Our movement currently has 93 branches in good standing in four provinces and well more than 150 000 members in good standing. Last weekend we launched two branches in Gauteng. 

It is common for people outside of the movement to not understand the scale of the movement because we do not issue regular press statements from all the branches. We have to limit the number of statements we issue because (1) the democratic process that goes into producing a statement is very time consuming – it can take several days of work and (2) if we issue too many statements people stop reading them and they lose impact and so we tend to limit statements to issues that are urgent – such as repression, evictions, and so on, or matters that are very important for other reasons. As a result of all this the branches that are struggling with repression tend to get the most media attention but it is important to keep in mind that each branch is just one branch in a movement with many branches.

Since 2005, when our movement was formed, a number of branches have fallen away as they have not been able to remain organised according to the processes and principles required for ongoing membership of our movement. For instance there needs to be a minimum number of members in good standing, regular elections and regular meetings of both the elected branch councils and the members of the branch as a whole. Branches also need to adhere to all the principles of our movement such as equality between men and women (including in terms of representation on elected structures), opposition to xenophobia and a ban on selling and renting land and shacks. In some cases we have had to suspend branches until they can resolve issues.

In our movement, as is common in many movements around the world, individual and branch membership is for a set period after which it must be renewed. This is very important to sustain democratic forms of organising and to ensure that our membership is made up of people with active commitment to the movement.

All land movements, rural and urban, around the world have some branches that lapse and new branches that form. Some branches remain strong for many years while others may be strong when occupying land or facing eviction but find that participation and levels of organisation decline when there is no longer a threat of eviction. Sometimes it can happen that political parties or NGOs make deals with individual leaders in branches where participation has declined resulting in personalised claims to leadership and branch membership falling away. There can also be exhaustion after a long period of intense struggle and sometimes conflicts emerge within branches. All of this is a global phenomenon seen in land movements around the world, and in other kinds of social movements too.

It is a very important principle of our movement that we struggle with people and not for people. It is also an important principle of our movement that we do not unilaterally speak for our branches or our members. Positions are formulated democratically. Branch leaders must take their mandate from their members and movement leaders must take their mandate from the branches. For all these reasons, and more, we cannot act or speak for people who are not members of our movement. Of course if they are independently organised and request our solidarity we can make statements of solidarity, offer advice and make connections to other organisations and so on. But we do not do this if we are not asked to do so. We never act unilaterally.

We ask people to talk to us, not for us, and we apply the same principle to our branches and to independent communities.

In terms of eKhenana the branch’s membership came to an end on 1 October 2023. In terms of how our movement works in order to renew their membership they would have to ensure that they have a minimum number of individual members and hold a new election. After a discussion we agreed that the branch would have its election and its membership renewed on 30 November. However, the leadership of eKhenana cancelled the scheduled election and renewal set for 30 November. We were expecting them to propose a new date but they did not. As is standard in our movement they had a three month grace period to hold the election and renew their membership during which they could continue to participate in the movement with all rights and responsibilities. However they did not set a new date and so their membership automatically lapsed after three months. This has previously happened with other branches and is standard practice in our movement. All branches and members understand the obligation to go through the correct process to periodically renew membership.

The eKhenana residents did not seek to renew their membership. They did not approach us for support to resolve any problems that may have arisen to make it difficult for them to renew their membership. They did not tell us about any internal problems. As a result their membership lapsed and they have not been members of our movement since the end of 2023.

Our movement has never recruited members. People come to the movement if they wish to join, after which a process has to be followed to build democratic structures before a branch can be launched. It can take months or even years for a branch to achieve full membership. We also do not try to persuade branches to sustain their membership. The same principle applies – people must choose to join the movement. Of course if people request our support to work towards launching or renewing a branch we gladly provide that support.

We did not ‘forsake’ eKhenana. They did not renew their membership or request our support to resolve any problems that may have prevented them from renewing their membership.

I held meetings with a group of eKhenana residents on 10, 26 and 29 September 2004. If at any of these meetings there was a request to support the residents with any issues preventing them from renewing their membership we would have gladly assisted. If they had said that they were ready to renew we would have discussed a date for the election of the branch council and the renewal of the branch affiliation.

Our Deputy President met with a small group of eKhenana residents yesterday, 16 September, and a meeting with a larger group is scheduled for tomorrow, 19 October. We are looking forward to this meeting and if we are asked to assist in resolving any issues preventing the renewal of the branch affiliation will gladly do what we can.

However eKhenana is not currently affiliated to our movement as its membership lapsed and was not renewed. It is a key principle of the movement that we always act through democratic processes and that we struggle with and not for people. If people are not members and there is no properly constituted branch with elected leaders and the capacity to form common positions in a community there is no possibility of a democratic mandate for us to take any action in support of a community. It is also important to understand that there are often serious divisions in communities and without a democratically elected structure that sustains democratic processes there may be competing claims to represent communities, sometimes by very small groups of people or even individuals.

We have heard that ANC aligned people are trying to seize land in eKhenana to sell it. We are also aware that some people in the community feel vulnerable. All this is extremely unfortunate and the residents, who have struggled so bravely to win land and build a commune, have our deepest admiration and sympathy. But as explained above eKhenana are no longer members of our movement, have not requested our support to renew their membership and have not developed their own independent organisation and sought our solidarity with that organisation. We have no mandate to undertake any actions in or for any group of residents in eKhenana under these circumstances. We cannot speak for them without them.

But, of course, if a quorum of residents of eKhenana (50 people) took individual membership and requested our support to renew the branch they would have our full and warm support. If an independent organisation was formed and it requested our solidarity we would gladly provide what support we could. We work with many poor people’s organisations that are not affiliated to our movement and have often worked with people to start or build other organisations such as, for instance, the Congolese Solidarity Campaign.

In terms of the claim that one of our leaders gave a phone number of an official in the municipality to a resident of eKhenana this is true. Struggle always takes multiple forms, from direct action, to protest and use of the courts. It also includes engaging the state or particular individuals in the state in various ways. If a request had been made for something like the contact number of a pro bono law firm, a journalist or a leader of another organisation, we would gladly have shared that number too.

We have to be absolutely scrupulous with money. We must raise any issues where there is not proper accounting for use of money or any sort of misuses of money or attempts to collect money on a problematic or corrupt basis. Our record in this regard is exemplary and every audit we have had has been clean, year after year. The fact that we are so rigorous about raising, using and accounting for the use of money is a key reason why our movement has survived for 19 years, and continues to grow. We have survived and grown because our members trust the integrity of the movement.

There can be a cost for taking a strong and principled position on corruption. In 2014 we had to expel a member for taking money from a community on a corrupt basis. That person was then misrepresented as a victim by the type of NGOs and academics who want to control movements. They made no attempt to ascertain the facts of the matter. People held accountable for corruption often become very angry and often present themselves as victims to the media, NGOs, academics, political parties, etc, for obvious reasons. This has happened to many organisations and it will continue to happen.

There was an issue when a number of residents of eKhenana were receiving support from the movement to secure their safety in the form of safe accommodation and stipends for food and other basic expenses. Two of these people did not tell the other eKhenana residents about this support and collected money from them for support. They also manipulated another person, who was not a member of our movement, into giving them a large amount of her personal money. This is not acceptable behaviour and we had no choice but to act.

However we did not ‘abandon’ eKhenana because of any issue pertaining to money, any issue pertaining to any individual, or any issue at all. They did not renew their branch affiliation or seek our assistance to resolve any issues in the community that may have been preventing renewal. It was their choice.

It makes no sense to say that the movement is ‘capitalising on their struggle’. After all, since the eKhenana branch’s membership of our movement lapsed we have not issued any further statements about the community or held any movement events in the community. When there was an active and affiliated branch all statements were issued and events organised in partnership with the elected structure in the branch.

Of course we do continue to raise awareness of the repression that our movement has suffered in order to build solidarity with the aim of ending repression. When we do so we always mention all the members of our movement who lost their lives in the course of our struggle. This includes people from eKhenana who were members when they were martyred along with all others who were members of the movement when they lost their lives.

Yesterday we were very pleased to have a very positive meeting with a small group of people from eKhenana. A bigger meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. If they request our support to work with them to resolve any problems that need to be resolved in order for them to be able to secure a quorum of members, hold an election and renew their membership we will be delighted to do so and will give them the same support as we do to all our people seeking affiliation to our movement, whether for the first time or to renew their affiliation.