[1625] in peace2
Trevor Ngwame arrested, denied bail!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Julia Steinberger)
Tue Apr 9 23:55:14 2002
Message-Id: <200204100355.XAA17991@department-of-alchemy.mit.edu>
To: peace-announce@MIT.EDU, utr-announce@MIT.EDU, moreworldlessbank@MIT.EDU,
stopwolfie@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 23:55:04 -0400
From: Julia Steinberger <julias@MIT.EDU>
Hi all, this just in.
Trevor Ngwame, the South African activist from Soweto
you might remember from our showing of "Two Trevors go
to Washington" in March, has just been arrested and
was denied bail!
I just read this on southafrica.indymedia.org.
(there's a picture of Trevor in the police wagon!)
The summary of the story is that a group of more than a
hundred Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee people went
to the Mayor of Joannesburg's house as a peaceful demonstration.
They were then fired on by one of the Mayor's thugs, at least
8 shots, from the roof. Most of the protestors were arrested.
After releasing the elderly and the children, the courts are
keeping the 50 remaining until April 16th "to check their
addresses". This is obviously bogus, since many of the organizers
are internationally known (not just Trevor). The fear is that
there will be a costly court case to cripple the strengthening
anti-globalization movement in South Africa.
Take 5 minutes to call the South African consulate and
ask for the immediate release of Trevor and the SECC 50!
The New York South African consulate number is (212) 213-4880
and their email address is sacg@southafrica-newyork.net .
50 Soweto activists denied bail - sent to notorious prison
by Anna Weekes 3:38pm Tue Apr 9 '02
Apartheid is back! 50 SECC protestors were denied bail and sent to the
notorious jail - Diepkloof prison - they will be incarcerated until
16th April while police "verify their home addresses"
At least 50 people who protested outside Johannesburg Mayor's house
last Saturday were refused bail today for unacceptable reasons. These
50, including well-known activists, are now going to be incarcerated
in Diepkloof Prison until April 16th 2002.
Their bail application was turned down on the basis that police still
needed time to verify protestors' addresses. This despite the fact
that many of the protestors hold down permanent jobs and have
residential addresses which can be easily verified. Strangely enough,
the Mayor's bodyguard who shot 8 times at the SECC was not even
charged although the 2 people shot, laid attempted murder charges
against him.
100 members of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee were arrested
last Saturday for protesting outside the Mayor of Johannesburg's
house. They were also shot at more than 8 times by the Mayor's
bodyguard who was standing on the roof.
Very bad news is that Trevor Ngwane and SAMWU organiser Rob Rees + 48
other protestors are now jailed in a notorious prison full of
criminals until April 16th! Its one of the most violent and terrible
prisons in South Africa!
The comrades could not get bail on the weekend because the police failed to complete charging them all. The police made
excuses like they didn't have enough stationery!
So the comrades only appeared in court 2pm today. But the lawyer only
managed to get bail for the 60 pensioners and kids. The police are
using the excuse that they need to verify all their addresses by
physically going to each house. It's ridiculous as many are well known
with stable employment and it would be a matter of one call.
Strangely enough, the Mayor's bodyguard who shot 8 times at the SECC
was not even charged although the 2 people shot, laid attempted murder
charges against him.
Please spread this news and please write immediately to your SA embassy demanding their release if you are international! If
you want to help locally, phone John of the Gauteng Anti-Privatisation Forum on +27 82 9404473.
photos taken by Florencia Belvedere of the APF are on
www.southafrica.indymedia.org and the SAMWU press statement is
attached, below.
Regards,
Anna Weekes
SAMWU Media Officer
_______________________________________________
SAMWU Press Statement Monday 8th April 2002 3:30pm
Union demands release of SAMWU Organiser & Soweto Electricity Crisis
Committee protestors
The South African Municipal Workers Union is shocked and disturbed
that at least 40 people who protested outside Johannesburg Mayor's
house last Saturday were refused bail today for unacceptable
reasons. These 40,including well-known activists, are now going to be
incarcerated in Diepkloof Prison until April 16th 2002.
The court initially wanted to detain all 100 protestors and only later
agreed to release about 60 pensioners and children. Many of these
pensioners were supposed to collect their pensions this morning. The
children had been in jail for almost two days!
The bail application for the remaining 50 protestors was turned down
on the basis that police still needed time to verify protestors'
addresses. This despite the fact that many of the protestors hold down
permanent jobs and have residential addresses which can be easily
verified, like SAMWU Provincial Organiser, Rob Rees. It is absurd to
SAMWU that the court refused to accept Rees's union work address!
SAMWU is dismayed that the state is returning to apartheid practices
of holding people in prison for little or no reason.
SAMWU has learnt that one member of the Anti-Privatisation who arrived
at the Jeppe Police Station to arrange legal assistance for the
arrested protestors, was subsequently arrested for protesting even
though she was not at the protest. This is illegal.
A further example of inconsistent application of the law is that one
of Mayor Masondo's bodyguards fired live ammunition into the crowd of
protestors. Two people were injured and have laid attempted murder
charges against him, yet the police have seemingly not even processed
these charges. According to reports, he bodyguard is currently walking
the streets of the city as a free man after merely submitting a
written statement to police!
It was abundantly clear from the TV news on Saturday night that the
reason the protest turned ugly was due to the actions of this
bodyguard.
"We must not lose sight of the fact that evictions, service cut offs
and high service charges within an environment of sprialling
unemployment have become a feature of the everyday lives of the
protestors and many other communities across the country. It is
regrettable that the demonstration took an ugly turn but the union
calls on the government to address the legitimate demands for basic
services that poor communities are making," said SAMWU General
Secretary Roger Ronnie.
SAMWU calls for the immediate release of all of the protestors.
../ends
For comment, contact SAMWU General Secretary on 082 2006799
