AEC in Athlone Magistrates court on May 13 and at Constitutional Court on May 14

12 05 2009

Upcoming Anti-Eviction Campaign and Poor Peoples Alliance events:

May 14 in Joburg – The AEC and other Poor Peoples Alliance members will be attending Abahlali baseMjondolo’s Constitutional Court challenge of the KZN Slums Act.  See this previous press release.  For more information, contact:

  • Ashraf Cassim AEC Cape Town 076 186 1408
  • Mnikelo Ndabankulu ABM-KZN 079 745 0653
  • Mbhekiseni Mavuso Rural Network KZN 072 279 2634
  • Mzonke Poni ABM Cape Town 073 256 2036
  • Maureen Mnisi LPM-Gauteng 082 337 4514

Morning of May 13 in Athlone – The Gugulethu AEC will turn out in numbers to support activists Mncedisi Twalo and Mbulelo Zuba for their final appearance in Athlone Magistrate’s Court.  We expect the case to be thrown out for lack of evidence as it is a trumped up charge.  If the case is actually heard, residents will be presenting damning accounts of police brutality and of ANC leaders such as Mcebisi Skwatsha’s harasment of residents. For more information, contact:

  • Pule at 073 6448 919 or 078 580 8646
  • Ashraf Cassim at 076 186 1408

Also in the news:

A damning audit report of the N2 Gateway housing project was released showing widespread corruption, mismanagement and criticising the government attempts to evict the poor.

New Zealand’s 60 minutes profiles anti-Apartheid activist John Minto’s trip to South Africa including his visits to the AEC communities of Gugulethu, Old Crossroads and Symphony Way.  He also met with ‘high profile’ people such as Desmond Tutu and the former Springbok captain.


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Video on Gugs AEC’s No Vote! picket

23 04 2009
22 April 2009
Anna Majavu
Source: The Sowetan

Click here for the Sowetan’s video on why many Gugulethu residents will not vote

Article: Record numbers expected at polls

Results will show which party was successful in selling its message

Millions of people are holding their breath over what will happen after they have cast their votes today. Read the rest of this entry »


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SA election special: Shack life “terrifying and impossible” says shack dweller

23 03 2009
Mar 10, 2009
Brenda Nkuna
Source: West Cape News

A street in TR Section, Khayelitsha, where residents have protested over lack of service delivery. Photo: Brenda Nkuna/WCN“It’s like living in the apartheid era. We don’t exist,” said Nonthunzi Nodliwa, 46. Nodliwe lives in Khayelitsha’s TR Section, where disillusionment with service delivery runs high.

Last month a group of TR Section residents stormed an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) registration station in Khayelitsha, damaging an IEC car and disrupting registration.

Three men charged with public violence in connection with the incident were granted bail in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on February 10.

Since then politicians and election officials say briefings have been held to address concerns over service delivery. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Archives, Mainstream and Other News, Site B and Site C in Khayelitsha

Media: If you don’t vote, you can complain

15 03 2009

Open letter to South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)
Rosa Blaauw and Jared Sacks (2009-03-11)
Source: Pambazuka News

Re: Misinformation on IEC TV ads for voter registration including the ad ‘if you don’t vote, you can’t complain’

Dear Chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam,

A recent television ad for the campaign for voter registration by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has a line which implies that non-voting South African citizens have no power to bring about change in this country. ‘If you don’t vote, you can’t complain’ shows the short-sightedness and arrogance of the current political system, which attempts to convince South Africans that voting is the most effective and only way to bring about change in this country.

We are not stating that democracy cannot help a country if democracy is defined as the people taking control over the political system. But these ads seek manipulate people. They offend our rights as citizens and undermine the constitution which enshrines our right to choose our political convictions as well as our right to protest. If the most effective way to measure democracy in a country is the way those in power treat dissent, then South Africa continues to fail as it uses both violent and manipulative means to keep people quiet. Read the rest of this entry »


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Opinion: ‘Tide of change’ merely a dull merger

8 03 2009
Mar 08, 2009
Source: The Times

In Njabulo Ndebele’s imaginary interview, “A new breed of voters wants imaginative politics” (March 1), he manipulatively electioneers for the Congress of the People, depicting it as a “tide of change” for “real political choices”.

Ndebele should know that multiparty democracy is not, in itself, “imaginative politics”, and that COPE’s policies are a dull merging of the worst of the ANC and the Democratic Alliance.

Of what use is it to “let a thousand parties bloom and give renewed life to our constitution” when it protects illegitimate white wealth and fails to protect people’s rights against poverty, social misery, unemployment and landlessness?

Ndebele’s suggestion that an electoral system in which “local communities elect their representatives and president directly” will improve transparency and political accountability and empower the electorate, is unfounded.

The electoral system is neither the cause nor the solution to people’s problems.

That lies in the socioeconomic system, in which gender, race and class inequality are permitted by all political parties.

If the electoral system was magical, the US would not have ghettoes, brutal police, racial profiling and a perpetual underclass.

Even if inadvertent, Ndebele was condescending in his eulogy for places such as Soweto as well as in his directive that people must demystify parties and trade unions.

To Ndebele’s feigned elitist ignorance, communities have demystified politics and trade unionism for initiatives such as the Landless People’s Movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers’ movement), the Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Anti-Eviction Campaign. Read the rest of this entry »


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Gugs AEC activists to appear in Athlone Magistrates Court on Tuesday

8 03 2009

As part of the ANC’s campaign to undermine the independent social movements, Mncedisi Twalo and Mbulelo Zuba will appear in Athlone Magistrates Court on the Tuesday the 10th of March, 2009 at 10am.  The charges of obstructing the IEC are false accusations made by ANC provincial chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha and councillor Belinda Landingwe – who had no business being at the IEC registration table to begin with.

Gugulethu residents and other AEC supporters will come out in numbers to support their comrades.

While police routinely arrest activists on false charges all over South Africa, almost all cases are dropped for lack of evidence.  We expect this one to be dropped as well.  Please come out and support us.  Help with legal fees would also be appreciated.

For more information, contact Pule at 073 6448 919 and Speelman at 073 9825 725.

For WCAEC legal comment, contact Ashraf at 076 1861 408.


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AEC members tear gassed, beaten and arrested; residents lay blame on ANC

9 02 2009
Gugulethu AEC Press Update
Monday 9 February, 2009

Today, Mncedisi Twalo and Mbulelo Zuba appeared in Athlone Magistrate Court on charges relating to obstructing IEC voter registration.  They have now been released on 500 Rand bail and the case has been postponed until the 10th of March.  They have told us that they spent almost 24 hours without food and water – Gugulethu police seemed to be punishing the two leaders.

Unfortunately, we cannot quote the two activists due to the pending trial.  However, as residents, we would like make clear the following facts:

  1. The AEC and the IEC in Gugulethu were and are on amicable terms. We had negotiated with the IEC on the shared use of the Sports Complex and everything was peaceful.  IEC officials present at the complex will agree that residents did not obstruct any registration from taking place.  To confirm this, contact Pule (number below) and he will connect you with an IEC official who was present the entire time.
  2. ANC provincial chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha and councillor Belinda Landingwe called the police and told them to attack residents during their meetings.  They also told police to arrest Mncedisi and Mbulelo.
  3. Police came and immediately attacked residents without warning. Thousands of residents were present, many were tear gassed, others were beaten (including a 9 year old child).
  4. Residents lost phones, IDs, purses and the AEC committee lost over 2,000 Rand which they had been collecting to buy T-shirts for residents.  We think that the money and items became spoils of war divided among police officers.

Residents are angry and claim that their right to freedom of expression, freedom to meet, and freedom not to vote, have been infringed upon.  They feel intimidated by the ANC and the police and they demand an investigation take place as to the ANC’s illegal actions against non-ANC residents in Gugulethu.

For more information, contact Pule at 073 6448 919 and Lenox at 073 4684 902.

For legal comment, contact Ashraf at 076 1861 408.

Previous day’s press statement below: Read the rest of this entry »


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