[Imc-ct] MEDIA ALTERT: Landless and farmers to march on rural town of Robertson

[Community News]

MEDIA ALTERT: Landless and farmers to march on rural town of Robertson



Issued by the Mawubuye Land Rights Forum, 23 April 2008.





Small farms and landless people will commemorate Freedom Day on  
Monday 28 April by marching on the rural Western Cape town of  
Robertson to demand access to government land to feed their families.



Mawubuye Land Rights Forum will deliver a memorandum to Western Cape  
MEC for Local Government, Richard Dyanti, and Breede River Winelands  
Municipality Mayor, John Ngonyama. This will be the largest march on  
record in the municipality.



Mawubuye chairperson, Henry Michaels, told communities: “It’s been  
fourteen years since we got our vote and we still cannot feed our  
families, develop our communities, or lead lives of dignity. Our  
government has land which it leases to commercial farmers while our  
people remain poor.”



“We have met the Municipality many times and they still cannot  
provide us with an asset register of available land. Despite our  
participation in government’s consultation processes, the provision  
of land for subsistence farming does not feature in the IDP – local  
government’s development plan”.



“Our voices have not been heard! Now we are fed-up – we will no  
longer watch our families suffering. We are marching to the Mayor to  
express our anger”.



“We are told this is our democracy, but we see food prices going up,  
jobs being lost on the commercial farms, and no land redistribution  
in our area. We must wonder who this democracy is serving! ”, said  
Michaels.



The march will proceed from Trent Tire in Robertson at 10h00 and  
deliver a memorandum to the MEC and Mayor at the Municipal Offices in  
Church Street on 28 April.



We call on the media to come to Roberson to witness this historic  
community action.



### ENDS ###



Mawubuye Land Rights Forum was established in 2006 as a membership  
based organization representing small farmers and landless people  
from the Overberg and Breede River Winelands.



For comment or more information please contact:



Henry Michaels (Mawubuye chairpersons) 0799367488 (English and  
Afrikaans)

Leon Maart (Mawubuye Secretary) 0787014687 (English and Afrikaans)

Dalsie Winegaard 0832910394(English and Afrikaans)



Community News SA provides news and views from South African civil  
society groups engaged in social transformation. Every effort is made  
to ensure content of this communication is accurate. Contact  
Community News SA through Mark Weinberg on 0741036704 or email  
community.news.sa at gmail.com




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