The grassroots are talking again: A few days ago the new issue of the community newspaper uTshani Buyakhuluma came off the press. 4000 copies are currently being distributed to informal settlements and backyarder communities all over the country. The second issue boasts more of the same and more: stories about communities mobilizing for basic service delivery and upgrading. Accounts of disasters, evictions and other land struggles. Reports about learning exchanges between slum dwellers, and enumerations done for capacitated negotiations with government partners. A call for proposal introduces CUFF – the new Community Upgrading Finance Facility, which gives organized slum dwellers the opportunity to apply for up to 90 percent of project funding.
At a recent documentation meeting at the Lutheran Centre in Cape Town, about 25 editors and writers discussed the way forward: uTshani Buyakhuluma proudly supports the work of the SDI alliance in South Africa – from FEDUP savings schemes, to ISN pilot projects or land issues of the Backyarders. The newspaper also reaches out to communities who are not yet part of the network: It builds the voice of the poor. It creates solidarity to find solutions together. And it instills hope that change is possible.
To read the full issue of uTshani Buyakhuluma go to http://www.sasdialliance.org.za/static/upload/docs/UB_Issue_2_Full_Revised_June_8_3.pdf
To contribute email bukiwe@courc.co.za