By

Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan

Today there is much talk of the South African example in conflict resolution and advice is being sought from that country. Hence it is not inappropriate to draw analogies between what is happening in Wanathamulle, Colombo and the similar situation which arose in Sophia town, Johannesburg during the Apartheid era in South Africa.

A recent news item about the protests of the residents of Wanathamulle against attempted eviction from and destruction of their homes and relocation by the authorities reminded us of Nelson Mandela’s campaign against the destruction of black townships by the white supremacist government of South Africa in the 1950s.

In his biography, Long walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela describes how in Johannesburg the Government under what was called “the Western Areas Removal Scheme”, intended to evacuate three black townships, Sophia town being the most prominent with a collective population that was somewhere between 6,0000–100,000. The government had acquired a tract of land some miles outside the city and intended to relocate the Africans there. Mandela says the excuse given by the government was slum clearance, a smokescreen for the government policy that regarded all urban areas as white areas, where Africans could only be temporary residents. Africans had lived and owned property in Sophia town for over 50 years and now they were to be moved to another black township outside the city. So cynical was the government’s plan that the removal was to take place even before the houses to accommodate them had been fully built.

The people of the township resisted and Nelson Mandela and the ANC (African National Congress) led a campaign against their forcible eviction. Mandela states that it was the first test of strength of the ANC and its allies, after the Defiance Campaign. The ANC organised peaceful rallies and registered its protest with the government in letters and petitions which ratepayers of the township signed. But all this was to no avail. The government sent in thousands of police and army personnel and cordoned off the township while workers razed houses and government trucks began moving people out.

The efforts of the resistance campaigns were too little and too late, the army and the police were ruthlessly efficient. Mandela concludes that they learnt a lesson from this incident which he states in the following words: “A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a certain point one can only fight fire with fire”

We in Sri Lanka with our long democratic traditions do not have to go down the path of the South African Apartheid regime. Nor do we have to face the reactions that followed. The urban poor including workers in Wanathamulle and other ‘Wattes’ are long-standing residents of the city. Many of them are purported to have title deeds to their homes. Even in those instances where relocation is required for genuine purposes, in a democratic society it must be carried out humanely and in consultation with the affected parties and where required compensation should be paid. In the north of the country, too, the rural poor and even middle class persons have been evicted from their lands and houses with no compensation and little hope of redress.

It is time people from all parts of the country and all classes of society even those not currently affected came forward to pledge solidarity with the people affected by such actions. Nelson Mandela’s example of campaigning for the urban poor of Sophia town is an example that our leaders too could follow, apart from getting advice on conflict resolution and reconciliation.

COURTESY:The Island