The Mandela Park Backyarders or just Backyarders is an unfunded
Khayelitsha
Khayelitsha () is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for ''New Home''. It is reputed to be the largest -based South African
social movement made up of poor and marginalised residents of Mandela Park that is working for housing rights and against evictions.
The focus of the movement is on providing legal support for residents on housing issues, fighting for the rights of its members in relation to government housing policies, as well as conducting workshops and democratic discussions about housing issues.
The movement claims to be a socialist movement that believes in
direct democracy through open mass meetings with all members invited.
Campaign against housing corruption
Mandela Park Backyarders have alleged widespread corruption in government housing allocation in Mandela Park. They have been successful in compelling the Provincial Housing Department towards organising a probe into the illegal buying and selling of RDP houses in the area. Backyarder protests have also forced provincial government to fire corrupt contractors from Mandela Park developments.
Protests and arrests of members
In September 2009, Mandela Park Backyarders protested against what they called a false promise of 23 houses from MEC for Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela. 23 Backyarders were then arrested for allegedly vandalising government property. However, Backyarders claim that the 23 members were not involved and that police arrested anyone they could find connected to the Backyarder movement. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Philosophy of the movement
The Backyarders have become increasingly critical of
voting
Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...
whose purpose they see as providing legitimacy to corrupt politicians despite little change in their condition. They have become fed-up with the voting process which they see as an undemocratic ritual and have threatened not to vote in the upcoming elections.
A self-written history of Mandela Park: Kwanele! Enough Is Genoeg!
See also
* The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in India
* The EZLN
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (, EZLN), often referred to as the Zapatistas (Mexican ), is a far-left political and militant group that controls a substantial amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.
Sin ...
in Mexico
* Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas ( en, Lavalas Family, Lavalas is Haitian Creole for ''flood''), is a social-democratic political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1 ...
in Haiti
* The Homeless Workers' Movement in Brazil
* The Landless Workers' Movement
Landless Workers' Movement ( pt, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) is a social movement in Brazil, inspired by Marxism, generally regarded as one of the largest in Latin America with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 millio ...
in Brazil
* Movement for Justice in el Barrio in the United States of America
* Narmada Bachao Andolan
''Narmada Bachao Andolan'' (NBA) is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals ('' adivasis''), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across the Narmada River, which flow ...
in India
* Take Back the Land in the United States of America
Notes and references
{{Reflist, 2
Cape Town
Urban planning organizations
Social movements in South Africa
Political advocacy groups in South Africa
Land rights movements
Affordable housing advocacy organizations
Housing in South Africa
Squatters' movements