About Us
How we are different
We do not see leaders as heroes to look up to. Ordinary people who struggle every day to put food on the table are our heroes. In a democracy, politicians work for the people and the people are entitled to call them to account if they do not perform. F4SD wants to put you back in charge of your future.
How we will do this
Our people need to learn to live free. Apartheid and colonialism took away our rights. We could do nothing unless the government gave permission. In a democracy, the government needs our permission to govern. We need to stop thinking like citizens of a police state. In a democracy there are many ways ordinary people can call the government to account. We will train our people in their rights and how to demand what is theirs.
Where we campaign
We work in wards to keep our campaigns local. We work with communities to make them aware of the tools they can use to build their local economy, to make their schools work and to make politicians and public servants accountable. Our campaigns include health care and education, land and housing, water and sanitation, and unemployment and income inequality.
What is Forum for Service Delivery? Why a forum?
How you can make a difference
Stop accepting second best. If a school is failing the children who go to learn, demand to know why. Find out how you as a community can help make learning possible. If your municipality is failing, find out who is responsible. Work with us to demand answers. Too many of our people live in a state of hopelessness. The way things are now can change. But change will not happen if we carry on doing what we do now. Join us to make that change happen. Apartheid taught black people to accept second best. Why should we accept failing schools, useless municpalities and corrupt politicians now we are free?
What we stand for
F4SD is built on four pillars:
- grassroots democracy – our organization is based on activist membership who have the right to call their leaders and elected representatives to account
- economic and social justice – South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, and we cannot rest until that is corrected
- non-violence – as a democractic society, we should be able to achieve our goals peacefully, and nonviolence includes saying no to hate speech and no to xenophobia
- environmental sustainability – if we use up everything today, we are stealing from our children
A proud nation
Apartheid and colonialism took away our pride and dignity. These are things that can only be taken away if we let them be taken. We can take them back and that means we must start today by rejecting racism, inequality, substandard education, corruption and failure of service delivery. We must demand that our leaders and elected representatives start treating us, the ordinary people, as their bosses, and stop treating us with disrespect, just like apartheid and colonial rulers.
