'Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape has observed with great concern...unlawful activities on demolishing people’s structures and evicting people without any order from the court. This tendency seems to be growing... this undermines the prevention of illegal eviction from and unlawful occupation of land act 1998 (Act 19 of 1998).'

CODESRIA has postponed a colloquium to celebrate the life and works of Malawian academic, Thandika Mkandawire, following ‘gross violations of academic freedom’ at proposed venue, the University of Malawi. CODESRIA says that it will not hold the meeting until ‘our Malawian colleagues feel less threatened in the exercise of their rights as scholars and the enjoyment of the freedom of research and expression, without fear of being persecuted because of their ideas.’

Barack Obama has ‘no lawful basis for commencing a military campaign’ in Libya, the National Conference of Black Lawyers has said in an open letter to the US president.

Palestinian Christians came together to launch the ‘Palestine Kairos Document’ on 4 April, ‘a testimony of faith in relation to their experience under the occupation of Israel.’ Christians from Southern Africa issued the following statement in response, which calls for ‘an inclusive and just peace where the dignity and equality of all the inhabitants are upheld.’

On 6 April, officials of a branch of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) - the Rapid Intervention Force (FIR) - used violence to put an end to a protest by the employees of the private security firm Group Four Security (G4S). Allegedly, reports Global Voices, G4S has been illegally discounting employees' salaries, and they were now complaining about an worsening situation since June 2010. At the demonstration, workers appealed for payment of unreasonable discounted pay by the employer, as well as for the payment of holiday bonuses and overtime.

The runner-up in last year’s Guinean presidential elections is threatening a nationwide civil disobedience campaign if 67 members of his party are not released from detention by the newly elected government of President Alpha Condé. Cellou Dalein Diallo warned that the opposition in Guinea will not allow the government of President Alpha Condé 'to trample on the rights of citizens' as the military dictatorship did in the past.

'As activists, health professionals, technicians, researchers, lawyers and other individuals and organisations concerned about the adverse consequences of inadequate and poorly maintained sanitation services, we hereby commit to working with local government to ensure that every person living in the City of Cape Town has their right to Basic Sanitation realised.'

Deaths at South African mines increased by 27 per cent in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year. Department of Mineral Resources spokeswoman Zingaphi Jakuja said that there were 38 fatalities reported from 1 January to 31 March compared with 30 for the first quarter last year.

Across Zimbabwe, economic and political crisis has forced students to do without books, classroom furniture, teachers - the basics of a conducive learning environment. These learners cannot go to libraries, so the libraries have gone to them. In recent years, Zimbabwe’s rural schools have become notorious for their under-funding and dilapidation. For two decades, mobile libraries have formed a crucial part of encouraging a reading culture and promoting literacy in hard-to-reach places. The donkey-drawn libraries have helped spur Zimbabwe’s literacy levels according to Sylvester Nkomo, a headmaster stationed in Inyati, about 60 kilometers north-west of Bulawayo.

On Friday 8 April the Unemployed People’s Movement & the Women’s Social Forum will be marching for toilets, electricity and housing, in Grahamstown, South Africa. 'Toilets are an important issue for the safety and dignity of our people. It is an absolute disgrace that all these years after democracy so many of our people have inadequate toilets or no toilets at all.'

Facebook campaign ‘April 12 Swazi Uprising’ has received disproportionate international media coverage for an event that hasn’t happened, writes Peter Kenworthy. But how does it tie in with democratic movements on the ground?

The state-controlled trade union federation that for over half a century was employed by Egyptian rulers to suppress workers' protests and mobilise voters for sham elections appears to be crumbling with the recent ouster of president Hosni Mubarak. 'There is a movement against state control of unions,' says Mohamed Trabelsi, a regional specialist on union activities at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 'You now have many strikes and labour protests in Egypt, and workers in many sectors have started to organise and form free and independent unions.'

Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape has welcomed the Joe Slovo Constitutional Court Judgement which was handed down on Thursday last week, which set aside an eviction order granted in June 2009. 'While this is a victory for people of Joe Slovo who did not want to be evicted to Delft, we also note that:
1. If the previous Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu was not arrogant, and was willing to engage meaningfully with the residents of Joe Slovo the whole dispute between both parties would have been resolved outside the court and a satisfactory decision to both parties would have been reached.
2. People of Joe Slovo who were shot (during the time that they barricaded the N2 for almost eight hours) by Metro Police, SAPS and Law Enforcement would not have been injured.
3. Those who were wrongfully forced out of Joe Slovo would still be residing at Joe Slovo and also those who lost their jobs after being forcefully evicted, today would have been still working.'

'Two leaders of the social justice movement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, are being sought by police. They are at risk of arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment,' writes AIUSA, in a call for the public to write letters of appeal to Zimbabwean officials.

The US government should help ensure free and fair elections in Ethiopia by putting pressure on Meles Zenawi to implement political reforms, writes the Ethiopian Americans Council, in an open letter to Barack Obama.

This campaign example from the New Tactics for Human Rights website profiles the 5-in-6 program in South Africa, which raises awareness of the widespread problem of domestic violence through a nomination campaign for male role models. By recognising and honouring local male role models, Charles Maisel taught groups of ordinary men to talk about domestic violence and to see that it is an underlying part of the other problems their communities were facing.

As industrialised nations in the West look for technological fixes to climate change that enable them to carry on with ‘business as usual’,

South African shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo marched to Durban City Hall on 21 March to deliver the message to the local councillors that ‘they have corrupted this city for too long and that? their time is up.’ Pictures from the march are available on the . Below is the statement Abahlali made.

In early February of this year, thousands of people from around the globe gathered in the historic city of Dakar, Senegal for the 2011 World Social Forum. Grassroots activists, community leaders, indigenous people, students and leftist politicians came together to celebrate the peoples' movements that are creating a new world and discuss strategies for moving forward. Particularly in light of the then-emerging social movements in Tunisia and Egypt that have now spread across North Africa and the Middle East, the World Social Forum in Dakar represented the energy, hope and determination of the African continent to challenge the neoliberal paradigm and declare that 'another world is possible'. are scenes from the opening March where President Evo Morales of Bolivia delivered a rousing opening statement to the people gathered and leaders from the African Social Forum council welcomed the marchers to Dakar. Dakar is of particular significance as one of the last African ports where slave ships stopped before crossing the Atlantic on their way to the Americas. Goree Island, with its door of no return through which millions of slaves passed during the transatlantic slave trade, is a reminder of that history. The World Social Forum is a symbol of the historic resistance to injustices that once took the form of slavery and today have many different faces.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has said that South African workers, together with workers representatives from around the globe, will demand that the Competition Tribunal protects the local economy and reject Wal-Mart's unconditional entry into the country. Wal-Mart in November made a R16.5 billion cash offer to acquire 51 per cent of Massmart at R148 per Massmart share - a smaller stake than the initial 100 per cent offer in September.