1 March 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

Thandiswa Qubuda has Died

Dark clouds are not strangers in our patriarchal society. They are gaining momentum. On Thursday night, 28 February 2013, Thandiswa Qubuda passed from this world. She had spent six weeks in hospital, brain dead, after she was savagely raped and beaten.

We ask ourselves why her story, such a painful story, is not getting media coverage and creating an uproar. The lives of poor people count for nothing in this country. There is no democracy for us.

After Andries Tatane, Marikana and now Mido Macia the whole world knows that we are oppressed by a police force every bit as savage as the police force under apartheid. But the evil is not only in the state. It is amongst us too. This is the truth that we must face. Our struggle to build a society in which every person counts is with ourselves as well as with the state and the capitalists.

Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

It is Time for Real Action Against Rape

Thandiswa Qubuda was gang raped in the early hours of the 20th January 2013 at the corner of New Town and E Street in Grahamstown. She is 30 years old and the only one surviving in the family. Both her both parents have died and she was living with her aunt.

She was savagely beaten during the rape and is now permanently brain damaged and lying in hospital. Today at 12 noon the Revered Mzi Dyantyi, family members and the Unemployed People's Movement held a prayer and anointment in her ward.

Address by Bishop Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of Natal(KZN) - at St Philip’s Anglican Church, Fingo Village in Grahamstown, 19th September, 2012.

Remembering Steve Biko: a Bright & Guiding Light in Dark Times

As the Unemployed People's Movement have noted we gather here in Grahamstown to honour the memory of Steve Biko, a man who was indeed a bright and guiding light, at a moment when a dark night is settling over our country. As the light of our democratic dawn dims we all have to look inward and find our courage, individually and collectively, for the struggles ahead. Make no mistake - the massacre at Marikana was a turning point and the path ahead will be difficult and will require real courage.

Marikana Memorial Service: Praying for a Just Peace

Presider: Bishop Ebenezer Ntali
Preacher: Prof. Barney Pityana

The Cathedral of St. Michael & St. George, Grahamstown, 30 August 2012

Excerpt from The Prayers of the People

Help us to shatter the structures
which prosper the rich at the expense of the poor
so that all people of this land
may experience economic emancipation

The service was followed by a march on the local police station.

Update: Ayanda Kota was released at 14:45 this afternoon on a bail of R500. There were visible marks from the assault on his head, arms, chest and back. His clothes were torn and blood stained. He will be laying criminal and civil charges against the officers who assaulted him.

The original UPM statement is here, the SSJ statement is here, the DLF statement is here and the Mandela Park Backyarder's Statement is here.

12 January 2011
Unemployed People's Movement Press Statement

Ayanda Kota Assaulted in the Grahamstown Police Station - Under Arrest

About 40 minutes ago Ayanda Kota was seriously assaulted by a group of police officers in the Grahamstown police station. He was dragged, bleeding from at least two wounds, and with his clothes torn from his body, to the holding cells.

For some months he has been under open police surveillance and at times has been threatened and insulted by the police. The police have been watching his mother's house and have searched it looking for him. Their behaviour has been very rude, threatening and aggressive.

3 August 2011
Unemployed People's Movement Press Statement

All Charges Dropped Against the Grahamstown Four

Yesterday all charges were dropped against the Grahamstown Four - Ayanda Kota, Xola Mali and Nombulelo Yami of the Unemployed People's Movement and Ntombentsha Budaza of the Women's Social Forum – in the Grahamstown Magistrate's court. This was the forth time that the four had had to appear in court since they were arrested on the 10th of February 2011.

On the 9th of February there was a protest against rape and the lack of water in parts of Grahamstown. The Municipality illegally and unconstitutionally banned the protest and people responded by occupying the Municipal offices. A meeting was promised but after it failed to materialise a road blockade was organised in the Phaphamani squatter camp. Some civil society organisations are uncomfortable with the road blockade as a tactic but around South Africa and around the world the road blockade has emerged as a key weapon of the unemployed who cannot strike.

This letter has now been published in the Mail & Guardian as an article.

NOT YET UHURU

Dear Editor

On the 27th of April 1994 the people of this country stood in long queues for many hours, waiting to cast their vote for the first time. In some parts of the country the weather was indeed hostile, freezing cold, while in other parts of the country it was scorching hot. Our people were voting for the first time, voting for an end to racism and for democracy and a better life - for jobs, free education and decent housing. Over and above their vote for their material needs to be met they were voting for their freedom. Or so they were made to believe!

There is a hotlinked version of this statement here and some video footage here.

Press Statement by the Unemployed People’s Movement, Grahamstown
Sunday 13 February 2011

The Rebellion of the Poor Comes to Grahamstown

The rebellion of the poor has been spreading from town to town, from squatter camp to squatter camp, since 2004. Last week it arrived in Grahamstown.

Update:13:00, 11 February 2009 - UPM Comrades Arrested

Ayanda Kota from the UPM in Grahamstown, along with Vuyisele Mafemuka, from the UPM in Cape Town, have been arrested while picketing outside parliament. When they asked what the charges were they were pepper sprayed at point blank range and they have since been pepper sprayed repeatedly.

They are currently in a police van and Ayanda still has his phone on him. They don’t yet know which station they will be taken too. Ayanda’s number is 078 625 6462. Please spread the word. The media need to know and, also, people in Cape Town who can offer quick and practical solidarity – legal support, public protest, a physical presence at the police station etc.