Landless People’s Movement (LPM)

Celebrating Our Court Victory - Reflecting on our Struggle

All are welcome to join us this Sunday 15 November at 10am in Soweto, Protea South, Peace Makers Ground. We will be celebrating and reflecting on the meaning of our court victory.

Background: In 2004 we, the LPM, began a relentless battle to defend ourselves from evictions in Protea South, an informal settlement in Soweto. We organised several marches and pickets over the past several years, and we submitted memorandums to the Premier and MEC of Housing but these officials refused to address our demands. We were ignored by our local council and, in some instances, the police resorted to repressive tactics, and even torture, to undermine our struggle.

Press Statement
Landless People’s Movement, Protea South
Friday, 07 August 2009

Winning Our Land Back – the Landless People’s Movement Wins a Major Court Victory

On Tuesday 4th August the South Gauteng High Court handed down a major victory for the Landless People’s Movement in Protea South, Johannesburg.

We have struggled long and hard in Protea South. Over the years our marches have been banned and we have been arrested, beaten, shot at with rubber bullets, threatened and tortured.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1040670

Squatters sue council - Residents want service
Katlego Moeng
28 July 2009

Residents of Harry Gwala informal settlement near Wattville in Benoni have been battling the Ekurhuleni municipality in the South Gauteng high court since December last year to get services in their area.

“On December 12 last year the court ruled that the municipality must instal seven taps in the area and start collecting rubbish,” said Paseka Lihlabi, the chairperson of the Landless People’s Organisation in the settlement.

Update: Click here for pictures of the march.

Poor Peoples’ Alliance to Re-enact June 1976 Soweto Uprising March

The Poor Peoples’ Alliance (PPA), made up of radical community-based organisations across South Africa, is to march from Morris Isaacs High School to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto on the 16th June 2009 to re-enact the 1976 march.

We as the Poor Peoples’ Alliance will not celebrate this day, as the government does, but commemorate it by reflecting on the struggle for liberation by the youth still being fought for by poor communities 15 years into our so-called democracy.

Click here to see the pictures that went out with this press statement.

Police Suppress LPM Youth March,
But Our Frustrations Grow Stronger

On the 26th March, the day before we, the LPM youth, were to have our march to demand that our councilor step down, the JMPD prohibited us. The reasons the police gave for this were that we are violent and unruly and that they “know” us. They referred to a march organised by the Gauteng LPM that happened in 2002 when we refused to leave Mbaziama Shilowa’s office. This march, we explained, was not organised by the youth. Regardless, they said they didn’t have the time and manpower to plan a safe and peaceful march and that if we carried out the march, they would be “hard” on us. We took this to mean that they would arrest us over the weekend and also brutalise us by beating us and shooting us with rubber bullets. The government will not meet with us, and now we believe they are even working with the police to suppress our right to express ourselves openly by marching. There is a real problem in our democracy when the government and the police have time to suppress and brutalise us, but not to help us publicly express the demands that we feel will improve our futures.

Update:The LPM 8 were released on bail of R500 each at around noon on Tuesday, 3 March. One of the arrested was under 16 years old and had been held, against the law, with adult prisoners. The case has been remanded until 25 March. The Protea South Branch of the LPM would like to thank their pro bono laywer and all their comrades for their support. Maureen Mnisi can be contacted on 082 337 4514.

LPM will also be in court for the Thembelihle case on 17 March and for the Rooikop case on 5 March - Click here for more details. Onward!.

Thursday, 12 February 2009
Landless People’s Movement Press Statement

Landless People’s Movement v The City of Johannesburg
Jo’burg High Court, 10:00 Friday 13 February 2009

Over the years we, the Protea South branch of the Landless People’s Movement, have marched many times and we have been arrested, beaten and tortured. Tomorrow will meet the City of Johannesburg in the High Court.

Our demands to the court are the same demands that we have taken to the streets:

1. The government shacks (i.e. the transit camp) must be immediately removed from our area. They are a deep insult to our human dignity.