Fake Freedom After 32 Years

The Betrayal of the Poor Continues

By THAPELO MOHAPI

Thapelo Mohapi says the freedom has been for the rich as the poor continued to suffer hardships in last 32 years

South Africa is preparing to mark 32 years of democracy. We are told that we are free. We are told that we should celebrate. For millions of people, especially the poor, there is nothing to celebrate.

The promise of a better life for all was made to our people. That promise was carried by those who fought, those who suffered, and those who died. Many movements, organisations and ordinary people were part of that struggle. It is not true that only one organisation brought freedom. The struggle belonged to the people as a whole.

Freedom Without Dignity

Under apartheid, there was open violence and repression. People were tortured, imprisoned and killed. In the townships, people were necklaced and burned alive. Wearing the wrong political colours could get you killed. There was no freedom.

Today, the form of oppression has changed, but for the poor, the reality remains. Millions of people are still landless. Millions are still without decent housing. Far more people live in shacks today than in 1994. Many people still do not have access to water, sanitation, electricity or refuse removal. Public services are collapsing. Healthcare and education are failing the poor. Unemployment is everywhere, especially among the youth. Hunger is growing.

Abahlali BaseMjondolo President, Sbu Zikode

Corruption and Elite Capture

Government grants are often presented as a solution, but they are not enough to sustain a dignified life. Many families survive on small grants while facing rising food prices, transport costs and electricity costs. Children are growing up in conditions of hunger and malnutrition. For many households, there is no stable income at all. Survival depends on informal work, borrowing, and support from neighbours.

At the same time, corruption continues to steal from the poor. Houses meant for the poor are sold. Land is captured by politically connected individuals. Public money disappears while communities wait for services that never arrive. When people speak out against this, they are threatened or pushed aside. This is not what freedom was meant to be.

The government has created a small political elite that lives well, while the majority suffer. The tender system has allowed corruption to grow. Those with connections eat, while the people go hungry. The state is no longer serving the people. It is serving itself. For the poor, life is a daily struggle to survive.

Oppression and Division

In shack settlements, in rural areas, on farms, people are treated as if they do not matter. Evictions continue. Settlements are attacked. The police are used against the people. When we protest, we are met with violence. When we organise, we are criminalised.

Violence remains part of daily life in our country. We have one of the highest murder rates in the world, and women are not safe. Activists are threatened, arrested and sometimes killed. Whistleblowers are silenced.

At the same time, inequality continues to grow. A black elite has joined the old elite, but the system remains the same. The majority remain excluded.

There is also a very dangerous politics being pushed in our country. The elites are trying to deflect anger away from themselves by blaming migrants for poverty, unemployment and crime. They want the poor to fight each other while they continue to benefit from inequality. This politics divides the oppressed and protects those who hold power.

UnFreedom Day and the Struggle Ahead

What is missing in South Africa today is not knowledge of the problem, but political will. Everyone knows that there is a housing crisis. Everyone knows that there is mass unemployment. Everyone knows that millions of people are living without dignity. But instead of acting to change this reality, those in power continue to make promises while conditions get worse.

There is also a growing distance between those in power and the people. Decisions are taken without consulting communities. Plans are made in offices while people on the ground are ignored. Democracy cannot mean voting every five years and then being forgotten. Real democracy must mean that the poor are part of every decision that affects their lives, and that their voices are taken seriously.

For all these reasons we have marked the official Freedom Day holiday as UnFreedom Day for more than 20 years. It is a way of telling the truth about our lives.

We will continue to organise. We will continue to resist. We will continue to demand land, housing and dignity. We will continue to build socialism from below. TQ

Thapelo Mohapi is the General Secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo