Gauteng MEC Mahlangu attacks Zim refugees and Bishop Verryn

Note on articles: The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, Joe Slovo residents and residents of Symphony Way were accomodated by the Central Methodist Church when we travelled up to Joburg for Joe Slovo’s Constitutional Court case last year.  The church is an important resource for poor people everywhere including poor South Africans, foreign nationals and all other vulnerable peoples.

We condemn what Verryn is doing – Mahlangu

14 March 2009, 14:28
By Sheree Bega

Central Methodist Church Bishop Paul Verryn has decried as “absurd” a
statement by Gauteng’s local government MEC that he is endangering the
lives of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees seeking sanctuary at his
church.

“I don’t think that in the midst of this gigantic crisis, where in
fact people have got to work together, that we can point fingers and
try to abdicate responsibility. I think it’s an absurdity,” Verryn
told the Saturday Star.

Solidarity: Police condemned for firing rubber bullets

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=926543

Louise McAuliffe
27 January 2009
Source: Sowetan

Bishop Paul Verryn of the Central Methodist Mission, voiced his deep disappointment at police action of firing rubber bullets into a peaceful protest which resulted in the hospitalisation of seven people.

Members of ‘Save Zimbabwe Now’ initiative had gathered in Pretoria to hand over three documents to the SADC leaders.

Talking about the police action Verryn said: “I realize that formal permission was not achieved and that was certainly not for want of trying.”

“If we are truly going to take into account the full spectrum of what faces Zimbabwe at this time – (then) it is critical that we are serious about hearing all the voices.”

Verryn spoke of the huge amount of manipulation and betrayal over the last twenty years. He stressed that if we are to be serious about a sustainable future for Zimbabwe and South Africa, then it is critical that allowances be made to hear the voices that are normally considered irrelevant.

“I don’t believe that the protest yesterday was about a small voice. It was really the voice of the heart of the matter and so for police to open up fire, with rubber bullets, ultimately that an elderly gentleman ended up in hospital, and that people were harassed in the way that they were yesterday, speaks a serious warning to our democracy.”

“It is a loud voice of intolerance because the people who were protesting are not irresponsible. The people who were protesting were not illegitimate. If one looks at the process of SADC in the light of what happened to innocent people yesterday then I am deeply deeply alarmed.”

Verryn expressed his deep disappointment at the activities and actions of the police against vulnerable people. He said: “Was there absolutely no way in which they could have been approached, in which there could have been reason, in which a door could have been opened, in which the memorandum could have been read, in which the opinion could have been heard, in which peoples voice could have been respected – was it absolutely impossible to do this in any other way except to open fire with rubber bullets.”

Talking about the Save Zimbabwe Now initiative Verryn said: “The fast is a non violent protest against the abuse of humanity right across the board.” He added: “We must begin to start solving our problems in ways other than using the barrel of a gun or a knife or violence. Surely the 21st century cannot be introduced with this paradigm of resolving problems.”

“Until we have consensual agreement – not instruction from SADC – can we imagine that we have begun the process (of saving Zimbabwe).”

The Country That Never Was

by Nsingo Fanuel

Zimbabwe, ……………..wait before you……………….!

Excitement gripped me when I was able to go back across the border to visit my family in Zimbabwe. Pleased as I was, I tried to ignore all the media reports on the country’s disregard of acceptable and proper treatment of human beings. Before going home, I braced myself for whatever the hell was to befall me! Imagine going back home to unpredictable situations, disastrous conditions, or even impending death – and when home is Zimbabwe this is no exaggeration. If you have been in South Africa you are immediately suspected of being MDC. Anyway, going home was the only way to please my mum!

AEC to march in support of refugees and to highlight the role of government in the attacks

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Alert

June 1, 2008

Cape Town – The Anti-Eviction Campaign will be attending the Anti-Afrophobia (anti-Xenophobia) march on parliament tomorrow to support fellow Africans in their struggle. The march will begin at Keizergracht Street by Cape Tech at 10am and will be led by a coalition of refugee and immigrant organisations.

The AEC will be highlighting the commonality between its members which have been evicted and/or threatened with evictions, and the plight of the thousands of refugees who have also been “evicted” by violence from their homes and communities.

In particular, the AEC would like to point out the following:

1. That the attacks did not arise out of nowhere. Instead, hatred of foreigners has been approved of and often encouraged by the South African government and in particular the police. Raids on immigrant communities have been commonplace and police have dealt with these vulnerable groups an inhumane manner – especially the many incidents of torture and deaths at the Lindela Detention Centre. These acts by government have fostered and legitimised anti-immigrant feeling across the country.
2. That the government’s abysmal response has done little to stop the violence and has infringed on the rights of undocumented Africans. In particular, the police have encouraged and even sometimes taken part in the looting. Moreover, the “temporary” refugee camps are in disgusting conditions which has earned sharp reprimands from both the refugees and the United Nations.
3. That the anger of the poor is substantial and legitimate. But rather than being directed at other helpless Africans, it should be directed at the perpetrators of their poverty – the oppressive government and the wealthy elite.
4. That the only long-term solution to afrophobia (xenophobia) and other forms of violence is to end the oppression of all poor people living in South Africa. If the poor had houses, if the poor had jobs, if the poor had decent health-care, reasonably priced food staples, and meaningful redistribution of land, they would not be blaming and fighting their neighbors for the little scraps they do have. It has been well documented that most of the actual violence in Cape Town had very little to do with hatred for foreign Africans and everything to do with it being an excuse to snatch a bag of mealies. When people are hungry, they’ll do almost anything to feed their family.

And so, we invite everyone to come join in on tomorrow’s march to parliament. We, as the poor of South Africa, will march along with thousands of Somalians, Nigerians, and Zimbabweans because we believe that the perpetrators of Afrophobia are the same people who are evicting us from our houses.

For comment, please call Mncedisi at 078-580-8646 and Gary at 072-392-5859

Click here for COHRE’s scathing critique of the South African government’s role in the recent attacks

URGENT PRESS RELEASE – Xenophobic attack about to happen in NY 6 Gugulethu

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

Urgent Press Statement

23 May 2008 at 2:39pm

The Anti-Eviction Campaign is rushing to NY 6, Gugulethu. They were called by the community to say that a xenophobic attack is about to take place.

The AEC is carrying posters stating: “Stop attacking our brothers and sisters from Africa. They helped us fight apartheid”.

We are appealing to media to rush to the scene now

For comment call Mncedisi Twalo on 078 5808646

Solidarity: Abahlali baseMjondolo Statement on the Xenophobic (Afrophobic) Attacks in Johannesburg

Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

AbM press statement in isiZulu and in Afrikaans

AbM press statement in Portuguese and in Gernman (Deutch) and also in Turkish (Türkçe)

Unyawo Alunampumulo

There is only one human race.

Our struggle and every real struggle is to put the human being at the centre of society, starting with the worst off.

An action can be illegal. A person cannot be illegal. A person is a person where ever they may find themselves.

If you live in a settlement you are from that settlement and you are a neighbour and a comrade in that settlement.

We condemn the attacks, the beatings, rape and murder, in Johannesburg on people born in other countries. We will fight left and right to ensure that this does not happen here in KwaZulu-Natal.

We have been warning for years that the anger of the poor can go in many directions. That warning, like our warnings about the rats and the fires and the lack of toilets, the human dumping grounds called relocation sites, the new concentration camps called transit camps and corrupt, cruel, violent and racist police, has gone unheeded.

Let us be clear. Neither poverty nor oppression justify one poor person turning on another. A poor man who turns on his wife or a poor family that turn on their neighbours must be opposed, stopped and brought to justice. But the reason why this happens in Alex and not Sandton is because people in Alex are suffering and scared for the future of their lives. They are living under the kind of stress that can damage a person. The perpetrators of these attacks must be held responsible but the people who have crowded the poor onto tiny bits of land, threatened their hold on that land with evictions and forced removals, treated them all like criminals, exploited them, repressed their struggles, pushed up the price of food and built too few houses, that are too small and too far away and then corruptly sold them must also be held responsible.

There are other truths that also need to be faced up to.

We need to be clear that the Department of Home Affairs does not treat refugees or migrants as human beings. Our members who were born in other countries tell us terrible stories about very long queues that lead only to more queues and then to disrespect, cruelty and corruption. They tell us terrible stories about police who demand bribes, tear up their papers, steal their money and send them to Lindela – a place that is even worse than a transit camp. A place that is not fit for a human being. We know that you can even be sent to Lindela if you were born in South Africa but you look ‘too dark’ to the police or you come from Giyani and so you don’t know the word for elbow in isiZulu.

We need to be clear that in every relocation all the people without ID books are left homeless. This affects some people born in South Africa but it mostly affects people born in other countries.

We need to be clear that many politicians, and the police and the media, talk about ‘illegal immigrants’ as if they are all criminals. We know the damage that this does and the pain that this causes. We are also spoken about as if we are all criminals when in fact we suffer the most from crime because we have no gates or guards to protect our homes.

We need to be clear about the role of the South African government and South African companies in other countries. We need to be clear about NEPAD. We all know what Anglo-American is doing in the Congo and what our government is doing in Zimbabwe. They must also be held responsible.

We all know that South Africans were welcomed in Zimbabwe and in Zambia, even as far away as England, when they were fleeing the oppression of apartheid. In our own movement we have people who were in exile. We must welcome those who are fleeing oppression now. This obligation is doubled by the fact that our government and big companies here are supporting oppression in other countries.

People say that people born in other countries are selling mandrax. Oppose mandrax and its sellers but don’t lie to yourself and say that people born in South African do not also sell mandrax or that our police do not take money from mandrax sellers. Fight for a police service that serves the people. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

People say that people born in other countries are amagundane (rats, meaning scabs). Oppose amagundane but don’t lie to yourself and say that people born in South Africa are not also amagundane. People also say that people born in other countries are willing to work for very little money bringing everyone’s wages down. But we know that people are desperate and struggling to survive everywhere. Fight for strong unions that cover all sectors, even informal work. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

People say that people born in other countries don’t stand up to struggle and always run away from the police. Oppose cowardice but don’t lie to yourself and say that people born in South Africa are not also cowards. Don’t lie to yourself and pretend that it is the same for someone born here and someone not born here to stand up to the corrupt, violent and racist police. Fight for ID books for your neighbours so that we can all stand together for the rights of the poor. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

People say that people born in other countries are getting houses by corruption. Oppose corruption but don’t lie to yourself and say that people born in South Africa are not also buying houses from the councillors and officials in the housing department. Fight against corruption. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

People say that people born in other countries are more successful in love because they don’t have to send money home to rural areas. Oppose a poverty so bad that it even strangles love. Live for a life outside of money by fighting for an income for everyone. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

People say that there are too many sellers on the streets and that the ones from outside must go. We need to ask ourselves why only a few companies can own so many big shops, why the police harass and steal from street traders and why the traders are being driven out of the cities. The poor man cutting hair and the poor woman selling fruit are not our enemies. Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies.

We all know that if this thing is not stopped a war against the Mozambicans will become a war against all the amaShangaan. A war against the Zimbabweans will become a war against the amaShona that will become a war against the amaVenda. Then people will be asking why the amaXhosa are in Durban, why the Chinese and Pakistanis are here. If this thing is not stopped what will happen to a place like Clare Estate where the people are amaXhosa, amaMpondo, amaZulu and abeSuthu; Indian and African; Muslim, Hindu and Christian; born in South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawai, Pakistan, Namibia, the Congo and India.

Yesterday we heard that this thing started in Warwick and in the City centre. We heard that traders had their goods stolen and that people were being checked for their complexion, a man from Ntuzuma was stopped and for being ‘too black’. Tensions are high in the City centre. Last night people were running in the streets in Umbilo looking for ‘amakwerkwere’. People in the tall flats were shouting down to them saying ‘There are Congelese here, come up!” This thing has started in Durban. We don’t know what will happen tonight.

We will do everything that we can to make sure that it goes no further. We have already decided on the following actions:

1. We will resuscitate our relations with the street traders’ organisations and meet to discuss this thing with them and stay in daily contact with them.
2. We have made contact with refugee organisations and will stay in day to day contact with them. We will invite them to all our meetings and events.
3. We have made contact with senior police officers who we can trust, who are not corrupt and who wish to serve the people. They have given us their cell numbers and have promised to work with us to stop this immediately if it starts in Durban. We will ask all our people to watch for this thing and if it happens we’ll be able to contact the police that we can trust immediately. They have promised to come straight away.
4. We will put this threat on the agenda of all of our meetings and events.
5. We will discuss this in every branch and in every settlement in our movement.
6. We will discuss this with our allied movements like the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and the Landless People’s Movement so that we can develop a national strategy.
7. In the coming days our members are travelling to the Northern Cape, the North West, Johannesburg and Cape Town to meet shack dwellers struggling against forced removal, corruption and lack of services. In each of these meetings we will discuss this issue.
8. We are asking all radio stations to make space for us and others to discuss this issue.
9. In the past we have not put our members born in other countries to the front because we were scared that the police would send them to Lindela. From now on we will put our members born in other countries in the front, but not with their fulll names because we still cannot trust all the police.
10. If the need arises here we will ask all our members to defend and shelter their comrades from other countries.

We hear that the political analysts are saying that the poor must be educated about xenophobia. Always the solution is to ‘educate the poor’. When we get cholera we must be educated about washing our hands when in fact we need clear water. When we get burnt we must be educated about fire when in fact we need electricity. This is just a way of blaming the poor for our suffering. We want land and housing in the cities, we want to go to university, we want water and electricity – we don’t want to be educated to be good at surviving poverty on our own. The solution is not to educate the poor about xenophobia. The solution is to give the poor what they need to survive so that it becomes easier to be welcoming and generous. The solution is to stop the xenophobia at all levels of our society. Arrest the poor man who has become a murderer. But also arrest the corrupt policeman and the corrupt officials in Home Affairs. Close down Lindela and apologise for the suffering it has caused. Give papers to all the people sheltering in the police stations in Johannesburg.

It is time to ask serious questions about why it is that money and rich people can move freely around the world while everywhere the poor must confront razor wire, corrupt and violent police, queues and relocation or deportation. In South Africa some of us are moved out of the cities to rural human dumping grounds called relocation sites while others are moved all the way out of the country. Some of us are taken to transit camps and some of us are taken to Lindela. The destinations might be different but it is the same kind of oppression. Let us all educate ourselves on these questions so that we can all take action.

We want, with humility, to suggest that the people in Jo’burg move beyond making statements condemning these attacks. We suggest, with humility, that now that we are in this terrible crisis we need a living solidarity, a solidarity in action. It is time for each community and family to take in the refugees from this violence. They cannot be left in the police stations where they risk deportation. It is time for the church leaders and the political leaders and the trade union leaders to be with and live with the comrades born in other countries every day until this danger passes. Here in Durban our comrades to stand with us when the Land Invasions Unit comes to evict us or the police come to beat us. Even the priests are beaten. Now we must all stand with our comrades when their neighbours come to attack them. If this happens in the settlements here in Durban this is what we must do and what we will do.

We make the following demands to the government of South Africa:

1. Close down Lindela today. Set the people free.
2. Announce, today, that there will be papers for every person sheltering in your police stations.
3. Ban the sale of land in the cities until all the people are housed.
4. Stop all evictions and forced removals immediately.
5. Do not build one more golf course estate until everyone has a house.
6. Support the people of Zimbabwe, not an oppressive government that destroys the homes of the poor and uses rape and torture to control opposition.
7. Arrest all corrupt people working in the police and Home Affairs.
8. Announce, today, a summit between all refugee organisations and the police and Home Affairs to plan how they can be changed radically so that they begin to serve all the people living in South Africa.
For further information of comment please contact:

S’bu Zikode: 0835470474
Zodwa Nsibande: 0828302707
Mnikelo Ndabankulu: 0797450653
Mashumi Figlan: 0795843995
Senzo (surname not given, he has no papers): 031 2691822

Solidarity: Xenophobia deflects government failures

Note: The AEC has always condemned the Afrophobic violence against fellow brothers and sisters but sees the poverty of South Africa’s poor as the primary cause of this violence. The AEC works tirelessly towards directing anger towards positive actions such challenging government oppression. This, in turn, makes our communities less likely to resort to violence against immigrants from other parts of Africa.

Xenophobia deflects government failures

By Black Looks

May 19, 2008

My friend Beauty at “Nigeria What’s New” posted on the violence against immigrants taking place in South Africa and wonders

why bloggers in the diaspora are not screaming about this horrible human rights issue since the story broke on May 1st.

Good point, Beauty after all if this was happening in Spain, France, Britain or any where else in Europe we would be screaming. In fact I was screaming the other day about asylum seekers in Britain. Talk to any African foreigners and they will tell you their own experience of xenophobia in South Africa. But these encounters are superficial and hide the truth. What is happening is far more complex than is being presented in the reports as violence and xenophobia. Nonetheless, these very disturbing videos here and here and here, fit well with the one posted from last week on Race Hate in Russia. More importantly the videos tell us how governments with the support of the media can and have used immigration as a way of deflecting people away from the real issues and their failure to meet the valid expectations of the people.

This article in the Times [A simple recipe for xenophobia] points to a number of factors that have no doubt contributed to the violence.

What caused the terrible scenes unfolding in our country today: children beaten and displaced, women raped and men left with pieces of flesh hanging from their faces, homeless and hungry and desperate?

What led to a situation where young men were unashamed to stand in front of television cameras and say they will kill foreigners?

We should not be surprised. For the ANC, led by Zuma and Mbeki, the chickens are coming home to roost………….

These people are behaving like barbarians because the ANC has failed — despite numerous warnings — to act on burning issues that are well known for having sparked similar eruptions across the globe.

But the bulk of the cocktail comprises the failed state that is Zimbabwe. The country’s economy has collapsed. Its political leaders, security services and agents are looting the treasury. Zimbabweans are fleeing.

The writer, as in the last paragraph, still externalises the violence by bringing it back to Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe. But it is not just Zimbabweans who are victims of the violence – all Africans are – from townships to universities. In fact the statement only fuels the violence against refugees. Yes clearly there is a struggle for scare resources such as food, housing and jobs but this does not explain everything. The truth lies more in the total failure of the post Apartheid government to bring about meaningful social change for the masses with the country largely remaining in an economic time warp of white rule. The violence is an indictment on the government which has engaged in an outright attack on the poor in urban and rural areas which is reminiscent of apartheid and what people see is more hardship not less.

The media and the government are naming the violence as xenophobia but the reality is that people have reached boiling point after 14 years of dashed hopes and have now turned on the most vulnerable in their communities, refugees, and foreigners to vent their frustration. This in no way justifies the violence but does go some way to explain the fragility of the country.

I would add that progressive shack dwellers’ movements, like Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban, the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) which has members in some shack settlements in Jo’burg, as well as the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, have always taken a strong position against this violence. Abhalali has always been clear that it welcomes all shack dwellers in to the movement irrespective of where they come from and indeed has hosted men and women from Zimbabwe’s shackdweller communities as well as reached out to the residents as far away as Cite Soleil in Haiti.

It is a tragedy that such attacks are happening in poor working class communities, where the poor are fighting the poor. But there is a clear reason for this. Many in our communities are made to believe that unemployment is caused by foreigners who take jobs in the country – this is simply untrue. Forty percent (40%) of all South African citizens are unemployed and this has been the case for many years. This is not the result of immigrants from other countries coming to South Africa but rather, the result of the anti-poor, profit-seeking policies of the government and the behaviour of the capitalist class. Such massive and sustained unemployment is a structural problem of a capitalist system that cares little about the poor, wherever they are from/live.

Links: Tourista Africana and The Sowetan

Solidarity: An Open Letter To Mrs Govan Mbeki (English/isiXhosa)

Open letter to nakaThabo from WOZA (isiXhosa):

Kuwe nakaThabo, Siyakubulisa ngesihle samakhosikazi ngolimi lwethu!  Siloba lincwadi singabomama besizwe seZimbabwe esibhekane lokuhlukuluzeka sidinga uncedo kubomakhelwane.  Ngomgqibelo mhlaka 12 April umntanakho uThabo wezakuleli eleZimbabwe ezoxoxisana loRobert Mugabe.

Solidarity: Solidarity Satawu refuses to offload arms for Zanu (PF) in Durban harbour

Union refuses to unload arms ship
Sapa Published:Apr 17, 2008

(below, please also see the statement by Zabalalaza in Solidarity with Satawu workers)

Opposition to a shipment of arms being offloaded in Durban and transported to Zimbabwe increased today when South Africa’s largest transport workers union announced that its members would not unload the ship.

Solidarity: PASSOP Press Statement on Zimbabwe elections

Press Statement for Immediate Release

April 9, 2008

PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) completely condemns the abuse of government officials in Zimbabwe, they have manipulated the release of the official presidential electoral results in Zimbabwe. The current leadership has grossly abused their political positions to alter and postpone the electoral results.  The global community is fully aware of the results that were to be announced by the ZEC.  It is a disgrace that they were not permitted to do so by President Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party.

PASSOP also condemns war veterans and the youth militia emerging on the streets in Zimbabwe at this sensitive time.  Although their demonstrations have been peaceful, it is obvious they were meant to intimidate the public and the opposition. We further question if the same liberty to protest would have been provided to the MDC opposition party.  We also question whether, under Zimbabwe’s strict Gathering Act, the proper paperwork was done in order for such protests and demonstrations to be held or if the law is being selectively implemented to favour the current ruling party.  We appeal to the South African Government’s sense of justice. We encourage our government to be proactive and strongly condemn the hate speech, intimidation and bribery.  We further hope they will take the necessary steps to prevent a situation out of which genocide may arise in Zimbabwe. It is our view that mismanagement of the economy has resulted in a mass migration, into South Africa, of poor desperate Zimbabweans and that this is an attack on South Africa’s sovereignty, the Zimbabwean issue is one which South Africa has to involve itself, no longer can South Africa respect Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and pay for it by supporting Zimbabweans in South Africa.

We are preparing to protest.

For more information contact Braam Hanekom 0832561140