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."
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