Posted on 24-8-2002

Arrests, Teargassing Already At World Summit
Photo shows Gauteng Premier Mbazhima Shilowa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, August 22, 2002 (ENS) - The first signs of
looming conflict at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg are beginning to show even before the summit opens August 26.
On Wednesday, 114 former freedom fighters claimed they were teargassed in
police cells after being arrested while travelling to a planned protest
outside parliament this week. In addition, 72 landless people and land
activists and a journalist were arrested Wednesday as part of the South
African government's crackdown on demonstrations during the summit. Those
arrested include most of the Gauteng leadership of the national Landless
People's Movement including LPM Gauteng Chairperson Maureen Mnisi.

The clash with police occurred when a group of about 4,000 people marched
on the offices of Gauteng Premier Mbazhima Shilowa, in whose province the
summit is situated, demanding an end to forced removals. The marchers
wanted Shilowa to sign a memorandum of commitment to stop forced removals,
and "to end the brutal campaign of terror being waged by the notorious Red
Ants security company and the police against poor and landless people in
the province," the LPM said in a statement. Shilowa said the Gauteng
government is aware of the plight of people in the province who reside in
informal settlements or in backrooms and shacks and wish to own homes with
full title deeds. He said the government had embarked on a new approach
which includes incremental housing and social housing to reduce the huge
housing backlog facing the province.

Police, who have drafted 8,000 reinforcements into Johannesburg to quell
crime, control traffic and stifle any civil disobedience other than
strictly regulated demonstrations, said demonstrations where permission had
not been obtained would be strictly dealt with. They denied they had
teargassed members of the Soldiers Forum who were detained at Johannesburg
Central police station. But publicity secretary of the Soldiers Forum,
Lerato Mayela, said outside the station, "You can still smell the teargas,
and why have all these paramedics arrived? Some have been injured." The
Soldiers Forum is a group of ex-anti-apartheid guerrilla forces including
those from Umkhonto we Sizwe which is the military wing of the ruling
African National Congress, the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army and others.

The incidents come as tensions have slowly begun rising with a wide variety
of groups expressing anger over a complex registration process for
demonstrations during the period of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD).

The tough government stance is fueling tensions and creating alliances
among a variety of groupings ranging from disenchanted volunteers at the
summit who are protesting their day rate, landless people, workers, those
protesting government's stance on HIV and women and high service charges to
the poor. Mayela said, "Freedom of expression as provided for in the
constitution has been violated. This is not a true reflection of democracy,
we will now demonstrate every day." Trevor Ngwane, a leading civil rights
campaigner who was arrested in May during a protest demonstrating high
service charges in Soweto, said, "The South African government, is
criminalizing the basic rights of freedom of expression and protest. This
trend has increased markedly in recent weeks, with anti-WSSD activists
facing harassment and intimidation by intelligence operatives and
government security forces." He said members of the Soldiers Forum were
arrested at Park Station in Johannesburg as they sat in a designated train
coach waiting to embark for Cape Town, where they intended to call
attention to their unfair dismissals from the South Africa National Defence
Force and the failure of the government to provide pension payments. The
trip had been sponsored by Shosholoza Main Line and its management had
allocated a separate coach for the Soldier's Forum. "Despite this, the
South African police prevented the train from leaving," Ngwane said.

He said when national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi finally accepted
the Soldiers Forum memorandum, he proceeded to arrest them on "trumped-up"
charges of not paying fares. Mayela said Shosholoza Main Line had been
asked to lay a charge against the soldiers but had refused. The soldiers,
98 of whom are men and 16 of whom are women, have embarked on a hunger
strike. He said the soldiers had tried "every channel to protest" starting
with the late defence minister Joe Modise, but instead they were charged
with sedition. They have planned another protest for September. "They feel
they were unfairly dealt with, they fought in the struggle against
apartheid and now they don't even get pensions?" Mayela said. Ngwane said,
"This is the most recent tactic of harassing and intimidating anti-WSSD
activists, by government intelligence and security forces. Over the last
several days, the National Intelligence Agency has attempted to question
several such activists and, in one case, to recruit a member to spy for
them. "All of these cases are indicative of a systematic campaign to
control and curtail legitimate public dissent and opposition to government
policies," Ngwane said. "It is a clear sign that the South African
government is afraid of an informed and active citizenry that practices
real democracy."