Media: ‘No Land! No House! No Vote!’

AbM Note: AbM opposes haphazard and dangerously put together electricity connections. But the movement does support carefully and safely organised connections which improve and save lives (from fires). The project of carefully and collectively safely electrifying Kennedy Road was, like much of the movement’s other work, badly set back by the attacks in late 2009 and the ongoing harassment of its members, and the demolition of their homes, for many months afterwards.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/no-land-no-house-no-vote-1.1070896

May 19 2011 at 09:55am, By SINEGUGU NDLOVU AND BRONWYN FOURIE

From left to right, the wires creep into the grubby maze of tightly knit shacks, cobbled out of discarded board and other material. Rubbish lies strewn about, mucky water runs freely on the ground and the stench of sewerage assaults your nose.

5th May Event: No Land! No House! No Vote! at AIDC

No Land! No House! No Vote!

Voices from Symphony Way on our upcoming elections

Join us to hear and talk about this unique anthology of 45 factual short stories written by the controversial Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers from Delft and with a Forward by Raj Patel.

The authors from Symphony Way will be there to discuss their struggle for land, housing and dignity and how that struggle taught them a lot about electoral politics. They will be explaining why many of them will not vote in the elections on the 18th May.

Date: 5th May 2011 — Time: 5:30 for 6pm

at Alternative Information Development Center

129 Rochester Rd in Observatory, Cape Town

Entrance is free. Copies of the book will be available to buy.   RSVP to Norma@aidc.org.za 021 4472525 or RSVP on Facebook.  For comment by the Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign, contact Aunty Tilla at 0764772508

‘Tin Town’ residents now threaten to boycott elections

18 April 2011 – Sowetan

RESIDENTS of Cape Town’s ‘Tin Town’ transit camp say they will not vote in the May 18 local government elections unless they get houses first.

More than 5000 people live in one-room tin shacks in a part of Delft, better known by its nickname of Blikkiesdorp, about 20km from the city centre.

At least 3000 are estimated to be of voting age and their votes will be pivotal in deciding who wins the Delft ward currently held by the DA’s Cynthia Claasen.

Media: ‘I don’t believe in voting anymore’

Apr 10, 2011 2:25 AM | By BRENDAN BOYLE
http://www.timeslive.co.za/specialreports/elections2011/article1010864.ece/I-dont-believe-in-voting-any-more

Sarie Booi, better known as Ou Sis, is among many in Cape Town’s informal settlements who don’t intend voting on May 18 because they have given up on local government.

She is one of the original residents of Masincedane, a windswept settlement of some 70 shacks among the dunes of Strandfontein on the False Bay coast. It was started by her late father nearly 20 years ago, when he worked as a janitor in a children’s holiday camp.

There are enough toilets, there are a few taps and the rubbish is collected most weeks from a fly-infested skip, but the high-mast light hasn’t worked for two years, drugs are a problem even among pre-teen children and the promise of new houses has become a standing joke.

Sounds of the South: By voting we are only choosing our oppressors

Monday, March 7, 2011 – Sounds of the South

With the local government elections approaching, politicians (whether from the DA, ANC, COPE or PAC) are once again crawling out, like cockroaches, to ask for our votes. As part of this, they are once again promising us houses, jobs and service delivery – the usual old recycled lies. The reality, however, is that we don’t have houses and proper service delivery because we live in a system of total inequality – a system of capitalism and the state. The councillors lying to us know this, but they want our votes so that they too can become comfortable and rich.

Opinion: Now that we’ve voted, we’re served hogwash

June 09, 2009 Edition 1

Source: Cape Argus

Maybe there is someone out there who will listen to what I have to say.

After many efforts to raise the alarm about how we ordinary, poor South Africans feel after being ignored, except when an election is around the corner, perhaps someone will pay attention to our plight.

Media: More barricades on way – protesters

18 May 2009, 15:23
By Luleka Damane and Natasha Prince

Source: Cape Times

Residents of Site 5 in Du Noon have vowed to continue burning tyres on Koeberg Road and the N7 freeway if the provincial government ignores their demands for land and services.

This morning the area was quiet, according to community representatives after residents had burned piles of wood on Koeberg Road last night.

Photos + video of Gugulethu No Land! No House! No Vote! Protest

Gugulethu residents protest on election day declaring No Land! No House No Vote!

See this Sowetan article on the protest for more info

Argus: Non-voters make their mark – chilling, shopping and partying

Zara Nicholson

Excerpt  from Cape Argus April 25, 2009 Edition 1

In Cavendish Square a packed mall saw people shopping, dining out and heading for the movies.

Kyle van Eck, 21, was spending election day “chilling” with his mother and his girlfriend.

“The elections just didn’t interest me this year. There wasn’t anything in it for me,” Van Eck said.

“The last time I did vote because it was the first time I was eligible to and that gave me a sense of purpose. But things were just too hectic in politics this year.”

Branwine Mohan, 26, of Wynberg, said she had not voted because politics did not interest her.

“I just think it’s a whole lot of bull****. Everyone is corrupt.”

Saeed Davids, 26, of Pinelands, was enjoying his day with his friends after a night on the town and said he could not vote because his ID had been stolen.

“I couldn’t use my passport, and Home Affairs is a mess, so I didn’t even want to go there to get my ID. If I could have used my passport for voting, I would have.

“I have never voted before because I wasn’t interested, but this time I wanted to have my say because I am taking life more seriously,” Davids said.

Waheeb Semaar, 26, also of Pinelands, said, “I didn’t vote because there is no one to trust – and I’m not going to vote for someone I don’t believe in. People might see no mark on my thumb and tell me I shouldn’t complain – but just as it is my right to vote, I also have a right not to vote. I do care, but I just don’t trust any politician, or believe in any of them.”

Shamil Joseph, 27, of Mowbray, said, “I didn’t vote because I don’t know much about politics. There is also too much corruption going on, so I don’t know what to believe.”

KZN: 60 landless people arrested

22 April 2009

Source: The Sowetan

Police yesterday arrested 60 members of the Landless People’s Movement as they threatened to stage a sleep-in at the Department of Land Affairs offices in Pietermaritzburg.

They demanded to meet senior politicians, including ANC provincial chairperson Zweli Mkhize and Minister of Agriculture Lulu Xingwana.

The protesters said they were fed up with the “abuse being meted against farm dwellers”. They have threatened not to vote today.

The protesters occupied the department’s offices at about 11am yesterday and were ordered by the police to vacate the premises but in vain.

The activists were arrested and taken to Loop Street police station where they were charged with a number of offences including obstruction, refusing to disperse and for gathering illegally, said police spokesperson Henry Budhram.

They have been released on a summons with an option to pay admission of guilt fines of R100 each. – Mhlaba Memela