Ayanda Kota is an activist who was the founding chairperson of the Unemployed Peoples' Movement in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He is also the President of the Makana Football Association. His political roots are in the

black consciousness movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Afri ...

and he is strongly critical of the ruling

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

. He is currently the organiser for the Unemployed People's Movement.

Arrest and assault

On 12 January 2012 he was arrested on a charge of theft after failing to return three books that he had borrowed from a local academic institution. He was subject to police assault while in custody. A number of organisations issued statements in response to the arrest. Kota later stated that he had misplaced the books in question and had repeatedly offered to replace them and that this offer had been clearly communicated to the police. All charges against Kota were withdrawn a month after the arrest. In October 2016 the Minister of Police admitted that the assault had taken place and agreed to pay Kota R250 00 in compensation.

Role during 2015 xenophobia crisis

In October 2015 Grahamstown was wracked by serious xenophobic violence. Kota played a key role in grassroots work to oppose xenophobia. Xenophobia in Grahamstown: 'We are not leaving!'
KJ VAN RENSBURG, F MTHONTI & M ERSKOG, ''The Daily Maverick'', 29 October 2015

Publications

Some of his published articles are:
SA, we cannot say we are free
Ayanda Kota, ''Afro-Spear'', 2011
Malema does not speak for poor youths
Ayanda Kota, ''Mail & Guardian'', 2011
Secrecy Bill shows ANC's historic mission is over
Ayanda Kota, ''Mail & Guardian'', December 2011
ANC centenary a display of elite power
Ayanda Kota, ''Links'', January 2012
Time for radical action on the unemployment crisis
Ayanda Kota, ''Pambazuka'', 17 May 2012
Apartheid petty and grand, old and new is evil
Ayanda Kota, ''Pambazuka'', 26 April 2012
The Marikana mine workers massacre: a massive escalation in the war on the poor
Ayanda Kota, ''San Francisco Bay View'', 18 August 2012
Biko’s struggle goes on
Ayanda Kota, ''Grocott's Mail'', 12 September 2013
Don’t vote for these messiahs
Ayanda Kota, ''GroundUp'', 2 April 2014
In Memory of Comrade Nkosi Molala - Honorary President of the Black Consciousness Movement
Ayanda Kota, ''GroundUp'', 22 September 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kota, Ayanda Housing in South Africa Living people South African activists South African communists Members of the South African Unemployed Peoples' Movement Year of birth missing (living people)