APF

Schubart Park Residents - 'You touch an immigrant, you touch a community'

Nic — 2010-07-09T15:53:54Z

Schubart Park is a community organisation in the city of Tshwane and an affiliate of the Anti Privatisation Forum. Immigrants in this community comprise about 60% of our community members. As a community and affiliate of the APF we denounce xenophobia in the strongest terms.

SOUTH AFRICA BELONGS TO ALL WHO LIVE IN IT!

‘YOU TOUCH AN IMMIGRANT, YOU TOUCH A COMMUNITY'

ALL-INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY EVENT ON SUNDAY 11th JULY


Schubart Park anti-xenophobia flier

We believe that South Africa belongs to those who live in it. There is no need for us to fight each other. We should stand together and channel our energies towards fighting inequality and the neo-liberal polices that have divided us economically and socially. Africa should know no borders - we are one.

As the poor working class and communities we need to tackle the root causes of poverty, inequality and lack of service delivery. To do this requires a radical redistribution of power, assets and opportunities to break the cycle of poverty and inequality and to give the poor power over their destiny. Our government's polices do not allow that to happen and instead they falsely divide us and create misdirected hatred and unnecessary conflict. It is these conditions and realities which fuel xenophobia and provide the space for xenophobic attacks.

In Schubart Park we stand together irrespective of where we come from. Our slogan is - ‘YOU TOUCH AN IMMIGRANT, YOU TOUCH A COMMUNITY'. In our community there is, and will be no, space for anyone to ‘touch' an immigrant. If this happens, the entire community will deal with the culprit(s) harshly.

On Sunday 11th July 2010, the final day of the Soccer World Cup, our community will be staging a mini-soccer tournament that will be made up of residents from our community. ‘Zimbabwe' will play against ‘Nigeria' and ‘South Africa' will play against a combination of ‘Malawi, Mozambique, Burundi, Congo and Tanzania'. The winners will play the finals and losers will battle for 3rd and 4th position.

After the soccer tournament all are welcome to join us in the Schubart Park hall for a film screening on xenophobia. After the film we will have a discussion and finally at 19h00, a closing ceremony to our own xenophobia-free, ‘World Cup'. We will then watch the final game together in the hall.

OUR PROGRAMME:

13h00 to 13h45 1st soccer match

13h50 to 14h35 2nd match

15h40 to 16h25 (3rd/4th place match)

16h30 to17h15 (1st/2nd match - final)

17h30 to 18h30 - Xenophobia film screening

18h30 to 19h00 - Debates on Xenophobia

March for Housing, 25 June

Nic — 2010-06-23T15:42:00Z

APF Johannesburg Region march on Friday 25th June highlights the housing crisis in poor communities

The APF Johannesburg Region invites all progressive community organisations, social movements, unions and other organs of civil society and individuals to join our march to highlight the ongoing and intensifying housing crisis in poor communities. Come join in the struggle to expose and turn back the neo-liberal policies that continue to impoverish the majority and make a small minority rich.

While billions are being made out of the present Soccer World Cup in South Africa, millions living in South Africa are falling ever-deeper into poverty. While additional billions have been, and continue to be, poured into building stadiums, urban highways and high-speed trains – infrastructure that will not directly benefit the poor – millions across the country still live in shacks and sub-standard housing far away from work places and other services. Thousands continue to be forcibly evicted and denied their rightful title deeds. Socio-economic inequality is reaching epidemic proportions.

Despite endless promises by national, provincial and local government, quality and affordable housing remains a pipe-dream for ever-increasing numbers of people. One of the main reasons for this is that government continues to rely on private banks and construction corporates as the main housing ‘delivery' agent. To add insult to injury, where housing projects have been undertaken in poor communities, most have been completely abused and undermined by widespread corruption of public officials and ‘private' tenderpreneurs. Besides the disappearing millions and the shoddy construction, there is also the illegal selling of people's houses by these corrupt and venal criminals.

Without decent, affordable publicly provided housing, there can be no enjoyment of most basic services, no personal and community security, no human dignity. We will not stand idly by and accept this so-called ‘reality'. We want change and we want it now!

Phambili ngo mzabalazo we zindlu phambili

In solidarity with Stallion Security officers fired from World Cup jobs

Nic — 2010-06-18T15:37:00Z

The Anti-Privatisation Forum condemns the way FIFA's Local Organising Committee (LOC), Stallion Security and the police have brutalised the guards hired to provide security services at World Cup stadiums. Police have opened fire with 'rubber' bullets to disperse guards who were protesting after Stallion told them that they would not be paid what had been promised to them. The workers had a legitimate grievance and therefore had the right to express their discontent about their remunerations. Whatever the contract the company had with the LOC, it did not indicate that their personnel would be paid as little as the R190 they received. Some were promised as much as R1500 a day and clearly their hopes for employment during the World Cup were abused. After realizing that they had been misled, they did what it is their democratic right to do and protested peacefully. We therefore salute all the workers who were involved in this struggle. The company that hired them, together with the LOC and FIFA should be held responsible for the whole mess and they must be charged for bridging the employees' contract. Poor people should not be taken for granted by the elites who are only reaping what they sowed.

Lies have been peddled by FIFA and the LOC to lure poor people into believing that they will be either finding jobs or earning some money during the World Cup. The outcome for most has been debt and retrenchment. Many poor people lent money from banks to renovate their homes with the hope of hosting guests for the duration of the event. This proved to be only a dream as people realized very late that no one was coming to stay at their houses in townships. This means that they will not be able to recover their expenses. Rather than the promised prosperity, the only thing brought by the World Cup is misery and hardship for the poor people of this country.

The APF stands united with everyone who is against the exploitation of the majority for the benefit of the few. Phambili ngo mzabalazo wa basebenzi. Phansi nge Stallion Security phansi.

The soccer World Cup is here but the poor continue to ‘feel' hardship

Nic — 2010-06-10T15:26:00Z

The Anti-Privatisation Forum and allies will be embarking on a march on the 11th of June to coincide with the opening of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The march will start at 09h00 from Ben Naude Drive, opposite Fons Luminous Combined School Assembly Area and will proceed along the Rand Show Road/Aerodrome Drive towards Soccer City. The APF urges all community and other civil society organisations who share our concerns and who wish to add their voices, to join us. We have no intention of disrupting the World Cup but simply to voice our discontent/concerns.

Despite the APF's attempts to overturn them, conditions have been imposed by the Johannesburg Metro Police (in the name of ‘national security') such that the march will not be allowed to proceed to Soccer City itself but will end at a designated ‘speakers corner' some 1,5 kms away from the stadium. A memorandum of grievances and demands from communities that make up the APF has been drawn up and all the main local, provincial and national government offices have been contacted to come and receive this memorandum.

The Soccer World Cup is here and the official theme is “feel it, it is here”. However, despite the fact that most people love the game of soccer, poor communities are only feeling the hardship of South Africa's hosting of the World Cup and the neoliberal policies which continue to ensure that poor people remain poor.

The massive amounts of public funds used to build new stadiums and related infrastructure for this World Cup have only served to further deny poor people the development and services they have been struggling for over many years. Millions remain homeless, unemployed and in deep poverty, thousands in poor communities across South Africa continue to be brutally evicted and those struggling to survive (like street vendors) are being denied basic trading rights and are criminalised.

Yet, our government has managed, in a fairly short period of time, to deliver ‘world class' facilities and infrastructure that the majority of South Africans will never benefit from or be able to enjoy. The APF feels that those who have been so denied, need to show all South Africans as well as the rest of the world who will be tuning into the World Cup, that all is not well in this country, that a month long sporting event cannot and will not be the panacea for our problems. This World Cup is not for the poor – it is the soccer elites of FIFA, the elites of domestic and international corporate capital and the political elites who are making billions and who will be benefiting at the expense of the poor.

For the past fifteen years the majority of South Africans have continued to suffer the inheritances of the apartheid regime and neoliberal macro-economic policies. General living conditions, largely due to a lack of basic services and employment opportunities, have gone from bad to worse to bad. These problems are very real and they range from:

the huge backlog in formal housing (parallel to the increased growth in shack settlements in all main urban and peri-urban areas)
lack of access to electrification in many poor areas (upwards of 30% of South Africans – most of whom are poor – remain unelectrified and are forced to use dangerous substitutes such as paraffin and candles)
a poor quality public education system (in which educational resources are scarce and a serious crises in the provision of basic services at public schools continues)
a dire lack of proper recreational facilities and programmes in poor communities (contributing to a range of serious social problems, especially amongst the youth)
the immense number of impoverished, unemployed people across the country (despite the promises of job creation through the World Cup, over 1 million have lost their jobs over the past two years – including those workers casually employed to build the new stadiums - and the real unemployment rate is around 40% - a national crisis!).

The APF wants to make it clear that we love the game of soccer. Soccer is a predominately working class sport that is enjoyed by billions around the globe. But this World Cup does not represent those billions but rather the interests of a small elite who have manipulated the beautiful game and have used this World Cup to make massive profits at the expense of poor ordinary South Africans who, after all, are the ones who have paid – through the public purse – for what so few will enjoy.

South Africa is the most unequal society in the world and we believe that addressing this socio-economic inequality must be the top priority of our country, our government is addressed. One World Cup – no matter how much we enjoy watching soccer – is not going to address or solve our fundamental problems. The more we continue to allow the elites to hide the realities of our country, to falsely claim that this World Cup will provide lasting social unity and leave a positive developmental ‘legacy' and to spend public funds to do so, the farther we move from confronting the real problems that the majority in our country experience every day of their lives.

The 6th AGM of the APF

Dale — 2010-05-17T16:01:37Z

PUBLIC STATEMENT
Sunday 16th May 2010

10 YEARS YOUNG!

THE 6th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ANTI-PRIVATISATION FORUM

In the 10th anniversary year of its existence, the Anti Privatisation Forum held its sixth Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 24th and 25th April 2010 in Johannesburg. Over 225 delegates from all of the APF's 30+ community affiliates from the Johannesburg, the Vaal, East Rand and Tshwane regions, the APF's two political group affiliates, as well as individual activists and representatives from several APF allies, attended the two-day event.

At the AGM, a comprehensive ‘Political and Organisational' Report was presented and discussed. The Report outlined the changes and challenges of recent political developments, detailed the numerous organisational, political and mobilisational activities undertaken by the APF and its community affiliates over the last year and identified the key problems and challenges confronting the APF. Additionally, a comprehensive financial report (alongside the APF's independent financial audits) was presented and discussed. Lastly, elections were held for new APF Office Bearers.

Consolidation, unity and new challenges formed the basic themes for this AGM – this in the context of an ongoing and difficult political, organisational and financial period for social movements in general. The AGM saw spirited debate and engagement of the various realities and challenges facing the organisation, underlined by a renewed commitment to resisting the politics of despair and opportunism, consolidating gains made, building new layers of leadership and expanding the reach and voice of the APF and its community affiliates.

The new office bearers elected at the AGM of the APF are:

Chairperson: Mammy Tladi

Deputy Chairperson: Freeman Lukhele

Secretary: Vusi Nyokane

Deputy Secretary: Kgothatso Moola

Treasurer: Themba Sompane

Projects &Campaigns Co-ordinator: Phineas Malepela

FORWARD IN UNITY AND STRENGTH!

Statement of support and solidarity with SAMWU strike

Nic — 2010-04-15T20:40:27Z

The Anti-Privatisation Forum, a social movement with over 30 community affiliates expresses its full support and solidarity with the ongoing national strike by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).

As the APF, we have always championed the struggles of organised workers since we know that the kind of fundamental, anti-capitalist change we need can never become a reality without the combined forces that make up the broad working class.

The struggles that the communities in the APF wage (for equitable and accessible basic services, for meaningful political and economic democracy and against capitalist neoliberalism in all its forms) are directly linked to the struggles waged by organised workers such as those in SAMWU (for a decent, living wage, for equality and justice in the workplace and for the quality provision of public services, especially for the poor).

We are aware that the present national strike by SAMWU has been undertaken after many futile attempts to get the South African Local Government Agency (SALGA) to listen to the workers legitimate grievances and demands. Our communities have continually faced exactly the same arrogance from local government officials and representatives. We are in a common struggle against a common enemy.

We are also all too aware of the continued efforts, whether by government or the private sector, to create division and conflict between organised workers and poor communities that weakens the broad working class in our common struggles. We cannot allow the temporary disruptions in the provision of services at the local level, as a result of the strike, to drive a wedge between communities and municipal workers. Just as poor communities use their collective power to win legitimate demands, so too do organised workers use their collective power to do the same. It is in this context that the APF stands side-by-side with the SAMWU workers in their present strike.

We join SAMWU in demanding that SALGA negotiate in good faith and show respect for the need and lives of workers. The broad working class that encompasses poor communities and organised workers cannot, and will not, continue to carry the dominant burden of the crises within the capitalist system. We cannot, and will not, accept the ever increasing socio-economic inequalities that continue to see the bosses (whether in government or in the private sector), the parasitical speculators, the tenderpreneurs etc. live their lives of luxury at the expense of that working class.

The APF salutes the SAMWU workers. We are with you!

Report on Housing Struggles in Schubart Park and Itereleng

Dale — 2010-04-06T16:44:31Z

Report on Housing Struggles in Schubart Park and Itereleng (APF Tshwane Region)

On February 25th 2009 residents of Schubart Park marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum amongst issues the concerned the community were the evictions which affected mostly women and children of the community. This emanates from the July 22, 2008 evictions that took place. It came as a surprise because residents were not notified about the eviction plans. What happened in 2008 is that the red ants (private security company used to evict people), police (metro and SAPS) and officials of the Sheriff arrived in the morning of 22 July 2008 to evict the whole 5 blocks of Schubart and Kruger Park in downtown Pretoria.

The committee of the community SKPRC (Schubart Park Residential Committee) organised the community to resist the evictions. The community responded very well and resisted. Unfortunately there were causalities, five people died during the eviction and scores got injured.

The eviction resulted in the march that took place on the 25th of February 2009. In this march about 60% were women. Also we had amongst the participants about 70% of the youth in this community, there is also striking factor unemployment. 50% of the people are unemployed and as the result we find people resorting to drugs and other criminal activities. We also have a 40% of immigrant community and the community is doing well to avoid the xenophobia matter, the leadership also played a pivotal role Interms of standing against xenophobia.

There was another follow-up march on the 22nd August 2009. In this march we had a big turn out as we also involved again other areas to come and offer solidarity. We again had 60% of women attending our march and again the youth came in numbers. But we also had the older generation coming in their numbers to make sure our voices are being heard.

What we achieved through these marches was positive. We had the memorandum that was submitted to the mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa. The mayor decided to formulate a steering committee to look into Schubart Park affairs. Though the steering committee fell apart after some time, efforts were made to form a task team which was smaller and Schubart Park had two representatives. These meetings still take place now and we see progress as some of the concerns of the residents are attended to. But not everything is easy as some of the grievances of the community can't be met because of the resources of the city which are not adequate to meet the needs of the community.

On Itereleng in Tshwane next to Laudium, this community was evicted two times and the organization (APF) assisted them. The community was evicted on the 11th January 2010 on portion 15. The people moved to position 25 which is next to Itereleng itself. The following day on the 12th they were evicted again and were subseuqently advised by the APF to rebuild their shacks on portion 25 as the eviction were illegally done. Since then no further evictions have taken place and the APF is assisting the community in ongoing court challenges involving Lawyers for Human Rights.

The majority of the community which was affected by the evictions are single women with children. About 70% of the evicted comprised of women. About 20% are women over the age of 50yrs and that is a compounding factor because most of them are unemployed and are not receiving any social grants.

As the APF we considered the matter around evictions and took a decision that we should embark on a landmark legal case which will compel the government to make the land available for the informal settlement in the urban areas. We have managed to assemble a legal team which will be working on the case and are working on bringing town planners onto the team as well.

By Mashao Chauke (APF Tshwane Co-ordinator)

Orange Farm is not equal to Sandton

Dale — 2010-04-06T16:32:45Z

ORANGE FARM IS NOT EQUAL TO SANDTON

ORANGE FARM EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT FORUM DELIVER A MEMORANDUM OF GRIVEANCES AGAINST THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG BY-LAWS THAT DISCRIMNATE AGAINST THE POOR

Tomorrow, 26 March 2010, more than fifty Early Childhood Development principals will deliver a memorandum of grievances to the Mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo demanding children's right to education since South Africa is celebrating Human Rights month. It is a fact that under the constitution of the country, childrens' right are fundamentally important than the City of Johannesburg By-laws. The group will be delivering the memorandum at the City of Johannesburg Mayors Office at eleven o' clock in the morning to voice out their grievances. The Orange Farm Early Childhood Development Forum (OFECDF) is a forum by a group of crèches in and around Orange Farm/Drieziek, 40 km South of Johannesburg.

The challenges that are facing the ECD centers are access to land or space (site) for the crèches. Many of the ECD centers have being in operation for the past fifteen years of democracy yet they face a challenge of erecting a permanent structure or building due to the implementation of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Public Health By-Laws. The By-laws (Chapter 14, Section 104-111) require that the ECD centers must have a running toilet and wash facilities within their premises yet the City of Johannesburg has failed to develop Orange Farm. There is no infrastructure for running sewerage in the area but the By-laws are set up as a pre-requisite or a condition for the building of a permanent structure.

This has lead to problems because many of crèches have being using temporary settlement or shacks and the centers can't get land accreditation (land permit) for operating because the City of Johannesburg views these centers as hazardous conditions for learning. The City of Johannesburg has made it clear that no learning must take place in a shack because it is a disaster while the very children and people of Orange Farm are living in a disaster. Since 1994, the government through the Department of Housing has promised to build houses for the poor yet Orange Farm hasn't tasted development. There is a lot uncertainty in the community on how land is allocated for early childhood centers in Orange Farm and the process is not transparent at all from the local municipality. People outside of Orange Farm are being allocated sites to establish their own ECD centers yet the existing projects have no accreditation or a letter of recognition from the local municipality.

The people of Orange Farm demand land for development and the allocation of land for community projects. Local ward councilors voted for the city By-laws without consultation with the people and the contradictions are visible in the Johannesburg municipality. Another demand is the scrapping of the City of Johannesburg By-laws when it comes to a poor area like Orange Farm that is not developed. The By-laws are depriving the people to access fundamental human rights, here being early childhood development and the right to employment. The already existing ECD centers must be given first preference when it comes to land or site allocation and the process must be transparent to all community members. The City of Johannesburg must review the allocation process and up-root the existing corruption within the local municipality in regards to land allocation.

The City of Johannesburg must fast track service delivery in Orange Farm because the City of Johannesburg By-laws apply to high standards of developed areas such as Sandton or Houghton. The community demands that the centers must have access to basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation. The forum demands a positive response from the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Mayor within 14 days or continuous mass action will follow.

For more information please contact Gladys Mokolo at 082 482 4453

Another Woman Raped and Murdered in Kliptown

Dale — 2010-04-06T16:27:34Z

6th March 2010

ANOTHER WOMAN RAPED AND MURDERED LAST NIGHT IN KLIPTOWN
OVERGROWN AREAS AND TOTAL LACK OF ELECTRICITY CONTINUE TO RENDER COMMUNITY UNSAFE

THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG HAS FAILED KLIPTOWN

Early this morning, several young boys walking through the mass of tall grass that surrounds large parts of Kliptown, stumbled on the battered body of Nombulelo, a 25 year-old female resident and mother of two. She had been brutally raped and then strangled. Nombulelo is the third woman in the last several months to be raped and murdered in the same area.

Despite years of engaging the City of Johannesburg, many memorandums being handed over about lack of development and several community protests demanding the provision of electricity, other basic services and the cutting down of the tall grass areas, the community of Kliptown has been ignored. As a result, Kliptown remains a haven for rapists and murderers and the women of Kliptown in particular, continue to live in fear.

Residents are asking how is it that the City of Johannesburg can find billions for the nearby ‘world class' Soccer City stadium, and more millions to build ‘Freedom Park' monuments and squares on the outskirts of their community, but cannot provide the meagre funds nor the political will to deliver the most basics of development such as electricity and cutting of the tall grass. These continued failures are not simply about ‘a lack of service delivery' but about a cynical arrogance and heartlessness concerning the very lives of the poor, and more especially, women.

For more info and/or comment, please call Sipho Jantjie in Kliptown on

073 896-1353.

Golden Highway blockaded in Orange Farm

Nic — 2010-02-22T21:33:53Z

This week has opened with furious defensive statements from the ANC Youth League against the weekend's media reports about the lavish lifestyle of its president and the millions he has made from tenders awarded to companies he has interests in. Our response to this news cannot just be of disgust at the self-enrichment of those individuals in positions of political influence. Neither can our response be plaintive calls for public officials to account for the vanishing funds. Instead, we can only resist the underdevelopment of poor communities that this culture of greed is causing. These are called protests against the lack of service delivery. But more than that, these are protests against the corruption of development projects opened by privatisation and pursued by the tenderpreneur class. The tendering system to deliver services is only empowering a few at the expense of community upliftment.

Residents who are angry at the failure of the local municipality to deliver services have blockaded the Golden Highway in Orange Farm since 1a.m. this morning. Police have tried to disperse the protestors using teargas and rubber bullets but as of 4p.m., the blockade is in force. One woman has been reported injured by a rubber bullet and five arrests have been made by the police on charges still to be decided.

Development has been promised to Orange Farm since 1994 and despite these promises being reaffirmed on numerous occasions, the only development that seems to be moving forward is of 2010 World Cup projects. The repeated failure to develop Orange Farm has passed the point of any excuse and the public officials and the ward councillors who have received questions and complaints from residents can no longer muster a shame-faced response. It is left to residents to take direct action to voice their protest and to the police to punish them for their discontent.

APF