September 29, 2009
Dear Members of the International Media
Like many of you, we fought and protested against the injustices of
the Apartheid regime in South Africa, and celebrated the fall of that
monstrous government in 1994. As South Africa prepares to host the
2010 World Cup, we write to you in grief and horror at the return of
some of the most horrific tactics of that era, directed at South
Africa’s poorest citizens.
We have worked for years with shack dweller communities living in
South Africa, communities of people too poor to live in townships, who
have waited patiently for the South African government to bring the
dividends of housing, water, education, healthcare, employment and
food to them. They have waited in vain – with levels of human
development that are now lower than in 1994, South Africa has
overtaken Brazil as the country with the widest gap between rich and
poor, and now is the most unequal society in the world.
In response, some communities have organized to protest against their
government, using the freedoms enshrined in one of the most open and
supportive constitutions to be found in any modern democracy. For
this, they have been punished.
On Sunday night, at one of the hubs for this civil society organizing,
men from outside the settlement armed with knives, machetes and even a
sword, descended on a shack community in Durban called “Kennedy Road”,
a road named after the US president, and adjacent to a large municipal
dump. These men chanted slogans of racial hatred – demanding that the
Kennedy Road shack settlement be for Zulus only. This ethnic
chauvinism is anathema to the shack settlements – in the xenophobia
that swept South Africa earlier this year, the Kennedy Road shack
settlement was free of these sorts of attacks.
The police were called, and when they finally arrived, they looked on
as the attacks continued for several more hours. After the bloodbath,
they moved in and arrested the community leaders.
On Monday morning a huge police presence descended on the settlement
as the local ANC councillor and the provincial minister for Safety and
Security arrived. They announced that the local organizers had been
driven out of the settlement. After the politicians left so did the
police. The settlement was left in the hands of groups of armed men.
The future for the poorest residents of South Africa is grim. Faced
with an ethnic hatred engineered by the ANC, they have tried to
produce a genuinely democratic politics. And they have been killed,
arrested and made homeless.
International support is crucial in order to prevent further violence,
and to ensure justice for the shack dwellers. In just 24 hours,
hundreds of people from around the world have signed a petition to the
South African President, Jacob Zuma, insisting that he take action (at
the time of writing over 600 people had signed the petition) . We hope
that you’ll be able to support this effort to bring international
scrutiny to the South African government, to hold it to the great
promise offered by the end of Apartheid, by signing the petition
below, and by sharing this news with your colleagues. If you’d like to
know more, contact details are below, and we’d also be happy to answer
any questions.
Sincerely,
Nigel C. Gibson
Director,
Honors Program
Emerson College
PHONE: 617 824 8769
Raj Patel
Visiting Scholar
Center for African Studies
UC Berkeley
CELL: 510 717 0953
Cc: Jacob Zuma, President South Africa; Sepp Blatter, President FIFA.
MEDIA CONTACTS IN SOUTH AFRICA (if you are calling from outside South
Africa, the international dialing code is +27, and the first 0 is
dropped).
The following members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee may be
available for comment if they have not been arrested:
Mzwakhe Mdlalose: 072 132 8458
Anton Zamisa: 079 380 1759
Bheki Simelane: 078 598 9491
Nokutula Manyawo: 083 949 1379
Mnikelo Ndabankulu, the elected media liason person for Abahlali
baseMjondolo, 097450653. If you can’t get Mnikelo you can also try:
Louisa Motha 0781760088
Shamita Naidoo 0743157962
Mashumi Figlan 0725274600
Philani Zungu 0729629312
S’bu Zikode 0835470474
Other local contacts who might be useful:
Kerry Chance at kerrychance@gmail.com may have video footage
Richard Pithouse at indianocean77@gmail.com
SOURCES:
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5181018
http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/147.html
For some back ground on the shack dwellers’ organization see the
Abahlali.org website and also:
Michael Vines, “Shantytown Dwellers in South Africa Protest Sluggish
Pace of Change,” New York Times, December 25, 2005.
“The View from the Shacks” The Economist, April 8, 2006
For statements about the attacks see:
“Democracy Under Attack: A Statement by Bishop Rubin,” available at
Democracy Under Attack – A Statement by Bishop Rubin Phillip
“The ANC Has Invaded Kennedy Road,” by S’bu Zikode (President of
Abahlali baseMjondolo) whose house was destroyed in the attack on the
shack settlement, available at
Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC) Emergency Press Release,
Sunday 27 September 2009 available at
Kennedy Road Development Committee Attacked – People Have Been Killed
Petition
Signatures at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/9/an-open-letter-to-jacob-zuma
We the undersigned are scholars, activists, supporters and veterans of
the struggle for a free South Africa from around the world. We
celebrated the end of apartheid with you, and have worked with you for
the building of a genuinely democratic South Africa.
It is for this reason that we write to you with grave concern
following recent events at the Kennedy Road Shack Settlement in
Durban. Reports from the informal settlement of seven thousand people
indicate that horrors reminiscent of Apartheid’s darkest years are
currently being perpetrated – armed thugs have killed members of the
freely elected local development committee and destroyed their houses,
with slogans dripping with the language of ethnic cleansing, such as
“The AmaMpondo are taking over Kennedy. Kennedy is for the AmaZulu”.
With these words of hate, members of the development committee have
been hunted and, in at least one case, killed. What appalls us most
about these attacks is that they appear to be happening with the
support of local police and politicians. At the time of writing,
reports indicate that local ANC branch executives and members of the
Sydenham police force are in attendance, and doing nothing to halt the
ongoing violence in the settlement. Further, it appears that members
of the development committee, some of whom had been absent from the
settlement during the attacks, have been targeted and arrested by the
Sydenham police force.
Some of the signatories to this letter have personally experienced
illegal political harassment by the Sydenham police in the past, and
have witnessed their ruthless political intolerance towards the
Abahlali baseMjondolo Shack dwellers Movement, of which the Kennedy
Road Development Committee is a part. Many more of us have had the
great pleasure of meeting leaders from the shack dwellers’ movement.
All of us have been deeply impressed by the deep democratic and
progressive commitments of the residents of Kennedy Road.
Under such circumstances, it is entirely inappropriate to rely on the
Sydenham police to enforce the rule of law, and we appeal to your
office to demand:
*an end to the violence in the shacks
*an end to arbitrary detention of innocent people
*an independent and transparent enquiry into the relationship between
the Sydenham police and the continued violence
*an independent and transparent enquiry into the relationship between
the violence and senior members of the local ANC branch present at the
scene
*the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for these horrific attacks
*full restitution to those harmed in the violence
*and an undertaking that these tragic events be not used as a pretext
for further hardship enforced on South Africa’s poorest citizens.
We have witnessed the great promise of South African democracy, and we
hope that you will bring the full force of your office to protect it
in this dark hour. As once before, the world is watching South Africa,
to see how democracy can triumph over fear.
Sincerely