The struggle against the commodification of Chapman’s Peak and the fight for nationalization of all land

We support the fight against the desecration for money, where our natural heritage is concerned; in this instance Chapman’s Peak’s pristine environment. Where our parents and their parents before them have walked, it is our duty to fight with everything we have, to ensure that our children and their children’s children, should not be denied the same enjoyments. Local fishermen have been using the road for many decades- now the proposed toll threatens their livelihood. What Robin Carlisle and his ilk (capitalist agents all) are about is once again working to sell off , to those with the money power, what is not theirs to sell.

Whether it be the DA (the present frontman is Robin Carlisle- this can change) or the ANC-SACP-Cosatu unholy alliance; we have had foisted upon us a never-ending stream of monstrous violations; new airports, stadiums, an over-supply of power stations, massive roadworks which mainly benefit big international banks. These billions upon billions will not be directed towards alleviating the plight of the most needy by our supposed ‘guardians’ as mentioned before.

The people of Hangberg, Imizama Yethu should see themselves as being in the front line of this fight together with all interested parties. The Civil Rights Action Group has taken an important step to organise an initial march at Chapman’s Peak but it is important to mobilise more broadly and to intensify the struggle. The fight for this land which is our birthright, is not for any of the political puppets, to dispose of willy nilly as is their habit. We had Robin Carlisle unashamedly come to tell us to our faces, that we should rejoice in that whomever he represents, should come and ‘improve’ (desecrate) our natural environment.

All those who have become accustomed to living in mental and spiritual sloth should know that this is one of those rare opportunities to win back their self-respect- we allowed Oudekraal to slip away after massive agitation. At our peril though do we forget what happened at Hangberg when people make a stand for their rights. In townships all over the country, protests against non-delivery of services, for which people are paying taxes (even if it is just VAT, in the case of the unemployed) are met with violent reprisal from those to whom we have entrusted power. We are left to the mercy of drug pushers, etc, the list of violations against us is endless. A bloodbath of job losses internationally is driving the power-mad to more and more desperate measures to retain this power.

Here are some possible avenues for a campaign of action:

Committees should be formed across the country to call for:

Nationalization of all land; not only Table Mountain which politicians are busy turning into a cash cow for the international banks that have their links to the large construction companies. [Already we hear that Murray & Roberts are involved, through Concor, and that Sanlam and Metropolitan also have their fingers in the pie]. These construction companies and banks should be expropriated together with the large brickmaking and cement factories(so that the backlog in housing can be eliminated); also the new airports- the giant companies which built the stadiums should be compelled hand back the money they received for this scam construction project. We should mobilise against all the parties in parliament (all are agents of big capital). To ensure that this does not become an exercise in futility we should remember what happened at Oudekraal [over 10 000 marched against the construction of the Hotel, but the City went ahead with it].

We challenge the Civil Rights Action Group and others, as well as those who organised the march to Rondebosch Common, that together we could muster far greater support if we were to march to the seat of the capitalist agents in the province in Wale Street. This would act as a platform for further mass action and occupation. While Table Mountain and surroundings have been declared a world heritage domain- it is really being turned into a cash cow for the banks; the toll plaza and office block on Chapman’s Peak is merely the opening step for large-scale construction and plunder of the mountain; to focus narrowly on the Rondebosch Common does not at all serve the working class of this country, whose support countrywide has to be gained to lead the fight if things are going to change. This challenge includes the Cosatu members to pressure their leaders to bring the weight of the organised working class to bear, nationally on this project, which would be an example to workers throughout the capitalist world. Failure to respond in an appropriate fashion would represent another nail in the coffin of the Cosatu bureaucracy from which no amount of support from the capitalist media can protect them. Their role in the working class movement as the enemy within, would then become clearer.

That the City is rushing ahead with construction shows that time is of the essence.

This campaign could even be international as the Mountain is now a newly declared 'Wonder of the world'

Save Table Mountain from the capitalist plunderers! Nationalise all the land! Expropriate the banks and the construction industry, without compensation, under workers control; for the centralizing of all the banks into one bank on this basis- this is how to protect our resources and to abolish profiteering in housing.

1.2.2012