14 August 2007

Democracy in My Experience

by Philani Zungu

People have different definitions of democracy.

Some people say that democracy means freeing everyone to do whatever they want, regardless of rule or controls, with no instructions or boundaries, no importance to whether what is done is wrong or right.

Some people say democracy is the power of the state to decide things, acting in the interests of those who hold state power, its behaviour designed to suit their demands. In this vision, society is always in a position of compliance with orders from the state.

The Strong Poor & the Police

Abahlali have discovered that when the strong poor speak for ourselves the people who are paid to speak for us, from local councillors, to Mike Sutcliffe and some NGOs and academics, call us criminal. They ignore the fact that it is hundreds of years of crimes against our ancestors that have driven us into the shacks and that even in these shacks the municipality breaks the law when it demolishes our homes. It seems that when ever we want the same rights as other citizens we will be called criminal. Often the powerful people who call us criminal for telling the truth get the police to attack us.

Abantu abampofu namaPhoyisa

Abahlali asebekutholile ukuthi ngasosonke isikhathi uma abantu abampofu bezikhulumela , Labo abakhokhelwayo ukuthi basikhulumele basibiza ngezigebengu . Abanendaba ukuthi iminyaka eyikhulu yokhokho bethu behlukumezeka njengoba sisahlala emjondolo , lena uMasipala ayidilizayo kube kungamakhaya ethu .Njalo uma silwela amalungelo ethu sibizwa ngezigebengu. Umthethosisekelo wakuleli uyavuma ukuthi sihlangane simashe sisho esikufunayo ,kodwa lokhu akuwamuleki .Njalo uma sithi sizwakalisa amazwi ethu ,kuthunywa amaphoyisa azosibopha, asivimbe ukuzesingamashi.

From Party Politics to Service Delivery to the Politics of the Poor

Philani Zungu

I hope that one day it will be realised by our government officials how much betrayal they have served to the floors on which they stand and where they belong. It is very sad that our politicians forget that their power started with people like us, people like the red shirts. Their silk suits come from older struggles, from other people struggling then like we do now, in the yellow shirts of the UDF and the unions.

When they were coming into power they told us that the only colour that mattered was the colour of the skin. But the black men in silk suits do not work for us. They work for the rich – black and white. They say that they are working to give us service delivery. They are really working to deliver us to the rich – to smash our informal shacks and either leave us homeless or dump us in formal jondolos in the bush. It is the colour of the heart that matters. In our struggle we have learnt that people of different skin colours have red hearts. It is the colour of the heart that matters.