Category Archives: Unemployed People’s Movement

Oppidan Press: UPM, AbM to march over Cato Crest violence

http://oppidanpress.com/upm-abm-to-march-over-cato-crest-violence/

The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) will be holding a march in solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) in Grahamstown on 30 October 2013 from 3-5pm, starting at the Cathedral on High Street.

Members from UPM will address the crowd before marching to the police station to hand over a memorandum of demands including the right to association and the right to protest unharmed.

In a press release the UPM said, “We will be gathering at the Cathedral in High Street and marching to the police station where the UPM will be handing over a memorandum against state repression and police brutality.”

The organisations cite the on-going police brutality in South Africa, including the killing of Andries Tatane in Ficksburg in 2011, the Marikana Massacre and the killing of three activists in Cato Crest earlier this year as cause for the march.

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Remembering Black Wednesday (iRhini)

Remembering Black Wednesday

18/10/2013: Public meeting: the relevance of Black Wednesday

The Unemployed Peoples’ Movement; School of Journalism and Media Studies at 

Rhodes University; Daily Dispatch and Grocott’s Mail invite you to a public meeting to commemorate Black Wednesday, the day in 1977 when newspapers were banned and activists and journalists jailed for their opposition to the apartheid regime and for speaking truth to power.

Black Wednesday is commemorated every year, to remind South Africa of the heroic efforts of those who struggled to bring about a more just society, including respect for the rights to freedom of expression and media freedom. Thirty-six years later, what is the relevance of Black Wednesday? To what extent have these rights been achieved, and where are we going?

When: October 18, 17.00 to 19.00

Where: Arts Minor lecture theatre, Rhodes University

Speakers: Co-chairs: Thembani Onceya (Right 2 Know Campaign), Lithabo Fekele (Rhodes SRC); Prof. Jane Duncan (School of Journalism and Media Studies); Dawn Barkhuizen, Daily Dispatch; Steven Lang, editor, Grocotts Mail.

For more information, contact Ayanda Kota, 0786256462, or Jane Duncan, 0827863600

Attachments


Black Wednesday Poster

The Unemployed People’s Movement Will Not be Joining Malema’s EFF

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Saturday, 27 July 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

The Unemployed People’s Movement Will Not be Joining Malema’s EFF

Isolezwe and the Daily News have both reported that the Unemployed People’s Movement will be joining Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EEF). Isolezwe also reported that Abahlali baseMjondolo would be joining but quickly carried a strong denial from S’bu Zikode, who is the chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo. The Daily News has also reported that Zikode has said that “It is not true what they are saying and I would caution against any organisation founded on the basis of lies.”

Today the UPM would like to confirm that any claims by the EFF or others that our movement will be joining the EFF are also lies.

The Daily News has reported that an organisation called the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions is claiming that our movement falls under them and that we will be joining the EEF. We have never heard of the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions or its secretary Nhlanhla Myeni. They have never even spoken to us or approached us in anyway. Any suggestion that our movement falls under the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions is a dirty lie that we reject with the contempt that it deserves. This is as far from the truth as the North Pole is from the South Pole.

We have noted that there have been a number of media reports claiming that various organisations are joining the EEF. Some media houses have naively accepted these claims without even checking if these organisations really exist, if they have members or if they have any record of struggle. They have not even used google to see if these organisations have any record of existence or struggle. We would like to caution all media houses to check if organisations that are claimed to be joining the EEF really do exist or, if they have existed in the past, they still exist.

In the same Daily News article where Myeni claims that our movement falls under his organisation, an organisation that we have never heard of and none of our comrades in Durban have ever heard of, he also states his support for the fascist anti-Indian politics that is being encouraged by the notorious Phumlani Mfeka. As a communist organisation we will fight fascism wherever it rears its ugly head and we consider Mfeka to be our enemy and an enemy of the poor and the working class. We will continue to organise all unemployed people irrespective of their race and we will oppose all attempts by rich businessmen to try to use race to divide the poor.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is top down. The EFF have not elected their leaders and they announced their programme before they even converged for their first meeting.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by corrupt people who have feasted like hyenas off the state at the expense of the poor. If mines and other business were nationalised under these people they would just plunder the economy for their own enrichment like they plundered the NYDA and Limpopo. Their record is clear.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by people who use insults, intimidation and lies to shut down debate instead of engaging openly and honestly.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by people who have no history of supporting the struggles of the poor and the working class. In fact when Malema and his cronies were in the Youth League it was supporting the repression of the people’s struggles. Their only concern was plunder. They are only coming to the people’s struggles now that they need support to get back into power.

The EFF are opportunists and we reject them contempt. They are the sort of people that Frantz Fanon warned us against. We will continue to build democratic structures from below in order to take the struggle of our people forward.

Bheki Buthelezi UPM KwaZulu-Natal 060 457 971
Ayanda Kota UPM Eastern Cape 078 625 6462
Motsi Khokohma UPM Free State 073 490 7623

Today the Police were Sent to Deal with Us When we Requested Negotiations with the State

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11 July 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

Today the Police were Sent to Deal with Us When we Requested Negotiations with the State

Anger has been brewing in Grahamstown about the Housing Development in Extension Ten for some time. On the 28th of June we held a meeting and people expressed their frustration about how the list has been changed, with consultation or explanation, and that they remain in limbo.

On the 3rd of July we had another meeting with officials from Bisho. Mr. Naicker, HOD of Beneficiaries in the Department of Human Settlements and the local municipality officials arrived very late. The meeting resolved that on Thursday 11 July we will have another meeting where the government – Department of Human Settlements and the local Municipality – will address people’s grievances.

Our concerns were as follows:

1. People’s homes in Vukani were hit by a tornado in 2008. They were promised that their houses will be rebuilt or repaired in 2009. To this day houses in Vukani stand empty and fallen down. About 200 residents remain homeless. There has been no discussion about this.

2. The houses that were being built in Eluxolweni remain incomplete. About 20 people have happy letters, yet they do not have houses

3. There are serious concerns about the beneficiary list for the new development in Ext 10. The Councillor has two kids on the list, ward committee members and other party members are now also on the list. There are also military veterans on the list who are less than 30 years old. This is a joke. Anyway, we all know that this country was liberated by men and women who struggled inside and never left this country. It is clear that the list is being manipulated to serve the interests of the ruling party.

We were insisting that the houses in Vukani be fixed, the houses in Eluxolweni be completed and that there be an open, transparent and fair process for allocating the houses in Ext. 10.

Today 1 500 people arrived for the scheduled meeting at the construction site in Ext. 10. But the Department of Human Settlements never arrived and the local Municipality was also not there despite their commitment to be there.

The workers were busy working on the site and the police were there in numbers. We meet with the CLO and requested that the workers cease working until the Department of Human Settlements and the Municipality honour their commitment to meet with us. This was denied and instead the police told us to leave the site immediately. Ayanda Kota called Mr. Naicker. He said: “We have sent the police because we have heard that you were more than a thousand. If they are not capacitated to deal with you we will send the army.”

It seems that wanting a fair process around housing is making as the enemies of the state.

The police became very aggressive. After chanting “Voetsak ANC! Voetsak!” we left peacefully as it was clear that there would be violence from the police if we stayed on the site. Even while we were leaving the police were very aggressive.

Ayanda Kota 078 625 6462

Xola Mali 072 299 5253

Gladys Mpebo 072 807 8298

Radio Grahamstown Station Manager Shuts Down Debate

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Saturday, 29 June 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

Radio Grahamstown Station Manager Shuts Down Debate

There is a big political problem developing in Grahamstown. The new RDP houses in Extension Ten are being allocated. People who were on the waiting list for years, including activists who have been struggling for decent housing, have been removed from the list without any explanation. At the same time friends of the councillors and people who are connected to them through the ruling party have suddenly been added to the list.

This issue was discussed on Radio Grahamstown on Wednesday last week (26 June 2013). Three members of the Unemployed People’s Movement where invited as studio guests to discuss this matter. People were very vocal. There were lots of calls coming through. With the exception of one ANC caller who said that the Unemployed People’s Movement was being used by whites to undermine the ANC all the other callers were strongly supportive of the work that we are doing on the Extension Ten housing scandal.

Suddenly the station manager barged into the studio, banged the doors, shouted at everyone and kicked the DJ and his three guests out. Callers and people listening to the programme on air could hear her shouting!

The DJ who was kicked out of the studio live on air is a member of the Right2Know Campaign. It is incredible that we are being so openly prevented from discussing this important matter on a local radio station.

Later on the same night an Abahlali baseMjondolo member, Nkululeko Gwala, was assassinated in Durban. He had been raising exactly the same issues about houses going to people close to the councillors.

Democracy is becoming a joke under Jacob Zuma.

We are calling for a full investigation into this incident on Radio Grahamstown and a full investigation into political corruption in the allocation of the houses in Extension Ten. We also send our full support to our comrades in Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban. This is the third member of their organisation to be murdered in Durban this year.

Xola Mali 072 299 5253