NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNEMPLOYED (NAU) Press Statement 12 January 2015

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Dear fellow Country Men and Women, happy New Year.

2014 was at all not an easy journey to travel. The climb was steep but we climbed to the top, the journey was long but we managed to get to our destination, the task seemed mountainous but we got to the peak. As NAU we can only say that was the end of the start.

National Association of the unemployed would like to take this opportunity to salute all of you, fellow Ugandans especially those who braved all the bad conditions prevailing in our country in form of unemployment and all its associated economic resultants, intransigence of government, arbitrary arrests of activists, brutality in the hands of the state to mention but a few.

In a special way NAU takes this opportunity to mention that we stand by and will continue to stand with our brothers and sisters from Kisekka market who were recently rendered unemployed by the actions and policies of the NRM regime. We will support you in any way we can and in all actions you chose to undertake to defend your rights.  We want to tell you, that the demolition of this market was not driven by development need but the need by the regime to disperse these organised pro-democracy comrades who worked there. These hasty actions were not out of the need that you become better rather that you are isolated- dividing your effort is the point here. These are actions of a regime that is afraid of the citizens.

We take this opportunity to inform the world about the NAU nationwide rallies that will commence on 22nd Jan 2015. NAU registration was very successful and the achievements were way above our own expectation despite the brutal response from police. We know they wanted us to fail but they instead failed because we achieved. And we want to congratulate all the gallant members of NAU who refused to be intimidated and got registered both manually and online.

We want to disappoint this manuscript minded members of this government who thought by arresting our enumerators was to stop the registration and therefore cause the death of NAU. Our message to you is that this is the twenty first century. The online registration is still going on and in big numbers.

As the online registration is going on, the rallies that are intended to explain to Ugandans our side of the story. It must be noted that government propagandist tried in vain to link NAU to all illegal activities including armed rebellion intentionally ignoring the issues we raised in our concept paper. We left them to finish their side of the story and now we want to also explain our side of the story so that the common man can be able to judge who was truthful.

The other reason why we opt to begin public rallies is because government failure to give an ear to the documented suggestions we made as NAU. We therefore want to take this same issues to the common man so that we seek a possibility where these issues can be turned into a campaign issue and we intend to make it extremely risky for any candidate to simply ignore them. This should comfort NRM that NAU doesn’t exclusively target them but wants ears of all those who can be of help to the condition that has befallen the youth of this country. The NRM regime only finds itself in the firing line because they are in government and are duty bound to handle such issues.

In conclusion, we want to request every Ugandan to put making Uganda a country where we all feel part of as one of their New Year’s resolution. These 12 months are another opportunity God has given you to be recorded by history as part of those who stood firm in the face of extreme threat to make your country better.

You must get tired of government policies which perpetuate unemployment, you must get tired of anti-people KCCA actions, you must get tired of sectarianism, you must get tired of impunity, you must get tired of corruption, and you must get real tired and make your anger known to the appropriate authorities. We are aware that many may fear to engage now for fear of ruthless response by government. But I tell you if your only fear is that you may be shoot dead, poisoned to death or killed by any way. You must remember that the cost of inaction is always higher than that of action.

For my Baganda brothers and sisters, the proverb that “ekilya atabaala kyekilya nasigadde ewaka.” Must be always in your heads.

God Bless you,

For God and My Country

Contact; 0705856562 and 0701756756

Press Release: China urges efforts of G77 toward new type of international relations

Jan 9,2015 4:34 PM     Xinhua

UNITED NATIONS — A Chinese envoy on Jan 8 called on the Group of 77 (G77) to promote establishment of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core.

Liu Jieyi, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks at a ceremony at the U.N. headquarters where Bolivia handed over the rotating chairmanship of the G77 to South Africa.

“We are convinced that under the leadership of South Africa, the Group of 77 and China will continue to carry forward the fine tradition of solidarity and cooperation, and further promote cooperation and common development of the developing world,” he said.

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of both the victory of the world anti-fascist war and the founding of the United Nations, Liu said, adding that it will be a year of great significance with milestones to be set: preserving world peace, promoting common development and establishing a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core.

The ambassador said that as a committed member of the developing world, China greatly values the role of the G77 and cherishes the G77 plus China mechanism.

“We will as always endeavor to strengthen coordination and cooperation with all members of the Group and give all our support to the work of South Africa as the chair of the Group for the year 2015,” Liu said.

The G77, established in 1964, is now a coalition of more than 130 developing U.N. member states plus China, and has more than 60 percent of the world’s population.

The group is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the world body, aiming to promote collective economic interests and gain leverage within the international community.

The chairmanship, which sits atop the organizational structure of G77, rotates on a regional basis among countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean and is held for one year only.

Press Statement: IGAD Foreign Ministers arrive in Mogadishu for an extra-ordinary meeting (09.01.2015)

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The EFF statement on the hollow recitals of the freedom charter by the ANC:

10 January 2015

The Economic Freedom Fighters notes the attempts by Mr. Jacob Zuma, the President of the ANC to restate the Freedom Charter as if it is the programme of the ANC, while all evidence is out there for all to see that the ANC has abandoned the Freedom Charter. In the speech delivered during the rally in Cape Town, Mr. Zuma recurrently mentioned key clauses of the Freedom Charter and ‘economic freedom’, yet made no concrete commitments and programme on how the ANC government will realise the Freedom Charter and economic freedom.

The EFF is aware that the whole intention of the ANC January 8 statement was an attempt to try to copy and therefore undermine the radical and militant programme of the Economic Freedom Fighters, because our programme is the only programme that finds true resonance with the people of South Africa. The EFF remains the only radical and militant movement which unapologetically pursues a radical economic revolution programme which will change the lives of our people. An attempt by the ANC to imitate the radical programme of the EFF only through rhetoric will always be exposed as pure farce because the ANC government is implementing a neo-liberal, right wing and capitalist programme called the National Development Plan: Vision 2030.

The NDP: Vision 2030 is the official programme of the ANC, adopted in their 53rd National Conference, and any talk of the Freedom Charter is meant to mislead the people of South Africa. What we know about the Freedom Charter, which the ANC government will never implement are the following:

  • The Freedom Charter says ‘the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industries shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole”, and this has been correctly understood in the former liberation movement as Nationalisation of Mines. What we know is that the ANC will never nationalise Mines because majority of its senior leaders are privately benefitting from privately owned Mines.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘all other trade and industry shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people”. What we know is that the ANC is committed to free-market capitalism and will never control trade for the benefit of the people.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘land shall be shared amongst those who work it’. What we know as a fact is that the ANC has dismally failed to redistribute land and will continue to buy land from those who stole it, despite their admission that the willing-buyer willing-seller approach to land redistribution has dismally failed.
  • The Freedom Charter says, “all shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose”. What we know is that the ANC government will never allow even landless people to occupy land wherever they choose, but will instead send murderous police to evict people from the land as they did in Lenasia and Lwandle.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘the doors of learning and culture shall be opened”. What we know is that the ANC government has dismally failed to provide free quality education as post secondary level and have not built adequate capacity to absorb the entirety of students who exit the secondary schooling level.
  • The Freedom Charter says, “slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres”. What we know is that 21 years since the first inclusive elections with the ANC in power, more than 15% of the South African population lives in slums and informal settlements.

These key tenets of the Freedom Charter and many others are not contained in the National Development Plan, which is the official government plan of the ANC and the right wing political parties in Parliament.

The EFF speaks about the Freedom Charter because our Founding Manifesto says,

“The EFF draws inspiration from the radical, working class interpretation of the Freedom Charter, because, since its adoption in 1955, there have been various meanings given to the Freedom Charter. The EFF’s interpretation of the Freedom Charter is one which says South Africa indeed belongs to all who live in it, and ownership of South Africa’s economic resources and access to opportunities should reflect that indeed South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
The EFF’s interpretation of the Freedom Charter is that which says the transfer of mineral wealth beneath the soil, monopoly industries and banks means nationalisation of mines, banks and monopoly industries”.

The rhetorical commitment to the Freedom Charter by Mr. Zuma is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the genuinely radical economic freedom programme and struggle of the EFF. This is done because the ANC has run out of ideas. It is evidently clear that with age and many years of existence, the ANC is not maturing, but suffering from memory loss and lack of creativity and innovation. The ANC cannot think and always rely of imitating even Kwaito musicians hence their slogan of ANC Kuze Kose and ANC Y’tjukutja because they take ideas of Kwaito musicians, not vice versa. They even tried to imitate the runaway success of the EFF’s red beret and overalls.

The EFF remains the only hope for the people of South Africa and will inspire many generations to come because when we take over political power, we will capture the State, and redistribute the economy for the benefit of all. Once again, the EFF has proven that we are the vanguard of the working class and revolutionary ideas in South African society and those who copy us should do so with care because we will always expose fake imitatations that are not genuine.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS
LEHLOHONOLO FANA MOKOENA (Acting National Spokesperson)
Cell Number: +27817244799
Websitehttp://www.effighters.org.za/
Emailcommunications@effighters.org.za
Facebook: Fana L Mokoena || Twitter: @EconFreedomZA and @fanamokoena

African Water Facility to help tackle food insecurity, flooding and droughts in Uganda and South Sudan.

09/01/2015

The African Water Facility (AWF) announced on January 9, 2015 that it has offered a €1.97 million grant to the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) to increase water availability for multiple purposes in the Nyimur region of Uganda and South Sudan. The grant will support the improvement of irrigated agriculture and food production, fisheries, electricity generation and sanitation as well as the prevention of flooding and droughts in the region.

The AWF grant will help prepare the construction of a multipurpose dam and a reservoir on the Nyimur River through feasibility studies, engineering design studies and environmental and social impact assessments. The planned infrastructure investment will allow approximately 5,105 ha of land to be irrigated through a community irrigation scheme, and enable 350 kW of electricity to be produced from a small hydropower facility. The project will directly benefit approximately 12,000 people.

The AWF will also support the mobilization of funds from donors through project preparation and fundraising activities such as donors’ roundtables.

“The project will improve the livelihoods of surrounding communities by reducing the ravages of flooding and droughts, as well as foster food and energy security and in the long run help consolidate peace and security in this fragile region” said AWF coordinator Akissa Bahri.

The Nyimur River runs through both South Sudan and Northern Uganda, an area plagued by conflict from the late 1980’s until 2004. Although the guns have generally fallen silent, the region is still considered fragile. The unrest in the region resulted in very low levels of investment and development of basic services or infrastructure. Agricultural production declined drastically during the period of turmoil and the current level of food insecurity is significant: in low yield seasons, 33% of the population in the area is dependent on food aid.

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