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the march was a great success about 1500 landless marched!
PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE BANS ‘NO LAND, NO VOTE!’ MARCH TO PRETORIA
URGENT PRESS STATEMENT on the 07th November 2003
On the eve of a countrywide drive to register voters for the 2004 national elections, the Landless People’s Movement has one of their basic freedoms, the right to assembly, violated and suppressed by the arm of the state. The Tshwane Metro Police informed the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) that their planned march to President Thabo Mbeki has been banned. The LPM has followed the necessary procedures with regards to applying for this right to assemble and gather without prejudice, but were informed by Inspectors Brits, Lebese and Ratua that they cannot proceed for reasons that are unclear and vague.
During a meeting between delegates of the Metro Police and the LPM delegation yesterday morning Inspector Lebese received a call, apparently from the Office of the President, confirming that the planned march will not proceed. This, despite the fact that the Metro Police reneged on an agreement with the LPM that they will be able to board trains to Pretoria free of charge in order to gather in protest at the Union Buildings.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM), a national movement of poor rural and urban landless people who are struggling desperately for land, have embarked on a mass campaign of rejecting to vote in the upcoming elections, given the notion that we can be voters without the fundamental freedoms and rights that should be afforded to all citizens of South Africa, be they rich or poor.
In light of this campaign the LPM feels that the intimidation being experienced by the state is directly related to their ‘NO LAND, NO VOTE!’ campaign, and sees the decision to refuse to allow the march from proceeding today as nothing but a desperate attempt to deny us our fundamental right to assembly as enshrined in our Bill of Rights.
Given these developments however, the Gauteng Landless People’s Movement, together with comrades from the North West and Mpumalanga provinces, have decided to proceed to Pretoria, by either walking or boarding trains at Park Staion today from approximately 11h00.
For more information call:
Maureen Mnisi (LPM National Council member) at 084 706 1388, or
Andile Mngxitama (National Land Committee) at 011- 403 3803/ 083 336 3731
Thevan Naidoo
National Land Committee (NLC)
OD & Training Programme
P.O Box 30944
Braamfontein, 2017
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 4033803
Fax: +27 11 339315
Cell: 083 4005269
thevan@nlc.co.za
Thevan Naidoo
National Land Committee (NLC)
OD & Training Programme
P.O Box 30944
Braamfontein, 2017
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 4033803
Fax: +27 11 339315
Cell: 083 4005269
thevan@nlc.co.za