From the 7 to 9 December Unemployed People's Movement, other organisations of the unemployed and the poor, and allies in unions, civil society and other progressive formations will converge on Grahamstown for the first Assembly of the Unemployed.

11 August 2013

A democratic society is defined as a society in which the public has the means to participate in the management of their affairs, information is open and free and participation is safe for everyone.

Recently we had a demonstration in Ext 9 in Grahamstown demanding that the list of beneficiaries for the new RDP houses be made public and people participate in the construction of the low cost houses. To us it was clear that the ruling party is abusing the list for patronage, corruption and elections. Some councillor’s kids are on the list as well as party members and their families.

For this call we were demonized, delegitimized and attacked by the members of the ruling party as opportunists, fronts for other organizations, pawns of white academics and rebels with no cause.

On the 06 August 2013 we convened a meeting at Nombulelo High School and we requested the Mayor to speak on the list. He apologized on behalf of the council, citing the fact that the list was characterized by corruption and irregularities. The Mayor’s admission that the list has been badly corrupted has been prominently covered in Grocott’s Mail.

We have been vindicated and not for the first time. Our adversaries always refuse to engage with us critically. Instead they use slander, class power and at times racist remarks to attack us. All that we are asking is that when we organise and mobilise around an issue we should be engaged on that issue rather than by constantly having our integrity called into question. We may be poor but we are full blown political subjects and that is how we should be engaged.

There’s an outcry all over the country over the corruption of housing lists by the ruling party. We are pleased that we have been able to stop the corruption in Grahamstown and we will continue to organise and mobilise to ensure that the new process is fair and open.

For more information, contact:

Ayanda Kota – 078 625 6462

Gladys Mepo – 060 393 0402

Our country is reeling with shock at the ongoing rape and violence against women, rich women and poor women, white women and black women, by men of all races and classes. And our country is reeling in shock at the levels of corruption. The trial of the Mpsiane's in KwaZulu-Natal has shown just how extreme the situation has become in terms of government corruption. But we are also reeling in shock from the corruption scandals around MTN, the construction cartel and other big corporates that have even go so far as to fix the price of bread.

We would have expected a decent President to announce special courts to deal with rape and violence against women. We would have expected a decent President to announce special courts to deal with corruption. Instead we get special courts for protesters!

Zuma is more like Ben Ali or Mubarak than a true representative of the people. His conduct in his own rape trial was shocking. No one could ever say that he is a leader that has the moral authority to take a stand against corruption. He has militarised the police and said nothing when poor people's movements are openly repressed by the police and the ANC. Now he pretends that violence is coming from protesters when we all know that in most cases it is the police that bring violence into the equation. There is a very long list of protesters that have been killed by the police since 2000. In fact the number stands at more than 70! What kind of democracy is this where the police can kill more than 70 protesters?

CONTACT

Ayanda Kota 078 625 6462 (Spokesperson, UPM Eastern Cape)

Motsi Khokhoma 073 490 76 23 (Spokesperson, UPM Free State)

It is an outrage that people who are desperate for jobs were treated in such an inhuman manner. If the apartheid government had done that it would have been an international scandal provoking protests around the world

The government has long tried to channel the few scraps that come to the poor through organisations loyal to it to reward obedience and at the same time repress dissent.

Police disrupt a peaceful party for a child, apparently at the instigation of the local ANC leadership, which wants to crush a rebellion in the area.