Land foundation of struggles in SA

their authority.
The people’s land had been stolen, fenced and sold.
The land issue is really serious and it is really dangerous.
When the minority government was pressurised on the land issue they often decided to shoot and kill our fathers and mothers.
Some died on the streets because of the struggle for land.
Others had their limbs amputated because of the struggle for land.
Some lost their eyes because of the struggle for land.
There were so many struggles for land.
There was the war of the heads in 1906.
There was the struggle of the women of Cato Manor in 1956.
There was the battle on Ngquza Hill in 1960.
When Mandela returned and then became president there was so much speculation among the people.
They were expecting the government to do miracles about the land issue.
But up to now they are still crying the very same tears they have been crying before.
People are still crying for land in the rural areas and in the cities.
People are still struggling for a place in their country.
That struggle remains serious and it remains dangerous.
The land struggle is not the only struggle. People are also struggling for houses, for better wages, for good schooling and against the councillors, BECs and unions that are controlling the people.
But the land struggle is the foundation of many other struggles.
This is why we say “Land & Freedom!”; “Land & Housing!” and “Land, Justice & Dignity”.
People are still being evicted in rural areas.
The government is trying to strengthen the power of the chiefs in the rural areas.
The Bantustans remain. And people are still being evicted from the cities.
They are being left homeless or dumped in transit camps.
And the struggle remains dangerous.
If you join the struggle you will face violence from party members and the police.
We can lose our lives if we are not careful.
Our government is a capitalist government. It is a government for the rich.
It is making some people very rich and it is slowly changing the colour of the people who are rich.
It is always saying that there is a problem with the colour of the people that are rich but it never says that there is a problem which is that the rich, all of them together, have too much land, too much money and too much power.
In my way of understanding, I won’t feel shocked if more of us are killed in the struggle for land.
Now that the government is losing the confidence of the people in the cities and on the mines it has decided to use violence to silence us and to intimidate us.
This government wants to defend the system that is making them and their families rich while everybody else is suffering.
The Marikana Massacre was the most terrifying case of defending the rich.
When our president gave a speech about this massacre he sung a song called “Senzeni Na” before he delivered his speech.
That song we used to sing it even before 1994.
But even now we are still singing the same song.
Why? When that song continues there are words that say “Our sin is our colour”.
Are we still sinning even to the government that we fought for?
There must be something very, very wrong.
If the government cannot recognise our humanity than we have to recognise our humanity ourselves.
Please let’s make sure that even under threatening conditions like these we go forward to claim what belongs to the people.
Now is the time for all of us who are landless to show what it really means to fight for land in the rural areas and in the cities.
With land we can start to be counted as citizens of this country.
Land has to be distributed according to social need and not according to who has money.
We need to fight jointly to make sure that we defeat this demon which is embracing our country.
But if those who are suffering are not showing anything, how will other people know that they are supposed to join the struggle and to support us?
Every land occupation is a small step towards making this a country for all who live in it and breaking the power of money over land. — Pambazuka News.