The Kennedy Road settlement, like all other Abahlali baseMjondolo settlements, has been embarking on a living politic.
This politic is a living politic because it talks about the realities of our democracy – a democracy that serves the interests of a minority while the majority our people continue to live and to die in inhuman conditions.
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Emergency Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Sunday 27 September 2009, 22:40
There are now senior ANC leaders in the Kennedy Road Community Hall. In their presence the homes of the elected Kennedy Road leadership continue to be demolished and burnt by the same small group of well armed people who have been carrying out attacks with impunity for 23 straight hours. None of the people that launched the surprise, unprovoked and heavily armed attack on the KRDC last night have been arrested and yet most of the KRDC is locked up in the Sydenham Police station (including those who were publicly performing the imfene dance in Claremont at the time of the attack).
The police are currently on the scene and are doing nothing to stop the destruction. These are the same police who have, over the years, attacked a number of peaceful and legal marches with swift, shocking (and very effective) brutality. They are very well equipped and armed. They can get the riot police to support them in just a few minutes. They can get water cannons and helicopters in a few minutes. They can call in the army if they need to. It would be supremely easy for them to stop these attacks if they wished too. The police complicity in these attacks is now entirely beyond question. It is a matter of clear and obvious and undeniable fact.
We have just heard that S’bu Zikode’s house has been demolished and his goods have been stolen. He personally requested support from the police but received none. Should we be surprised given that these are the same police that tortured him in 2007 for the crime of trying to attend a radio interview?
There is no democracy for the poor in South Africa. Abahlali have been saying this for years. Now it must be obvious to everyone. It is time that we all stopped pretending that everything is ok in our country.
June 09, 2009 Edition 1
Source: Cape Argus
Maybe there is someone out there who will listen to what I have to say.
After many efforts to raise the alarm about how we ordinary, poor South Africans feel after being ignored, except when an election is around the corner, perhaps someone will pay attention to our plight. Read the rest of this entry »
Over 2,000 residents from Gugulethu, Philippi and Nyanga marched to the social development offices in Gugulethu on Wednesday to protest about the administration of a social grant intended for the poor, claiming it was being politicised in election campaigning.
The march was organised by the Anti-Eviction Campaign, which claims that only ANC members are given the grants and that not enough people are able to access it.
The marchers arrived at the offices at about 9am and sat down in the sun singing songs while the AEC met with social development department officials inside. Many of the people appeared to be at the march in the hope of getting on the list to access the grant.
The grant in question is the Social Relief in Distress Grant, which is worth R960 per month for a period of two months to families in dire social need.
Mncedisi Thwala, a Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign leader, accused government of using the grants to campaign. He said communities were being told to go to social development offices and apply for the grant, but that only ANC members were able to get them.
“There is a political motive behind the grant when the ruling party is campaigning.”
He said government should increase the number of people who accessed the grant. Thwala said there were over 5,000 people who were in need of the grant in the Gugulethu area, but that only 300 people had been able to access it.
“This money is for the poor and they are attaching it to politics,” he said, adding that they had given the social development department 14 days to respond to their demands to increase access to the grant.
But Social Development Department director of district offices and facility management Quinton Arendse said Zola Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development, had allocated R500-million nationally for the grant and the Western Cape had received R21.5million.
During the May 2008 xenophobic attacks R10-million had been spent, making it difficult to give grants to many people.
He denied that the grant had been politicised, saying as a government department they were not obliged to be partisan.
“We cannot provide priviledges to particular parties. It’s not the first time that we have come under attack by the Anti-Eviction Campaign.”
He said the grant was intended for people in “dire need” and not for those who were only unemployed.
“There are rumours and confusion that people who are generally unemployed can access the grant.”
Sylvia Awanti, 57, who is unemployed and supports two children, said she had been looking for a job for “many years”, but had never found one. She said she did not know about the grant until ANC members started campaigning in Gugulethu.
“They say we must support them yet we don’t see nothing.” She said it was painful to see other people accessing the grant.
Gugulethu ANC councillor Belinda Ntombende denied the claims. She said the grant was not meant for political parties. “There is poverty in our township and people just want to abuse the grant. Everyone cannot get the grant.”
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