A Local South African Community's Dilemma

by Bridgette Hector, JH Companionship Facilitator

SMI is continuing to build its campaign around the devastation that has occurred in the Ga-Pila community in the Limpopo Province. The SMI core team agreed that they would like to have some of the community leaders from the Ga-Pila community come and talk with them.

So this November Athanis Mogale, one of the community leaders from the Ga-Pila community, came to share his community's story and concerns with SMI.

These Stories Must be Heard

Phillemon Talane, SMI Interim Coordinator

This is a huge battle. We must continue to document the stories of the community persons, but we must make these stories nationally known. They must be told nationally because our local government is too corrupt. Our local government is too complicit with money hoarding. The local governments’ involvement with the local people is nothing more than empty political promises.

It is so evident in the many communities of South Africa that the mining companies have left total devastation. Originally when the mining companies came to South Africa they set up these NGOs. The NGOs were titled “Section 21” when the relocation process started. The mine would channel a particular amount of money into the Section 21. The Section 21 was too aligned with the mining companies. So the government disbanded the Section 21 organizations. It was disbanded because these NGOs were reportedly allocating salaries for themselves instead of using the money for the proper purposes of helping the community. The original purpose of these NGOs was to serve as the mediating services between the community and the mines. The execution by this was not aligned with community purposes.

The Southern African Rural Women’s Assembly

by Bridgette Hector, JH Companionship Facilitator

What an absolute blessing to be with so many rural women farmers from various parts of Southern Africa. In celebration of International Day of Rural Women on October 15th, women from all across Southern Africa gathered in the first ever Regional Rural Women’s Assembly in Limpopo Province, South Africa, from 28-30 October 2009. More than 200 female delegates came from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Regional Rural Women’s Assembly had as its main objective the facilitation of exchanges and the creation of linkages between rural women from the different countries in SADC as a basis for strengthening rural women’s movements in the region.

The overall program for the Assembly included:

• Sharing experiences of rural women’s struggle
• Reflecting on the significance of International Day of Rural Women
• Undertaking a feminist political analysis of food sovereignty
• Impact of agrarian developments on women’s livelihoods
• Sharing information about women’s movements and organizing strategies
• Strategizing on building a regional rural women’s movement

This was a great opportunity for me to collaborate with women farmers through out South Africa and to represent SMI. I was able to both learn from and engage these women around land issues. I heard so many heart wrenching stores of women attempting to survive after being removed from the farms that they once lived and worked. As SMI continues in its journey I believe these stories will play a large part in fueling the passion of SMI leaders. It is clear that land justice is one of the major issues in this country.

SMI Engages The Provincial Land Summit

by Bridgette Hector, JH Companionship Facilitator

Delegates from Sisonke Masilwe Indlala had the opportunity to participate in The Provincial Land Summit (PLS) in Polokwane. The purpose of this summit was to build stronger relationships between communities and the Catholic Church. One spokesperson from the land summit stated, “The Catholic Church has a lot of power in the form of money and land. We want the Catholic Church to offer land to the poor and support this process of land justice. This is the only just way to act.”

During a powerful speech at the summit one spokesperson for PLS shared, “We are taking these issues with the mining companies to another level. We have invited people who did not get their land back from the mines. We will sit with these communities to hear what and how the feel.”

On Thursday, the third day of the conference, PLS participants marched to The Department of Mineral and Energy in a demonstration of solidarity and delivered a memorandum calling for justice for the many
persons whose power sources have been cut by mining companies in their communities.