The Abantu Integrity Movement (AIM) have praised the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay in a statement on the failed insurrection:
AIM commends the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay for standing up against the forces behind the insurrection that has led to the loss of over 117 lives, billions in property, environmental and infrastructure damage, and sabotaged economic prospects and livelihoods in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The fires, both literal and figurative, were put out through the combined efforts of the Mayor, taxi associations, residents formations, religious leaders and the Business Chamber working together to keep the peace.
Nelson Mandela Bay has been the epicentre of protests in the past. We remember the 8 dead in New Brighton from the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the 35 persons killed by police in Langa on the 21 March 1985, the over 50 deaths arising from the Northern Areas Uprising that started on the 06 August 1990 and the 7 or more deaths countrywide from the millions that marched following Chris Hani’s assassination in April 1993. But those protests were different, their intent being to secure the freedom of all. And the resulting deaths in the main were as a result of apartheid security forces resorting to violence as means to enforce an evil system.
By most accounts, the arrest of ex-President Jacob Zuma on last Wednesday and the subsequent #FreeJacobZuma protests, that now appear to have been deliberately orchestrated by elements sympathetic to the ex-President, lit the spark that has threatened to engulf the entire country and divide us further.
We live in a fledgling democracy, have a democratically elected president and parliament, a constitution that upholds the right of all and a judiciary that on the whole has proved to be independent and fair. No one is above the law, as ex-President Zuma has stated on several occasions himself. And therefore, violent protest that seeks to “free” the ex-President from the consequence of own, informed decisions must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. The rule of law is fundamental to a democracy and must be applied without fear or favour. Any “political” solution that steps outside the bounds of our Constitution undermines those lives lost in the struggle to liberate our country.
But peace in our land cannot be realised without being accompanied by reconciliation and development. Our metro’s combined efforts have served to keep the peace, but it’s an uneasy and fragile peace. When our own metro has trash piled high on the sidewalks, sewage running in the streets and rampant unemployment, any peace is temporary. To build a lasting peace we have to get our metro working for all our residents, we have to ensure a basic level of service, for all, create a platform for jobs and growth, for all, and we have to get all our segregated communities reaching across what divides us if we are to hope for a peace that sustains the metro.
Video: Nelson Mandela Bay Residents Commended
More Info on Nelson Mandela Bay Residents Commended here: https://aim4change.org.za
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AimNmb
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/AIM4NMB
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Alan Straton
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