[WSMDiscuss] (Fwd) Resistance rises: SA's C19 People's Coalition issues new overview statement, including "We reject the term ‘food riots’ which suggests that people are merely angry or ill-disciplined. What we are seeing are food rebellions of the poor – people who say: we will not sit quietly indoors and starve; if we have no alternative, we will take the food we need."
Patrick Bond
pbond at mail.ngo.za
Sat Apr 18 10:16:51 CEST 2020
Image
<https://twitter.com/CovidCoalition/status/1251019479611592704/photo/1>
(I understand that more economic demands are on the way, too, given this
excellent network's critique of utterly self-destructive,
brutally-neoliberal fiscal and monetary policy
<https://twitter.com/search?q=mboweni%20%22people%27s%20coalition%22&src=typed_query&f=live>
practiced in Pretoria.
More webinars are scheduled such as the Food Sovereignty Campaign's
one on income support on Monday, followed by the C19 People's Coalition
online people's assembly next Tuesday, for those fortunate enough to
jump SA's notorious Digital Divide.
And given state failure, there are also impressive civil society
mutual aid systems emerging, as can be seen in just one of many examples
way below, and the progressive feminist call just below, made by several
of South Africa's finest struggle-solidarity organisations.)
<https://twitter.com/CovidCoalition>
Covid19 People's Coalition SA
@CovidCoalition
<https://twitter.com/CovidCoalition>
C19 (Online) People's Assembly Tuesday 21 April 2020, 2pm to 5pm To RSVP
follow the link below and fill out the form.
https://tinyurl.com/y9zrkk9m
<https://t.co/ma5HNcggaV?amp=1>#OnlineAssembly
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnlineAssembly?src=hashtag_click>#SocialSolidarity
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/SocialSolidarity?src=hashtag_click>#Covid19SA
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/Covid19SA?src=hashtag_click>
<https://twitter.com/CovidCoalition/status/1251019479611592704/photo/1>
<https://twitter.com/CovidCoalition/status/1251019479611592704/media_tags>
***
Home <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/> / C19PC Statements
<https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/category/statements/> / STATEMENT:
Lives over profits! Bread not bullets!
STATEMENT: Lives over profits! Bread not bullets!
Posted April 17, 2020 <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/2020/04/>
In C19PC Statements
<https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/category/statements/>
The C19 People’s Coalition <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/>was born
a month ago, and includes 250 organisations from across civil society in
all provinces, including community-based organisations, social
movements, non-governmental organisations, research institutions,
faith-based organisations and others. It is the broadest grouping of
civil society that has come together to address the current crisis. We
have developed a Programme of Action (POA)
<https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/poa/>.
Our rationale is that government alone cannot combat a health crisis of
this scale; community and wider societal participation is critical if
the measures that medical science requires us to undertake are to
implement in a just and equitable manner. The failure of government and
the state to fully align itself with this approach has shone a light on
acute societal problems that as a matter of urgency now need to be
addressed.
The People’s Coalition recognises that the pandemic will mean for many,
many months we will be in the storm of a human catastrophe that will
take countless lives and the only way to limit the human cost of this
crisis is for government to work alongside all our people.
We as the C19 People’s Coalition have got 10 working groups operational,
focusing on issues of health, food, gender and gender-based violence,
basic needs and psychosocial support, economic policy, community
organising, repression, education, workers’ rights and regional
solidarity. We have a further 9 working groups working across these
issues in all the provinces. We have a system of providing data to key
community activists and organisers, to ensure that their experiences and
voices are foregrounded in all we do.
*The People are hungry! Top up the Child Support Grant and open
the informal sector! *
*The COVID-19 pandemic is being experienced by most people in South
Africa primarily as a food crisis.*An estimated 5.5 million informal
sector workers have lost their livelihoods and have no cash incomes.
This is affecting 16.5 million people.
We reject the term ‘food riots’ which suggests that people are merely
angry or ill-disciplined. What we are seeing are /food rebellions of the
poor/– people who say: we will not sit quietly indoors and starve; if we
have no alternative, we will take the food we need.
At present the state efforts to provide food aid have illustrated two
central problems, a severely constrained capacity and the politicisation
of distribution. What we require is the capacity to provide aid to
millions across society in a non-partisan manner, this can only be
implemented through activating hundreds of thousands of community
volunteers to plan, implement and monitor such a programme.
*Corporate food system protected: informal sector shut down*
We at the C19 People’s Coalition are organising alternative food
distribution systems around the country and also working in poor and
vulnerable communities with those who produce and sell food, especially
in the informal food economy. This is a massive economic sector that
contributes about R360 billion per year to our country’s GDP. While
commercial farming, corporate supply chains and formal retail have been
protected as essential services during the national lockdown, our member
organisations and networks across the country show us that the informal
food system which is run primarily by and for the poor, has been largely
closed down.
*The food crisis and social solidarity*
We welcome and stand in solidarity with all those growing, buying,
preparing and giving food to those in need. The Community Action
Networks (CANs) show what social solidarity can achieve. But none of
this absolves the government of its constitutional duty to ensure that
everyone in this country – whether they are a citizen or not – has
access to sufficient food. If government prevents people from working to
get money to buy food, then it must take adequate measures to compensate
and ensure people can get the food they need not only to survive but to
live a dignified life.
We see no way that food aid can reach the scale that is required, either
now during the lockdown, or in the immediate aftermath when we expect
this food crisis to continue, as businesses close and jobs are lost.
Government, even with the best partnerships with civil society and the
private sector, simply cannot do it. You can’t do food parcels for 20
million people, and you can’t sustain this for months. The only option
available to government is to use cash transfers as the primary
immediate way to enable the vast majority of households facing a hunger
crisis to access food.
*Urgent proposals*
We call on government to:
1. *Substitute for the school feeding schemes*that provide a crucial
lifeline to poor households and vulnerable children. Children must
be able to collect food from schools or other accessible public
collection points. This includes rural schools, where the children
of farm workers in particular are vulnerable; those who are
producing our food are among those most at risk of hunger. In the
absence of this, poor children are more at risk of dying of
malnutrition than of the Coronavirus.
2. *Open up and support the informal food economy: *instruct all state
institutions, including the police and army, to support and assist
all small-scale farmers, small-scale fishers, informal food traders
including those involved with transporting and preparing food, and
expedite the issuing of permits to all those in the informal food
system. Government needs to provide a guaranteed market to those
whose supply chains have been interrupted. We welcome the R1.2
billion relief fund for small-scale farmers announced last week by
Minister Didizia, and have yesterday submitted a proposal for how
these funds can be better targeted and delivered. We call on the
Minister responsible for fisheries to come up with an equivalent
plan for small-scale fishers.
3. *Open up public spaces and infrastructure for informal food traders.
*This will enable food vendors to trade safely, close to where
people are. Instead of trading at taxi ranks and train stations,
people can trade at schools and other public spaces, where they can
have shelter and access to water. This will enable food vendors to
trade safely, closer to where people are than shopping malls.
4. *Top up the Child Support Grant by R500 for six months, and do it
immediately*, in time for payout in the first week of May. This is
the most far-reaching, pro-poor and pro-women way to compensate for
the massive loss of incomes. Government has received two letters
from a broad platform of civil society organisations, community
organisations and academic institutions. All the evidence is there.
Government does have the money and can make R40 billionavailable
over the coming 6 months. This will reach 13 million grantees.
Despite having had all this information, and widespread consensus
across society, government has not yet made any announcement. We
call on the Cabinet to immediately approve and announce this urgent
measure. Immediate relief is now essential, which is why /our
primary recommendation to deal with the food crisis is to top up the
Child Support Grant immediately/.
*Build one universal national health care system now! *
We are concerned at the lack of readiness of the health system to roll
out testing and care for the critically ill. Testing now and into the
future existing requires massive expansion far beyond what is currently
being implemented. Four weeks on we have only conducted 90, 000 PCR
tests. Our ability to contain the virus rests on the ability to have a
very clear understanding of infection patterns and hotspots demanding
that hundreds of thousands of tests are carried out in the coming weeks.
The government must share what its plan is to ramp up COVID testing to
30, 000 PCR tests per day by month end. The current stockpile of kits of
600,000 is insufficient and raises additional questions.
We are also facing a likely shortage of ICU beds, currently only several
thousand with ventilator access. Integration of the private and public
health system must occur to address this problem. In particular, the
inability to bring the private sector into a coordinated response should
be addressed as a priority and should contribute to building one future
universal national health care system. Need must be put before profit.
The strategy of using Community Health Workers (CHWs) to screen and
follow up people requires clear national coordination and support rather
than leaving this to the discretion of Provincial Health Departments.
CHWs must be paid adequately, resourced, supported and trained in safety
protocols and supplied with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE) so they are able to perform these critically important duties. All
non-essential workers who are unable to work from home to be paid,
irrespective of their legal status, should be paid UIF.
While we must respond in an extraordinary manner to the COVID-19
epidemic, we cannot afford to neglect basic primary care at the same
time. Closure of essential primary care services will have desperate
consequences for poor and working-class communities, women and
vulnerable populations dependent on the public sector for health care
and sexual and reproductive health services.
We need to find ways to ensure that such essential services are not
displaced by our COVID-19 response. We have seen hospital closures and
threatened labour disputes as a result of poor infection control.
The Peoples Coalition insists appropriate PPE and training be provided
for all Health Care Personnel involved in containing the spread of the
disease and that systems be put in place to protect their health.
Protection of our front-line responders and their families must be given
utmost priority.
We need to understand what is the government plan to address the
existing global shortages of such equipment.
We need transparency from government as a matter of urgency, including
the structure of ALL decision-making structures in COVID response
including representation on the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID19.
Essential workers should be those who really make an essential
contribution to the welfare of the population and should be provided
with safe conditions of travelling to work and performing their jobs.
*Humanity over Militarisation! *
The pandemic is a humanitarian crisis and not a security crisis. The
rounding up of the homeless and the evictions of people from informal
settlements the removal and relocation of refugees into camps is morally
unacceptable. The harassment, beating, and rape of township residents
and informal settlement dwellers by police and the army must stop.
No racist scapegoating: close the refugee centres and provide their
inmates with housing where they can self-isolate; follow the example of
Portugal and Ireland and grant the right to remain to migrants and refugees.
We demand the Presidency direct:
1. The Minister of Justice and Cooperative Governance instruct all
Metro and local municipalities to bring about an immediate halt to
all evictions; including those carried out under the guise of “land
invasion” and “de-densification”.
2. The Ministers of Police and Defence to immediately cease from using
excessive force in enforcing the lock down and other regulations
3. The appointment of an ombudsperson that will investigate all
complaints of brutality, violence and corruption. We therefore call
for the appointment of an independent retired Judge with a record in
human rights work to oversee the implementation of the security
services of the Disaster Regulations and the actions of State organs
in respect of COVID-19.
4. Defend civil liberties: no special powers to the police –
restrictions on movement to be enforced by local communities.
*Respect Workers Rights! *
Government must immediately honour the Public Sector Bargaining Council
agreement and pay what was agreed. This is not just a matter of trust.
Across the world, the welfare of front-line workers has been
acknowledged as pivotal to tackling the virus.
Public sector workers are already putting themselves at risk on a day to
day basis. Denying them the agreed increase is adding insult to injury.
It is well known that many highly skilled public sector workers have to
take more than one job in order to make ends meet. Our nurses for
example have been forced into moonlighting for years. This is simply not
sustainable.
It is clear that even in the throes of the Covid 19 crisis, Government
is attempting to maintain its austerity programme by stealth. An
austerity programme that has already impoverished working class
communities, subjecting them to appalling and worsening levels of
inequality, service delivery and poverty. The rich of course, the
corrupt, and the chronically wasteful remain largely untouched.
If the Government continues to undermine collective bargaining, they
will be responsible when workers are left with no other option but to
take industrial action. Claiming that we must all make sacrifices to
beat the virus has no meaning when some must sacrifice more than others!
*Next steps for People’s Coalition*
C19 People’s Coalition will be hosting its first mass meeting, an Online
People’s Assembly, next Tuesday 21 April, where we will further gather
voices from across the country and develop our responses and proposals.
We look forward to constructive work with government and others, to
ensure a socially and economically just response to the COVID pandemic
and its effects on our country.
We plan to hold weekly press conferences every Friday to update the
public about different aspects of our work, to report on what is
happening around the country, and to make further proposals for our
country’s way forward.
*[END]*
*For further media comment, contact these Coalition members:*
* Zelda Holtzman, 082 446 0007
* Dr Lydia Cairncross, 082 786 7014
* Prof Ruth Hall, 083 302 2063
* Myrtle Witbooi, 078 841 4382
*Read the C19 People’s Coalition’s Programme of Action **here*
<https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/poa/>*. See the list of currently
245 organisations that have endorsed the Programme of Action is
available **here* <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/about-us/>*.
*
*****
A Programme of Action in the time of COVID-19
By C19Admin <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/author/C19Admin/>
Posted March 24, 2020 <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/2020/03/>
In Education <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/category/education/>,
Organise <https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/category/organise/>
<https://c19peoplescoalition.org.za/poa/#>
*A Programme of Action in the time of COVID-19*
*A call for social solidarity in South Africa*
/We, as civic organisations, trade unions, organisations of informal
workers, faith-based organisations and community structures in South
Africa, call on all people, every stakeholder and sector, to contain
infection, reduce transmission and mitigate the social and political
impacts of the COVID-19 virus. //
//
//Government retains a critical role in coordinating actions and
distributing resources, yet its efforts will not be enough if we do not
hold it to account and commit to a broad, bottom-up, public effort at
this time. In a society as unequal as ours, we must work together to
ensure that all safety measures are shared equitably. //
//
//We have a particular duty to safeguard those who are most vulnerable,
those who are already living with hunger, weakened immune systems and
poor access to health care. Greater restrictions and shutdowns are
coming, but they will only work if full support is provided to working
class and poor communities. Drastic measures are needed if we are to
avoid disaster. Each of us must act now. /
/Acknowledging other statements coming from fellow movements and
organisations, we put forward the following Programme of Action for all
of us to work towards in the coming days. /
1. *Income security for all*
In order for people to remain at home there must be income security
for all. Employers must continue to pay salaries or grant sick leave
while employees are restricted to their homes, and where continued
salaries are impossible government must provide workers with income
protection for wages lost during the pandemic. There must be a
moratorium on retrenchments during this time. Self-employed, casual
workers and those whose income is suspended at this time must be
supported by government to prevent job-seeking movement and provide
income security. The social grant system must be extended to ensure
the direct transfer of cash to households during this precarious
time. All defaults on mortgage and debt repayments during this time
must be non-consequential. All evictions and removals must be
banned. As Labour has proposed, a bold stimulus package will be
required in the coming period. These measures must be developed in
consultation with poor and working-class formations.
2. *All households, residential institutions, the homeless and the
informally housed must have easy access to sanitation, especially
water and safe ablution facilities.*
There must be an immediate opening of restricted water meters,
mass-provision of safe water access points with unconstrained flow
in areas where there is limited household access to water, and
mass-distribution of safe ablution facilities to informal
settlements. All of these sanitation points must have access to soap
and/or sanitizer and information on the prevention of the virus.
3. *All households, residential institutions, the homeless and the
informally housed must have access to food *
If we are to stay at home during this time, access to nutritious
food is fundamental. The absence of the School Nutrition Programme
is devastating. A coordinated and safe roll-out of food packages
directly to distribution points in food-stressed neighbourhoods must
be implemented. Failing that, the child support grant must be
augmented. Support for locally-organised food systems must be
strengthened.
4. *Essential private facilities must be appropriated for public use to
provide a unified and fair distribution of essential goods and
services* *to all*
National resources need to be focused and deployed in order to
combat the epidemic. Essential services – health centres, food
services, water and sanitation etc. – should be identified for
urgent support and extension. This may require the conversion of
factories and other places of production to produce sanitiser,
protective clothing, water tanks, soap, food parcels, ventilators
and other essential medical equipment. Essential private facilities
must be made available for public use to provide a unified and fair
distribution of essential goods and services to all. It requires
that the public and private health systems need to be regarded as
one national health system and coordinated in the national and
public interest, also through state appropriation if necessary, as
Spain recently demonstrated. Finances may have to be mobilised
through unconventional means such as compulsory national bonds or
loans, reforms to tax structures and others. Exported food might
need to be redistributed locally. Regulations on price hikes should
be implemented.
5. *Community self-organisation and local action is critical, as it our
representation in national coordination*
Civic organisations, community structures, trade unions and
faith-based organisations will be extremely important in organising
on the ground during this emergency. We must all take action where
we are. Civic structures must be engaged, supported and given
representation on the National Command Council. The distribution of
reliable information, essential services and care for our people
will require a massive coordinated effort from community leaders and
structures. Volunteers must be trained and organised for safe,
coordinated, campaigns at street-level and for those living in
institutions. Middle-class and wealthy communities and organisations
have an obligation to make resources available to poor and
working-class communities.
6. *Community Health Workers must be insourced trained and supported
and, along with other frontline health and emergency services
workers, must have access to the resources necessary to safely and
effectively contain the virus*
The 70 000 Community Health Workers are the outreach arms of our
health. If they and other frontline health workers and emergency
services workers are to provide the community services required
during this time, they must all have access to reliable information,
safety and protective gear, and the testing and other resources for
effective containment of the virus.
7. *We must identify strategies to calm tensions and divert violence in
our homes*
Home-based quarantine will escalate family and relationship
tensions, and will likely lead to more violence against women,
children and others most marginalized in our families and
communities including LGBTI people and foreign nationals. We need to
identify strategies to calm tensions and divert violence in our
homes and communities over this time. We need a strong education
campaign against all forms of violence, especially domestic
violence. We need to strengthen safe responses from existing
neighbourhood, regional and national organisations supporting women
and children. This includes extending access to helplines for
domestic violence, mental health, easing referral systems to
shelters, and resourcing shelters to keep them open, functional and
safe in the time of the virus.
8. *Communication must be free, open and democratised*
There must be an immediate distribution of free data to all, so that
people are able to receive good information, contact loved ones
during isolation and quarantine, and understand the measures that
are in place to create safety. Access to the best international
research should be free and public. There must be daily national
press conferences from government leaders alongside scientists and
professionals who can keep all of our people informed about the
emerging situation.
9. *The inequalities within our educational services need to be
carefully considered, and mitigated, when moving to remote learning*
Data and free website content must be made widely available to
educational institutions for continued learning. However, there is
massive inequality of access to resources such as computers,
electricity, WiFi and learning space, as well difficult home
situations that disproportionately affect poor and working-class
learners, students and educators. The move to online learning should
be made carefully, and as a temporary measure. We should not extend
the inequalities in the education system by affording remote
education to the few. Schools and universities should consider their
collective role as community educators and developers facing an
unprecedented shared experience. Schools, residences and dormitories
should be understood as a public resource during this time,
including for the safe distribution of food and other essential
services interrupted by school closures.
10. *We must prevent a nationalist, authoritarian and security-focused
approach in containing the virus*
We must guard against the easy deployment of military and police to
create security in our communities. We must also prevent against
creating scapegoats to blame for the current crisis. Instead we must
ensure that care and resources are provided for the safety and
protection of all who live in our country and in our communities.
/How each of us responds to the COVID-19 pandemic will determine who we
are as a society. The better we respond now, the better we will be after
the pandemic. We must follow international best practice and the science
that we have available to us to build an assertive response that works
for the context of our own history and society. Our response must be
just, equitable, and redistributive if we are to meet the needs of all
our people. In times of physical distancing, social solidarity is key./
***
Endorsers (17/4/20):
2
350Africa.org
<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://350Africa.org&sa=D&ust=1587192540886000&usg=AFQjCNGRzKYC_D4_0nJ0vv7f2WOvT1lwcg>
3
360 Degrees Environmental Movement
4
Abanebhongo Persons with Disabilities
5
Academics for Free Education
6
ActionAid South Africa
7
Active Citizens Movement
8
Adonis Musati Project
9
AfricaBrief
10
African Centre for Biodiversity
11
African Gender Institute
12
African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum
13
African Water Commons Collective
14
Agang Bokamoso
15
AIDS Foundation of South Africa
16
AIDS Free Living
17
Al-Fitrah Foundation
18
Alliance for Rural Democracy
19
Alliance Française of Durban
20
Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
21
Amcare
22
Ashes to Purpose
23
Assembly of the Unemployed
Fight
24
ASSITEJ South Africa
25
Association for Rural Advancement
26
Auwal Socio-economic Research Institute
27
Bench Marks Foundation
28
Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship
29
Bertha’s Cape Town
30
Black Sash
31
Bonteheuwel Development Forum
32
Botshabelo Unemployment Movement
33
Bottomup
34
Bright Media
35
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
36
CDR Equipping
37
Centre for Applied Legal Studies
38
Centre for Education Rights and Transformation
39
Centre for Faith and Community, University of Pretoria
40
Centre For Human Rights
41
Centre for Law and Society, UCT
42
Centre for Social Change, University of Johannesburg
43
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation
44
Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (Nelson
Mandela University)
45
Changemakers
46
Child Maintenance Difficulties in South Africa
47
Children's Institute, University of Cape Town
48
Civic Action for Public Participation
49
College of Public Health Medicine
50
Community Chest
51
Community Development Foundation, Western Cape
52
Community Healing Network
53
Connected COTN
54
Corruption Watch
55
Cultural Connections
56
Denis Hurley Centre
57
Destined for Heaven Ministries
58
Development Action Group
59
Development Works
60
Documentary Filmmakers Association
61
Drama for Change NPO
62
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence on Food Security - Secretariat, Food
Governance Community of Practice
63
Dullah Omar Institute
64
DVV International
65
Eagle Training and Development
66
Economic Justice Network of
67
Environmental Humanities South
68
Environmental Monitoring Group
69
Equal Education
70
Equality Collective
71
Extinction Rebellion South Africa
72
Farmers network south africa
73
Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa
74
Femme Projects, Coloured Mentality
75
Fighting Inequality Alliance South Africa
76
Fossil Free South Africa
77
Foundation for Human Rights
78
Fountain for the Thirsty
79
FP ENGINEERING
80
Gateway Health Institute
81
Gender Equity Unit, University of the Western Cape
82
Global hope youth foundation
83
Grace Family Church
84
GroundWork
85
Grow Great
86
Gun Free South Africa
87
HealthEnabled
88
Heinrich Böll Foundation Cape Town Office
89
Helen Suzman Foundation
90
HLANGANISA INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT SOUTHERN AFRICA
91
Hlanganisa Institute for Development Southern Africa
92
Housing Assembly
93
Inclusive and Affirming Ministries
94
Initiative for Community Advancement
95
Innovation Network for Collaboration in the Children’s Sector
96
Institute for Economic Justice
97
Institute for Economic Research on Innovation
98
Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, Tshwane University of
Technology .
99
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
100
Institute for the Healing of Memories
101
International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG)
102
Inyanda National Land Movement
103
Isandla Institute
104
Isibani Law and Therapy Center
105
Ithuba Lethu Recycling Cooperative
106
Just Associates Southern Africa (JASS)
107
Just Share
108
Kadesh International
109
Keep Left
110
Kheth’Impilo
111
LABOUR AND SOCIAL STUDIES GROUP
112
Labour Research Service
113
LAJJ Resources
114
Land Access Movement of South Africa
115
Land Network National Engagement Strategy of South Africa
116
Lawyers for Human Rights
117
Learning in Reach
118
LifeLine Northern Cape
119
Lighthouse foundation
120
Liminability
121
Makause Community Development Forum
122
Makhanda Black Kollective
123
Marikana youth movement
124
Masifunde Learner Development
125
Masifundise
126
Masimanyane Women's Rights International
127
Medecins Sans Frontières
128
Middleburg Environmental Justice Network
129
Mining Affected Communities United in Action
130
Mining and Environmental Justice Communities' Network of South Africa
(MEJCON-SA)
131
My Vote Counts
132
Nal’ibali Trust
133
National Union of Care Workers of SA (NUCWOSA)
134
Natural Justice
135
Ndifuna Ukwazi
136
Neighborhood Empowerment Organization
137
Nelson Mandela Foundation
138
Networking HIV & AIDS Community of Southern Africa
139
New World Foundation
140
NISAA
141
Nozuko Madokwe
142
Observatory Civic Association
143
One Voice for All Hawkers
144
Open Secrets
145
Open Society Foundation South Africa
146
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse
147
Own capacity as SA citizen
148
Oxfam South Africa
149
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Gauteng
150
Parents Families & Friends of the South Africaan Queers
151
People Against Apartheid and Fascism (PAAF)
152
People4Impact NPC
153
People’s Health Movement South Africa
154
Phaphama Initiatives NPC
155
Philippi Village
156
Phuhilsani NPC
157
Phuhlisani NPC
158
Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group
159
Popular Education Programme
160
Pride Shelter Trust
161
ProBono.Org
<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ProBono.Org&sa=D&ust=1587192540892000&usg=AFQjCNH2aRKOAm2nNsiAjKdnuaaFU0At-g>
162
Public Affairs Research Institute
163
Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
164
Public Services International
165
Radical Education Network
166
Refugee Social Services
167
Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI)
168
Rehana Khan Parker & Associates
169
RHM ATTORNEYS
170
Right2Protest Project
171
Riverlea Covid 19 disaster forum
172
Rural Health Advocacy Project
173
SA BDS Coalition
174
SA Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union
175
SA Informal Traders Alliance (SAITA)
176
SA Lawyers for Change
177
SACBC Justice and Peace Commission
178
SADRA Conflict Transformation
179
Safety and Violence Initiative, UCT
180
SAIDE
181
Salt River Heritage Society
182
Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town
183
Senqu gender links
184
Seriti Institute
185
Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT)
186
Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition
187
Sexual Violence Research Initiative
188
Sharp# movement for ecosocialism
189
Shayisifuba
190
Sisterhood Movement
191
Social Change Assistance Trust
192
Social Justice Advocacy Campaign
193
Social Justice Coalition
194
Social Law Project, University of the Western Cape
195
Social Surveys Institute
196
Society Work and Politics Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
197
Sojac
198
Solidarity for Free, Decolonised Education
199
Somaland
200
Sonke Gender Justice
201
Sophiatown Community Psychological Services
202
South Africa Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union(Sadsawu)
203
South Africa Mining Affected Communities
204
South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU)
205
South African Green Revolutionary Council
206
South African Jews for a Free Palestine
207
South African Waste Pickers Association (SAWPA)
208
Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute
209
Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute
210
Support Centre for Land Change
211
Support Programme for Industrial Innovation
212
Surplus People’s Project
213
TB Proof
214
Terri
215
test test org
216
The Altar of Worship Church (PMB)
217
The Climate Justice Charter
218
The College of Public Health Medicine
219
The Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union
(CSAAWU)
220
The Cooperative and Policy Alternative Centre
221
The GALA Queer Archive
222
The Global Interfaith Network For People of All Sexes, Sexual
Orientations, Gender Identities and Expressions
223
The Independent Producers Organisation
224
The Institute for Economic Justice
225
The Institute for the Healing of Memories
226
The Interim People’s Library
227
The Leadership Factory
228
The Legal Resource Centre
229
The Mbegu Platform
230
The National Shelter Movement
231
The South African Food Sovereignty Campaign
232
The Umkhumbane Schools Project
233
Therefore Studio
234
Treasured Gems Cancer Support
235
Treatment Action Campaign
236
Triangle Project
237
Trust for Community Outreach and Education
238
Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education
239
Tshwane Leadership Foundation
240
TTS
241
UKZN Decoloniality Activist Forum
242
UNISA Institute for Social and Health Sciences
243
USAWA Projects for Equity
244
Viva Foundation of South Africa
245
Westdene Sophiatown Residents' Association
246
Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability
247
Women and Democaracy Initiative
248
Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO)
249
Women on Farms Project
250
Women's Legal Centre
251
Workers World Media Productions
252
Woza Women in Leadership
253
Zer021 Cape Town
***
Civil society left to feed thousands of children on Cape Flats
17 April 2020 Text by Steve Kretzmann
<https://www.groundup.org.za/author/29/>. Photos by Brenton Geach
<https://www.groundup.org.za/author/517/>.
Civil society network feeding more than 1,300 children in Lavender
Hill and surrounds
Photo of a soup pot with children in a field in the background
<https://www.groundup.org.za/media/uploads/images/photographers/Brenton%20Geach/Lavendar%20Hill.jpeg>
Children sit waiting to be fed on what is known as “the battlefield”,
where rival gangs often clash in Lavender Hill. Gang violence in the
area has subsided since a ceasefire was brokered following the shooting
of five-year-old Valentino Grootetjie in December last year.
On a large open field in Lavender Hill known as ‘the battlefield’, where
clashes between rival gangs the Mongrels and Junky Funky Kids take
place, over 300 children sit, spaced one-and-a-half-metres apart to
reduce the possibility of Covid-19 transmission.
Ranging in age from three years to early teens, the children are waiting
in the autumnal midday sun for food. As it is Easter Monday, they will
also receive a chocolate egg. For most of them, it will be the only meal
they will receive until they return tomorrow.
While the wait for the two 50-litre pots containing rice and stew that
will be dished into the plastic containers all the children bring with
them, a police van pulls up and the officer warns organiser Mark
Nicholson that if the children are still there when police return, he
will be given a R2,000 fine because his essential services permit has
expired.
Fortunately, the food arrived in the back of a Hyundai van, having been
cooked by Lavender Hill resident and activist Lucinda Evans, with a
group of volunteers. The food is distributed and the children disperse
before the police return to make good their threat. Only a score or so
adults remain, having waited to see if there are any leftovers to sate
their own hunger.
The feeding of hundreds of children has occurred daily since the start
of the national lockdown, with the exception of Easter Sunday when the
organisers, cooks, and volunteers took time off to relax with their own
families.
Normally, the children would receive food at school. In an area with
anemployment rate of only about 40%
<https://wazimap.co.za/profiles/ward-19100068-city-of-cape-town-ward-68-19100068/>,
many parents are unable to afford food at the best of times, and under
the extended lockdown, many households are becoming desperate.
Households such as those of Kathleen Laurence, who has an 11-year-old
and 20-year-old daughter living with her. Laurence says the only income
is a child grant of R440 a month.
“There’s no money,” she says. “Normally I go to shops and I ask people.
I walk to Grassy Park and ask around but I can’t do that now [under
lockdown]. We often sleep without food.”
Veronica Fortune is also a single parent, looking after five children
aged from six to 13. Fortune receives a child grant for three of her
children but it is not enough to last through the month. Under normal
circumstances she too would walk surrounding neighbourhoods looking for
work or handouts. Out of desperation she even tried to do so under
lockdown, but she said she was beaten by police. (“/Die polisie het al
vir my geslat omdat ek Grassy Park toe geloop/.”)
“With lockdown, we don’t eat,” she says.
Which is why Nicholson, who is director of the Lavender Hill Football
Club and overlooks the battleground from the municipal flat he lives in
with his wife Shireen and their children, is willing to run the risk of
a fine in order to continue feeding the children in his community.
<https://www.groundup.org.za/media/uploads/images/photographers/Brenton%20Geach/Lucinda.jpeg>
Lucinda Evans has been cooking meals for 1,300 children in Lavender Hill
and surrounds from her garage since the start of the national lockdown.
Nicholson is part of a civil society network feeding more than 1,300
children who gather at sites such as the one he serves; in Which Court,
Lavender Hill; St. Esther Street in Rondevlei; Magaliesburg Street in
Hillview; 11A 12th Avenue in Cafda Village; and Elsie Manning Street in
Cafda Village.
In the centre of this network, receiving little support from local or
provincial government, is Lucinda Evans, who has also been instrumental
in liaison and setting up feeding sites in Delft, Kuils River,
Mitchell’s Plain, and Caledon in the Overberg with other organisations.
Evans is director of Philisaa Abafazi Bethu, a non-profit organisation
countering gender-based violence, but the prospect of children starving
under lockdown prompted her to pivot funds and resources in order tomeet
the need state-sponsored school feeding schemes
<https://www.groundup.org.za/article/covid-19-motshekga-urged-restore-school-feeding-schemes-during-lockdown/>no
longer meet.
The first, and only, official support received was a gas burner, gas,
bags of meal and pulses, and two large pots, delivered by Mayor Dan
Plato on Tuesday.
Since the start of lockdown, Evans has been cooking in her garage from
7am every day in order to send the food out to the various sites by
midday. Easter weekend was rough, she said, as a rumour had been doing
the rounds that she and Nicholson were storing food parcels, and as a
result there had been a stream of people coming to her house.
Scores of people had also gathered at the gates of nearby Levana Primary
School, she said, due to a rumour that food parcels were to be dropped
off there. She has had to put a sign on her front door explaining that
there are no food parcels in the house.
Additionally, Easter Monday was not the first time Nicholson had been
accosted by law enforcement while trying to feed desperately hungry
children. She said on Wednesday, 8 April, the City Metro cops had
arrived with the intention of breaking up what they had been told was a
“holiday programme” for school children. She said they had been sent by
a City official who had seen the children sitting on the field in their
1.5metre grid from the control centre where CCTV footage from the
adjacent Hillwood Primary School is processed.
The situation was defused, she said, because it was clear children were
being fed and necessary social distancing and hygiene precautions were
being taken.
The organisational funds she’s directed to feeding children will run out
by 19 April, she says. Thankfully Breadline Africa and Rotary Club
Newlands are contributing, and theCape Town Together Community Action
Network (CAN) <https://www.facebook.com/groups/CapeTownTogether/about/>
from Plumstead, spearheaded by Lutz Manzelmann, is providing food for
the Lavender Hill initiative under Nicholson.
Although no assistance from the City or Province had yet been provided,
Evans said she was due to have an urgent meeting with subcouncil 18
manager Fred Monk and chair Shanen Rossouw.
She said all she wanted from the subcouncil officials was for them to
speak to churches and schools about running the feeding efforts from
their facilities, and for access to the City database so old people
could also be fed.
She said she thought the school lockdown might be extended to 23 June.
“We need to be ready.”
In the absence of any plan from local ward councillors or other
officials, she was developing one for her ward, said Evans.
This would include finding premises from which to operate, such as
church halls or schools, particularly as the rainy season approaches, as
well as secure storage should food parcels arrive. At the moment all the
feeding sites are in the open air.
She was expecting a massive increase in the number of children, and
adults, coming to get food. Already children were walking about a
kilometre from Overcome informal settlement to get food at Nicholson’s
site in Lavender Hill, swelling the numbers from about 250 a week ago to
about 350 now.
“I expect 2,000 children by the week of the 20th,” says Evans.
Calls and WhatsApp messages to Lavender Hill ward 68 Councillor Marita
Petersen (DA) and subcouncil chair Shanen Rossouw went unanswered.
/UPDATE: Some readers have requested how they can help. Please try the
Cape Town Together Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CapeTownTogether/
/
//
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