*My Response to Claudia Martinez Mullen*

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*

My arrest and subsequent assault by the police sparked debate in the public
domain, particular on the left. However my concern is with the statement
issued by Claudia Martinez Mullen after I was arrested and assaulted. She
accuses me of being a thief, she says that there is no democracy in UPM and
that there has been misappropriation of UPM funds. She also says that UPM
members have intimidated members of the Women's Social Forum to stop
working with her.

I had thought that in her response Claudia Martinez Mullen would respond to
the allegations of theft. I was wrong, it was not enough for her to put me
behind bars. In her article she continued with her vicious attack on my
personal integrity.

This has placed a cloud over my head. My response is warranted. I know that
it can’t be forever cloudy. I shall know the colour of the sky. The rays of
the sun will push through the dark cloud.

*On the Allegation of Theft*

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*

In February 2010 Claudia insisted that I read the three books in question.
This was after conversation in which she maintained that I cannot subscribe
to nationalism and still be a Marxist-Leninist. I’ve never said I am a
Marxist-Leninist. In her words, she said that I must stop this fantasy
about Frantz Fanon and Steve Biko. On her insistence I took the three books.

When we started our movement we had no money of our own. After some of us
were arrested in February 2011 Claudia promised to help with the legal
costs. She then tried to misuse our dependence on her money to force us to
accept her political line. She said that she wouldn't pay the lawyer if we
didn't do what she told us to do. She told us that we must stop working
with comrades whose ideas she disagreed with. She was very hostile to
anyone that had ideas that were different to hers and especially to anyone
that spoke about Fanon and Biko or anyone who thought that the movement's
members should take important decisions for the movement in open mass
meetings rather than experts in Marxism-Leninism taking decisions for the
movement.

In May 2011, on the eve of the local government elections, Claudia insisted
that the UPM must support small parties in meetings held at Rhodes
University, Phaphamani and eThembeni. That view was not supported in
discussions in these meetings. Again she questioned the political line of
the UPM. She again said that UPM was not a Marxist Leninist movement. She
was very angry and she did not accept the decision. There was a time when
she insisted that UPM must have a campaign against World Bank and IMF. We
decided not to do this because our members wanted to address issues facing
their lives, like toilets and rape. Again she was very angry and did not
accept the decision.

The elections were in May 2011. In June 2011 Claudia demanded her books
back. I looked for the books. I looked everywhere for the books. I asked
all my friends and comrades if they had perhaps borrowed them. I did not
find them. These books were not stolen. They were mislaid. As an activist
one has to move around a lot, especially when there are death threats and
your home is being watched and your family harassed. I am sorry that the
books were mislaid but it was not done on purpose.

I then offered to compensate Claudia for the books. I asked her to let me
know the titles so that I could replace them. This she refused, citing that
the books were sentimental to her. In July I received a call from the
Grahamstown Police Station saying that Claudia has accused me of theft. I
told the police that I had offered to replace the books. In August I sent
Claudia an sms offering to replace the books. I still have this sms.

If Claudia spoke to comrades to intervene as she claims, whom did she speak
to? If I stole books from her house, this is a serious offence! I mean she
should have spoken to one or two comrades about the theft. But she spoke to
no one. She only became angry about the books when it became clear to her
that the members of the UPM would take decisions about the movement's
political choices and that we would not accept instruction from her. She
never raised the issue of the books before she became enraged after we
didn't accept her line on the local government elections.

I joined the struggle at the tender age of 14 years. I have never stolen
from my comrades and I have never stolen from anyone for that matter. I do
not have a criminal record. Many comrades have hosted me in their homes. I
have never taken something that does not belong to me.

Claudia Martinez Mullen always boasted to us about her 30 years of struggle
credentials. Claudia Martinez Mullen perceived her role in UPM to be an
intellectual with struggle credentials who was going to dictate terms to
us. When her views were not accepted she would always get angry. After a
long experience of this we realised that we were not being offered
solidarity. We were being told to accept the total domination of a middle
class white person over our movement in the name of Marxist-Leninism.

*On Democracy in UPM*

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*

UPM was only formed in August 2009 in Grahamstown. An interim structure was
elected. In June 2010 a formal structure was elected with 2 years term of
office. I am still leading the structure that was elected in 2010. Our term
of office has not expired. The next election is scheduled for March this
year. It is just no true to say that the leadership is unelected.

But for Claudia Martinez Mullen to say she raised the issue of leadership
with me is true. She volunteered to fill one the portfolios that she said
was dormant. She insisted that her 30 years of struggle credentials and her
knowledge of Marxism-Leninism would help in building the movement. She did
not suggest that there should be an election to replace the person in the
portfolio that she thought was dormant.

*On Misappropriation of Funds*

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*

The UPM was formed only in August 2009. We did not have funding. We worked
full-time without pay. We took money from our families when we first formed
UPM. UPM was built through personal and emotional sacrifices. In the
beginning we were completely on our own. It’s only late in 2010 when we had
progressive lecturers at Rhodes University supporting, us like Fred
Hendricks, Richard Pithouse, Pedro Tabensky, Jane Duncan and Kirk Helliker.
They gave us access to the internet and made inputs on issues when we
requested them to do so. None of these lecturers ever tried to control the
movement. This is solidarity and not domination. We had AIDC coming on
board with much help as well including some financial support for specific
actions. We never had huge sums of money at the bank. In fact after
sometime our bank account became inactive. We only received funding from
the Rosa Luxenburg Foundation in August last year. This money is held by an
NGO called Masifunde. We have to apply for funds from them and every cent
has to be accounted for with receipts. This is all audited. There have
never been any complaints about how this money has been handled from
Masifunde, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the auditors or our members. We
all remain poor.

What misappropriation of funds is Claudia Mullen Martinez talking about?
For Claudia Martinez Mullen to say she raised the matter with me is not
true. I don’t know why she would lie. I don’t know why she would distract
the debate of “theft” and the police assault and attack to a debate about
my personal integrity. She is not doing this for the first time. Late last
year she met me in the office of the head of Sociology department. She
yelled at me, sweared at me, calling me names like “criminal”, “thief”,
“lumpen”, and “idiot”. I never responded. I just kept quiet. The Head of
Sociology Department, Dr. Kirk Helliker, intervened and ask her to stop. I
am not the only person to have been treated like this by Claudia on the
Rhodes campus. Other lecturers, students and workers have all been treated
in exactly the same way. This is well known in Grahamstown.

*On the Allegation that UPM Intimidated Members of the Women’s Social Forum
to Force them to Stop Working with Claudia*

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*

This claim is a complete fabrication. The Women’s Social Forum came to
support me in court because they chose to. They made their own decision,
based on their own experiences, to stop working with Claudia. We do not
speak for the Women’s Social Forum though and anyone who wants to follow up
Claudia’s claim should speak directly to the Women’s Social Forum. However
I do note that just as there is a long history of white people showing
black people who have disobeyed them as thieves and as authoritarians there
is also a long history of white people claiming that black people that
don’t obey them have been intimidated into disobedience. These claims were
frequently made against the movements of the people under apartheid.

*Conclusion*

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*

I have been through this thorny road and I continue to survive. I have been
called many names by the ANC and the ANC Youth League. I have been called
an ultra-leftist and an AWB –DA sponsored member. I have been called a pawn
of white capital. I have been accused of getting close to R14 million from
Pedro Tabensky by the ANC Youth League. I have been arrested only for the
charges to be dropped later.  I have received death threats through
faceless calls, police refusing to take my case and just dismissing the
public death threats made against me by the ANC Youth League. When the ANC
Youth League disrupted our meetings, the police were there. They did
nothing. Compared to all this Claudia Martinez Mullen is not doing any
harm.  I will surely continue to weather the storm.

I hold no grudges against Claudia Martinez Mullen. Of course no democratic
movement can work with someone like her. And of course she is not the only
academic or NGO person that has tried to slander movements of the poor for
the crime of not accepting their authority. We are not the first movement
to suffer this kind of sectarian attack and we won’t be the last. But we
are clear that she is not the real enemy. She is just distraction from the
real struggles for a just and equal society in which the dignity of all
people is respected.

I will never stop reading Steve Biko and Frantz Fanon. I cut my political
teeth in the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM).  *I Write What I Like* was
the first political book I possessed. I am a proponent of Black
Consciousness Philosophy.

Ayanda Kota

Friday, 20 January 2012