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Landless People's Movement Press Statement
8 July 2010

The LPM Welcomes the Independent Research Report into Political Violence Against our Movement

As the Landless People's Movement in Gauteng we welcome the independent research report by Jared Sacks into political violence against our movement in Gauteng.

Saturday, 12 June 2010
Landless People’s Movement Press Statement

The Repression of the Landless People’s Movement Spreads to the Harry Gwala Settlement

The repression that the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has been facing in Protea South and eTwatwa has now spread to the Harry Gwala settlement near Wattville in Benoni in Ekurhuleni.

Landless People's Movement Press Statement
8 June 2010

The Protea South Five & the eTwatwa Twelve Have Been Released

All of the Protea South Five, arrested after the electricity war in Protea South, Soweto, have been released on the grounds that 'there is no evidence against them'. None of the five were harmed while in detention. A sixth person from Protea South (who is not an LPM member) has now been arrested and charged with burning the transformer. There are currently conflicting reports at to whether or not there has been an arrest for the murder of the LPM activist shot by the Homeowners' Association in Protea South.

Update on 1 June 2010: There has been another arrest. Click here to read more.

Landless People's Movement eTwatwa
Emergency Press Statement Sunday 30 May 2010

The Homes of Two LPM Leaders are Burnt in eTwatwa as the Police Look On

Early this morning the shacks of two members of the Landless People's Movement (LPM) Executive Committee in eTwatwa, Ekurhuleni, were burnt down.

After the police attacked the LPM yesterday, killing one person and seriously injuring another. David Mathontsi, chairperson of the new LPM branch on eTwatwa, went to the Far East Hospital to visit the wounded. While he was away from his home the supporters of the local ward councillor went to his shack looking for him and his wife. They pointed at his children with a gun. David did not return to his shack and managed to get his children out.

Electricity crisis in Protea South: LET US FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT, NOT EACH OTHER

Protea South is one of the informal settlements that has not yet benefited in the last 16 years of democracy. As it stands, people in Protea South are still living without services (water, electricity and toilets). Yesterday the community that lives in the bond houses decided to disconnect the electricity that the people from the informal settlement connected into their tin shacks. They went around disconnecting and beating people who connected the electricity within their shacks. As a result, two people were shot and one died on the spot while the other one was rushed to hospital. Maureen Mnisi who is the leader of the LPM (Landless People Movement) was also attacked at her home, the members of the bond houses tried to burn down her shack. The community from the informal settlement got angry and they decided to fight back. They burned down the electricity box and threw stones at the people from the bond houses.

URGENT ALERT: LPM MEMBERS & SHACK-DWELLERS UNDER ATTACK IN PROTEA SOUTH, SOWETO

The following is an urgent communication issued on behalf of, and in solidarity with the Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) and other shack-dwellers of Protea South, Soweto. It is based on information obtained by telephonic and face-to-face conversations held with LPM members following violent attacks against them last night. There still seems to be confusion, however, and details are sketchy. Updates on the situation will be made available as and when they are received, as will be any factual corrections.

Landless People’s Movement (LPM)

Celebrating Our Court Victory - Reflecting on our Struggle

All are welcome to join us this Sunday 15 November at 10am in Soweto, Protea South, Peace Makers Ground. We will be celebrating and reflecting on the meaning of our court victory.

Background: In 2004 we, the LPM, began a relentless battle to defend ourselves from evictions in Protea South, an informal settlement in Soweto. We organised several marches and pickets over the past several years, and we submitted memorandums to the Premier and MEC of Housing but these officials refused to address our demands. We were ignored by our local council and, in some instances, the police resorted to repressive tactics, and even torture, to undermine our struggle.

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1040670

Squatters sue council - Residents want service
Katlego Moeng
28 July 2009

Residents of Harry Gwala informal settlement near Wattville in Benoni have been battling the Ekurhuleni municipality in the South Gauteng high court since December last year to get services in their area.

“On December 12 last year the court ruled that the municipality must instal seven taps in the area and start collecting rubbish,” said Paseka Lihlabi, the chairperson of the Landless People’s Organisation in the settlement.

Update: Click here for pictures of the march.

Poor Peoples’ Alliance to Re-enact June 1976 Soweto Uprising March

The Poor Peoples’ Alliance (PPA), made up of radical community-based organisations across South Africa, is to march from Morris Isaacs High School to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto on the 16th June 2009 to re-enact the 1976 march.

We as the Poor Peoples’ Alliance will not celebrate this day, as the government does, but commemorate it by reflecting on the struggle for liberation by the youth still being fought for by poor communities 15 years into our so-called democracy.

Click here to see the pictures that went out with this press statement.

Police Suppress LPM Youth March,
But Our Frustrations Grow Stronger

On the 26th March, the day before we, the LPM youth, were to have our march to demand that our councilor step down, the JMPD prohibited us. The reasons the police gave for this were that we are violent and unruly and that they “know” us. They referred to a march organised by the Gauteng LPM that happened in 2002 when we refused to leave Mbaziama Shilowa’s office. This march, we explained, was not organised by the youth. Regardless, they said they didn’t have the time and manpower to plan a safe and peaceful march and that if we carried out the march, they would be “hard” on us. We took this to mean that they would arrest us over the weekend and also brutalise us by beating us and shooting us with rubber bullets. The government will not meet with us, and now we believe they are even working with the police to suppress our right to express ourselves openly by marching. There is a real problem in our democracy when the government and the police have time to suppress and brutalise us, but not to help us publicly express the demands that we feel will improve our futures.