15 March 2010

*SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ARE FIGHTING FOR A GOOD CAUSE – WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS*

Unemployment is hovering at around 70 percent in Grahamstown. The most
affected are young people, including graduates. Unemployment in Grahamstown
has increased in the past few years. Several industries that provided
employment have closed down. These include the railway industry: the line
between Grahamstown and Alicedale, which used to be the core railway
junction in South Africa before the mid-1990’s, was closed down. A kaolin
(white clay used in the manufacture of ceramics, medicine, coated paper, in
toothpaste, light bulbs, cosmetics and porcelain) processing factory was
also closed down. The Municipality now exports kaolin, in the process making
jobs outside Grahamstown. A poultry firm has also been closed down. The
Makana Municipality is not creating any labour absorbing activities to
absorb the unemployment created by the closure of these industries.

The services sector in Grahamstown, such as Rhodes University and the
Grahamstown Arts Festival, has not created enough jobs to compensate. Jobs
that are created usually require specific skills or are temporary or casual
in nature. This sector has not done enough to address the plight of the
unemployed. The scale of human suffering this problem is causing must not be
underestimated. The rate of crime has increased, especially in the township.
The liquor and drugs industries are the fastest growing industries. There
have been a number of suicide cases, and some unemployed people have died
due to stress. Families are breaking down, and women and children are being
abused.

The Auditor General’s report which was tabled at a special council meeting
last month revealed that Makana Municipality did not account for at least
R26-million and that it did not claim for VAT input on the expenditure
incurred during that financial year.

Grahamstown’s ostrich product exporters, have conducted tests over the last
two years and found that chlorine levels in the local water have been
erratic and at times fall below the level which keeps our drinking water
bacteria-free. If chlorine levels drop below the standard, the amount of
bacteria will increase and drinking it could lead to illness and disease. In
the Makana region over November and December there were a total of 25 infant
deaths due to diarrhoea, according to the municipality’s account at the
recent social services, community empowerment and protection services
meeting.

There is backlog in service delivery. RDP house in Vukani are falling down
due to inferior quality and poor workmanship. The problem with the houses is
structural, weak bricks, leaking water pipes, roofs, drains and toilets. The
story of RDP houses in our area is a story of fraud, general mismanagement
and corruption. When we approached the municipality that the roofs are
leaking we were given black plastic bags to cover the roofs. On the
25thFebruary we lost Comrade Nomiki Ncamiso, she died due to pneumonia
related illness. She lived in Vukani in a house that was hit by tornado, the wall
fell on her and she was given a black plastic bag by Makana Municipality for
replacement of the wall. The roof is crumbling down and the whole house will
fall anytime soon. She died fighting with the Makana Municipality, demanding
that the RDP houses be repaired fearing for the health of her family and
children who may get TB or pneumonia due to cold. She knew little that she
will be the first victim.

When we go to the streets and stage gatherings, demanding service delivery,
we are shot with rubber bullets, we are pepper sprayed and we are jailed.
The president of this country calls us criminals. The police have been given
the right to shoot and kill us. Our comrades in Balfour are in hiding
because the police are looking for them and they will be shot and killed.
Their families have been harassed and tortured. Our comrades in Durban,
Abahlali baseMjondolo are constantly under siege from the ruling party and
government syndicates. Comrades in Western Cape have been abducted and
tortured for no apparent reason. Comrade Nozipho Mnteshana was placed under
house arrest for t5he period of not less than 18months, to frustrate her and
her children, reason for leading the march of the unemployed people in
Durban. We have witnessed kids being shot and wounded in these
demonstrations.

This is the admission that this society continue to be entangled in an
insoluble contradiction with itself that it is left into irreconcilable
antagonisms that it is powerless to dispel. A state must preserve the status
quo; the state must protect the property clause enshrined in the
constitution. The state is the institution of violence.

We are not criminals but criminals are those who want to bind us to
perpetual servitude. Tenderpreneurs who profited from more than R130m worth
of tenders in just two years are criminals; it is Malemas of this world who
should be jailed not us. It is the construction company that built Vukani
houses that must be jailed not us. It is the corrupt government officials,
from Zuma to the councillor in Grahamstown that must be jailed not us. They
profited from more than R38 billion tenders of Arms Deal, they profited from
the travel gate scandal and they continue to plunder the resources of our
country.

The courage and determination of the struggle during the apartheid must
serve as an example to the oppressive regime of the Zuma administration that
the more you suppress the people the more they resist. It is trough those
struggle that we have the Zuma administration today and it is through the
street protest and mass mobilization that we will topple this capitalist
government and the tenderpreneurs that defend it in the language of the
left.

As social movements we can learn from such struggles by re-examining the
programme, strategy and tactics, learn from the experience, the triumphs and
failures and see how we can apply these lessons today.

We are not criminals but we are in a cause to retaliate against syndicates
who are looting our resources, we are retaliating against government thugs
and mafias who are enriching themselves under the pretext that they did not
join the struggle to be poor, so we did not join the struggle to enrich the
few. We remain true soldiers who are committed to the question of truth.

Ayanda Kota

Unemployed People’s Movement, Chairperson

0786256462
ayandakota@webmail.co.za