THE COMMUNITY OF RAMMOLUTSI UNDER THE BANNER OF RMCC TO
Friday 14 December 2007
THE COMMUNITY OF RAMMOLUTSI UNDER THE BANNER OF Rammulutsi Rehata Mmoho Crisis Committee (RRMCC) will appear in the Viljoenskroon Magistrate Court against illegal evections. There have been two court appearances at the Viljoenskroon Magistrate Court on charges of trespass and they will be appearing for the third time on the 18 December 2007. The Anti Privatisation Forum together with other human rights organisations have been supporting the struggle of the poor residents against the neo-liberal agenda of the ANC government that is seeking to further widen the gap between the poor and the rich by not redistributing land that is still stolen from the rightful owners.
It’s more than 13 years since thousands of poor residents in more than 8 informal settlements of Rammolutsi in the Free-State have been without shelter despite the promises made to them by the Liberals when they took over the country. It is the same African National Congress government that the poor residents trusted and voted for since 1994 for President Nelson Mandela who had promised that finally the word better life will have a meaning economically to the poor and President Thabo Mbeki promised the a better life for the poor again in 1999 until today.
The people understood these promises and begun to believe that there will be land expropriation and redistribution. So on the 26th October 2007 the Mayor, Mantebu Mokgosi accompanied by the heavily armed police called a community meeting around issues of housing and land. It is in that meeting where the mayor gave the land to the poor residents knowing that the municipality rented that land to Mr Pieter Edward Roux who happened to be a farmer owner. The community then decided to occupy the land on the 26th September 2007 after a community meeting at the town council offices where the Mayor indicated that those who will occupy the land will be at risk of staying in a land that is not properly developed.
The charges brought against the community is that they have occupied land that doesn’t belong to them but the Mayor of Moqhaka Mantebo Mokgosi together with the farm owner Pieter Edward Roux on the 26th October 2006 did host a public meeting and took the community to view their land. But to the surprise of the community of Rammolutsi, the land was leased back to Mr. Roux for a period of five years for agricultural purpose without any consultation with the community.
The community is demanding that the land must be given back to the people and houses must be built for the people. The angry land-less people of Rammolutsi in Viljoenskroon took over the land which they believe it is right fully theirs
For more information Please Contact Selina Letshoara @ 072 552 4536 or Jackson @ 082 967 4587 and Patra Sindane @ 073 052 7005