Another day of empty promises to the shack dwellers of Kennedy Road
ANC use the police and buses of supporters to try to force top-down democracy on settlement residents
Last Saturday morning, at 7 a.m., Abahlali base Mjondolo members at the Kennedy Road informal settlement were preparing themselves for a hastily announced rally by the ANC to take place there later that morning. KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele and local ward councilor Yacoob Baig would be in attendance.
“We heard about it first last night,” says Mnikelo Ndabankulu, when someone from the ANC came and asked for the keys to their community hall. “Usually there is a calendar, and if you want to use it you have to reserve it weeks ahead of time.”
“This comes as a shock,” said S'bu Zikode, chairperson of the Abahlali BaseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’ movement in Durban. “We wrote to the Premier last year, asking him to meet with us to answer key questions about the municipality’s proposals to upgrade our housing, questions like ‘when will we be able to live in proper homes?’, ‘where will they be?’, ‘how many of us will be able to live properly?’
“But our issues are not being addressed. [Ndebele] never replied to us. Instead, he now comes into our community barely announced, and he will bus in people from 9 wards, so that our homes, our shacks can be in the background when the media take pictures of people saying ‘Viva ANC Viva’.
“This isn't democracy,” Zikode continued, “if they're using all the strength that they have to oppress the poor. We know that our questions won't be attended to today. Rally is not delivery. … What about our democratic rights to our space, and our own voice? The irony is that we want to meet with the Premier. But this isn't a meeting. It’s a dirty trick.”
No keys were handed over, and by 8 a.m., when the rally was supposed to begin, only a few dozen Abahlali members were present, along with a line of local residents waiting to use the nearby water tap.
On what was already becoming an intolerably hot morning, with temperatures later to reach 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, Abahlali tried to rally themselves and other residents within earshot. “We are the ANC,” said one member. “This will be a fight of ANC versus ANC.”
As the first few outside ANC supporters arrived, sporting brand new black t-shirts with lettering “Vote ANC” and “A plan to make government work better for you,” nine police vans and an armored tank drove past and parked along the side of Kennedy Road.
A little after 9 a.m., over an hour after the rally was supposed to begin, Councilor Baig arrived, but his car was prevented from entering the settlement by heckling Abahlali supporters. Relegated to the shade of a tree across the street, Baig and his advisors observed the scene, flanked by a dozen or so police.
The few ANC members who had come by car to the rally began impassioned conversations with Kennedy Road residents, though none were very persuasive. In the shade of a large umbrella, a young member of Abahlali baseMjondolo was being lectured by a friend in an ANC t-shirt. “Your voice is your vote,” his friend said. “That is why you must vote.”
“But if that is my voice,” he responded, “then I say ‘no house, no vote.’”
“We still like the ANC,” commented one woman who lives at the Kennedy Road settlement, who was observing the heated discussions between Abahlali members and ANC supporters from the shade. “But we don’t like Baig. That is why we won’t vote.”
Councilor Baig retorts that he has responded to the needs of settlement residents: “We have given them food and blankets, and materials to fix their roofs.” This land, he says, is uninhabitable because of its proximity to the waste dump. The councilor says he has moved willing people out to ParkGate, and has staff continuing to study the viability of other sites. “We met with residents last year [to talk about the resettlement process].”
Councilor Baig was also keeping out of the heat, but he was waiting for reinforce-ments. Two large buses, each filled with approximately 80 to 100 people, converged on the scene, and out streamed ANC supporter after supporter, all given brand new black t-shirts to wear, and toyi-toying into the street and toward the Kennedy Road settlement’s community center.
As the ANC’s numbers swelled and filled into the settlement’s driveway, Baig and his staff discussed how to handle the situation of a locked hall. “I don’t want to create a situation of lawlessness,” he remarked. “But these community centers are council property.”
The hall’s doors remained locked despite the Councilor’s veiled threats of arrest, and ANC supporters retreated to what little shade was available under trees along Kennedy Road. Promises from ANC staffers that Premier Ndebele was still on his way pushed back his arrival time to around noon. “The premier wants to come and see the conditions of people here,” said Councilor Baig to a journalist from a local newspaper.
It appeared that Baig and other ANC leaders were also waiting for the arrival of more supporters from the settlement. “[Abahlali] must have bused in people for that march,” he was overheard saying to a staffer, referring to the 5,000 person demonstration that marched to his office last September, demanding his resignation due to lack of service delivery. “There just aren’t that many people here.”
Only a few curious youngsters and those queuing to use the water tap remained in the area alongside twenty to thirty red-shirted Abahlali members. “There are outside forces at work,” Baig continued. “How did they pay for the t-shirts? The buses [for the march]? We also have proof that outsiders have paid for plane tickets to fly some of these people around the country.”
When asked who he thought these “outsiders” were, Baig replied: “I’m not ready to comment.” But, he said, “They are not here today.”
Talking to another local journalist, Baig insinuated that these outsiders had racist motives and were targeting only Indian MPs. “I’m not saying that the Blacks here are [racist],” he said. Nonetheless, he maintained, their supporters have a larger agenda than just a commitment to social justice.
Around noon, and without the arrival of Premier Ndebele, the ANC staff decided to start the rally, using the small parking area next to the water tap [where all the kids are congregating]. They drove in one of their cars, and attached the speakers to its roof. ANC supporters followed, grabbing umbrellas and even an ANC flag for shade.
As ANC leaders spoke, a small contingent of Abahlali members (in red) chanted loudly along the side, often drowning out the words of the speakers. Police approached the group, telling the residents to disperse. But this was their home, members responded. Where were they supposed to go?
The rally ended a mere hour later, with the throngs waving flimsy paper flags at shouts of “Viva, ANC!” In minutes, all that remained were the remnants of these flags strewn all over the ground, and dazed Abahlali supporters and community residents who had retreated to the shade of the hall to write up a list of questions for ANC staffers to take to Premier Ndebele.
Kennedy Road residents seemed unconvinced by the rally. “The thing I want to clarify is that we are the ANC,” said Ndabankulu of Abahlali. “We reject the current ANC nominee for our ward and we, therefore, have a policy of no-vote for this election.
“We will vote in 2009 when we are happy with the nominee.”
With Raj Patel and Richard Ballard.
See also Electioneering Strengthens the Divide by Raj Patel, and photos: Shackdwellers resist KZN Premier
********************
I originally posted this at: http://southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/9530.php
Last Saturday morning, at 7 a.m., Abahlali base Mjondolo members at the Kennedy Road informal settlement were preparing themselves for a hastily announced rally by the ANC to take place there later that morning. KwaZulu-Natal Premier S’bu Ndebele and local ward councilor Yacoob Baig would be in attendance.“We heard about it first last night,” says Mnikelo Ndabankulu, when someone from the ANC came and asked for the keys to their community hall. “Usually there is a calendar, and if you want to use it you have to reserve it weeks ahead of time.”
“This comes as a shock,” said S'bu Zikode, chairperson of the Abahlali BaseMjondolo, the shack dwellers’ movement in Durban. “We wrote to the Premier last year, asking him to meet with us to answer key questions about the municipality’s proposals to upgrade our housing, questions like ‘when will we be able to live in proper homes?’, ‘where will they be?’, ‘how many of us will be able to live properly?’
“But our issues are not being addressed. [Ndebele] never replied to us. Instead, he now comes into our community barely announced, and he will bus in people from 9 wards, so that our homes, our shacks can be in the background when the media take pictures of people saying ‘Viva ANC Viva’.
“This isn't democracy,” Zikode continued, “if they're using all the strength that they have to oppress the poor. We know that our questions won't be attended to today. Rally is not delivery. … What about our democratic rights to our space, and our own voice? The irony is that we want to meet with the Premier. But this isn't a meeting. It’s a dirty trick.”
No keys were handed over, and by 8 a.m., when the rally was supposed to begin, only a few dozen Abahlali members were present, along with a line of local residents waiting to use the nearby water tap.
On what was already becoming an intolerably hot morning, with temperatures later to reach 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, Abahlali tried to rally themselves and other residents within earshot. “We are the ANC,” said one member. “This will be a fight of ANC versus ANC.”
As the first few outside ANC supporters arrived, sporting brand new black t-shirts with lettering “Vote ANC” and “A plan to make government work better for you,” nine police vans and an armored tank drove past and parked along the side of Kennedy Road.
A little after 9 a.m., over an hour after the rally was supposed to begin, Councilor Baig arrived, but his car was prevented from entering the settlement by heckling Abahlali supporters. Relegated to the shade of a tree across the street, Baig and his advisors observed the scene, flanked by a dozen or so police.The few ANC members who had come by car to the rally began impassioned conversations with Kennedy Road residents, though none were very persuasive. In the shade of a large umbrella, a young member of Abahlali baseMjondolo was being lectured by a friend in an ANC t-shirt. “Your voice is your vote,” his friend said. “That is why you must vote.”
“But if that is my voice,” he responded, “then I say ‘no house, no vote.’”
“We still like the ANC,” commented one woman who lives at the Kennedy Road settlement, who was observing the heated discussions between Abahlali members and ANC supporters from the shade. “But we don’t like Baig. That is why we won’t vote.”
Councilor Baig retorts that he has responded to the needs of settlement residents: “We have given them food and blankets, and materials to fix their roofs.” This land, he says, is uninhabitable because of its proximity to the waste dump. The councilor says he has moved willing people out to ParkGate, and has staff continuing to study the viability of other sites. “We met with residents last year [to talk about the resettlement process].”
Councilor Baig was also keeping out of the heat, but he was waiting for reinforce-ments. Two large buses, each filled with approximately 80 to 100 people, converged on the scene, and out streamed ANC supporter after supporter, all given brand new black t-shirts to wear, and toyi-toying into the street and toward the Kennedy Road settlement’s community center.As the ANC’s numbers swelled and filled into the settlement’s driveway, Baig and his staff discussed how to handle the situation of a locked hall. “I don’t want to create a situation of lawlessness,” he remarked. “But these community centers are council property.”
The hall’s doors remained locked despite the Councilor’s veiled threats of arrest, and ANC supporters retreated to what little shade was available under trees along Kennedy Road. Promises from ANC staffers that Premier Ndebele was still on his way pushed back his arrival time to around noon. “The premier wants to come and see the conditions of people here,” said Councilor Baig to a journalist from a local newspaper.It appeared that Baig and other ANC leaders were also waiting for the arrival of more supporters from the settlement. “[Abahlali] must have bused in people for that march,” he was overheard saying to a staffer, referring to the 5,000 person demonstration that marched to his office last September, demanding his resignation due to lack of service delivery. “There just aren’t that many people here.”
Only a few curious youngsters and those queuing to use the water tap remained in the area alongside twenty to thirty red-shirted Abahlali members. “There are outside forces at work,” Baig continued. “How did they pay for the t-shirts? The buses [for the march]? We also have proof that outsiders have paid for plane tickets to fly some of these people around the country.”
When asked who he thought these “outsiders” were, Baig replied: “I’m not ready to comment.” But, he said, “They are not here today.”
Talking to another local journalist, Baig insinuated that these outsiders had racist motives and were targeting only Indian MPs. “I’m not saying that the Blacks here are [racist],” he said. Nonetheless, he maintained, their supporters have a larger agenda than just a commitment to social justice.
Around noon, and without the arrival of Premier Ndebele, the ANC staff decided to start the rally, using the small parking area next to the water tap [where all the kids are congregating]. They drove in one of their cars, and attached the speakers to its roof. ANC supporters followed, grabbing umbrellas and even an ANC flag for shade.As ANC leaders spoke, a small contingent of Abahlali members (in red) chanted loudly along the side, often drowning out the words of the speakers. Police approached the group, telling the residents to disperse. But this was their home, members responded. Where were they supposed to go?
The rally ended a mere hour later, with the throngs waving flimsy paper flags at shouts of “Viva, ANC!” In minutes, all that remained were the remnants of these flags strewn all over the ground, and dazed Abahlali supporters and community residents who had retreated to the shade of the hall to write up a list of questions for ANC staffers to take to Premier Ndebele.Kennedy Road residents seemed unconvinced by the rally. “The thing I want to clarify is that we are the ANC,” said Ndabankulu of Abahlali. “We reject the current ANC nominee for our ward and we, therefore, have a policy of no-vote for this election.
“We will vote in 2009 when we are happy with the nominee.”
With Raj Patel and Richard Ballard.
See also Electioneering Strengthens the Divide by Raj Patel, and photos: Shackdwellers resist KZN Premier
********************
I originally posted this at: http://southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/9530.php
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