<html>
<body>
<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b><i>Several stories follow<br><br>
</i></b></font><font size=3>Looting of shops 'tip of the iceberg' <br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090723002050265C548968" eudora="autourl">
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090723002050265C548968<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=3>July 23 2009 at 06:19AM <br><br>
By Ntokozo Mfusi<br><br>
The leader of a group of unemployed people said the looting that occurred
in Shoprite and Pick n Pay stores in Durban was only the beginning,
adding that more stores would be targeted.<br><br>
Ninety four people, all members of the South African Unemployed People's
Movement, were arrested on Wednesday after storming into the two
supermarkets in Dr Pixley KaSeme Street in the city centre and helping
themselves to food without paying.<br><br>
The organisation's chairperson, Nozipho Mteshane, said until the
government took them seriously they would carry on with their
action.<br><br>
"This is just the tip of the iceberg and I myself cannot stop the
people because they are angry - we handed in a memorandum to the city a
week ago and gave them seven days to respond and they have not,"
Mteshane said.<br><br>
She said this was a message to the government that people were hungry and
were struggling to make ends meet. <br><br>
"We want the government to provide the unemployed people of this
country with a R1 500 basic income grant."<br><br>
Onlookers at Shoprite said the group was eating roasted chicken, chips
and other goods inside the store and loading goods such as cooking oil,
frozen chicken braai packs, vegetables and beverages inside
trolleys.<br><br>
Police spokesperson Captain Khephu Ndlovu said 44 people were arrested at
Shoprite and 50 at Pick n Pay for illegal gathering and theft.<br><br>
Sociologist Mary De Haas said these kinds of protests would escalate
because people were unhappy as service delivery was slack. <br><br>
"I am not surprised people are disgruntled, they have high
expectations, but (the) government has promised a lot yet people are
losing their jobs. This is a symptom of failure of the people elected to
(the) government," she said.<br><br>
City manager, Michael Sutcliffe, said this behaviour needed to be
condemned in the strongest term. <br><br>
"There seems to be political element in this - it's true they handed
in a memorandum last week and we know there is a lot unemployment and
poverty, but they are not the poorest of the poor, which is why we feel
there are other elements involved. (The) government is looking into it
and will deal with this accordingly."
<ul>
<ul>
<li><b>This article was originally published on page 2 of
<a href="http://www.thestar.co.za">The Star</a> on July 23, 2009</font>
</ul>
</ul><h2><b>**********************************<br>
<a href="http://antieviction.org.za/2009/07/22/media-%e2%80%98give-us-a-basic-grant-of-r1500-or-we%e2%80%99ll-wreak-havoc%e2%80%99/">
Media: ‘Give us a basic grant of R1500 or we’ll wreak
havoc’</a></b></h2><font size=3>17 July 2009<br>
Canaan Mdletshe –
<a href="http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1035297">
Sowetan</a><br><br>
A GROUP representing the unemployed in KwaZulu-Natal has threatened to
set townships alight and unleash an army of looters on shops unless all
jobless people<br><br>
UP IN ARMS: Unemployed people have vowed to destroy shops in
KwaZulu-Natal if the government fails to meet their demands within seven
days . PHOTO: THULI DLAMINI<br><br>
received a basic income grant of R1500 a month.<br><br>
National spokesperson for the SA Unemployed People’s Movement, Nozipho
Mteshana, said a survey the group commissioned had uncovered more than
26million unemployed people in South Africa, more than half of the
population.<br><br>
The figures had gone up recently because of job losses from the economic
meltdown.<br><br>
Mteshana said the country would soon be in flames if the government
failed to do something because people’s anger could not be contained much
longer.<br><br>
“We give our government and eThekwini municipality, which is our focus at
this point, seven days to give us answers.”<br><br>
The group has handed the municipality a memorandum of their
grievances.<br><br>
“If we don’t get positive answers by next Wednesday we will let people
loot all the big shops and take whatever food they find in those shops.
If this is the only language our government understands, then we will
speak it very loudly,” she warned.<br><br>
Mteshana said most of their members were young tertiary graduates. They
were fed up with “ANC pals and the same people getting tenders” while
others went hungry.<br><br>
She said in a country where pensions were granted only at 60 it pained
her to note that most unemployed people were between 18 and 35.<br><br>
Crime was escalating because people were hungry.<br><br>
“Hungry stomachs are angry stomachs, which is why we feel that unemployed
people should be provided with a basic income grant. Our government has
money but it is not prioritised properly.”<br><br>
Economic expert Bonke Dumisa said it was unreal to expect an economic
solution to these problems.<br><br>
“Business can’t do it. Business is in the business of making money with
as few people as possible, given the economic downturn.”<br><br>
He said the answers lay with the politicians and their will to deal with
the real unemployment figures.<br><br>
Link to photos<br>
<a href="http://gallery.iol.co.za/v/iolnews/Stores+looted/" eudora="autourl">
http://gallery.iol.co.za/v/iolnews/Stores+looted/</a><br>
************************************************************<br>
</font><h3><b>
<a href="http://afrikaner-genocide-achives.blogspot.com/2009/07/awb-was-better-than-anc-say-thokoza.html">
AWB was better than ANC, say Thokoza protestors</a>
</b></h3><font size=3>
<a href="http://afrikaner-genocide-achives.blogspot.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://afrikaner-genocide-achives.blogspot.com/</a><br><br>
</font><h5><b>
<a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/11619">
<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZL3Kngb81qo/Smmiy0dwbDI/AAAAAAAAUgM/AafcdFa1ZfE/AfrikanerDefenceMovementAWBwasbetterthanANCshoutblackdemonstratorsJuly222009amazing14.jpg?imgmax=800" width=679 height=436 alt="South Africa - Thokoza Protest - 21-07-09">
</a><br><br>
<font size=4 color="#FF0000">The news media’s unsubtle censorship of this
amazing protest poster:</u></i></b></font></h5><font size=3><b>July 24
2009 – Afrikaners can’t believe their eyes. This picture taken by Shayne
Robinson of The Star newspaper, today has been making the rapid rounds of
many hundreds of Afrikaans-language blogs inside and outside the country…
and many bloggers comment that they believe it’s a hoax, It shows
protestors holding handwritten protest signs with the words:
<ul>
<li>“</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">AWB was better than
ANC’</font><font size=5 color="#FF0000">,</font><font size=3> and
“</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">We vote for better life, not for
worse.We live like pigs’</font><font size=3> </b>
</ul><b>Afrikaner language-rights leader Dr
<a href="http://www.praag.co.za/">Dan Roodt</a>, publishing the picture
on his blog, writes that this is the most inexplicable protest poster
he’s seen. <br><br>
Indeed, many journalists reporting on the Thokoza unrests – where this
photograph above was taken by Shayne Robinson of The Star in
Johannesburg, must have realised that this was the ultimate insult to the
ANC-leadership: black voters in Thokoza had voted overwhelmingly in
favour of the presidency of Jacob Zuma, yet there they were just months
later -- stating that South African blacks would be better-off under
the rabidly white rightwingers in the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging
than they now are under ANC-rule. <br><br>
Of course it’s irrelevant that the AWB never ruled the country...
</b>this sign expresses a very intense and genuine anger felt by
these black voters.
<ul>
<li>Over the past three elections, these many millions of black voters
have repeatedly been promised a golden future which included jobs, free
housing, free electricity, lower food-prices, better schools… Instead,
they are still ‘living like pigs’, as the other poster next to it, states
so clearly.
<li>Also note the large number of weapons in the hands of these
protestors, from bricks to heavy metal rods.
</ul><b>AS noted earlier, this photograph was taken by
<a href="http://www.lightstalkers.org/shayne-robinson">Shayne Robinson
of The Star in Johannesburg</a>, </font><font size=1>(cell</b>
27767318361, w 27116332231 )
</font>
<a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/11619">
<font size=3>h</a></font>
<a href="http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/11619">
<font size=1>ttp://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/11619</a>
.</font><font size=3> <i>It’s unclear whether his own newspaper published
this picture, judging from its own published pages reporting the story
(left), they may not have done. <br><br>
</i>
<a href="http://www.canada.com/news/Protests+spread+South+African+townships/1816515/story.html">
Reuters</a> journalist Michael Georgy reported from the scene that
the protesters hurled stones at police, who fired back teargas and rubber
bullets (on Wednesday July 22 2009) -- “after thousands
marched in a show of anger at poor services and a lack of jobs.” This
journalist
<a href="http://afrikaner-genocide-achives.blogspot.com/%E2%80%9CWhile%20anger%20was%20largely%20directed%20at%20local%20officials,%20there%20was%20also%20unhappiness%20with%20the%20government%20of%20the%20ruling%20African%20National%20Congress,%20which%20has%20ruled%20since%20the%20end%20of%20apartheid%20in%201994.%20%22This%20government%20is%20rotten%20to%20the%20core,%22%20said%20Bongani%20Mazibuko,%20unemployed%20for%20years.">
did not however note the contents of this poster</a>, but does note:
<ul>
<li><i>“While anger was largely directed at local officials, there was
also unhappiness with the government of the ruling African National
Congress, which has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994. "This
government is rotten to the core," said Bongani Mazibuko, unemployed
for years…</i>
</ul>“They have intensified uncertainty after a wave of strikes in
Africa's biggest economy”,” Reuters comments. “The unrest, with scenes
reminiscent of violence against foreigners last year that killed 62
people, also undermined South Africa's hope of showing a positive image
with less than a year to go before the soccer World Cup..’<br><br>
Reuters wrote that protesters pelted cars with stones and blocked a
highway near Johannesburg. At
</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">Siyathemba
</font><font size=3>township, 90 km (55 miles) southeast of the city,
other protesters were also demanding jobs and better schools, clashing
with police and threatening the local mayor. And matters are going to get
even worse:
<a href="http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5095262">municipal
workers now are also threatening to strike</a> – which will make ‘service
delivery’ come to a dead-halt. </font>
<ul>
<li><font size=4 color="#FF0000"><i><u>Farm
invasions:</u></i></font><font size=3>
<li>“Protests turned violent for a second day in Johannesburg's Thokoza
township, where residents are demanding better housing and services.
Thirty-five residents are due to appear in court. Residents in Meyerton,
south of Johannesburg, occupied the (state-owned Pielie Farm) - in
invasions similar of those in neighbouring Zimbabwe. They were protesting
at being evicted from their temporary settlement.”
</ul>
<a href="http://www.isavesmart.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19791:Anger%20at%20ANC%20record%20in%20South%20Africa&catid=424:world-news-video&Itemid=1003333">
The Guardian</a> also writes from the UK:
<ul>
<li>“Fifteen years after the ANC won its first election, more than
1million South Africans still live in shacks, many without access to
electricity or running water. The gap between rich and poor is also
growing. Nearly 3m houses have been built, but the allocation has been
prone to nepotism and corruption.”
</ul>Eljah Ngobese, reporting from Thokoza for The Citizen, came closest
to reporting about the “AWB better than ANC’ poster, quoting residents as
telling him:
<ul>
<li>"We are tired of empty promises. All this government want from
us is a vote, nothing else. They are treating us as monkeys. How can they
shoot us while we are protesting for our rights?"
</ul><br><br>
<br><br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>