials are in positions for which they are not qualified. This has been evident in the Madlanga Commission.

Corruption is everywhere, and activists and whistleblowers who expose it are assassinated. When activists and whistleblowers are killed, democracy itself is killed. The blood of grassroots leaders stains the promise of freedom. We must remember every fallen comrade every time an ANC leader stands up today to tell us we are free.
The right to land is denied. Land remains in the hands of a few, and it remains commodified while the poor are criminalised for occupying unused land in search of independence, shelter and access to the cities. We are evicted, harassed, and treated as criminals for demanding a place to live. Some of our comrades have paid for this struggle with their lives.

We have built alternatives — food farming cooperatives, political schools, recycling initiatives, and communes — in an effort to create dignified life from below.

The right to protest is denied through ongoing police brutality. Peaceful demonstrations are met with rubber bullets, arrests, and pure violence. We are beaten and sometimes killed for demanding our rights.

The right to political choice and freedom of association is denied when activists are assassinated for organising their communities.

Poverty has been criminalised and turned into a joke while lives are lost to violence, addiction, depression and even hunger. The ANC makes a joke of us by giving one loaf per family. Just because it is election time, we are treated and remembered as banks for votes. Every time an election is coming they come with food parcels. Through political conscientisation, people can learn to question these empty gestures and organise for real change.

Recently, we buried five young lives lost in a devastating shack fire. These deaths were not accidents; they were the result of structural abandonment. The fires continue because we continue to be denied the right to safe energy. When we organise our own access to energy we are treated as criminals. Energy poverty remains a form of violence in 2026.

The government’s continuous austerity measures are denying young people the right to decent healthcare, the right to quality education, and the right to reliable public services. Clinics are underfunded. Schools in poor communities remain overcrowded and under-resourced. Public transport is a joke. Basic services collapse while budgets are cut in the name of fiscal discipline.

Young women have to pay tax for sanitary towels. Why is nature taxed?

We continue to struggle for housing. When the government was building public housing it was poor quality, too small and often in the human dumping grounds outside the cities. Houses were often corruptly sold and allocated, often to those who are already better off. Housing allocation is shaped by party patronage, with benefits going to municipal officials, politically connected individuals, and those aligned to power, while the poor are left behind. Now the government’s housing programme has mostly collapsed.

The promise of free education remains incomplete. Many young people are burdened by education debt, and even after graduation, there are no jobs. This produces a deep sense of hopelessness among the youth. Depression and anxiety are rampant. We do not benefit from skills development programmes because they do not reach our communities.

We remain oppressed despite having rights on paper.

We are not asking for charity. We are demanding justice. Our rights must be respected.

We demand:

• Land
• Housing
• Jobs and dignified work for young people
• A guaranteed and decent income for all people without decent paying work
• Safe and affordable energy for all
• An end to political assassinations and police brutality
• Free, decolonised, and quality education
• Investment in public healthcare and public services, not austerity
• Support for democratically run community-owned urban agricultural projects
• Support for democratically run communes and cooperatives
• True respect for the poor — not lies told to us when the time comes to vote
• Skills development that reaches our communities
• Food sovereignty through community control of production
• Action against the extremely high levels of violence in our society, including gender-based violence and xenophobia

We call on young people to organise where they are, to build political schools, and to develop the strength and clarity needed to struggle for justice. Through education and collective organisation we can build real democracy, real power, and real socialism from below.

The youth of Abahlali baseMjondolo will continue to organise, mobilise, and resist. We refuse to be silenced. We refuse to be criminalised for being poor. We refuse to inherit a future of inequality and exclusion.

We remain in solidarity with the people of Palestine. We condemn the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran, and the US attacks on Iran.

We condemn the attack on the Cuban people who have been denied access to oil, food, medication. We denounce the imperialist system led by Donald Trump, which uses military force and sanctions to control people and attack people’s sovereignty. In each and every country of the world the people of that country must be free to determine their future.

Let Cuba live!

Our struggle is a struggle for dignity. Our struggle is a struggle for life. Our struggle is a struggle for democratic socialism.

Young people, let us unite! We are on our own, and it is up to us whether we fulfil our mission or betray it.

Contact

Thandeka Thusini 076 647 9641
Nkululeko Ketelo 078 330 6246

Greetings comrades,

We would like to invite all members of the Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League to the first General Assembly of us (young) people in Abahlali baseMjondolo. The event will take place at the Abahlali office on Diakonia Avenue at 9:00 AM on Sunday, 28th July 2024.

Let's come together to build ubuhlalism from below for our future generations.

Aulta continua,

Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth Representatives,

Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement Youth League Statement

Date: 19 June 2024

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT THROUGH BUILDING SOCIALIST CONSCIOUSNESS

As Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement Youth League, We held a workshop on the 15th of June 2024 in Durban where the headquarters of the movement are .This workshop aimed to honor the comrades who lost their lives in 1976 fighting against the oppressive Bantu education system.We honour the young lions who parished on the hands of the struggles for a better , just and equal society both in Abahlali and in South Africa .Their sacrifice was not in vain, and it is crucial to remember their courage and the cause they stood for.

Today, as young people, we face new challenges in our pursuit of education and employment. Many of us complete our degrees and diplomas, only to be met with the demand for work experience—a catch where one can not gain experience without first being employed. This is a systemic issue that perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inequality under the current capitalist system in South Africa.

Our movement recognizes this as an injustice. It is not only impractical but also profoundly unfair to expect young graduates to have work experience when opportunities to gain such experience are systematically denied. As the Youth League, we are committed to addressing this issue and advocating for a more just and equitable system.

We stand in solidarity with all those who struggle against this unjust system and will continue to fight for the rights of the poor and marginalized. Together, we can challenge and change the system that perpetuates inequality and ensures a better future for all.

Learning about Ubuhlalism, we have seen students from around the world coming to Abahlali baseMjondolo University to learn about our movement and philosophy. We believe in the teachings and leadership of our fallen comrades, such as Lindokuhle Mnguni and Ayanda Ngila, who were killed by the ANC. Their deaths have not deterred us; rather, they have strengthened our resolve.
We understand that freedom will not be handed to us. We must stand up and fight for ourselves. We stand in solidarity with the people of Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Palestine, and the Kurdish regions,Students in US have been arrested for fighting for humanity , dignity and life for the Palestinians and the students of Kenya are aslo arrested for the cause of humanity and every young activist who continue to fight for their freedom in their respective countries.

As the Abahlali baseMjondolo Youth League, we empower ourselves through classes of living politics , methods, and methodologies
that build our socialist consciousness through living politics. We call on all young people to stand up and fight to change this situation. We need land so we can use it for farming and self-sustainability. The current education system does not equip us to start our own businesses; instead, it produces professional slaves. Hence, we need a progressive quality education that will produce solutions to our problems.

Socialism is the solution. We can not depend on the government. As President S’bu Zikode said in 2005, "We are on our own." We have seen the government's ignorance firsthand. We have marched and protested, but no one has come to address our concerns.
We commit ourselves to actively engaging through socialism classes, solidarity actions, and the building of Ubuhlalism. We firmly believe in the principle of "Socialism or Death."

We demand our freedom and deliverance from the chains of poverty which have been used as a tool of colonization to oppress us. Our Mission is not to always be charity cases but to be given resources which we will use to build what is ours , what is relevant to our needs. We live in dire onditions which no human should experience hence it has taught us to learn to hustle and stand firm to what we can as we are alone and no cares especially if is going to benefit "them" .During the June month we call upon youth to fight against Gender Based Violence and femicide, we call on youth to stop taking their lives as this does not only affect the families but also affects us , we know it is hard let us rather seek help from the relevant professionals like the Department of Social Development who offers free counciling , We call upon youth to reduce or abstain the use of Drugs and Alcohol this is killing our leaders , our doctors, our engineers our brothers.Lastly let live the spirit of Ubuntu by respecting everyone and everything that is around us through that promote our culture , identity and values which will determine our future.

Our time is now ! we say Nothing About Us Without Us !

Aluta Continua!

Lindo M***a
0661294815

Thandeka Thusini
0766479641

Nokuthula Chamane 0649536052

Youth Empowerment through building Socialist consciousness Workshop held in durban on Saturday, in respect of the Youth Day,

Youth day workshop in Johannesburg at Lindokuhle Branch held on Sunday,

!!SOLIDARITY ALERT!!
🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸

The Solidarity meeting for the Palestinian people and the arrested American students against the Genocidal acts and brutal killings of the people takes place tomorrow ,

If you wish to attend the meeting, in order to get the Zoom link,
Signal Contact : +27677509918 Comrade Simii
Whatsapp Contact: +27661294815 Comrade Lindo

JOIN US!
Abahlali baseMjondolo