[Marxism] (Fwd) South Africa in revolt

[Patrick Bond]

(The past months have seen an uptick in South Africa's protest rate. 
Most are about the appalling conditions associated with neoliberal state 
policies; the labour movement is also increasingly restless on the wage 
front. The last few days have, tragically, witnessed a turn to 
xenophobia in a few places, as a year ago. Some of the analysis below is 
banal, but if anyone wants to receive a daily feed of press reports on 
the protests - not as long as this most days - let me know offlist.)

***

Amazing photos in Thokoza: 
http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za/photos/2009/07/a-reason-to-protest/

***

BBC
22 July

South Africa discontent spreads

There is anger in some of South Africa's poorest areas

Violence in South Africa's townships has spread as residents protest 
about what they say is a lack of basic services, such as water and housing.

Police have fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Johannesburg, the 
Western Cape and the north-eastern region of Mpumalanga.

In Mpumalanga, there were reports of foreign-owned businesses being 
looted as foreigners sought police protection.

More than 100 people have been arrested during the past week.

The rising tensions in the townships have revived memories of xenophobic 
attacks on foreigners last year in which more than 60 people died.

ANALYSIS
Jonah Fisher
BBC News, Johannesburg
What we are seeing is a combination of a series of different factors. 
South Africa is in the grip of its first recession for 20 years. People 
in the townships, the poorest people in South Africa, complain that 
after 15 years of ANC rule they still don't have basic housing, 
electricity or water.

Jacob Zuma put service delivery at the heart of his election campaign 
and that's in part why he won a big mandate.

But a lot of people look at the local level ANC and say they need to 
start delivering, and they will be looking to Mr Zuma to root out the 
corruption and nepotism which have prevented service delivery being 
expanded throughout South Africa.

The latest protests over service delivery come less than 100 days after 
Jacob Zuma took office as president, following a resounding election 
victory for the governing African National Congress (ANC).

They are a reminder of the impatience felt in the most deprived areas of 
the country, says BBC world affairs correspondent Peter Biles.

On Tuesday, police cars were stoned in Thokoza near Johannesburg during 
a demonstration about living conditions that turned violent.

Nearby township Diepsloot saw cars and houses being burnt last week in 
protest at plans to tear down makeshift shacks to make way for a sewage 
pipe.

Poverty pledge

President Jacob Zuma promised to improve service delivery when he came 
to power in May, and said fighting poverty was his priority, 
highlighting the huge economic and social challenges facing South Africa.

However, South Africa announced in June that it was facing its worst 
recession in 17 years.

Fifteen years after the ANC won its first election, more than one 
million South Africans still live in shacks, many without access to 
electricity or running water.

The gap between rich and poor is also wider than it was 15 years ago, 
our correspondent says.

The slow provision of replacement housing has long been controversial - 
nearly three million have been built, but the allocation has been prone 
to nepotism and corruption.

In addition, the global economic climate has banished any hope of South 
Africa maintaining record levels of economic growth, and reducing 
unemployment.

In the midst of this latest unrest, Mr Zuma is embarking upon a tour of 
the country to thank voters for returning the ANC to power in the 
elections last April.

Our correspondent says he will now be under even greater pressure to 
explain how the ANC is going to meet its plethora of election promises.

***

Business Day

Audits won’t quell the anger

Published: 2009/07/22 06:33:31 AM

HOW much more bureaucratic can you get? In the face of increasingly 
violent and xenophobic service delivery protests that have spread from 
Diepsloot to Balfour to Thokoza, what the African National Congress 
(ANC) has to offer is an audit.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe says the party’s national executive 
committee decided at the weekend to conduct an immediate appraisal of 
its local councillors, and to audit the record of service delivery in 
all of SA’s municipalities.

There’s nothing wrong with this except, firstly, that it raises the 
question of why such a thing hasn’t been done in the 15 years the ANC 
has been in power and, secondly, that it seems an entirely ineffectual 
response to the crisis gripping many of SA’s townships and squatter camps.

It’s hard to forget just how slow and clumsy was the response by those 
in power to last year’s xenophobic violence. Surely, this time, we might 
expect the ANC’s leaders in Luthuli House and in the government to 
respond with more agility? What matters most to people are the services 
they get (or don’t get) where they live. And the government’s failure to 
ensure competent delivery of the most basic services such as sewage 
disposal or shelter is proving to be its Achilles heel. And it’s no good 
citing “political ambitions” as the fuel for some of the protests, as 
Mantashe did: even if it’s true, there are still genuine grievances that 
leaders must listen to, and do something about.

An audit that looks at the needs and shortcomings of each of SA’s 
hundreds of municipalities might yield pointers to action in a few 
months’ or years’ time. But it’s hardly going to halt the mobs now.

And while we would be the first to encourage the ANC to hold local 
councillors to account, that isn’t necessarily much of a solution either 
in the short term. Much of the problem is with the officials, from 
mayors down, who are actually supposed to do the work.

Appointing people on merit and skill, not patronage or colour, would 
help. But the crucial thing the leaders in Luthuli House and the Union 
Buildings should be doing now is to get out there to the burning 
townships, find out what’s wrong, and do something about it.

***

Delivery protests growing more political

Published: 2009/07/22 06:26:27 AM

SERVICE delivery protests have accelerated since April, in what may be 
an indication of growing impatience not long after the making of 
election campaign promises.

Winter has always been the peak protest season in SA. “Perhaps it’s 
because that’s when people are most uncomfortable,” says Karen Reese, an 
economist and co-founder of Municipal IQ, which monitors service 
delivery across municipalities.

Cape winters are particularly uncomfortable, accompanied by rain and 
misery, especially for shack dwellers. However, Anti-Privatisation Forum 
spokesman Dale McKinley feels it is wrong to believe that all protests 
are over lack of service, or that they come and go.

“Every single protest has been grouped under service delivery and that’s 
not true,” he says.

Some protests, he argues, may best be classified as “political protests” 
since they represent a demand for representation and accountability 
among local leaders.

“It’s not just about the delivery of an RDP house but goes deeper than 
that; it’s about who has a voice in this country,” McKinley says.

Problems may also occur when the state, in a desire to provide services 
quickly, neglects to consult widely enough, says Richard Pithouse, a 
politics lecturer at Rhodes University. P rotests are complex and each 
must be treated on its merit.

In the past three months, demonstrations have broken out in settlements 
from Du Noon in Cape Town, Zeerust in the North West and Orange Farm in 
Gauteng.

Yesterday, police fired rubber bullets to disperse about 200 hostel 
dwellers in Thokoza on the East Rand. Unhappy with hostel renovations in 
particular, they threw stones, damaging several hostels. At least 17 
people were arrested.

Reese believes that, unlike previous years, protests have become much 
more generalised. “Previously, service delivery protests were around 
specific issues, although you still have that and it often acts as the 
trigger,” she says.

Protests also seem to have become more violent, including looting and 
the stoning of cars . “It is of late an accelerating trend; it’s picking 
up momentum,” she says.

Earlier this month, two people died in Mpumalanga when marauding 
residents set fire to three councillors’ homes, including the home of 
Piet Retief mayor Mary Khumalo.

McKinley says violence is not about people going out “pro-actively” to 
destroy something. Instead, it normally reflects authorities’ hostility 
towards protesters’ grievances as well as a failure of policing.

“We must bear in mind that the state has also become more violent,” says 
Pithouse, arguing that in a democracy it is unacceptable for a 
demonstrator to die.

Municipal IQ says just over halfway through the year, 13 % of the major 
service delivery protests recorded since 2004 took place last year . It 
suggests that should the trend continue, the number of protests this 
year will exceed those of 2007 and last year and come close to the 2005 
peak when 35 protests were recorded countrywide.

Rooted in SA’s struggle against apartheid, protests are hardly mindless 
outpourings of anger, says McKinley. “It’s an understanding of how power 
works,” he says. The poor, recognising their limitations in using 
democratic processes, rely on their collective strength.

McKinley says what the poor are demanding is quality leadership, 
something unlikely to happen until there is a serious political movement 
coming from the left. “What’s lacking is an organised voice of the poor 
and the working class,” he says.

Recent demonstrations appear to have been encouraged by the change of 
guard in the government, which portrayed itself as a champion of the 
poor. Pithouse says people take past promises very seriously.

“They see them as a contract between themselves and the state.”

Reese ascribes the protests to relative deprivation inherent when one 
municipal ward is better off than the neighbouring areas. Service 
protests are also an urban phenomenon, although Municipal IQ says there 
is a trend towards non-metro areas.

Last week, Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs Minister 
Sicelo Shiceka blamed the South African National Civic Organisation 
(Sanco) for the latest protests in Mpumalanga and Diepsloot.

But Reese does not make much of the third force theory, suggesting 
instead a widening gap between expectations and capacity.

“If there is a third force, it is acting on valid concerns,” she says.

johwaw at bdfm.co.za

***

SA hit by service-delivery protests
COURTNEY BROOKS | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jul 22 2009 10:14


A wave of protests has erupted in townships across South Africa over 
shoddy housing and public services, adding to pressure on President 
Jacob Zuma to deliver on promises to fight poverty.

Police fired rubber bullets on Tuesday to break up about 200 protesters 
in Thokoza township outside Johannesburg, where they stoned police cars 
in anger at their dire housing conditions.

That followed a riot one week earlier in Diepsloot, also near 
Johannesburg, where two police cars were destroyed, buildings were 
burned and passing cars stoned in protest at moves to demolish shacks in 
order to build sewerage lines.

More worryingly, a protest in eastern Mpumalanga on Sunday took on 
anti-immigrant colours as shops owned by foreigners were looted and burned.

That sparked anxious memories of the xenophobic attacks that swept the 
country one year ago, when about 60 people died and tens of thousands of 
foreigners fled townships for refugee camps.

Protests over poor public service have soared this year, according to 
Municipal IQ, which monitors municipal services. Poor South Africans 
have staged 24 major protests so far this year, compared with 27 in all 
of last year, the group said in a statement.

"We've got high levels of unemployment, the whole world is suffering 
from an economic downturn and that's not making it any easier," said 
Adrian Hadland, a director at the Human Sciences Research Council, a 
think-tank that advises on public policy.

"Part of the frustration is local government is very uneven, and that is 
often the level of government where things are most keenly felt and 
expressed."

The African National Congress (ANC) last weekend called for an audit 
into municipal services, with the aim of aiding -- or sometimes 
pressuring -- cities to improve their performance.

"The ANC put service delivery of local government at the centre stage," 
said ANC spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi. "Now we realise that our 
councillors in the municipalities might be needing intervention."

"We need to directly fix the issues at hand, not the symptoms of the 
problem," Mnisi added.

Fight against poverty
Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has made strides in 
improving housing while expanding access to clean water and electricity, 
building 2,8-million houses in 15 years.

But more than one million families still live in shacks without power, 
often sharing a single tap among dozens of households. The problem has 
heightened as South Africa is at the height of winter, with freezing 
temperatures in Johannesburg and other parts of the country.

"In the absence of electricity, a roof over your head, and running 
water, it is keenly felt," said Hadland.

Zuma took office two months ago, after campaigning on promises to step 
up the fight against poverty in a country where unemployment is 
officially at 23,5% but is believed much higher.

But the country has slipped into its first recession since apartheid, 
and thousands of jobs have been lost this year, complicating plans to 
boost government spending to fight poverty.

"There is quite a serious problem in the sense that there isn't just a 
straightforward way of resolving it, because the state structures are 
poorly managed," said David Bruce, of the Centre for the Study of 
Violence and Reconciliation.

Any meaningful solution will take years to implement, but in the 
meantime the government will have to tread carefully to avoid inflaming 
public discontent, Municipal IQ said.

"What is called for now is level heads, and the opening of communication 
channels," the group said. -- AFP

***

Eyewitness News

Government works to solve service delivery protests
Stephen Grootes | 6 Hours Ago

Government officials say they are working on the root causes of service 
delivery protests.

Cooperative Governance Minister Sicelo Shiceka has admitted poor service 
delivery and corruption are generating high emotions on the ground but 
the head of the Human Sciences Research Council’s Centre for Service 
Delivery’s Udesh Pillay said it is a difficult nut to crack.

“There is just a wave of protest action occurring through out the 
country in different sectors and this really underscores the fact that 
people are holding government to account.”

***

Sowetan

Show anger in civil way
22 July 2009
Sowetan says:

People across the country are going out on the streets to protest poor 
service delivery. There are daily reports about dissatisfaction with 
councillors and the national government.

This is the right and proper thing to do.

But the tendency to violence is barbaric. It is not part of the fabric 
of a democracy.

People have a right to protest and to strike. What is not lawful is the 
destruction of property that belongs to the community and, therefore, to 
each resident in that community.

The property does not belong to individual councillors, officials or 
government.

Inept councillors, corrupt officials, and greedy business can easily be 
removed without resorting to barbaric behaviour. They can also be 
exposed for their wrongdoing.

We understand that the people are angry and unhappy. The current 
recession has not helped matters by throwing a lot of breadwinners out 
of work. Hunger and fear are elements that fuel despondency.

Desperation may be fuelling the violence but the destruction of 
property, the stench of xenophobia that accompanies the protests, 
looting and burning, is criminal.

It is unacceptable that people who have a legitimate government should 
behave in this manner. During apartheid such behaviour was common 
because the people did not have the voice nor the right to petition 
government for anything.

The political climate has changed. Anyone who has a grievance knows what 
to do. The ballot box is available to voice anger and dissent.

***

The Mercury

Police target ringleaders
Service protest anger boils over

July 22, 2009 Edition 1

SHAUN SMILLIE, POLOKO TAU & SAPA

SOUTH Africa has been gripped by a wave of violent service provision 
protests in three provinces, with fears that it might escalate and spill 
over into other provinces.

The protests in recent weeks depict a government still treading water in 
the race to keep democracy afloat, analysts say.

Anger against inadequate municipal services has boiled over after 
President Jacob Zuma's administration was elected, under pressure to 
deliver on election promises.

Yesterday, protesters fought running battles with police through the 
streets of Siyathemba, which borders the town of Balfour in Mpumalanga.

Police fired rubber bullets and teargas, and cleared the barricades. 
They also called up reinforcements. Superintendent Meshack Mtsweni said 
police had changed tactics.

"We are focusing on the ringleaders. We have specific people who are 
identifying who the ringleaders are," he said.

Police had arrested one ringleader.

Nomvula Mhlongo, who is 89, was on the streets of Siyathemba township 
taunting the police from behind a barricade of burning tyres.

She was there because she still lived in the same house that flooded in 
summer and got too cold in winter. "There is niks hier and I have been 
here all my life," she shouted.

Yesterday, 99 protesters appeared in the Balfour Magistrate's Court on a 
charge of public violence.

At least eight foreign-owned shops stood looted or gutted. The few 
locally-owned shops stood out, as they were boarded up, but untouched. 
At the Balfour police station, police were working in shifts and a braai 
had been organised to feed them. Also at the station were foreigners 
desperate to organise an escort to their shops.

One of them was Abrham Ayano, an Ethiopian. "This place is supposed to 
be life in heaven. But I have just risked my life for nothing," he said.

Ayano's shop in Greylingstad had been looted and he didn't have a place 
to stay for the night.

Meanwhile, a stalemate, cushioned by promises of action from a 
councillor not directly responsible for the ward, led to protesters 
marching on the Thokoza police station, where they formed a human wall 
across the main entrance. Once again, the police readied for battle, but 
the tense stand-off ended without further violence.

The Ekurhuleni Municipality was quick to respond, asking the community 
to respect the law and promising to deal with the issues.

The worst-hit provinces were the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, 
where the number of households with access to water was 73 percent, 83 
percent and 89 percent respectively. In the Eastern Cape, 66 percent of 
households used electricity for lighting, with 81 percent in Limpopo and 
82 percent in Mpumalanga.

Nationally, housing provision by the government had dropped by 8.2 
percent between April 2007 and March 2008, compared to the same period 
the previous year.

***

Calls for calm and restraint from residents, police

July 22, 2009 Edition 1

Sipho Khumalo

KWAZULU-NATAL's MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, 
Willies Mchunu, yesterday expressed grave concern about the violence 
accompanying service protests.

He called for calm from the protesters and the police.

Delivering his department's R1.2 billion budget yesterday, Mchunu 
described the protests as both a sign of the maturity of democracy and a 
call to the authorities to listen to the people.

His call for restraint came in the wake of a nationwide upsurge in 
public shows of anger over the serious lack of municipal services.

Early this year police used rubber bullets to disperse residents of 
Ntuzuma, north of Durban, protesting against a lack of housing and 
sanitation. Last week eThekwini residents marched through Durban over 
public transport cessation.

Mchunu said such protests often degenerated into public violence, damage 
to property and police firing shots at crowds.

"We are extremely concerned with the violence. We appeal to our people 
not to burn tyres and damage property," said Mchunu, adding that some of 
these properties were meant to benefit the aggrieved people.

"I am inclined to call for calm. I appeal to the law enforcement 
agencies to hold fire on unarmed and often poor protesters.

"Pictures of elderly women and men with injuries sustained as a result 
of the use of rubber bullets and sometimes live ammunition only serve to 
cast a negative perception on our democracy," Mchunu said.

He also urged councillors and mayors to tighten belts and spend less on 
frills.

"We should reduce our sleeping in hotels. We want more money to be spent 
on developing the community facilities than on avoidable expenses.

Mchunu said he would undertake a comprehensive analysis of the true 
state of municipalities in the province with a view to producing a 
blueprint for an ideal municipality.

The province would also launch a clean audit operation to eliminate 
fraud and graft.

***

Concern over Layout, terrain
Call for expert to probe new housing site

July 22, 2009 Edition 1

GUGU MBONAMBI

Opposition parties in the eThekwini Municipality have called for a 
private engineering expert to investigate complaints over a new housing 
complex being developed in Merewent to house families living near the 
Engen refinery.

The housing project began in February, and was initially estimated to 
cost R35 million. Funds were sourced from Engen (R15m); the 
KwaZulu-Natal housing department subsidies (R5.5m) and a grant from the 
housing development fund (R14.5m).

Now the municipality says it needs an additional R13.7m for the 
construction of the 128 housing units.

Wentworth residents who were supposed to be moved from their existing 
Tara Road homes to Landsdowne Road, Merewent, where the 128 housing 
units are being built, have raised concerns regarding the layout of the 
new housing project. In May, they staged a picket outside the 
construction site and vowed to stay in their present "barracks homes" 
and not move to the new housing.

Local committee members said the residents were not satisfied with the 
new flats as they were smaller than their present homes. Another issue 
was that they had not been consulted before the houses were designed.

The eThekwini Municipality's executive committee yesterday tabled a 
report that the cost of the project was in excess of the original estimate.

DA chief whip Colin Gaillard said the council was trying to build 
"unacceptable housing, in an unsuitable terrain for an unaffordable 
amount of money".

"There should be a private engineering investigator to look at the 
entire project," Gaillard said.

The initial estimate was R35m, "but now there are all sorts of problems 
due to improper calculation."

However, municipal housing committee chairman, Nigel Gumede, accused 
"certain people" of trying to stop progress so that they could later say 
the ANC-led government was failing in its housing delivery promises. 
Referring to those disgruntled residents who refused to be moved, Gumede 
said the council was not forcing anyone to take occupation of new houses.

"People who refuse housing will never be prioritised by us in future," 
he said. "The eThekwini housing department will identify people who are 
in need of housing and let them occupy it, however, those who don't want 
the houses can go to hell," he said.

Visvin Reddy, ANC exco member and chairman of the council's 
infrastructure committee, said R8.5m had already been spent and the 
project would proceed as planned.

ANC councillor Nomvuso Shabalala echoed Reddy's sentiments, adding that 
"people need housing, therefore we will put in more money."

***

Meyerton traffic slowed by protest

July 22 2009 at 08:23AM

Residents were protesting against being moved from their temporary 
settlement at a school in Kliprivier, south of Johannesburg, Vereeniging 
police said on Wednesday.

"The strike started on Tuesday night and it was peaceful. The residents 
burnt tyres to keep them warm in the cold weather," said Inspector Happy 
Nape.

However, on Wednesday morning the situation worsened.

Traffic flow on the R59 between Kliprivier and Meyerton was interrupted.

"I have to call for backup because the situation is becoming bad," Nape 
said.

Nape said residents were protesting about being moved from Michael Rua 
Primary School where they had been temporarily housed.

He did not know where the residents were housed before being moved to 
the school.

"It seems that there was a misunderstanding between the Sedibeng and Mid 
Vaal municipalities on where the residents should be relocated to."

Thirty families had been housed at the school before they were told to 
move to another location as schools opened this week. - Sapa

***

http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za/videos/2009/07/xenophobic-violence-returns/ 


***

The Times

Balfour protest turns ugly
NKOSANA LEKOTJOLO Published:Jul 22, 2009

Police and residents in the Siyathemba Township in Balfour are involved 
in a tense standoff after police were forced to fire rubber bullets and 
tear gas at an angry mob.

Protestors who had just been addressed by Balfour Mayor started throwing 
stones and bottles at police forcing them to retaliate.

Journalists have been trapped by blockades after the roads were closed 
with burning tyres and rocks.

The township is covered in smoke as the people continue to throw stones 
and bottles as they constantly regroup despite police attempts to 
disperse the crowd.

More to come.

***

Councillors try to quell Balfour protestors
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Article Information

* Original article: The Times
* Published: 9 hours, 13 minutes ago

Ward councillors are in a meeting with the Balfour mayor in the 
municipal offices in the Mpumalanga town to discuss ways to accommodate 
grievances put forward by the community.

"They are meeting to discuss resolutions to the protests and memorandum 
put forward by the community," superintendent Meshack Mtswena said.

Hundreds of protestors are marching through the streets of Siyathemba 
waiting for the ANC ward councillor to talk to them.

Velaphi Radebe from Siyathemba, who is unemployed, told The Times that 
there are no jobs.

"People from the Free State are taking our work. And the foreigners are 
taking business here. We are burning their shops because we know it will 
get the municipality's attention.

"We are African! They must force foreigners out. People are angry 
because the mayor isn't listening to us."

Protest leaders, who have gathered in Siyathemba are demanding the 
release of those arrested for public violence and for the mayor to talk 
to them.

If their demands are not met they will continue with their protests.

Those arrested will appear in court on Friday.

Sally Evans

***

Xenophobic attacks return
Sally Evans and Nkululeko Ncana Published:Jul 22, 2009

AWFUL SENSE OF DEJA VU: Residents run riot in Balfour, Mpumalanga, 
yesterday, forcing police to evacuate foreigners Picture: THYS DULLAART

‘There is no excuse for the targeting of foreign nationals’— President 
Jacob Zuma


Police evacuate foreigners and arrest 99 as xenophobic violence returns

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has condemned attacks on foreigners in Mpumalanga.

The attacks, which have so far displaced about 100 foreigners living in 
Balfour, are chillingly similar to the early stages of last year’s 
xenophobic violence in which 67 people died around the country.

As with last year’s violence, the attacks in Mpumalanga happened under 
the guise of protests against service delivery. Residents began 
protesting on Sunday, demanding that local officials address complaints 
about access to water and electricity, and job opportunities.

But locals soon turned their attention to the foreign business-owners in 
the Siyathemba township in Balfour.

They looted the businesses of Ethiopian, Pakistani and Chinese shop 
owners. Several foreigners were assaulted.

Yesterday, about 100 displaced foreigners sought refuge at the Balfour 
police station. Police were last night still trying to find temporary 
shelter for them.

Police have arrested 99 residents for public violence.

Zuma’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said last night: “We are yet to 
corroborate the reports of violence in the service-delivery protest in 
Mpumalanga. However, the president’s view is that there is no excuse for 
violence or destruction of property of any sort, including the targeting 
of foreign nationals.

“President Zuma has on numerous occasions spoken against xenophobia in 
our country and he will continue to condemn it. The right to protest is 
not, at all, a licence for violent behaviour.”

Jody Kollapen, chair of the SA Human Rights Commission, said “following 
last year’s xenophobic violence, an uneasy calm settled and not enough 
was done to understand the cause of the attacks”.

“I am of the strong view that the violence is a result of socioeconomic 
ills and a perception among South Africans that they are being 
marginalised. They see the foreign nationals as unfair competition.”

Kollapen said there had not been a thorough investigation of last year’s 
violence or prosecution of perpetrators. “This was not enough to send a 
strong message that it should not happen again,” he said.

The Times reported in February that only 128 of the 1400 suspects 
arrested for xenophobic attacks were convicted and sentenced.

Kollapen said not enough was done to understand the root causes of the 
violence.

“Was it xenophobia, was it socioeconomic problems? If these were 
identified then proper programmes should have been put in place, across 
the board, from government to civil society,” Kollapen said.

In recent months there had been violence that included attacks on 
foreigners, he said.

“This is a competition for resources.”

Pakistani grocery store owner Mohamed Waqas, who has lived in Balfour 
for five years, said: “There was no warning. On Sunday night someone on 
a loudspeaker [called] for protest action. They then barricaded the road 
with rocks and the police told us to leave. I feel so bad because we 
have worked so hard, but now everything is gone … it’s finished.”

Balfour was still tense last night as mobs continued to destroy street 
signs, buildings and cars. All roads leading to Siyathemba were strewn 
with rocks, broken glass, mattresses and sign posts.

In nearby Greylingstad, police escorted foreign shop owners to safety as 
a precaution. In Siyathemba, sporadic violence and looting continued 
throughout yesterday. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to 
disperse groups.

Two municipal buildings were torched, along with a truck and tractor 
belonging to the local council.

Shortly before looting a store owned by a Chinese resident, a protester 
told The Times: “The mayor did not give us the right answer to our 
memorandum [handed over in July demanding access to water and 
electricity and job opportunities].

“We still have work to do,” he said, pointing to the shops.

Nassir Hairtemam, an Ethiopian who has been in South Africa for seven 
years, was rescued by police on Sunday when looters ransacked his shop.

“ They came into our shops with stones and pangas. They would’ve killed 
us,” he said.

Not as fortunate was Melekamu Kachen. The 25-year-old Ethiopian beaten 
up by a mob and his store destroyed.

Superintendent Meshack Mtsweni, police operational commander in Balfour, 
said he feared for the lives of foreigners still in Siyathemba. “We 
cannot leave them in there because they will lose everything.”

Police patrolled Siyathemba last night.

Duncan Breen, spokesman for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in 
South Africa, said there were “escalating problems” in parts of 
Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Breen said: “This has been a long established pattern where foreigners 
are targeted [during service-delivery protests].”

He said locals used this as an excuse to “go out and loot”.

Paul Mbenyane, ANC spokesman in Mpumalanga, said: “It is criminal what 
is happening. The service-delivery protests might be legitimate, but we 
suspect that they are being taken over by criminals. What is troubling 
the ANC in this province is why would people complain about water but 
then decide to burn down a clinic or a library? Acts of violence against 
business people and their properties should be seen as acts of 
criminality and nothing else, and we urge police to bring those 
implicated to book.”

The Times understands that Minister of Co-operative Governance and 
Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka will visit Mpumalanga tomorrow. His 
team is expected to audit all the municipalities in the province.

Mohlalefi Lebotha, spokesman for the Dipaleseng municipality, which 
includes Balfour and Greylingstad, said a meeting with the protesters 
was scheduled for today .

He denied service delivery was slow in the municipal area.

“We are implementing several projects for infrastructure development. 
It’s not like nothing is happening.

“We are concerned because we believe criminal elements are using the 
protests for their own agenda,” he said.

— Additional reporting Sashni Pather, Dominic Mahlangu and Werner Swart

***

Voice of the Cape

Sentinel for sale in closed auction
2009-07-22 14:33:51
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The Sentinel in Hout Bay will now be sold in a closed-bid procedure, 
following violent protests by local residents that disrupted the recent 
planned public auction of this iconic Cape Town landmark. The planned 
new sale will be the latest in a series of transactions and changes of 
ownership that go back to 1901, when the 10.09 hectare property first 
passed into private hands.

Last week, protesting residents of Hangberg village on the northern 
slopes of the Sentinel disrupted proceedings at the Chapman's Peak 
Hotel, where the auction was being held. Scores of residents arrived 
with placards and threw stones at the hotel, before police fired rubber 
bullets and stun grenades to disperse them. The residents said they were 
against the move to sell that part of the mountain, which they claimed 
belonged to the people of Hangberg.

Following the disruption, the Julius Buchinsky Auctioneering Group 
announced they would host a closed-bid procedure whereby interested 
parties could submit written offers to buy the property. All offers made 
will be considered at noon on July 29, but the owner may not accept any 
of them.

The Sentinel property - one of two privately owned parcels of land above 
Hangberg and bordered either side by the Table Mountain National Park - 
is currently owned by G&R Marine Services CC, a close corporation. 
According to a deed search, the five active directors of G&R Marine 
Services are Glenn Coulthurst, Anton Richard Munting, Antony Watson, 
Joseph Dowald Watson and Donna Watson. Two of them are from Cape Town, 
one is from Sandton in Gauteng, another is from Paterson in the Eastern 
Cape, and the fifth from Port Elizabeth.

Yesterday, the auction house released a statement to clarify what it 
said were "incorrect and misleading facts that have appeared in the 
media". It described last week's community action as "the unfortunate 
disruption and illegal protest".

According to its statement, the Sentinel - formally Erf 3557 - was first 
transferred to Miss MD Wakelin on September 18, 1901 and has been 
privately owned ever since then. The property was transferred to Harold 
Dorman, Lileen Kramer and Phoebe Robinson on February 7, 1968. On April 
29, 1974, it was sold to Claude Cloete Properties, together with another 
property in Hout Bay, for a combined price of R45 000. On April 23, 
1990, the Patel Property Investment Trust and Claude Cloete Property 
Trust bought both properties from this company. G & R Marine Services CC 
bought the Sentinel from the trusts on October 20, 2003, for R60 000. 
The other property was sold by the two trusts to another close corporation.

The auctioneer's statement reads: "This peak is an iconic feature 
significant to Cape Town tourism and environmental protection. Any 
development will require a statutory application and given the location 
and status of the property, this will attract public controversy." The 
land would need to be rezoned if development were to take place.

However, the property had been bought without any development rights and 
no applications for development had been made by the current owner for 
any development rights. It also said that road access to the property 
was "an unresolved issue". "There is a footpath from the nearby Hangberg 
village which runs along the coast, but there is no existing road. While 
the title deed refers to a right of way servitude, the entitlement and 
practicality of an access road linking up with the public road network 
is not established."

According to the statement, the South African Revenue Service had 
accepted a valuation of the property of R11 160 000 as at June 27 last 
year. This had been done following the death of one of the members of 
the close corporation in April 2006. CAPE ARGUS

***

Workers take racism, service concerns to city hall

July 22, 2009 Edition 1

SHARIKA REGCHAND

FAVOURITISM, racial discrimination and poor services were among a list 
of issues that the South African Municipal Workers Union wanted the 
Msunduzi Municipality to address.

Members of the union marched to the city hall yesterday where they 
handed municipal manager Rob Haswell and Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo a 
memorandum highlighting their grievances.

Hlatshwayo urged them to discuss certain issues in a labour forum.

Their chief demands were that the suspension of shop steward and senior 
firefighter Mbulelo Majola be lifted and that an attack on the union be 
stopped. Majola, they said, had been suspended for being too "vocal".

They also decried the alleged employment of Indians in certain 
departments, saying some business units resembled Bombay.

Shop steward Themba Lyons said that in certain departments there were 
mostly Indians in management positions.

Also, some departments were understaffed and vacancies needed to be filled.

He said that casual workers needed to be made permanent, and that 
services needed to be extended to those living in previously 
disadvantaged areas.

Privatisation and outsourcing were also some of the concerns raised. 
Lyons said the municipality should not have outsourced the controversial 
new meter reading system.

sharika.regchand at inl.co.za

***

Deadlock in talks sparks workers' fury
22 July 2009, 18:03
Related Articles

* Unions: Municipal strike can be averted
* Salga calls for return to salary talks

By AZIZ HARTLEY

Municipalities across the Western Cape province are to grind to a halt 
next week as 20 000 workers strike for better wages and working conditions.

Negotiations with the SA Local Government Association (Salga) have 
deadlocked.

Workers are meeting on Thursday to finalise protest marches and pickets.

SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has demanded a 15 percent increase - 
whichever was greater, while Independent Municipal and Allied Workers 
Trade Union (Imatu) wanted 11.5 percent and the minimum salary to be R3 
800. The current minimum was about R3 000, Imatu's national manager 
Simon Riekerts said.

Samwu provincial secretary Andre Adams said Salga wanted a three-year 
agreement which included a 10.5 percent increase this year followed by 
one percent and 1.5 percent increases in addition to the rate of 
inflation in 2010 and 2011 respectively. He said 300 Samwu shop stewards 
would meet tomorrow(fr) to prepare for Monday.

"Workers rejected this because of the negative impact the previous 
three-year agreement had on their income. Talks deadlocked last week and 
we got a certificate to strike. Samwu and Imatu have about 19 000 of 
about 25 000 employees in the metro. We expect a large number of members 
to strike. All 30 municipalities are affected, Adams said.

He said there would be a protest march to Salga's Bellville offices on 
Monday and another to the city council in the city centre on Wednesday. 
Essential services would be unaffected.
Riekerts said pickets would be held at municiplalities outside the metro.

"Salga was about to agree to Imatu's demand, but at the last moment they 
turned away when they heard Samwu would not agree. Salga tuned their 
backs on us at negotiations, but Imatu and Samwu are in the talks 
together. Today(wed) the unions' leaders are meeting to discuss next 
week's strike," he said.

City council spokesperson Kylie Hatton said: "The City is putting 
contingency plans in place to ensure service delivery continues if the 
strike goes ahead."

***

Two held for public violence
22 July 2009, 14:59

Two men were arrested for public violence in Alberton on Wednesday 
following a violent protest earlier in the day, Ekurhuleni metro police 
said.

Inspector Kobeli Mokheseng said the two were among the 31 people who 
picketed outside a company called Prominent Paint in the area south of 
Johannesburg.

"Independent witnesses alleged that offenders were inside the premises 
where they started throwing stones and foreign objects damaging a few 
parked motor vehicles and windows."

Mokheseng said officers who responded to the incident were pelted with 
stones and had to fire rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

He said the two were arrested on the scene and charged with public 
violence and malicious damage to property.

Mokheseng said police did not know why the workers were protesting.

The two were expected to appear in the Alberton Magistrate's Court soon. 
- Sapa

***

2009/07/22

Stun guns at School protest Duncan Village

Daily Dispatch

POLICE fired stun grenades yesterday during a protest by East London 
pupils against the dilapidated state of Lumko High School in Duncan 
Village.

Their plan was to march to the Department of Education’s office to list 
their grievances – which include having sewage run through their 
classrooms and having to sit 60 to a room – to the MEC of Education.

According to them, the department has been promising them a new school 
for the past 15 years .

But police were called to disperse them when they disrupted lessons 
after demanding entry into neighbouring Ebenezer Majombozi High School.

They marched there in the hope that Ebenezer pupils would march with 
them to the MEC’s office to show their support. They had already 
mobilised pupils from Qaqamba High School.

When the Ebenezer Majombozi High School principal refused to allow them 
entry, they tore the school’s gate open.

Police dispersed them using stun grenades and threatened the pupils with 
rubber bullets.

Police spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said two stun grenades were 
fired by police to disperse the toyi- toying pupils .

“They were blocking the road and the police tried to calm them down. 
Only two stun grenades were fired to stop them from walking in the 
middle of the road disturbing the flow of traffic.”

The students carried placards that read: “We want school, we have 
rights, no more empty promises.”

Vuyani Mkonqo, leader of the school governing body, said a number of 
people claiming to represent the department had visited the school in 
May, and had noted the conditions. They wrote a list of all of the 
students’ and teachers’ grievances.

Top of the list from both was the appalling conditions of the bathrooms, 
which they claimed were beyond repair .

According to them, the toilets no longer flush and had become so clogged 
that sewage spilt into the classrooms.

Pupils complained that at times they have to jump over human excrement 
to get into classrooms, and then endure the smell during lessons.

Mkonqo also said teachers complained about classrooms being too small to 
accommodate the 900 pupils who attend the school.

According to them, at times they have to teach 60 or more pupils at a 
time in a room that should hold no more than 30.

They also said there were not enough chairs and desks so that some 
pupils were forced to sit on the floor.

Pupils complained that when it rained water came through the roof .

Angry student Chumani Quluba said: “There are no lights in the 
classrooms. Doors don’t close properly. Rainwater gets in on rainy days. 
We get so cold in winter from the broken windows.”

Other students said there were no science laboratories or sports field.

Leader of the student representative council Nonstikelelo Joyi said that 
members of the Education Department met with her and teachers in early 
May. Proposals for a new school were discussed, and they were shown the 
building plans.

They also introduced three men who were apparently organising temporary 
prefabs while the school was being built. The department also allegedly 
promised buses to transport pupils to the new premises.

On Monday, the first day of term, the pupils waited for the buses, which 
did not arrive, and then walked to the new premises which did not exist.

Angry parents were also present. One of them, Linda Mamase, also a 
member of the school governing body, said they were told of the new 
school and the prefab classrooms but asked to meet the MEC to confirm 
everything, as the last time land was earmarked it was said to have been 
sold for Public Works. Another parent said he was tired of the “huge 
rats that constantly ate” his children’s lunch.

Despite numerous attempts, the Education Department could not be reached 
for comment. - By ZISANDA NKONKOBE

***

Two shot ahead of Satawu protest
Dieketseng Maleke Published:Jul 22, 2009


THE taxi industry’s protest against violence in the sector was 
highlighted by a shooting at a taxi rank in Johannesburg yesterday.

# Driver hurt in Randburg taxi shooting

SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union members marched to the offices of 
transport MEC Ignatius Jacobs and community safety MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu 
in Johannesburg.

The protestors are dissatisfied with what they call the deteriorating 
conditions in the taxi industry.

Hours before the march, two people, believed to be a taxi driver and a 
passenger, were shot at the Randburg taxi rank. Both are in a critical 
condition in hospital.

Union members took to the streets, incensed by the killing of eight 
colleagues at a Kempton Park taxi rank in recent weeks.

They accused the government of being slow in dealing with violence in 
the industry.

The union’s general secretary, Xolani Nyamezela, said: “We have pleaded 
with the government to regulate the industry so that we can know who 
those assassins are.”

The union has given the government two weeks to respond to its 
memorandum of demands.

***

Every AIDS conference needs a protest
21 July 2009, 22:09 GMT + 2

NO AIDS conference in South Africa would be complete without a protest, 
an imperative that started with the huge demonstrations at the 
International AIDS conference in Durban 2000. Activists are the 
conscience of a conference, reminding delegates how far from their goals 
– like universal treatment – the world falls.
Today activist treatment groups Medecins Sans Frontieres, ACT-UP Paris 
and the Treatment Action Camp joined forces at IAS 2009, marching 
through the conference centre with placards demanding an end to drug 
stock outs and cheaper second line antiretroviral drugs.
MSF and TAC also demonstrated against the antiretroviral shortages that 
are harming patients and public health, before the conference even 
opened on Sunday night.

***

MEDIA ALERT (Urgent)

To all: Editors/ Reporters

22 JULY 2009

THOUSANDS OF CEPPWAWU MEMBERS SHUT DOWN FACTORIES

Members of Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers 
Union (CEPPWAWU) shut down factories countrywide as the Industrial 
Action which started on Monday continues. Currently, thousands of 
CEPPWAWU members has been joined by members of GIWUSA as they hold a 
massive picketing and toy toying at the following factories:

· Tiger Brands – Isando (Gauteng)

· SAPPI – Springs (Gauteng)

· SASOL NITRO - Brokhorspruit

Time: All these mass actions will be starting at 09h30 and continues 
throughout the day.

The aim of these picketing is to ensure that employers reconsider their 
offer of 7%. CEPPWAWU will also be having tentative mass actions 
throughout the country including Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KZN and 
Mpumalanga.

The media is cordially invited to get a balanced view of the Industrial 
action in all the venues.



ISSUED BY CEPPWAWU

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cedric Maluleke, CEPPWAWU National Spokesperson

Cell: 082 738 2855

***

Union gives Massmart protest action notice
By Palesa Motloung, I-Net Bridge Published:Jul 22, 2009

The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union 
(SACCAWU) on Wednesday said it had served wholesaler Massmart with 
notices for protest action on Friday.

The protest action is threatened against Massmart subsidiaries Makro and 
Massdiscounters.

"We have accordingly served both companies with 48-hour notices for 
protected protest action on July 24," it said.

It further warned that union members were more than ready to embark on 
indefinite strikes should the company fail to meet its demands after the 
July 24 protest action.

The union said the protest action was a sequel to unresolved disputes 
against these two major companies within the Massmart stable.

"We currently have an unresolved wage dispute against Makro whilst we 
have an unresolved dispute concerning unilateral change to terms and 
conditions of employment against Massdiscounters," the union said.

"We also have two other disputes against Massdiscounters that have since 
been referred to the CCMA. These dispute concern wages and other 
conditions of employment as well failure by parties to agree on 
amendments to the Relationship Agreement."

The union said current wage disputes at Makro and Massdiscounters 
demonstrated the company’s insensitivity to the plight of workers who 
had over a number of years contributed to the group’s growth.

"The company cannot justify its failure to meet our reasonable demands 
given its good performance over the past few years. Whilst the wage 
dispute against Massdiscounters has already been referred to the CCMA, 
we have not yet received a date for conciliation," it said.

"At Makro we have already been to the CCMA and have a certificate which 
confirms that the dispute remains unresolved. Members within Makro are 
not demanding heaven an earth but are demanding an increase of 460 rand 
per month or 8.5% whichever works out greater," said SACCAWU.

The union said it was also demanding a ban on labour brokers.

"We are also demanding that the company should do away with its 40-hour 
7-day rolling week which includes normal pay for Sunday work at its 
Silver Lakes store."

Meanwhile, group corporate affairs executive at Massmart Holdings, Brian 
Leroni, said the group had received communication of the proposed strike 
action.

"Our understanding is that the action will go ahead and we have, 
accordingly, implemented the necessary contingency plans to ensure that 
trading at our stores will continue as normal," said Leroni.

Leroni said that Makro had been notified that SACCAWU members employed 
by the company would engage in one day of protest action on July 24.

"This will include a union-led march to Durban City Hall. The 
Sunninghill protest march would not take place as planned, but had been 
replaced by a protest march in central Johannesburg.

"The action results from a wage dispute in terms of which Makro has 
tabled a final increase offer of 460 rand per month. This represents a 
15.4% increase on the chain’s minimum wage and a 9.6% increase on the 
average wage of SACCAWU members."

The action results from a dispute about a company decision to replace 
its existing clock card system with a thumbprint verification system, 
the benefits of which include improved ability to control time-keeping 
fraud, he said.

Leroni noted that SACCAWU had argued that the decision to implement this 
new technology, which was similar to that used at SACCAWU’s Johannesburg 
head office, constituted an attempt to unilaterally change employment 
conditions at Game.

"The system was introduced 20 months ago in November 2007 and has been 
adopted by 15,305 employees including SACCAWU members," he said.

"A number of staff at five Game stores have refused to use the new 
system. The matter is before the Labour Court where judgment is still 
pending," he added.