[News] South Africa - Land is at the heart of our struggle

[Anti-Imperialist News]

    Land is at the heart of our struggle


        Lindela S Figlan


        2012-10-30, Issue 604 <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/604>


        http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85114
        <http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85114>

In the old days the people in this country were so united. Even those 
who were not interested in politics ended up in politics. This unity 
came from the fact that they were crying for the land of their 
forefathers that had been confiscated by those who thought the land was 
supposed to be under their authority. The people's land had been stolen, 
fenced and sold.

The land issue is really serious and it is really dangerous. When the 
minority government was pressurised on the land issue they often decided 
to shoot and kill our fathers and mothers. Some died on the streets 
because of the struggle for land. Others had their limbs amputated 
because of the struggle for land. Some lost their eyes because of the 
struggle for land. There were so many struggles for land. There was the 
war of the heads in 1906. There was the struggle of the women of Cato 
Manor in 1956. There was the battle on Ngquza Hill in 1960.

When Mandela returned and then became president there were so many 
speculations among the people. They were expecting the government to do 
miracles about the land issue. But up to now they are still crying the 
very same tears they have been crying before. People are still crying 
for land in the rural areas and in the cities. People are still 
struggling for a place in their country. That struggle remains serious 
and it remains dangerous.

When our movement was first formed, one of Inkosi Bhambatha's grandsons 
joined our struggle. He was living in the Jadhu Place settlement. One 
man whose mother was in Cato Manor in 1956 also joined our struggle. He 
was living in the Arnett Drive settlement. My own father was on Ngquza 
Hill in 1960. I was living in the Burnwood Road settlement. All of the 
settlements that joined our movement were founded by land occupations. 
In some settlements people had been defending those occupations by 
resisting evictions for 20 years or more. The history of the struggle 
for land was a living history inside our movement. When we formed the 
Poor People's Alliance we aimed to unite the rural and urban land struggles.

The land struggle is not the only struggle. People are also struggling 
for houses, for better wages, for good schooling and against the 
councillors, BECs and unions that are controlling the people. But the 
land struggle is the foundation of many other struggles. This is why we 
say 'Land & Freedom!'; 'Land & Housing!' and 'Land, Justice & Dignity'.

People are still being evicted in rural areas. The government is trying 
to strengthen the power of the chiefs in the rural areas. The Bantustans 
remain. And people are still being evicted from the cities. They are 
being left homeless or dumped in transit camps.

And the struggle remains dangerous. If you join the struggle you will 
face violence from party members and the police. We can loose our lives 
if we are not careful. After the attack on Kennedy Road in 2009, the 
murder of Andries Tatane in 2011 and the Marikana Massacre in 2012, is 
there anyone who can still say that they will get shocked if what 
happened before 1994 can happen again now?

Our government is a capitalist government. It is a government for the 
rich. It is making some people very rich and it is slowly changing the 
colour of the people who are rich. It is always saying that there is a 
problem with the colour of the people that are rich but it never says 
that there is a problem which is that the rich, all of them together, 
have too much land, too much money and too much power.

In my way of understanding, I won't feel shocked if more of us are 
killed in the struggle for land. Now that the government is loosing the 
confidence of the people in the cities and on the mines it has decided 
to use violence to silence us and to intimidate us. This government 
wants to defend the system that is making them and their families rich 
while everybody else is suffering.

When the Kennedy attack happened in 2009 it was so clear that the 
government was supposed to take that attack very seriously because most 
of the people who most lost their homes regarded it as an attack to 
those who were not born in this province. Instead they were arrested 
while they were running away from those who were shouting 'PHANTSI 
NGAMAMPONDO'. The government did nothing to stop this. When the 
headlines on the papers came as 'ETHNIC TENSSION BOILS OVER IN KENNEDY' 
they quickly tried to stop those headlines. But those who came to my 
shack made it clear that those from other provinces must go back. The 
government said that the problem was just that we were 'criminals'. Even 
now we are still suffering with nowhere to stay while the government is 
not even trying to meet us halfway.

Andries Tatane died the same way that the people were dying before 1994. 
He was not the only person to be killed like this but the whole world 
saw this murder on TV. We were promised that after 1994 everybody would 
freely enjoy their rights without being intimidated by the police. But 
the police in South Africa are still behaving the very same way as they 
were behaving before 1994. We were busy blaming the government of those 
days for how the police behaved towards the people while on the other 
side this government is doing the very same way. Some of us made the 
mistake of blaming the apartheid government because their colour was not 
the same as ours. But really it is about humanity. People tend to forget 
that we were not really against anyone's colour but that in fact we are 
against the system that they were using. That system is commonly 
understood to be the same to the present one.

The Marikana Massacre was the most terrifying one. When our president 
gave a speech about this massacre he sung a song called 'SENZENI NA' 
before he delivered his speech. That song we used to sing it even before 
1994. But even now we are still singing the same song. Why? When that 
song continues there are words that say 'OUR SIN IS OUR COLOUR'. Are we 
still sinning even to the government that we fought for? There must be 
something very, very wrong.

If the government cannot recognise our humanity than we have to 
recognise our humanity ourselves. Please let's make sure that even under 
threatening conditions like these we go forward to claim what belongs to 
the people. Now is the time for all of us who are landless to show what 
it really means to fight for land in the rural areas and in the cities. 
With land we can start to be counted as citizens of this country. Land 
has to be distributed according to social need and not according to who 
has money.

We need to fight jointly to make sure that we defeat this demon which is 
embracing our country. But if those who are suffering are not showing 
anything, how will other people know that they are supposed to join the 
struggle and to support us? Every land occupation is a small step 
towards making this a country for all who live in it and breaking the 
power of money over land.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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