Friday, 04 June 2010
Landless People’s Movement Press Statement

The Attack on the Landless People’s Movement Continues
Five More People have Been Arrested in Protea South

Last night the police went from door to door with an informer in the shacks of Protea South, Soweto. They arrested five members of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM). Three of the people that they arrested are children of Maureen Mnisi, chairperson of the LPM in Gauteng. The other two are her neighbours.

Electricity crisis in Protea South: LET US FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT, NOT EACH OTHER

Protea South is one of the informal settlements that has not yet benefited in the last 16 years of democracy. As it stands, people in Protea South are still living without services (water, electricity and toilets). Yesterday the community that lives in the bond houses decided to disconnect the electricity that the people from the informal settlement connected into their tin shacks. They went around disconnecting and beating people who connected the electricity within their shacks. As a result, two people were shot and one died on the spot while the other one was rushed to hospital. Maureen Mnisi who is the leader of the LPM (Landless People Movement) was also attacked at her home, the members of the bond houses tried to burn down her shack. The community from the informal settlement got angry and they decided to fight back. They burned down the electricity box and threw stones at the people from the bond houses.

URGENT ALERT: LPM MEMBERS & SHACK-DWELLERS UNDER ATTACK IN PROTEA SOUTH, SOWETO

The following is an urgent communication issued on behalf of, and in solidarity with the Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) and other shack-dwellers of Protea South, Soweto. It is based on information obtained by telephonic and face-to-face conversations held with LPM members following violent attacks against them last night. There still seems to be confusion, however, and details are sketchy. Updates on the situation will be made available as and when they are received, as will be any factual corrections.

12 March 2009

Leader of Landless People’s Movement (LPM) Fears for her Life and Children: Calls for Solidarity and Advice from all Comrades

Maureen Mnisi, with comrades Kajola Thebola, Lekhtho Mtetwa & Maas van Wyk - in Maureen's home in the Protea South settlement, November 2008

As a single mother of five and a prominent activist who has come under threat by the police, government and now even the middle-class in her own community, Maureen Msisi asks for solidarity and advice to give her more courage to push forward the struggle of the poor. This is not the first time that Maureen’s life and family has been in danger because of her campaigns for the interests of poor people. In 1995, Maureen formed the branch of the ANC in Protea South hoping it would bring about a change that would better our lives. But members of the local civic at the time felt that she was challenging their power and they responded violently by attacking her. She was shot in the back and stabbed 3 times with a machete, breaking her leg and scarring her neck and hand. Almost 15 years into our new democracy, she continues struggling for the same changes in the lives of her people in Protea South, but now under the banner of the LPM. Today, she fears that if she continues on with the struggle, her life and her children’s futures will be in danger.