Declaration of a meeting Held on 30 November 2020

[UPM media]

Organise or starve: 30 November 2020 Declaration of Eastern Cape community-based movements, convened in Makhanda

 

We, representatives of the following movements, convened today to discuss the crisis in our towns and the struggles of our movements:

-          The Independent Komani Residents Association IKORA) of Komani (formerly Queenstown), in the Enoch Mgijima municipality;

-          The Rural Peoples Movement (RPM), in the Ndlambe municipality;

-          The Sakhisizwe Civil Society Forum, in the Sakhisizwe municipality in the Chris Hani District;

-          The United Front (Port Elizabeth/ Nelson Mandela Bay);

-          The Unemployed Peoples Movement (UPM), in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown);

We note the apology of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, Xolobeni, who were unable to attend due to COVID-19, and we thank them deeply for their greetings and support.

 

We resolved:

1)      That we note with deepest concern the collapse of municipal government across our poverty-stricken province, and the abject failure of municipalities to adhere to the mandates of democratic developmental government. Channels for participation, including in budgeting, financing and investment, have collapsed or been closed down, Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes exclude communities, ward councillors are unresponsive, and basic information is concealed from the public;

2)      That we decry the current disastrous state of municipalities, where in the 2017/2018 financial year, just one out of ten got a clean audit countrywide, and where in the 2019/2020 financial year just one municipality in the entire Eastern Cape was clean. We live in a crime scene;

3)      That we face, as movements and communities, similar problems: joblessness, especially amongst the youth; poor services and collapsing infrastructure; corruption, nepotism and cadre deployment in the state; a disregard of residents, especially of the townships, by self-interested politicians; and a mis-government and a culture of impunity by municipal governments;

4)      That we declare our commitment to ongoing engagement with each other, a common search for solutions, to sharing experiences and lessons of struggle, and capacitating communities to understand the challenges we face, and the need to organise, or starve;

5)      That we commit ourselves to future meetings as part of the process of building peoples' power and defending democracy;

6)      That we recognise the democratic rights and gains we have won since the 1980s are the product of struggles by the working class and poor, and that we will not allow these to be trampled into the mud by politicians, senior officials and big business.  Civil society must guard these victories, and deepen democracy;

7)      That we note, with utter dismay, that the gutter politics of the ruling party, of labelling, and of left-sectarianism continues to rear its head. We stand for an ethical, comradely politics. We reject the underhanded and dishonest campaign by certain elements against the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) at Rhodes University, and its director, Professor Lucien van der Walt. We declare our solidarity with NALSU and note their long record of working with unions and social movements, and critical research; 

8)      That we demand that Chapter 9 institutions, and law enforcement agencies do not turn a blind eye to the shocking corruption, high-handed actions and misrule that we suffer. The era of consequence-free looting and exploitation must come to an end. How can it be just that the poor suffer jail for protesting, while the powerful and wealthy get promotions?

9)      That we note with alarm the horrifying resurgence of the COVID-19 crisis, with its devastating consequences to working-class and poor people and its epicentre in the suffering Eastern Cape, and the abject failure of the state in the crisis. The blame lies directly at the door of provincial MEC for Health, Sindiswa Gomba, whose actions have paced people on death row. We call for the immediate suspension of Sindiswa Gomba, and criminal investigation;

10)   That we will meet with the provincial MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Xolile Nqatha, to raise our concerns, demand urgent reforms in municipal government, and insist on a people-driven participatory budgeting process, which we hold is essential to equality and social justice.

 

We call on communities to stand up, act and build people’s power. The year 2021 cannot be business-as-usual. We demand accountability, honesty, development, jobs and justice.  Organise – or starve.

 

For further information, please contact Lwazi Ncapayi 060 667 3413 // Ayanda Kota 078 625 6462