Message from the GRA Chairperson Gmtctsemohhlfofoewaiespmrncnie

From the start our membership drive has been premised on becoming more inclusive and for that reason we have kept our membership fee at a nominal amount of R10 per year – though we encourage those who can pay more to make a bigger voluntary contribution.

Thanks to those who are paying a voluntary monthly donation we can now afford to appoint a part-time administrator and are negotiating to open an office soon in the Day Hospital grounds, taking over space formerly used by Gadra. That space will give is a physical presence closer to the townships, an important symbolic step in reaching out to Grahamstown East.

It is difficult for an organisation that started in a particular segment of a divided society to become more inclusive, but that is our only realistic option for becoming more effective as a civil society organisation. If we do not have membership across the board, it is difficult to claim to be representing all; if we do not represent all, or efforts to work on deficiencies in service delivery are limited.

Is there really no other option?

In divided societies, there is a temptation for those who are well off to build walls around themselves to protect what they have. In my view, that is not sustainable. A society as unequal like ours is not a hap- py place. In the long run, even those who do well lose out, as inequality makes for instability.

How then do we go about building bridges?

The important first step is to understand that this is not a one-sided initiative. We cannot walk into a part of the community were we are not represented and expect to be welcomed.

Rather, we need to respect existing initiatives and find partners who appreciate our agenda and are willing to guide us on where their community would like to take our organisation. That way we are building on what’s there, not muscling in.

When one part of the community is vastly wealthier than another, there is also a risk of playing the “charity” game – being patronising and doing “good works” that make the wealthy feel good without solving the underlying problem.

In Grahamstown, “wealthy” means almost anyone with a steady income, so large is the wealth gap. GRA still has a long way to go.

We have taken a few preliminary steps towards becoming more inclusive. Our management committee represents a wider range of demographics than it did a year ago, we are working with individuals and groups in the townships on programmes like clean-ups and we are engaging with organisations with a broader reach like the Makana Civil Society Coalition.

We have also drafted a proposal for the provincial government to rehabilitate provincial roads that run through town, an initiative that will benefit the broader community, not just our members, if the Province takes it up.

In our latest initiative, on Wednesday 22 March, we are helping with a clean-up in the vicinity of Ntsika Secondary School, with support of the school, local ward councillor, Mncedisi Gojela and ward committee members among others.

It should run 1pm–4.30pm and if you can help, feel free to arrive at any time during that period. This is part of a wider initiative including starting a recycling programme at the school and public education. For more detail, see this week’s Makana Enviro-News column.

Our AGM on 29 March (City Hall; 5.30pm for 6pm) will be a great opportunity to engage with GRA and to help us set direction. We have a few constitutional amendments aimed at making it clear that we are inclusive, as well as some technical changes. We will also have two guest speakers who will have a positive message: Tony Lankester of the National Arts Festival and Nicci Hayes, principal of Nombulelo Secondary School. There is a lot wrong in Grahamstown, but there are also great positives and this will be an opportunity to reflect on those.

We can spend a lot of time complaining – and sometimes with justification – but we also need to acknowledge the positives. More than anything else, we need to work out how to extend those positives. It is easy to criticise; it is much harder to solve the underlying problems.

GRA meets regularly with municipal officials to work on problems – sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don’t. With your support, we can succeed more often. When I first tried to become involved in civic activism five years ago, it was very difficult to get the municipality’s attention because the sole interaction they had with the public was complaints.

We are gradually seeing a more cooperative attitude as problems get fixed and GRA is seen as wanting to solve problems, not just complain.

That doesn’t mean we are going to stop complaining – but we would much rather work on solutions. Let’s build – bridges, not walls. •Phillip Machanick, chairperson, GRA