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No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a civil society campaign boycotting the vote and against party politics and vote banking in South Africa. The name is meant to imply that if government does not deliver on issues important to affected communities (such as land and housing) these communities will not vote.

History

The No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign began as a national campaign by the South African Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) in 2004. Originally and called the No Land! No Vote! Campaign, the Landless People's Movement and the National Land Committee argued that voters have to be registered in their home ward to vote and that it would be impossible to vote if families were under threat of eviction or had no secure tenure. Amnesty International has reported that LPM activists were tortured during the 2004 national government elections after taking on a ‘No Land! No Vote’ position.

In 2006, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo movements boycotted the municipal elections under the banner of this campaign. The AEC held an election day march in Cape Town saying they would abstain from voting. A march by Abahlali baseMjondolo under the banner of the No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign was illegally banned by the Durban Municipality and was met with police repression.

In 2008, The Landless Peoples Movement, the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign and Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Rural Network joined to form the Poor People's Alliance. In 2009, the Alliance voted to boycott the national elections under the No Land! No House! No Vote! Banner.

During the 2009 national election campaign, the No Vote! Campaign suffered severe repression by political parties and police. On 8 February 2009, SAPS allegedly beat and tear-gassed Gugulethu residents who were holding a meeting about housing because ANC provincial chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha claimed they were disrupting voters registration. Eight members of the Landless Peoples Movement we also arrested in March 2009 and some claim that this is related to the No Vote! Campaign by the Poor Peoples Alliance.

Reasoning behind the campaign

Proponents of the No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign have explained the reasons behind their campaign. They say that they have been voting since 1994 but have seen no positive result from voting. They claim that politicians are all corrupt and that there are no political parties that represent the poor. Proponents also make the structural argument that the electoral process itself is undemocratic, that poor people must speak for themselves, and that the movements should be unaligned and pressure whichever political party comes into power.

See Also

• Protest vote
• Abstention
• Landless Peoples Movement
• Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
• Abahlali baseMjondolo

References

1. ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy". Mail and Guardian.
2. "An anatomy of new power". Mail and Guardian.
3. "2005 Annual Report for South Africa". Amnesty International.
4. "Sekwanele! (Enough is enough!): Post-apartheid land and housing struggles". Pambazuka.
5. ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy". Mail and Guardian.
6. "AEC members tear gassed, beaten and arrested; residents lay blame on ANC". Anti-Eviction Campaign.
7. "Elections: A Dangerous Time for Poor People's Movements in South Africa". SACSIS.
8. "8 Landless People's Movement Comrades Under Arrest in Johannesburg". Landless Peoples Movement.
9. "'No house, no jobs - no vote'". News24.
10. "The No Land, No House, No Vote Campaign Still on for 2009". SARPN. {{cite news}}: Text "www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0002316/Hlongwa_campaign_Feb2007.pdf" ignored (help); line feed character in |title= at position 31 (help)
11. ""No Vote" Campaigns are not a Rejection of Democracy, November 2005". Abahlali baseMjondolo.
12. "Anti Eviction Campaign urges poor to boycott elections". Cape Times.
13. "Apathetic youth a thing of the past". The Mercury.

External links

• No Land! No House! No Vote! Video
• No Land! No House! No Vote! Archive

• South African society
• Political organizations
• South African social movements
• Shack dwellers' movements
• Affordable housing advocacy organizations