Well I had some downtime at work –
aka our NGO doesn’t really get anything started until at least half past 10 as
they call it – so I figured I would catch up on South African news and for this
blog post, share my observations of the organization and draw on a few key
highlights from the news.
First, a little bit more about the
non-profit – the Surplus Peoples Project (SPP).
I have been writing down observations I have made about the organization
so far, and here is what I have found.
SPP operates as a “catalyst”, empowering people to confront government
and training farmers and communities on sustainable farming. Rather than take their case directly to the
government, SPP finds the power in stirring up the people and equipping them or
connecting them with legal counsel needed to take up their claim against the
government, land owner, or whoever happens to be in the “wrong”. The organization has 200-250 donors and
operates on a 7million Rand budget ($440,528), which for a non-profit in South
Africa is quite large. In visiting the
16 organizations other fellow UConn students had placements at, one of the
common themes is a lack of funding. Miss
Herschelle, the director here at SPP, believes that SPP does not lack funding
because they stay true to a cause rather than changing their focus based on
whatever the funding “fad” is. This is a
very interesting point. The first point
she makes is that she describes funding in the non-profit sector almost like a
westernized culture characterized by new trends or “fads”. Her point was that when HIV awareness became
big here in South Africa, much of the international funding was redirected towards
HIV based or focused organizations. Miss
Herschelle then explained that to garner funding, organizations during this
time often switched focuses. Almost
counterintuitive, the second distinction Miss Herschelle asserts is that in the
long-run it is more equitable to stay true to a specific track, rather than
change tracks based on where the money is.
Now in response to this my question
would be, is such a claim only true for an organization with a unique focus
like SPP? SPP focuses on food and
agrarian reform specifically for local-scale farmers. This is quite a specific emphasis that most
organizations focused on economic justice, equality, etc. would not pay great
attention to. My second question to this
is what happens when the cause you are fighting for is “solved”? Now I understand in the modern world no cause
is ever fully or 100% solved, but I would assume that there reaches a point
where whatever problem you identified would change in format or might be
finally addressed by whatever group you are pressuring. For instance, when apartheid was abolished,
many organizations that were fighting to put an end to apartheid had to decide
whether or not to change their “struggle”, end the group, or simply adapt their
focus to encompass the new/changing situation.
So in the case when the problem a group is trying to address is
“resolved”, “changed”, or “altered”, to what extent should an organization
redirect its focus to encompass this new construct? I do not believe I have the answers to these
questions right away, and for the later question, I am sure a case-by-case
approach is necessary, but it still is interesting to consider these different
possibilities.
Overall, I have learned that SPP is
definitely characterized by a “family” culture.
Food is often shared, communal lunch is a norm, etc. – but to what
extent is a family culture limiting or benefiting in a work environment? I do believe that people, especially in the
non-profit sector, need to feel like they are apart of a cause or belong to a
group that is more important than them.
But is this family culture a potential cause for the fact that nothing
gets started here before 10:30am or is that just the culture of Cape Town? Additionally, one of the observations I have
had about SPP so far is that there seems to be an issue of coordination/understanding
of what other employees are doing – is this perhaps caused by the sense of
“family” culture in the office place, which may be limiting in terms of holding
other coworkers accountable? Although
early, I am excited about what this organization is doing, and am excited about
the opportunity to learn about effective strategies of management of
people/developing a movement.
Now briefly, I’ll highlight some of
the key issues in the news in South Africa today:
District
Six is under the process of
redevelopment. The land being used is owned
by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
However, over 500 people are still waiting for restitution as the bulk
of ex-district 6 residents are living in townships and ghettos. The District Six Working Committee chairman,
Shahied Ajam, said that development should be stopped so this group can seek
legal advice before the properties are built.
He also said no proper consultation had been done with the community and
many former residents had given up hope of ever returning to District Six.
(“Call for ‘gentrification’ of District 6 to Cease”, Cape Times).
This comes
just days after many of the homeless people living in small man-made
huts/structures were kicked out of the District Six land that currently has no
use. To think that it was decades ago
that an entire community was displaced from District Six and how the effects
are still being felt today goes to show the importance of the fight for land
rights.
With the
State of the Nation Address set for this Thursday, parliament is bracing itself
for what could be a potential lockdown in anticipation of trouble from the
streets and inside the national assembly.
The #ZumaMustFall movement is planning a march around parliament during
the State of the Nation address.
Additionally the DA, EFF and civil society plan to use the occasion to
voice their displeasure with Zuma’s leadership and decisions (“Parliament
bracing itself as opposing voices set to grab Sona stage”, Cape Times).
I have yet to
run into someone in Cape Town who has told me something positive about
President Zuma. Interestingly enough,
many people from elsewhere come to South Africa to seek refuge from war,
corruption, etc. Many of the cab
drivers, restaurant employees, etc. have shared with us their stories of
leaving their country and how South Africa provided such great
opportunity. Even though South Africa is
looked at as the “Promised Land” of Africa, it too deals with great corruption
in its government. It will be
interesting to see how the potential march and comments raised by opposing
political parties at the State of the National address will play out.
The mining
indaba is set for today, Monday, February 8th as Africa’s biggest
mining gathering. A four day conference
will be held that includes investors, governments and corporates. Key issues will be discussed along the lines
of investment opportunities, safety issues, and evaluating how to cease risks
associated with investing in the industry. (“City hosting largest mining indaba
in Africa”).
Interestingly
enough, local people and workers affected by the mining industry are not being
called on to voice their opinions.
Perhaps this is all connected to when South Africa opened up its economy
post-apartheid, and now international corporations dominate many of the large
sectors. Rebecca Kaufman is interning at
the Economic Justice Network, and they are in the process of organizing a
mining indaba that calls on local people who are affected to voice their
concerns. I believe the plan is to
create a list of demands and bring them to the mining indaba.
Well for now, I’ll leave with
that. On a side note, this weekend had
the chance to hike Lion’s head twice and play beach soccer with locals at
Muzenburg. I had been waiting to play
soccer like that since I got here, so was very excited to play with them! Today, I am off to try to sign up for the UCT
Football Club and Thursday I have a meeting to start the VISA conversation with
the 5th contact I have made.
This time it looks promising as the lady I am meeting with focuses on immigration/visa
services. I just was accepted on a
Summer Mission to Mamelodi with Cru – a Christian organization I am apart of
back home. I will be working to teach
students in a township as part of the Mamelodi Initiative, a not-for-profit
organization focused on improving the lives of residents in Mamelodi, South
Africa. It aims to empower members of
the community so that the community can make the changes it wants to see. It does this through community engagement and
education. To learn more about it visit http://mamelodi.org. I am super excited for the opportunity and
look forward to another chance to learn and add variance to my trip here in
South Africa!
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