The Abahlali baseMjondolo has invited all political parties to bid for their votes, saying:
The Abahlali baseMjondolo has boycotted every election, local and national, since 2006 as part of the ‘No Land! No House! No Vote!’ campaign. We made it clear that we were not interested in being used as ladders for any political parties or any politicians, that we were aware that no political party is prepared to form a genuine partnership with the poor and that no political party had a progressive position on shack settlements. We understood clearly that poverty is a question of power and that we therefore had to build our own power through organising ourselves as the strong poor and to be very careful not to give up our power to any political party or politician (or NGO).
Before every election we discussed our position carefully and in every election from 2006 till 2011 it was clear that our members did not want to vote. This year we have again had a series of discussions about the General Election on the 7th of May 2014. This year our members came to a different conclusion. This year our members came to the conclusion that it is no longer enough to withhold our vote from the ANC.
The ANC attacked us in Kennedy Road in 2009. They murdered the striking miners at Marikana in 2012. They have murdered many unarmed people on protests. Last year they murdered three activists in Cato Crest. Their security guards and Anti-Land Invasion Unit shoot us when they come to disconnect us and evict us. They openly threaten us with death. It is not enough to withhold votes from a party that is killing us when we stand up for our humanity. Such a party is a serious threat to society and it must be removed from office as soon as possible. For this reason we have invited all political parties other than the ANC to come and address us so that we can decide which party or parties to support against the ANC.
There was a long debate about whether or not we should invite the DA to address us. We all know that they have been illegally evicting our members and other poor people in Cape Town and that, like the ANC, their politic is highly anti-poor. Also, like the ANC, they can’t understand that democracy is about more than voting and think that there must always be some other force behind our struggles. They do not understand that poor people think and organise their own struggles. However in the end, and after a long discussion, we decided that while we will ask the DA a long list of questions about their conduct if they do come to our meeting the meeting will be open to all political parties except the ANC because as much as the DA are oppressing our comrades in Cape Town they are not murdering our comrades.
We understand clearly that there is no political party that supports our programme. We are also very clear that we will not give up our autonomy to any political party. We will continue to insist that all members elected to leadership positions in our movement must refuse membership of political parties. However we cannot allow a government that kills its people when it stands up for their humanity to be recognised to remain in office. We are therefore willing to make a tactical vote against the ANC.
Before we make any decisions about which party to support we would like to put the following ten questions to all political parties:
Can you guarantee that you will actively and seriously oppose all forms of state repression and that you will support our right to organise independently of all political parties? This must include a serious commitment to house all those driven from their homes by the ANC in Kennedy Road in 2009 and for a serious criminal investigation to be undertaken with regard to the violence in Kennedy Road in 2009, Marikana in 2011, Cato Crest and KwaMashu in 2013, all the murders on protests over the years as well as all the violence, including murders, by municipal security guards and Anti-Land Invasion Units during evictions and disconnections.
- Can you guarantee that you will actively and seriously oppose all evictions? This must include a serious commitment to provide housing for all these evicted in Ridge View and Hillary in 2012 and 2013 and in Cato Crest in 2013.
- Can you guarantee that you will act to put the social value of urban land before its commercial land? This must include a serious commitment to the immediate transfer of the ownership of all occupied land to the occupiers of that land.
- Can you guarantee that no child will be excluded from school, or treated badly at school, because their parents are poor?
- Can you guarantee that there will be effective and democratic land reform in rural areas that puts land in the hands of the people, including women?
- Can you guarantee that there will be an end to corruption? This must include taking serious and effectively against all corruption within your own organisation.
- Can you guarantee that all shack settlements will get services while they wait for their settlements to be upgraded with formal houses?
- Can you guarantee that the upgrade of settlements will be planned with their residents and that upgrades from shacks to formal housing will be a undertaken as an urgent priority?
- Can you guarantee that you will take serious and effective steps to make sure that the wealth of the country will be fairly shared?
- Can you guarantee that there will be an end to all discrimination against people based on race, their language, which province they come from, which country they were born in or their gender and sexuality? This must include taking serious and effective action against any racism, ethnic prejudice, xenophobia, sexism or homophobia in your own organisation.
Twenty years of shack life is a disgrace for our democracy. We are highly aware that no political party is currently taking the issues of shack dwellers seriously. However we will consider the possibility of a tactical vote for a political party that is willing to make the best commitments among the parties on the land and housing crisis in our cities. Of course we will continue to organise outside of the party system before, during and after the election.
Corruption is destroying everything and turning people against each other. We cannot consider a vote for any political party that cannot show that it is serious in opposing corruption including corruption committed by its own members.
A state that kills people who stand up for their humanity is the end of democracy. We cannot consider a vote for any political party that is not willing to commit itself to actively and seriously opposing all repression.
We invite all political parties to join us at the Abahlali baseMjondolo contact point. This will be a platform given to political parties not only to engage with our movement but to seriously commit them to changing the lives of the shack dwellers and the poor in South Africa. The ANC must be removed from office and we invite all political parties except the ANC to meet with us so that we can decide which party to support in this election. However we want to make it very clear that we will not take membership of any political party, that our vote will be tactical and that if we do agree to collectively vote for one party, or to leave this decision to the conscience of each member as an individual, we will continue to operate autonomously.
We want to bring new ideas to South Africans that people must vote for change based on what political parties commit themselves to while not giving up their political power to political parties. We also want South Africans to put the interest of the country first which means voting for the party or parties that make the right commitments and not supporting the policies of a party just because it is the party that you always supported.
We remain highly aware that most of what we need will not be achieved by voting and we will continue to build our own power and to organised in our communities and to confront all our oppressors in the streets, in the courts and in the media.
Just as we currently organise against the ANC in Durban and the DA in Cape Town we will continue to organise against any political party that oppresses the poor after this election.
The meeting will take place at Diakonia, Durban on Saturday 25 April at 1:00 p.m.
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