Author: Christelle Terreblanche, Cape Argus
Date: January 23, 2007
Source: Cape Argus, SA http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3641835

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Poor at social forum can't afford meals.

South African activists attending the World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi have taken their anti- privatisation protests to the management of the world's main Left event.

Members of the 200-strong social movement's delegation from South Africa were among a group of grassroots activists who protested yesterday against the high price of water and food at the six-day pro-poor event in the Kenyan capital.

The lunchtime protest was held at the main restaurant set up for the first WSF in Africa.

The event has been held annually since 2001 to discuss alternatives to and strategies against neo-liberal policies like privatisation of basic resources.

Meals for representatives of the world's poor and marginalised communities started at 400 Kenyan shillings (about R40).

All drinkable water at the venue, about 15km out of town, was on sale at about R5 per 250ml.

A local country club with alleged political connections won the tender to run the kitchen.

Some of the more well-off NGO representatives having lunch in the tented restaurant scuttled off as the protesters challenged them.

"Have you been sent by the rich countries?" the hungry delegates shouted. "We are here to fight against poverty, but multinationals have hijacked the WSF."

Trevor Ngwane, a leading Johannesburg activist who represents the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, said the protest was a continuation of a morning demonstration by social movements in support of Kenyan activists who could not afford the R50 entry fee or the meals.

Privatised water was a main focus of workshops and seminars, among other WSF 1 000 events staged since Sunday.

Earlier yesterday, Jennifer Mokosana, from Johannesburg's Coalition against Water Privatisation, told a water rights seminar about her community's struggles with pre-paid water meters after water delivery had been privatised by the city.

"It shows that even under progressive constitutions the right to safe water is not secured," Mo-kosana said. "We are being rob-bed and raped and maimed by the government. The government tells people to open small businesses such as hairdressers and car washes, or to have small vegetable gardens, but how can we do this with prepaid meters? It is a crime to be poor in South Africa."

An activist from the German-based Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which sponsored the seminar, argued that the ANC government was not giving space to activists to highlight the di-chotomies in society, such as poor people's inability to afford pri-vatised water.

"We are in a second phase of neo-liberal and imperialist politics which have to do with privatisation (that is) showed up as not efficient," said Uli Brandt.

"The second phase legitimises privatisation, saying that the state could regulate the market. This social-liberal vision is technocratic and neglects contradictions in society, such as the Jo-hannesburg water experience."

The protest mirrored a main theme of the politics at this year's WSF, where questions are being asked about the role of "transnational NGOs" in upholding the exploitation of the developing world by multinational companies and American imperialism.