The Phambile Motsoaledi Community Project was linked closely to Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (now Front) (or ZACF). The ZACF was a direct successor of the Workers Solidarity Federation: on the ZACF, read here.
Besides running a small library and meeting space (a social centre in the Motsoaledi squatter camp in Soweto, behind the giant Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital), the Project also sponsored to start a food garden: the garden operated for a while, albeit with limited success There is some more material on the Project here and here.
Motsoaledi News was another output of this Project. This scanned document is the October 2003 edition: it is not known how many issues were produced overall, but it was “free to the people.” The author of the main pieces, PN, was a ZACF member and a Motsoaledi resident.
The same militant was also involved in the Motsoaledi Concerned Residents’ (MCR) structure formed in January 2005: this fought around issues related to miserable living conditions such as a lack of water and electricity, and faced intimidation by supporters of the ruling African National Congress. According this newsletter, protest meetings were already taking place in late 2003, with active support from the Phambile Motsoaledi Community Project . The MCR later linked up with the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF): see here, and also published its own Vuka Motsoaledi. It was explicitly described as ” a collective non-politically aligned community organisation, which is affiliated to the Anti-Privatisation Forum and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation.”
Notes: 1) “Phambile” translates as “forward!”; and 2) “Motsoaledi” was probably named after trade unionist, Communist Party and African National Congress stalwart, Elias Motsoaledi, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Treason Trial along with Nelson Mandela and others.
Now, the newsletter:
SAASHA 