Publication Details Reference SA Protest News 21 25 september 2009 (2009) SA Protest News 21 25 september 2009.  : -. Summary MEC under siege over ‘false promise’ Anna Majavu (Sowetan) 23 September 2009 Tenants await ‘their’ houses NEW Western Cape housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela is on a collision course with backyard residents from Mandela Park in Khayelitsha. The tenants have accused him of breaking a promise to give them houses in a new development. But Madikizela has counter-accused residents of causing a R1million worth of damage to houses during a weekend protest. About 23 people were arrested during the weekend protest and freed on Monday after the state withdrew its case and the residents’ attorney, Sharfudin Parker, laid charges against the police for unlawful arrest. But a furious Madikizela yesterday visited the senior prosecutor at the Khayelitsha magistrate’s court to find out why the charges had been dropped. He said he would not rest until the alleged vandals had been punished. Mandela Park resident Mabuti Mtyida told Sowetan that the protest was the result of Madikizela’s promise at a public meeting a few weeks ago that he would give 20 of the 53 new houses to Mandela Park backyard dwellers. The remaining 33 houses were to be handed over to backyard tenants from Gugulethu and Khayelitsha’s Site C. Mtyida’s statement was backed by journalists who had attended the meeting. Mtyida said there had been no use of petrol bombs whatsoever during the protest as alleged, and slammed the MEC for threatening residents’ rights to freedom of expression. Victoria Balintuwa told Sowetan that she was forced to build shacks outside her small two-bedroom house to accommodate her family of five children and four grandchildren. “I still have my sons with me in the backyard. We have these hokkies that catch fire. We expected our kids to be housed in Mandela Park because we don’t want them to stay far from us,” Balintuwa said. Madikizela denied that he had ever promised backyarders houses. “I explained that of the 53 houses recently completed, only 30 beneficiaries could be located. If the department failed to trace the beneficiaries Mandela Park backyarders would be considered,” he said. Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape representative Mzonke Poni said: “Mandela Park backyarders have never benefitted from a single scheme in Mandela Park since they moved there 20 years ago. Residents should be consulted directly, and not through the ANC or Sanco,” Poni said. Madikizela took over the MEC’s post after the elections this year. He worked as Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille’s media officer when she was mayor of Cape Town. During this time he was the UDM’s Cape Town regional secretary but in September 2008 he was reportedly expelled for “moonlighting” for the DA. Guard knocks over protester, then beaten to death Alfred Moselakgomo 22 September 2009 A security guard was beaten to death and a police officer’s house torched yesterday in yet another violent service delivery protest in Mpumalanga. Twenty people have since been arrested. The police at this stage say they don’t know why the house of the police officer, Eric Masinga, was targeted. Police said the guard, whose name has been withheld, knocked down a protester in Sabie village near Lydenburg yesterday morning. “After he knocked down the protester, fellow protesters grabbed him out of his car and beat him to a pulp,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Abie Khoabane. “Police managed to rescue him and he died on the way to hospital.” Khoabane said 20 people were arrested for murder, malicious damage to property and public violence. All activities, including schooling and public transport, came to a halt in the area when hundreds of residents gathered at 5.30am and barricaded the streets with burning tyres and other materials. Massive spike public violence 2009 -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Debate] FW: Massive spike public violence 2009 Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:37:59 +0200 From: Berend Schuitema Reply-To: Debate is a listserve that attempts to promote information and analyses of interest to the independent left in South and Southern Africa To: One has to use considerable discretion in reading the scale and nature of incidents of SAPS reporting on "public violence". For a part public violence excludes incidents such as armed robbery, whether by individuals or groups that, for example, puts the public when shooting of bullets fly across open public spaces. One also has to discount incidents not reported at all, such as disorderly conduct. I am sure that brawls outside of pubs and shebeens rate as "disorderly conduct" and not public violence. That is as long as there is no throwing of stones or shooting at the police. Drunk and disorderly behaviour, urinating in public and this category of crime falls off the statistical map altogether. With my very limited experience in policing, public violence relates to incidents that have to be handled by the ACCU (or whatever their current name, i.e. the former Public Order Police (POP)). One can safely accept that the bulk of public violence incidents have a public nature, such as marches which may or may not have had local government approval, which resulted in violence. As you (Patrick) are monitoring public demonstrations, organized or spontaneous, that easily total 10,000 per year, we need to investigate what portion of these resulted in violence. This proportion may also present us with a useful barometer as to the vehemence of resistance and protest. Thus, if of all public manifestations say 10% turn violent in year one, and then in year two we find that 15% turned violent, then this gives an indication on the developing trend of protest action in general. SAPS is notorious for limiting information in the public domain as far as they can. In their statistics releases we find very little, if any, clarifying statements. What is in any case clear from this years statistics released by SAPS are the relative figures. There is a 60% overall spike since 2008. So whatever are included as protest related public violence (spontaneous or organized) should give a similar spike in the scale of protest and resistance against exclusion and growing inequality. If we take the number of protest marches and demonstrations at 10,000 per year, then with this 1,500 figure we have 15% that became violent. (Just a thumb suck). Deeper analysis would also have to unpack police provocation, probably on instruction or at least encouragement of local councillors, as cause for public violence. Be reminded that we definitely need to research these figures on public violence and get a better understanding on how SAPS compiles them! Berend -----Original Message----- From: Patrick Bond [mailto:patricksouthafrica@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Bond Sent: 23 September 2009 07:23 PM To: berend Schuitema Subject: Re: [Debate] Massive spike public violence 2009 Berend, can you clarify definitions of public violence? Thanks! Patrick Berend Schuitema wrote: Head lines all over the country are hyping the release of crime statistics by SAPS. Interesting are the public violence stats: Year endings March: 2004 - 979 2005 - 974 2006 - 1,044 2007 - 1023 2008 - 895 2009 - 1,500! (From ISS Website) Cosatu defends street trashing By Carien du Plessis 23 September 2009 Municipal workers have defended and justified the trashing of streets as a tactic to counter the employers' "provocation", while Cosatu leaders insisted that such violent action "has no place in our struggles". Some delegates also came to the workers' defence, saying the littering and trashing was not violence but a labour weapon, blaming the police for provocation. SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) deputy president Boss Nxu told the congress yesterday that the affiliate was unhappy that Cosatu seemed to be supporting "police brutality" rather than defending the union. "We have evidence that the police were provoking our members. The role of the police seems to be to protect the properties of those that are rich. "If Cosatu is leaning towards that, then we will have a problem as Samwu." Nxu said workers had the right to embark on militant strikes, as these were the only weapons "in the hands of the people". Samwu president Petros Mashishi said Cosatu should understand that the union's trashing of the streets was "the only way to undermine the employer" when cities sent in notorious security guards called Red Ants and hired scab labour. "What we expected from Cosatu is to sit down with us and find out why we are using these tactics and then we are ridiculed in the congress," he said. "As long as there are tactics that undermine our strike, we will act the way we are doing." Mashishi said the union was unhappy that Cosatu had issued a statement saying the police should arrest striking workers when they trashed the streets, but Cosatu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, said the media had misrepresented Cosatu's remarks on the matter at the time. National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union general secretary Fikile Majola supported Samwu's actions, saying its tactics had resulted in double-digit salary increases for some public sector workers. Majola insisted that Samwu strikers were non-violent. "The throwing of litter in the streets is violence against who?" he asked. He also said the workers' struggle was a class struggle, and unions should not pay too much attention to "elite" opposition about the trashing of the streets. "When we say our people are opposed to the actions we are taking, that is a different matter. The court of public opinion is not always the opinion of our people," he said. South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union general secretary Randall Howard said the police were to blame because they "set about not controlling crowds, but rather provoking them". The SA Security Forces Union said it had proof from intelligence agencies that police had provoked violence during their recent strikes. Popcru, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, said issues such as police brutality should be dealt with by the congress. "There are people in charge of the police service that still behave in the same way as in the apartheid era. "We should deal with these issues. It is a shame that we have to come to the congress and complain rather than intervene in the process when it comes to police brutality. Yesterday's heated debate came after Vavi challenged delegates on the trashing of the cities. "All of us agree that the trashing of the streets and emptying the dustbins in the cities is bad. "I want someone to argue in this congress that it's fine. Let them do that. Let them take a microphone and say it is good," he said. There were also differences about what constituted a violent strike, while some expressed concern about the matter being discussed in a congress open to the media. But such were the differences that Vavi later agreed to defer this discussion to Cosatu's central executive committee. Delegates also discussed a possible code of conduct for strikes. On Monday President Jacob Zuma criticised "the lawlessness that has accompanied some of the mass action", saying it did not help public sympathy for trade unions. www.iol.co.za * This article was originally published on page 2 of The Daily News on September 23, 2009 Sekuruwe community takes action on desecrated graves Issued by Jubilee South Africa, 24 September 2009 The Sekuruwe community in the Mapela area, north of Mokopane in Limpopo Province, has been taking action for the last three days to demand cooperation from the Sekuruwe Section 21 Company in the reexhumation and reburial of community graves desecrated by Anglo Platinum and its subcontractor, Phuti Funeral Homes. There has been a regular police presence at the village for the duration of the action. Today, police arrested a youth from the village. On Tuesday, the entrance from the main road to the Sekuruwe village was blocked and no one could drive in or out. However, the community agreed that the Grade 12 learners should contiune to write their exams. The archaeologist reexhuming and reburying the graves indicated to the police that it was necessary for everyone to identify their graves. They agreed with the committee representing the community that the police would ask the Section 21 Company to come to a meeting to this end. The Section 21 Company has not cooperated and the community committee indicated that they will continue with their action until the situation is resolved. The original gravesite is on Blinkwater Farm, belonging to the Sekuruwe community and leased earlier this year to Anglo Platinum despite protest from the community. Anglo Platinum is destroying the land in order to build a tailings dam to accommodate the waste from its mining operations. Last year, graves were exhumed without the requisite technique resulting in damage to human remains. Graves older than 60 years were exhumed in violation of heritage regulations. Remains were reburied on land on the other side of the village. The Sekuruwe Section 21 Company, established by Anglo Platinum as its ally in the community, is alleged to have misrepresented the number of graves to be reburied so as to benefit financially. The community protested the exhumations and 47 people were arrested and charged. The case against them was subsequently dismissed. The desecration of the graves resulted in skeletal remains being scattered across the original gravesite, the new graveyard and the police station. Due to sustained protests and the intervention of the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), Anlgo Platinum was compelled to agree to the process of reexhumation of the remains and the apporpriate reburial of the reconstituted remains. Community members reiterated that they are also going to continue fighting for their land, which they describe as the heritage of the people, the future for their children. They expressed dismay at the Government. The community has written letters to the President, the Premier's Office, the Department of Minerals and Energy and many others to request them to come to the community to resolve the issues, but no one has responded. People from Government only came when they needed votes, promising to return, but never did. In another development, charges against four members of the Ga Pila community, on the other side of the Anglo Platinum mine, were withdrawn yesterday. They were arrested and charged months after allegedly tampering with a fence at their own ploughing fields. For further information, please contact: Mr. James Shiburi from Sekuruwe, 072 478 3894, or Phillipos Dolo, Jubilee Mokopane Coordinator, 073 789 2489. George Dor, Jubilee South Africa General Secretary, 011 648 7000, 076 460 9620, george@mail.ngo.za CCMA to help resolve ongoing Sactwu strike Sapa 21 September 2009 The Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu) has accepted a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) offer to assist in resolving an ongoing salary strike. More than 50 000 Sactwu members embarked on a national strike last Tuesday. The union has rejected employers' revised offer of 8%. Sactwu General-Secretary Andre Kriel says the mediation process will start in Johannesburg today. “The union has always said that it is better to find a solution to this situation than to have a strike. Our objective is not to have a strike -- it's to have a settlement.” The employers' chief negotiator Johann Baard says they welcome the CCMA’s offer. However, Baard says they want the union to suspend the strike today. “There is just one possible potential problem which I have discussed with the trade union and the CCMA, and that is the question of the suspension of the strike action with effect on Monday. The employers are not likely to engage in the mediation process while strike action continues.” Meanwhile, the Congress of South African Trade Unions has since come out in support of a pay strike by clothing and textile workers, saying their demands are reasonable and affordable. "We congratulate the 92% of members who voted in favour of a strike, for their determination to resist the employers' attempt to impose a minimal weekly wage increase of between R19 and R32 per week," Cosatu said in a statement. Sactwu said workers in the clothing industry are the lowest paid in the manufacturing sector. Most are women and single mothers, and over the past few years have accepted low increases to help keep the struggling industry sustainable as it competes against cheap imports. – additional reporting by Clothing workers’ strike set to go on Sapa 21 September 2009 CLOTHING workers would reject the latest so-called revised offer by employers, the SA Clothing and Textile Wo