No Land! No House! No Vote!

See also: No Land! No House! No Vote! (Book)

No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking.^[1] The name is meant to imply that if government does not deliver on issues important to affected communities (such as land and housing) these movements will not vote.

History

The No Land! No House! No Vote! campaign began as a national campaign by the South African Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) in 2004.^[2] Originally called the No Land! No Vote! campaign, the Landless People's Movement and the National Land Committee argued that voters have to be registered in their home ward to vote and that it would be impossible to vote if families were under threat of eviction or had no secure tenure.^[3] Amnesty International has reported that LPM activists were tortured during the 2004 national government elections after taking on a ‘No Land! No Vote’ position.^[4]

In 2006, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo movements boycotted the municipal elections under the banner of this campaign. The AEC held an election day march in Cape Town saying they would abstain from voting. A march by Abahlali baseMjondolo under the banner of the No Land! No House! No Vote! campaign was illegally banned by the Durban Municipality and was met with police repression.^[5][6]

In 2008, The Landless Peoples Movement, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Rural Network joined to form the Poor People's Alliance. In 2009, the Alliance voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land! No House! No Vote! Banner.^[7]

During the 2009 national election campaign, the No Vote! campaign suffered severe repression by political parties and police. On 8 February 2009, the South African Police allegedly beat and tear-gassed Gugulethu residents who were holding a meeting about housing because the ANC provincial chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha claimed they were disrupting voters registration.^[8][9] Eight members of the Landless Peoples Movement were also arrested in March 2009 and some claim that this is related to the No Vote! campaign by the Poor Peoples Alliance. ^[10]

In the 2009 elections 39% of potential voters supported the ANC.^[11]

Abahlali baseMjondolo called for a boycott of the 2011 local government elections.^[12][13][14] They were joined by a range of other social movements including the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, the Mandela Park Backyarders, Sikhula Sonke, the South African Unemployed Peoples' Movement and the Landless People's Movement.^[15] Local community organisations also organised vote strikes in a number of towns around the country including, for instance, King William's Town^[16], Ficksburg^[17], Grahamstown^[18] and Cato Ridge^[19]. A total of 42% of registered voters did not vote in the elections.^[20]

Reasoning behind the campaign

Proponents of the No Land! No House! No Vote! campaign have explained the reasons behind their campaign. There are a variety of reasons for boycotting elections ^[21] but most people who take this position say that they have been voting since 1994 but have seen no positive result from voting.^{[22] [23]}They also often claim that politicians are all corrupt and that there are no political parties that represent the poor.^[24] Proponents also make the structural argument that the electoral process itself is undemocratic, that poor people must speak for themselves, and that the movements should be unaligned and pressure whichever political party comes into power.^{[25][26][27][28][29]}

Variations on the Campaign

Proponents of the No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign have come up with similar slogans which have included the statements 'No Jobs!', 'No Electricity!', 'No Water!', 'No Respect!', 'No Freedom!' as part of the 'No Vote!' boycott campaign.^{[30][31][32][33]}

Criticisms of the Campaign

According to South African President Jacob Zuma "If you do not vote, you are depriving yourself of a freedom we have fought for and given you. You are deciding to oppress yourself...you are failing yourself and the nation.^[34]

See also

• Abahlali baseMjondolo
• Abstention
• The Landless Peoples Movement
• The Poor People's Alliance
• The Mandela Park Backyarders
• Sikhula Sonke
• The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
• The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front

References

1. ^ By Voting We Are Only Choosing Our Oppressors, Soundz of the South
2. ^ ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy". Mail and Guardian. http://www.abahlali.org/node/865. 
3. ^ "An anatomy of new power". Mail and Guardian. http://www.mg.co.za/article/2005-01-25-an-anatomy-of-new-power. 
4. ^ "2005 Annual Report for South Africa". Amnesty International. http://www.amnestyusa.org/annualreport.php?id=ar&yr=2005&c=ZAF. 
5. ^ "Sekwanele! (Enough is enough!): Post-apartheid land and housing struggles". Pambazuka. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/53204. 
6. ^ ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy". Mail and Guardian. http://www.abahlali.org/node/865. 
7. ^ Resistance Not Ballots; Mass Organisation Not Authoritarian Leaders, Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front, 9 May 2010
8. ^ "AEC members tear gassed, beaten and arrested; residents lay blame on ANC". Anti-Eviction Campaign. http://antieviction.org.za/2009/02/09/aec-members-tear-gassed-beaten-and-arrested-residents-lay-blame-on-anc/. 
9. ^ "Elections: A Dangerous Time for Poor People's Movements in South Africa". SACSIS. http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/245.1. 
10. ^ "8 Landless People’s Movement Comrades Under Arrest in Johannesburg". Landless Peoples Movement. http://antieviction.org.za/2009/03/03/8-landless-peoples-movement-comrades-under-arrest-in-johannesburg/. 
11. ^ SA rulers need to find new ways to carry citizens with them, Anthony Butler, Business Day, 27 July 2009
12. ^ SOUTH AFRICA: Poor people's movement draws government wrath, IRIN,UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 22 April 2010
13. ^ W Cape voters ‘not predictable’, Quinton Mtyala and Babalo Ndenze, The Cape Argus, 18 May 2011
14. ^ ‘No Land! No House! No Vote!’, The Mercury, By SINEGUGU NDLOVU AND BRONWYN FOURIE, 19 May 2011
15. ^ The revolt of South Africa’s untouchables, Pambazuka Press, 09 March 2011
16. ^ We won’t vote for ‘a stranger’, Vuvu Vena, The Daily Dispatch, 19 May 2011
17. ^ Disillusioned voters snub Ficksburg poll, Kwanele Sosibo, Mail & Guardian, 20 May 2011
18. ^ Unhappy Tantyi residents stay away from polls by Thembeni Plaatjie, Grocott's Mail, 20 May 2011
19. ^ ANC choice of candidate sparks political unrest May 20 2011, KARREN BOWDEN AND LEANNE JANSEN, The Mercury
20. ^ Elephant will ignore the DA ‘ant’ at its own peril, AUBREY MATSHIQI, Business Day, 23 May 2011
21. ^ The Thoroughly Democratic Logic of Refusing to Vote, SACSIS, 2 April 2009
22. ^ "'No house, no jobs - no vote'". News24. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2452475,00.html. 
23. ^ South Africa: 'No Land! No House! No Vote!', News & Letters, May - June 2011
24. ^ SA's poor must shun the polls, Andile Mngxitama,Mail & Guardian, 2011
25. ^ "The No Land, No House, No Vote Campaign Still on for 2009". SARPN. 
26. ^ ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy, November 2005". Abahlali baseMjondolo. http://www.abahlali.org/node/865. 
27. ^ "Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections". Cape Times. http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4780755. 
28. ^ "Apathetic youth a thing of the past". The Mercury. http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4882559. 
29. ^ The revolt of South Africa’s untouchables, Pedro Alexis Tabensky, Pambazuka, March 2011
30. ^ No electricity, no vote, say protesters, Mail & Guardian, Oct 30, 2008
31. ^ Devastating Fire in RR Section Khayelitsha - No Electricity! No Vote!, Abahlali.org
32. ^ Invitation to All Those Seeking Political Office to Come Down to the People, Abahlali.org, 18 March, 2011
33. ^ Abahlali baseMjondolo to March on the KwaZulu/Natal Premier on Human Rights Days, Abahlali.org, 18 March, 2011
34. ^ Zuma, Malema gun for votes, Paddy Harper, City Press, 8 May 2011

External links

• No Land! No House! No Vote! Video
• No Land! No House! No Vote! Archive