Abahlali baseMjondolo Takes the Minister of Police to Court

4 December 2012 Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement

Abahlali baseMjondolo Takes the Minister of Police to Court to Account for Police Repression in Durban

On the 12th of September 2006 S'bu Zikode and Philani Zungu, then the chairperson and deputy chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo, were arrested on their way to a radio interview and subject to severe assault in the Sydenham Police Station. When people in the nearby Kennedy Road shack settlement rallied in support of Zikode and Zungu they were attacked by the police and Nondumiso Mke was shot in her knee with live ammunition. The arrest and assault from police at the hands of the police was highly politicised and followed intimidation from senior politicians that including a warning that the movement must stop its communication with the media. For background to this see the statement online at http://abahlali.org/node/72

The article that was published in the Mail & Guardian after the arrest and assault is online at http://mg.co.za/article/2006-09-16-i-was-punched-beaten

The article that was published in the Sunday Tribune is online at: http://abahlali.org/node/883

There is an Abahlali baseMjondolo statement from 2008 that gives a good overview of the repression that the movement faced in its early years. It is online at http://abahlali.org/node/3249

The statement from the Socio-Economic Rights Institute is below.

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4 December 2012 Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa Press Statement

Trial against Minister of Police begins in Durban High Court tomorrow

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) represents Abahlali baseMjondolo Chairperson Sbu Zikode and two others in a damages claim against the Minister of Police: Mke and Others v Minister of Safety and Security. The trial begins on 5 December 2012 in the Durban High Court.

On 12 September 2006, Sbu Zikode and Philani Zungu were arrested while they were on their way to a radio debate with the MEC for Housing, Mike Mabuyakhulu. Their vehicle was stopped and searched. When Zungu asked why he was being searched, Constable Bhangwadin, of the Sydenham Police Station, told him that “a black man is always a suspect” and started to assault him. Both Zikode and Zungu were arrested and taken to Sydenham Police Station, where they were assaulted again by Superintendent Glen Nayager. The charges against them – “crimen injuria”, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest - were later dropped because the Prosecutor thought them so “trivial” as not to warrant a prosecution.

Upon hearing of Zungu and Zikode’s arrest, members of the Kennedy Road informal settlement community gathered at their community hall. They intended to march to Sydenham Police Station to demand that the two men be released. Before they could do so, the Sydenham police officers dispersed the crowd with live ammunition, tear gas and rubber bullets. Nondumiso Mke, a domestic worker, was shot in the leg while trying to retrieve a cellphone she dropped as she was running away from the police.

SERI, together with Trudie Nichols Attorneys in Durban, is seeking compensation for damage sustained as a result of the attacks on Zikode, Zungu and Mke. The trial will begin on 5 December 2012 in the Durban High Court. ------------ http://www.abahlali.org

Sekwanele! No House! No Land! No Vote! Everyone Counts

-- For more, please visit the website of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign at: www.antieviction.org.za and follow us on www.twitter.com/antieviction

Visit Abahlali baseMjondolo at www.abahlali.org and www.khayelitshastruggles.com

The Poor People's Alliance: Abahlali baseMjondolo, together with with Landless People's Movement (Gauteng), the Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal) and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, is part of the Poor People's Alliance - a unfunded national network of democratic membership based poor people's movements.

ENDS

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