Category Archives: maureen mnisi

Brazil’s World Cup Development Debacle

From Upside Down World

Brazil’s World Cup Development Debacle
Written by Michael Fox
Thursday, 14 January 2010 12:30

Protests in Brazil

The 2010 World Cup will kick off in South Africa this June, but Maureen Msisi, of the Landless People’s Movement wants to know “who this development [is] really going to benefit? Not … the people that most need it,” she says. Activists across the Atlantic in Brazil are saying the same thing, throwing into question a development model that has accompanied massive international events such as the World Cup and the Olympics for nearly two decades.

The teams have been chosen for the first round and the stadiums are almost complete. Behind-schedule construction covers the South African countryside, working around the clock to finish the countless roads, rapid transit, metro and development projects before the 2010 World Cup kicks off this June. Continue reading →

Cape Argus: ‘Delivery protests are our right

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3102&art_id=vn20091021131758824C650686

‘Delivery protests are our right’

October 21 2009 at 02:58PM

By Ella Smook
Metro Writer

Groups representing impoverished Cape Town communities have lashed out at President Jacob Zuma’s warning that the government will not tolerate violent service delivery protests, and the accompanying destruction of property.

Representatives of the Joe Slovo task team, the Landless People’s Movement and Abahlali baseMjondolo defended these protests, saying they were the only way to get the government to pay attention.

“So-called democratic grievance routes,” failed to get answers, they said.

Zuma’s comments came yesterday during his address to most of South Africa’s 283 mayors and all its premiers. He told them there was “no cause in a democratic and free society, however legitimate, that justifies the wanton destruction of property and violence” that had been witnessed in the country.

“South Africa has a proud history of protest against wrong-doing and injustice,” Zuma said.

“There is no institution or individual that our people cannot stand up to and challenge if they think an injustice has been committed.”

But the three organisations, which form part of the national Poor People’s Alliance, said Zuma’s words were nothing new.

“We are not surprised by what he is saying. We have heard these statements in the past that government will not tolerate these protests,” said Mzwanele Zulu of the Joe Slovo task team.

He accused the ANC government of forever “duplicating and assimilating” practices of the apartheid government.

“What is happening is our leaders are turning against us when they are in power. We are becoming foreigners in our land of birth,” he said.

Zulu argued that burning tyres as a sign of dissatisfaction was not a violent means of expression, and said the only reason it was done was in an attempt to engage government authorities, something which did not happen when they tried the legitimate channels.

Maureen Mnisi of the Landless People’s Movement, said government departments had done “a lot of ignoring”.

“People submit memoranda over a lack of service delivery, but there is no reply. People don’t deliver,” she said.

“To demonstrate on the street is part of the process. The government has to recognise that. If they can’t tolerate (such) actions, they have to provide services,” Mnisi said.

Mzonke Poni of Abahlali said that if South Africa were a democracy, “then democracy was supposed to have been able to improve these appalling conditions people are living under”.

He said the inability to access essential services was also a form of violence.

“It is reactionary of him (Zuma) to say this. The ANC government has failed to deliver services to the poorest of the poor, and they have tried in the past to shift the blame for service delivery failures.”

Poni said people viewed taking to the streets as legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said yesterday that the face of local government was set to change, in an effort to improve service delivery at municipal level.

He said there was a need for reform in the local government regulatory framework, and that the relationships between the spheres of government needed to be optimised to speed up delivery and ensure efficiency.

Chabane, speaking after Zuma’s indaba yesterday, said several processes aimed at local government reform would start from today.

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

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.

On the 1st March 2009, Maureen, and 7 others, were arrested and charged with public violence, assault GBH, intimidation, and unlawful gathering, and it will soon be made clear to the public that they are innocent of all charges. The LPM in Protea South views these arrests as a method by the local government councillor to suppress any activism that undermines the government’s plans to remove all informal settlements from Protea South to a far away place called Doorenkop.

Now that Maureen and the seven other comrades are going to court on the 25th March, the people in the bond houses in Protea South, the middle-class, are taking an additional step to ensure that Maureen does not remain in her community. They are signing a petition to say that she must be removed because she is promoting violence, only represents foreigners, and is blocking development in the area. The petition will submitted on the 25th March at Protea Magistrate Court as a piece of evidence to ensure that she is proven guilty. It is believed that this will assist the middle-class bond house owners because the informal settlements will go away, the bond houses will remain, and their property values will go up. The people in the bond houses seem to think that if our leader no longer lives in Protea South, the demands of the people to remain there will disappear and that people will live peacefully in Protea South.

But in reality, if Maureen is forced to leave Protea South, this will not stop the people from organising and fighting for their right to choose whether or not they want to stay or go to Doorenkop and it will not stop the government from neglecting other basic demands that are made by the poor in Protea South. If Maureen is forced to leave, the government, the police, and the community, including those who own bond houses, will be in danger because chaos and aggression will win our people over.

The truth of the matter is that Maureen has been at the forefront of maintaining peace and stability at a time when Protea South has been bordering on the edge of war. Maureen was responsible for stopping community members from attacking each other and burning each other’s shacks after a conflict on the 1st March when Community Policing Forum (CPF) members started to sing with the local government councillor while the LPM community were reading their memorandum. She convinced the community members that fighting another poor person weakens the struggle and strengthens the government’s system. After this, members of the community left Protea South to destroy the transit shack camps across the road, which are intended to accommodate people before they move to houses in Doorenkop.

When the local government councillor of Protea South learned about this, even she acknowledged Maureen’s power to maintain peace in her community when she called Maureen, who was in her home at the time and did not know about the incident, to stop this destruction.

Yesterday we had an urgent executive LPM meeting in Protea South to address the petition that was being made by the people living in the bond houses. Some members suggested that we call a mass meeting in Protea South to explain the truth that lies behind the petition against Maureen. But Maureen felt that if we call a mass meeting, it will create further divisions and also a war between the informal settlement and bond houses of Protea South. While the people living in the bond houses want the informal settlement to be removed, those in the informal settlements have actually been living there since the 1980s.

The people living in bond houses are now claiming the land as their own, based on the fact that they own property, when in fact we arrived here first. Like our current government, they have made it a matter of who has money and who doesn’t because the informal settlement, those who are poor and landless, are now being asked to leave. By claiming that Maureen only represents foreigners and is promoting violence, the owners of the bond houses hope to suppress our basic demands.

To achieve our demands without spilling blood in Protea South, the LPM has begun to create a counter petition which depicts the truth. The truth is that since 1995, Maureen has risked her life, and even been attacked, in order to represent the interests of the people living in Protea South. She continues to do so up until today as she remains committed to her people’s futures, despite the threats that she, and her family, are faced with. Her commitments, both as an activist and as a single parent of 5, have placed her in a situation that puts great pressure on her as an individual, and it is taking all of her strength to keep her morale high. She is calling upon all comrades to display solidarity with her if possible and wants to know if there is some advice or assistance she can get from comrades to make her more encouraged in this tough time.

Written by
-Bongani Xezwi (071-043-2221), youth organiser of LPM Protea South Branch and eldest son of Maureen Msisi
-With Luke Sinwell, Researcher and Activist, University of Johannesburg

Words of advice or solidarity can be sent to: Maureen at: 082-337-4514
Or emailed to: LSinwell@yahoo.com

Message from Maureen Mnisi of the LPM 8

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Comrades, as the Landless People’s Movement, we were arrested on Sunday 1st March and put in custody and freed on bail of R500 each. We were eight. Our names are Maureen Mnisi, Maas van Wyk, Ivy Seno, Elsie Mkhuma, Shelia Masenodi, Gasa Radebe, Michael Dlamini and Chester Maluleka. One of us is under age (16 years). The case is remanded to the 25th of March. We appreciate your support, even on the 25th.

Comrades it is very difficult for me as a leader of voiceless people to be arrested all the time when I raise the views of the landless people. It is difficult for me as mother of my children and being a single parent. It is clear that the democracy that we voted in 1994 is not for the poor and landless people in urban settlements and rural areas. We are bounded to be controlled by ANC councillors because we don’t have the right to participate in our development. As soon as we try to exercise our constitutional rights the SAPS is oppressing us.

Maureen Mnisi, by cellphone text message
0823374514