The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) has described President Jacob Zuma’s visit on Wednesday to receive the Freedom of the City as a baptism of all the town's social ills.
The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) has described President Jacob Zuma’s visit on Wednesday to receive the Freedom of the City as a baptism of all the town's social ills.
The movement's leader, Ayanda Kota, explained to Grocott's Mail earlier this week that while a court appearance on Wednesday by their members meant they wouldn't be staging any protest, this didn't mean they sanctioned the presidential visit. Zuma would not be in Grahamstown to ask about irregular financial practices in the municipality, or the fact that many people it served still used the bucket system, Kota said.
Instead, he would be in Grahamstown to attend a meeting on traditional rituals and to accept the Key to the City. “We need that key to our dignity,” Kota said, explaining that the lack of proper toilets or houses left the people of Grahamstown begging to be granted such a key – one that would free them from the prison of poverty and poor service-delivery.
Kota said Zuma’s acceptance of the honour, while not insisting the focus be on Grahamstown’s social problems, meant he was effectively “coming to baptise all the social ills, such as nepotism and corruption”. The movement has led several protests against poor service-delivery this year, notably one in which members delivered full toilet buckets to the doorstep of the city hall.
They had been widely expected to make their mark during the President's visit. “We will not be protesting tomorrow,” said Kota on Tuesday, explaining that some of their members would be appearing in court the next day and that they were wary of placing their comrades at risk. Kota also slammed the symbolism of the honour, saying while Zuma would be taking one small street to be named after him, a town "which is named after a butcher and the 1820 Settlers Monument that was erected in his memory" remained. "It is an indictment on the President himself… it is an insult to our struggle and fallen heroes,” Kota said.
