Bulelani Mfaco | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Libode (Mpondoland), Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin, University of the Western Cape |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Movement | Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) |
Bulelani Mfaco is a South African former asylum seeker and activist in Ireland, and spokesperson for the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland.
While in South Africa, Mfaco was involved in protests calling for better housing, access to land with Abahlali baseMjondolo, [1] healthcare and for improved policing. He was an active member of the Khayelitsha health forum and was branch secretary for the Democratic Alliance. [2]
Having applied for asylum in Ireland in 2017, Mfaco was placed in direct provision centres, first in Dublin, later in County Clare and County Limerick. Based on his experiences within this system, he joined the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) and now acts as their spokesperson. He has spoken out about the issues faced by members of the LGBT community within direct provision, as well as the sub-standard living conditions in many centres across Ireland, describing them as "ghettos in every sense of the word". [3] [4] [5] He has described how victims of sexual assault are particularly vulnerable within direct provision, and that the way in which people are housed can leave people open to further attacks, particularly those in the LGBT community. [6] He has written reports and documented life within the system, strongly advocating for it to be abolished. [7] Despite holding a permit to work, Mfaco has only secured one hour of paid work since 2018, he claims due to Irish employers not understanding the permit given to asylum seekers. [8] [9] In 2019, Mfaco successfully appealed to the Press Council of Ireland in upholding a complaint against The Irish Times for their publication of a racial slur. [10]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mfaco has spoken out about how living conditions within direct provision centres make social distancing or self-isolation impossible due to over-crowding and shared facilities. [11] [12] [13] Mfaco is MASI's representative in the Expert Group established by Minister Charlie Flanagan and David Stanton to come up with a long term approach to the provision of material supports including accommodation for asylum seekers drawing from international best practice. [14]
Mfaco grew up in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. [2] He has a degree in politics and public administration from the University of the Western Cape. He applied for a scholarship for a master's degree in University College Dublin and moved to Ireland in 2015. Having experienced homophobia and attacks in South Africa, Mfaco applied for asylum in Ireland in 2017 on his return from South Africa, having completed his master's degree in 2016. At this point, he was moved into a direct provision centre in Balseskin, Finglas, Dublin. He has since lived in centres in County Clare and Knockalisheen, County Limerick. [3] [6] [15] His application for asylum was rejected in July 2019, which he is appealing. [16] He was granted permission to remain in February 2023.
The Republic of Ireland had a population of 5,149,139 at the 2022 census.
Amandla in the Nguni languages Xhosa and Zulu means "power". The word was a popular rallying cry in the days of resistance against apartheid, used by the African National Congress and its allies. The leader of a group would call out "Amandla!" and the crowd would respond with "Awethu" or "Ngawethu!", completing the South African version of the rallying cry "power to the people!". The word is still associated with struggles against oppression.
Abahlali baseMjondolo is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which primarily campaigns for land, housing and dignity, to democratise society from below and against xenophobia.
Kennedy Road is an informal settlement in Durban (eThekwini), in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Formed in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the settlement was mentioned by the African National Congress (ANC) after the end of apartheid but amenities were not improved. The site is mostly not connected to sanitation or electricity. Dissatisfaction with local councillors led to 2005 protests including a road blockade, out of which the shack dwellers movemment Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) formed. In 2009, an AbM meeting was attacked resulting in two deaths and a court case. More recently, the municipality has improved facilities and promised to relocate inhabitants.
No Land! No House! No Vote! is the name of a campaign by a number of poor people's movements in South Africa that calls for the boycotting of the vote and a general rejection of party politics and vote banking. The name is meant to imply that if government does not deliver on issues important to affected communities these movements will not vote.
The squatter's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo occupied a piece of vacant state owned land in Macassar Village, near Somerset West outside of Cape Town on 18 May 2009. The occupation was later destroyed by the city's anti-land invasion unit.
Mzonke Poni is an activist in Cape Town. He is the former chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape and was previously a leader of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. The Sunday Times has described him as "the face of an ANC nightmare - an angry activist mobilising the township masses to protest at what he calls the government's failure to create a better life for the poor."
QQ Section also known as Tambo Park, was founded in 1989 and is an Informal Settlement in the Site B sub-division of Khayelitsha in South Africa.
The Constitution of South Africa protects all basic political freedoms. However, there have been many incidents of political repression, dating back to at least 2002, as well as threats of future repression in violation of this constitution leading some analysts, civil society organisations and popular movements to conclude that there is a new climate of political repression or a decline in political tolerance.
There have been a number of political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
Nkululeko Gwala originally from Inchanga in KwaZulu Natal, was a resident of Cato Crest, which is part of Cato Manor in Durban, and a supporter of the Marikana Land Occupation (Durban). He was also a prominent member of the shackdwellers' social movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and chairperson of their Cato Crest Branch. He was assassinated on 26 June 2013.
Direct provision is a system of asylum seeker accommodation used in the Republic of Ireland. The system has been criticised by human rights organisations as illegal, inhuman and degrading. The system, operated by the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, provides international protection applicants with accommodation and a small allowance. International protection applicants in direct provision are usually entitled to state-funded medical care, and children have full mainstream access to the education system.
The Irish Freedom Party or the Irexit Freedom To Prosper Party, sometimes referred to as IFP or IFTPP, is a minor far-right, hard Eurosceptic political party in Ireland, launched on 8 September 2018. It advocates Irish withdrawal from the European Union.
Black Pride Ireland is a Black gay pride advocacy group in Ireland founded in 2019 advocating for the rights of black LGBTQIA+ people on the island of Ireland.
The Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) is an Irish advocacy group for those seeking international protection in Ireland, with the goals of ending direct provision and deportation.
Doras is an Irish independent, non-governmental organisation advocating for the rights of migrants in Ireland based in Limerick.
Nasc is an Irish independent, non-governmental migrant rights centre in Ireland, based in Cork.
Lucky Khambule is a South African former asylum seeker and activist in Ireland, and co-founder of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland.
The eKhenana Commune is a prominent land occupation in the historic working-class area of Cato Manor in Durban, South Africa. According to the Socio-Economic Rights Institute "The eKhenana settlement is organised as a cooperative in which residents collectively run a communal kitchen and tuck shop, theatre, poetry and music projects, and care for a vegetable garden named after the late Nkululeko Gwala [assassinated in 2013] as well as a poultry farm named in honour of the late S’fiso Ngcobo [assassinated in 2018]. The Commune has solar power and is also home to a political school that residents named the Frantz Fanon School, as well as the Thuli Ndlovu Community Hall [Ndlovu was assassinated in 2014]. The Commune has suffered sustained political repression, including multiple arrests and three assassinations in 2022.
Lindokuhle Mnguni was a land activist and a prominent leader in the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. He was chairperson of the movement's youth league as well as the chairperson of the eKhenana Commune. He was a leader of eKhenana's food sovereignty project which sought to make the commune more self-sustaining and independent. He was assassinated on 8 August 2022.