* BULLETIN : 8

Another Tale from Two Cities. Part One: South Africa

Eyes Glued to the Sky

I have seen the clouds accumulate and have heard the rumbles of thunder for a very long time. The stillness of the air and the quietness, sometimes confusing, as people moved to and fro, like ants preparing for the winter. The flashes of lightning reflected on false smiles and the laughter, like chirps from birds, warning that there was a snake deep down under in the belly of society.

Now that the rains have fallen and tears have washed away some of our make-up, and trees and buildings have been destroyed, we have to swiftly move to erect the relevant movements. Yes, use some of these trees to build bridges, and some to erect structures so as to have a shelter.

They came from far and wide to be with their fellow comrades in poverty - the majority really concerned about the movement. Some were there for the very first time and hungry for information and development; others saturated by hate and disgusted by the misuse and abuse of capacities and resources. This was all evident in the debates, the sarcasm, in the embarrassing propaganda spat out by leaders and members alike.

The encouraging thing was that people wanted to come out of this Imbiso having been heard. It reminded me of mass meetings some years ago in Piesang River, just that there were no guns this time around. The atmosphere was high. The singing and ululating reminded me of days gone by when the Federation was still very active. People had come to this meeting to make a mark.

The leadership, feeling threatened and not sure of the outcome, decided to defend itself, (a mistake), to challenge members (also a mistake), pit members against one another (yet another mistake), but also to admit – directly and indirectly - that they are really weak at this moment.

The meeting explained also why we don’t have as many exchanges anymore. It also explained why the movement no more talks about people and development.
The focus was on the structure, on things that do not make a difference to poor people’s lives:
1. Group of 3
2. Decision making
3. Management
4. PD Board
5. Individuals

Nothing was mentioned about our developments, savings, enumerations, community based training etc. All the contentious issues were about control and not about how to refocus on our struggles, our rights and our poverty. To make things more painful we were hosted in Thinasonke - by a community dying for support - and I am just wondering how much damage was done to their hope for tomorrow.

And yet --- now that we know the situation, I am confident that it will be easier to tackle that task at hand. It is always good to know what you are dealing with.

The regions which differed in the proceedings were only two. In fact I don t think it is fair to say regions but just the leaders of those 2 regions – leaders with track records of authoritarianism and intolerance. Well, what can we say? They will say they have a right to differ.

It will be very interesting to look at the cause of these differences.

(a) Because we are not doing anything practical on the ground, eg. House construction, land acquisition enumerations to understand our situation etc. People are frustrated.
(b) Because the emphasis is not on network building and savings. The leaders focus elsewhere.
(c) Because money is being dangled openly to certain leaders in the National leadership. You can be sure that sparks are going to fly.
(d) Certain People’s Dialogue staff members are positioning themselves for power, and lying to themselves that they have the vision and the capacity to manage this complex and difficult process.
Patrick Magebhula