15 Facts About S'bu Zikode

Sibusiso Innocent Zikode is the president of the South African shack dwellers' movement, which he co-founded with others in 2005.

S'bu Zikode was born in the village of Loskop in 1975 and grew up in the town of Estcourt, in the midlands of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

S'bu Zikode was raised by a single mother working as a domestic worker.

S'bu Zikode completed Matric at Bonokuhle High School where he joined the Boy Scouts Movement.

S'bu Zikode found work at a nearby petrol station as a pump attendant.

S'bu Zikode has served a number of terms as the elected head of the South African shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo since October 2005.

S'bu Zikode has said that ""The house on its own cannot solve the problem.

Academic Mark Hunter argues that S'bu Zikode evokes a conception of housing rooted in an idea of dignity rather than a technical, numbers driven approach to the housing crisis.

S'bu Zikode's writing has been anthologised in the Verso Book of Dissent and published in newspapers like The Guardian and Liberation.

In February 2006 S'bu Zikode was prevented by the police from taking up an invitation to appear on a television talk show.

S'bu Zikode's home was destroyed during the violence and he and his family fled.

S'bu Zikode, who went underground for some months because he feared for his life, considered himself a political refugee.

In July 2018, following the assassination of a number of its members, Abahlali baseMjondolo issued a statement claiming that S'bu Zikode's life was "in grave danger".

S'bu Zikode supports building radical democracy from below and has called for 'a living communism'.

S'bu Zikode has stressed that land is fundamental to his politics.