Download PDFWitzenberg Justice Coalition (WJC) is a Charitable organisation, the organisation operate at Ceres in the Western Cape. WJC was formed by Naomi Betana, Katinka Koopman and Caroline Ockhuis. It is a coalition of women in Witzenberg. Their collective action advocates for the realisation of people’s constitutional rights in the towns where they live.
The organisation run campaigns like water mapping and health crises in hospital and clinics. They advocate for improved services such as adequate water supply and the repair of broken water taps and electricity connections. They also advocate for improved sanitation and hygiene standards in communities, as well as finding ways to help households in informal settlements and on farms meet their basic needs. The coalition deals with community issues in Witzenberg municipality, including farm evictions, land claims and water rights.
The daily activities are running a door-to-door campaign and observing the community issues. They collaborate with the Surplus People Project (SPP) and African water commons Collective (AWCC). These organisations assist them with providing political education. Currently, its focus is on improving healthcare, shortage of staff and limited bed capacity. It fights for the people who are struggling to access quality healthcare services at Ceres hospital. Residents of Witzenberg municipality have expressed dissatisfaction with previous months of poor medical care, prolonged waiting times, and language barriers at the clinic.
This article was submitted as part of the Imbila Yesu publication produced daily for the duration of the Winter School in 2022 (17-22 July 2022). It appeared in Edition No. 1, released on 22 July 2022.
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