BY NORM DIXON
JOHANNESBURG — A political publicity stunt by the Pan Africanist Congress has snowballed into a major confrontation between homeless and land hungry people and the African National Congress government. The failure of the ANC to deliver sufficient land and houses after seven years in power has become a national issue.
Beginning July 2, thousands of people converged on Bredell, Kempton Park, near Johannesburg's international airport, in the hope of securing a plot to build shelter after word spread that the PAC was "selling" plots for 25 rands each. The land is owned by private farmers and the South African government. More than 200 squatters were arrested by police on July 5. More than 100 shacks have been erected and hundreds of people remain.
When the ANC government's housing minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, accompanied by the local ANC mayor Bavumile Vilakazi, arrived on a "fact-finding tour" on July 6 they were chased away by the angry squatters. Armed police and soldiers have blocked people from bringing building materials into the area.
The editorials of South Africa's major capitalist newspapers have been unanimous in their condemnation of the "land grab" and called on the ANC government to act decisively to reassure investors that private property would be defended. The value of the rand slid as the "markets" expressed fears that the land invasions may spread. Newspapers have run sad tales of how the land "invaders" are putting at risk plans by investors to construct a giant African theme park worth R8 billion (A$2 billion). One farm owner fears her new R350,000 house will lose value if the poor squatters remain.
Court order
ANC national land minister Thoko Didiza rushed to the Pretoria High Court on July 5 to apply for a court order to have the occupiers evicted. "Our court action will show overseas investors clearly that government will not tolerate Zimbabwe-type land grabs at any time. This type of action can seriously damage the economy", Didiza declared. The court on July 10 ruled in favour of the government and gave the squatters until July 12 to leave the land. Large numbers of police with 30 armoured vehicles forced the squatters off the land on July 12.
ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama denounced the PAC as an "organisation of agent provocateurs masquerading as a caring liberation movement when they are hypocrites ... who jump at the opportunity to exploit the plight of our people with the sole purpose of lining their pockets". Spokesperson for South African President Thabo Mbeki, Bheki Khumalo, declared that the government would not tolerate illegal attempts to gain land. "This is not a banana republic", he added.
The South African Communist Party condemned "the opportunism of the Pan Africanist Congress in misleading more than 200 desperate families to invade land ... without any environmental impact study, infrastructure layout and legal title deeds for the ownership of the land".
The PAC responded by saying that it had not encouraged the seizure of the land and urged that a land summit be convened to discuss the land crisis. PAC leaders have also given conflicting answers when asked what use the thousands of rands collected from the squatters will be put to. However, the PAC seems to have successfully tapped some of the growing dissatisfaction with the government's failure to deliver houses, land and basic services.
"The ANC is so used to blaming apartheid, capitalism and the PAC, that it forgets it is in power. It has failed to put in place a proper land policy ... The government must make land reform a priority, not buying arms and building an elite", said PAC MP Patricia de Lille.
According to a report in the July 6 Weekly Mail and Guardian, the PAC is to embark on a nationwide campaign to occupy state land and has instructed its provincial structures to identify communities that will benefit from a "land grab". Eastern Cape PAC leader Zingisa Mkabile said the PAC leadership has been given orders to put into operation a land campaign similar to that near Johannesburg.
Left activists whom Green Left Weekly has spoken to believe that the PAC does not have the political understanding, the competence or the will to carry out such a campaign through to success.
'Cynical opportunism'
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) also condemned the PAC, accusing it of "cynical opportunism" and exploiting "the despair of the homeless to make money and short-term political capital by selling land that does not belong to them". COSATU stated that "persuading desperate people to pay to queue-jump on to land that is unsuitable for housing will never solve the housing crisis".
However, COSATU also directed criticism at the ANC government: "COSATU sympathises with the families who have moved on to land at Bredell. Their hunger for land and houses is a symptom of a crisis affecting millions of poor, landless people. COSATU recognises all families' constitutional right to housing. The Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development Program also promised homes for all. The federation will continue to pressure the government into honouring this right for all South Africans as quickly as possible.
"COSATU also appreciates however that the ANC government has provided more new homes and basic services than any government in South African history, despite having to battle with a legacy which left millions homeless or living in shacks with no services, while 80% of the land was in the hands of the white minority. COSATU believes however that the government could have provided even more homes if they had not relied to the extent they have on the private sector for finance and construction... Housing is the area where the need for a strong developmental state is most obvious. People's needs will never be met if provision is left in the hands of banks and builders who are out to make a quick profit."
COSATU urged the ANC-controlled Ekurhuleni City Council to "resist the temptation to send in the police or security officers to throw homeless families into the streets in the middle of winter. The ANC council must let them stay until suitable alternative accommodation can be provided... COSATU recognises that housing provision must be planned, so that people can live in safety, near workplaces and shops (one of the attractions of the Bredell site). Families must not be dumped in open country far from the main urban centres. ANC government, at all levels, must involve the communities in planning housing developments and channel the enthusiasm and initiative of the people into building their own new communities, rather than imposing solutions from above."
Despite promises in 1994 that an ANC government would result in "a better life for all", the number of people waiting for a decent house and land has now reached more than 7 million. While the government is spending R50 billion on the purchase of high-tech military hardware and has slashed taxes for the rich and big business, it has failed to carry out a land reform program that was scheduled to begin in April.
Far reaching land justice is impossible because the ANC has refused to budge from its loyalty to a "willing-buyer, willing-seller" land policy and its emphasis on developing a class of black commercial farmers rather than on the needs of homeless and land hungry poor people. Land reform and housing budgets have been woefully underfunded, a product of the government's neo-liberal economic policies.
The Bredell land protest is just the latest of a series of outbreaks of collective actions that indicate that an increasing number of poor South Africans are again becoming prepared to take action to address their problems, even against a government that claims to represent the people.
In Soweto, people are mobilising against electricity cut-offs and, led by the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, have launched a defiance campaign to reconnect power. In the townships outside Durban and Cape Town, residents are fighting evictions for water, power and rent arrears. In Johannesburg and Cape Town, anti-privatisation forums are beginning to unite these struggles and to draw the links between the ANC national government's conservative economic policies and its commitment to privatisation.
The many left activists whom Green Left Weekly has spoken to in Johannesburg and Cape Town have all agreed that these nascent movements offer the best chance to rebuild the radical movement in South Africa and have all committed themselves to assisting them.