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Planz Noseweek

"Beware the ides of March." The warning of a soothsayer to the hubristic Julius Caesar, trying to warn him about great danger. Caesar ignores this warning and replies, "He is a dreamer, let us leave him."

The ides of March duly comes. But before it goes, Julius Caesar is murdered in the Senate. Brutus his trusted friend is party to the conspiracy.

When the Social Grants crisis hit the news in February, my social worker intuition was telling me that there was more than pure commercial greed at work behind Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s bizarre mishandling of the crisis to the point that her once trusted advisor Zane Dangor resigned in disgust.

Why did he go so far?

Why would the ruling party risk alienating 11 million grant recipients by cocking up the payment of social grants so close to a general election?

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Samson Gampe, who died aged 86 on 5th January 2017, has proved to be one of the biggest obstacles to State sponsored ambitions to tame the Wild Coast with two related mega development impositions; the Xolobeni Mineral Sands project and the N2 Wild Coast Toll Road. 

In tribute, the following edited excerpt from John GI Clarke’s book The Promise of Justice opens a window into uTata Gampe’s remarkable wisdom, oratory and groundedness in the soils of the Amadiba Wild Coast community.

The minister must come herself, not be carried in the wind a like a ‘shekas’ (plastic bag). She must come and speak her own truth.

Samson Gampe.

 

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“On the Day of Reconciliation I find myself laying charges of perjury against Mr Nazir Alli.

I believe the day should be renamed the Day of TRUTH and Reconciliation for there can be no meaningful reconciliation without truth. There can be no peace without justice. I am alleging that Mr Alli perjured himself by claiming that the Sanral Board had resolved to apply to the Minister of Transport for the N1 and N2 routes leading into Cape Town to be declared as toll roads. The judgement against Sanral and in favour of the City of CT found that claim to be "far fetched and untenable" and could be "rejected merely on the papers and without the need for oral evidence".

I hope this will lead to a restorative justice outcome that will ultimately work for Mr Alli himself, and that people in positions of power and authority in State Owned and Public Entities will be deterred from dishonesty and taking of shortcuts that violate fundamental human rights.”

 Read here: Outa Newsletter

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One year ago, near the picturesque Wild Coast village of Mdatya, while the soothing strains of the Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night” were still echoing tidings of goodwill and peace to all humankind, another child was born in the early hours of New Year’s morn.

Akolwa Ndovela was born, not in a stable but under a Waterberry tree where her mother was hiding with her older siblings, having been chased out of their home by armed thug’s intent on clearing the way for MRC Ltd, an Australian mining company, and their local BEE partner Xolco to mine their ancestral lands for titanium.

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About John GI Clarke

John Clarke hopes to write the wrongs of the world, informed by his experience as a social worker and theologian, to actualise fundamental human rights and satisfy fundamental human needs.  He has lived in the urbanised concentration of Johannesburg, but has worked mainly in the rural reaches of the Wild Coast for the past decade.  From having paid a fortune in toll fees he believes he has earned the right to be critical of Sanral and other extractive institutions, and has not held back while supporting Sustaining the Wild Coast (www.swc.org.za), the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (www.safcei.org.za) and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (www.outa.co.za), in various ways.

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