[DEBATE] : Masiphumelele: take 2

[Martin Jansen]

Hi peter

Do you have contacts for Masiphumelele people involved for interviews,
meetings etc. 

Martin Jansen
Director - Workers World Media Productions
Phone 021 4472727
Fax 021 4485076
Email: martin at wwmp.org.za
www.wwmp.org.za  


-----Original Message-----
From: debate-bounces at debate.kabissa.org
[mailto:debate-bounces at debate.kabissa.org] On Behalf Of Peter van Heusden
Sent: 27 May 2008 08:08 PM
To: debate at wfeet.za.net:SA discussion list
Subject: [DEBATE] : Masiphumelele: take 2

Forwarding didn't work, so here is Sam Pearce's email:

*The good news: Masiphumelele*
*The bad news: Soetwater*
*1. Masiphumelele leads South Africa and restores our southern peninsula 
dignity.*
Brief outline of events from Masiphumelele eMzantsi coordinator Rodney 
Ndyalvan:

    * Thursday night: relatively minor trouble in Masi following
      evacuation of foreigners by police - mostly young drunken
      'tsotsis' taking advantage of the situation and looting.
    * Friday: Yandiswa Mazwane, community leader, mobilises all other
      leaders for peace rally with help of the 'Ubuntu Coalition'
      (eMzantsi Carnival, Art of Living, other NGOs). Leaders address
      packed community hall at 6pm, vociferous support expressed for
      foreigners ("we want them in 2010, why not now?"), wonderful
      prayer and singing, and candlelit vigil (featured on eTV news Sat
      night). Tangible sense of calm restored on leaving at 7pm. NO
      TROUBLE AT ALL IN MASI ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
    * Saturday: community leaders hold two follow up meetings, first to
      allow their community to voice any concerns. Quite apparent this
      is not evidence of xenophobia, but rather persistent economic
      stress (NB no force was used against foreigners in Masi). 2nd
      meeting of all community structures made a plan to restore
      righteous order...
    * Sat night: joint community and police effort to recover all stolen
      property by going door to door. Involving ANC, SANCO, Salvation
      Army - everyone. Street committees re-empowered. Masi pride restored.
    * Sun morning: people still spontaneously bringing stuff back. All
      taken to Ocean View police station for safekeeping.
    * Sun afternoon: Premier arrives to congratulate Masi community
      leaders. Deputation take memo to Soetwater to read to refugees to
      invite them back home. More than 70 people welcomed back to Masi
      with a KFC supper in the late evening.

PLEASE NOTE this was a *community initiated, and community driven* 
effort. eTV news on Sunday made out this was a police exercise, but the 
police supported the community, not the other way round. Masi leaders 
should be praised for doing on Friday what Mbeki had not had the courage 
to do - stand up and say "This is not acceptable here. We condemn it, 
and we will act immediately to make amends." We in the South should be 
proud of them.


  2. Africa Day in Soetwater

As we drove into the refugee camp just before 10am on Sunday morning, 
the fog hung heavy over Soetwater, like some smoking post-apocalyptic 
movie set. But this was not Vietnam, or Pearl Harbour – this was Cape 
Town on Africa Day 2008. Six huge drafty tents emerged from the gloom, 
and suddenly we saw vast numbers of people, queuing up for a meagre meal 
from the makeshift soup kitchen, or hanging around looking completely 
lost. Such a beautiful setting, by the side of the ocean; yet such a 
site of horror as we began to hear the stories of people who'd arrived 
there from across the city.

There was Alvino from Angola, whose brother was killed on Friday, and 
who was so traumatised by the guilt of leaving the body to save himself, 
he could barely speak. There was Maria* from the Congo, who was raped on 
Thursday, didn’t know where her teenaged son was and just wanted to be 
given a pair of panties and a place to sleep. There was Noor-Ali from 
Somalia, a very smart young man in a stylish leather jacket, who had 
spent years working his way up from cleaning cars for change to owning 
his own business, only to have absolutely everything he owned snatched 
away from him in minutes. They, and most of the estimated 1500 people 
there, were in an extreme state of shock.

Who was there to comfort and reassure them?

Stalwart volunteers from Ocean View Baptist Church and Living Hope were 
already tackling the most urgent needs of feeding people and attending 
to the sick. But there was a complete vacuum of any central authority. 
The police were waiting for orders, and seemed to have no idea what to 
do beyond patrolling the perimeter. As more volunteers arrived to help, 
there was no one to direct their energies, no one with a plan, no one 
even with an appropriate registration document ready to distribute in 
order to get a handle on the situation.

Disaster management were doing what they could, which wasn’t much. A 
official from the province explained to me that they had staff trained 
to deal with a local disaster – but not a whole outbreak of them across 
the province, from Knysna to the south peninsula – and there just 
weren’t enough people or resources available to cope. The poor man who 
had been designated ‘in charge’ was a housing officer, untrained in 
crisis management or trauma counselling, and he was doing a sterling job 
in impossible circumstances.

As we stood there wondering where to start, two more buses arrived, 
offloading yet more shell-shocked people. Tensions amongst those who had 
been waiting 24 hours already without a single word from the authorities 
on what was going to happen to them began to mount. Sharp words were 
exchanged between Somalians and Congolese, each feeling more vulnerable 
than the other. Making an attempt to understand their concerns, in my 
inadequate French (there wasn’t a single translator available), I was 
led to understand by a group of about 50 angry, frustrated and 
articulate people that many of the refugees have survived genocide once 
already in Rwanda and DRC, and are just not prepared to risk it again.

Unlike the foreign residents of Masiphumelele, who were evacuated by the 
police on Friday as a precaution, these people - from Phillipi, from Du 
Noon, and from Khayelitsha - had been violently chased from their homes. 
They do not trust South Africans anymore. They want to leave this 
country. They do not trust the government. Why should they – the 
government had 2 weeks’ notice to make a plan to safeguard them, and 
they didn’t. They do not believe the local police can protect them, and 
fear a mob coming down and driving them into the beautiful sea.

In the late afternoon, the Premier finally arrived, ready for a 
triumphant photo opp as he planned to announce the Masiphumelele 
community leaders’ magnificent mobilisation to restore the homes and 
property of those foreigners expelled last week. His staff had no idea 
the majority of the refugees were not from Masiphumelele and were 
completely unprepared for the hostile reception he got. But he responded 
well, sitting down cross-legged on the ground, first with Congolese 
leaders and then with the Somalians, taking the time to listen to their 
fears and their written lists of demands. He promised that the UNHCR 
would be here by tomorrow, that their concerns would be respected and 
their opinions consulted.

He left as the sun began to set and the cold fog began to creep back in. 
If by the time you read this, there are still people at Soetwater who 
don’t know what the government’s plan is, we should all be ashamed. 
Ashamed enough to stand up and act without them. There are pregnant 
mothers and children sleeping tonight on cardboard on the freezing floor 
whose only crime was to be born elsewhere on our continent. Happy Africa 
Day.

* not her real name

NB Reassuringly, local councillors Felicity Purchase and Nicki 
Holderness were on the ground as we left last night, local police were 
doing the best they could, and bakkie loads of officials had started to 
arrive... watch this space.

*The Art of Living Foundation is offering trauma relief programmes in 
both Masiphumelele and Soetwater – contact Candi Horgan on 082 561 2879 
for information. They would like to thank Cafe Roux, Noordhoek, for 
lending them their tent.*

**

*If you have food, clothes, blankets, heaters or baby supplies to 
donate, please take them to the Sun Valley Pick’n’Pay for distribution 
to those in need. *

**

*If you would like to volunteer an hour of your time, email 
**sam at samp.co.za* <mailto:sam at samp.co.za>* or leave your contact details 
on 021 789 1665. We will call you if and when we can use you.*

**

Thanks,

Sam Pearce

from the office of the eMzantsi Carnival project
*Harlequin Foundation
*creating a common culture through carnival





No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG. 
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1468 - Release Date: 2008/05/26
03:23 PM
 
  

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG. 
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1468 - Release Date: 2008/05/26
03:23 PM