Alexandra township will turn into a battleground for the hearts and souls of the urban poor when three civil society groups seek to outgun each other on Action Day.
The groups will use Action Day, August 31, to highlight issues that top the agenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
One group is a coalition of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the African National Congress, another is the South African National NGO Coalition (Sangoco). Both are regarded as pro-establishment groups and are likely to join forces for a protest march that focuses on poverty eradication and sustainable development.
A third group, the Social Movement Indaba (SMI), is more radical and holds far-Left views. The SMI will march from the Far East Bank in Alex, join the Landless People’s Movement and proceed to the Sandton Convention Centre. An organiser of this march has warned: “Action can be expected, so be prepared.”
The six-month-old SMI includes the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC), the Anti-Privatisation Forum (AFP), the Economic Justice Network Forum, First People, Indymedia, Jubilee South Africa, the Landless People’s Movement, the Municipal Services Project, the Palestinian Solidarity Group, the Rural Services Development Network, Trust for Community Outreach and Education, and the World Bank Bonds Boycott.
These groups are not represented at Nasrec with other civil society organisations. They are organising in other parts of Johannesburg and are likely to be joined by international anti-globalisation groups.
“The split happened because the ANC didn’t want left-wing groups to dominate the summit,” says Trevor Ngwane of the AFP and SECC.
“We won’t be having placards saying ‘End poverty’, it will be more than this. We will be opposing [President] Thabo Mbeki for his track record. Our placards will say: ‘Away with Mbeki, Nepad [the New Partnership for Africa’s Development] and Gear [the growth, employment and redistribution strategy]’.
“Look at Gear and what it has achieved. It has been the biggest destroyer of jobs,” says Ngwane.
Eddie Cottle of the Rural Services Development Network said: “New forms of organisations are forming. It’s a move away from the traditionalist congress movement of the past. It’s becoming mass based. Its grassroots demands are about jobs, livelihoods and living standards. We are just beginning to mobilise African civil society. We can’t march with them because they will water down our demands.”
The mainstream body running the civil society meetings at Nasrec is Sangoco, which has between 4000 and 5000 affiliates.
Glenn Farred, a senior Sangoco official, said this week: “We have no problems with the SMI, but we do not base our programme on rejecting the United Nations and the summit. This is the starting point.
“We are, however, committed to changing the macroeconomic framework of the government. Our view is that civil society has to engage to reach the most united solution.”