The march went ahead. About 800 people participated.
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement
March on Bhisho to go ahead in defiance of unlawful ban
Ayanda Kota has been called by the traffic police in Bhisho informing him that ‘due to pressure from the legislature’ today’s march cannot go ahead.
He has also been called by the SAPS in Bhisho who have informed him that the march will not be allowed to go ahead as he is ‘very arrogant’. The SAPS were very rude, aggressive and threatening.
Please not that neither the traffic police nor the SAPS are challenging the legal validity of the permit that was granted to authorise the march. They are both clearly stating that this is a political ban.
The march will go ahead in defiance of this unlawful ban. There can be no compromise with the ANC’s longstanding and often violent denial of basic democratic rights to poor and working class people organised outside of party structures.
For up to the minute comment on the situation contact Ayanda Kota at 078 625 6462.
For expert comment on the law as it relates to the right to protest contact Professor Jane Duncan at 082 786 3600
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement
The Bhisho legislature is trying to unlawfully ban today’s march
The Unemployed People’s Movement has complied with all legal requirements to in order to stage a legal march on the Bhisho legislature. We have a stamped permit stating that that this is a legal march. However the Bhisho legislature is now trying to unlawful ban today’s march. This is just one more example of the unlawful repression that independent organisations of the working class and the poor are facing at the hands of the African National Congress.
For up to the minute comment on the situation contact Ayanda Kota at 078 625 6462.
For expert comment on the law as it relates to the right to protest contact Professor Jane Duncan at 082 786 3600
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement
March on Bhisho – 20 September 2012
The Unemployed People’s Movement, together with our comrades in Ilizwi Lamafama and the Rural People’s Movement, will be marching on Bhisho on 20 September 2012. We will gather at King William’s town at 12 and proceed to the site of the Bhisho Massacre where we will pay our respects to the dead. We will then proceed to the government offices at Bhisho where we will hand our memorandum of demands.
Comrades will be coming from Port Elizabeth, East London, Grahamstown and Free State. We will be rural and urban and unemployed people, workers and students. Now that the Marikana Massacre has shown the repressive reality of the ANC, and some amongst its trade union allies, to the world it is time to unite our struggles, rural and urban, workers and the unemployed, against the alliance between the ANC and capital that is destroying our country.
Our key demands are for radical urban and rural land reform, a guaranteed income for the unemployed and an immediate end to state repression in Marikana and everywhere else across the country.
For further information please contact:
Asanda Ncwadi (UPM chairperson): 071 010 5441
Ayanda Kota (UPM spokesperson): 078 625 6462
Lungiswe Majamani (RPM president): 072 472 2285