** Note: This is not an AEC march.  We are supporting demands of residents and assisting in helping get the word out about their issues **

Delft’s many Rastafarians took to the streets earlier today and rallied at Delft Police Station.

The issue at hand is the many instances of police brutality and abuse Rastas suffer because of their way of life. The most common abuse is when police single them out and searching them so that they can find them in possession of Dagga (Marijuana) and extract a bribe from them.

The Delft Police are known for widespread brutality especially of poor residents and those they feel do not belong. The incident that sparked the protest was the arrest and brutal beating of 9 Delft Rastas on the 13^th of January. According to residents, Captain Basson and a number of other police officers approached a group of Rastafarians who were buying food on the street. Basson immediately searched them and could not find anything on them. Basson then proceeded to yell racial slurs at them claiming the Rastas wanted to control Delft and that he would get rid of all of them. After some arguments back and forth, the police erupted, beat the group and arrested them. They were hurt so bad that many of them went to the hospital the next day when they were released.

When the 9 Rastas went to lay a charge against Basson, Delft Police refused to entertain their complaint. As a result, The Rasta Working Council, with the help of COREMO, organised todays march which took place from 13h30 until 14h30.

Members of the Delft Anti-Eviction Campaign were there in support of the rally as they have also had a number of distasteful experiences with local police officers.

For more information please contact Makhwenkwe 0835943945 or Ben at 0729271924 (COREMO)

Today, Delft AEC member,Riedwaan Davids, and two other individuals accused of public violence during the violent mass evictions on the 19^th of February, 2008, had their case thrown out of court.

For the past 11 months, Riedwaan Davids has had to worry about the pending case in which police accused him of throwing rocks at the Sheriff of the Court. Riedwaan was arrested immediately after police, without warning, opened fire on residents. They arrested him when they found him hiding inside an N2 Gateway house with other residents and members of the media. Despite the charges, everyone present in Section 2 that day knows (and can testify) that not a single stone was thrown before the police shot over 20 residents and three children.

As part of their defense, Riedwaan had planned testimony from an children’s NGO worker who took this video footage. The footage (video 1), shows Riedwaan (in a white t-shirt and blue hat) attempting to calm down angry residents about 10 seconds before the police opened fire.

While relieved that the case was thrown out, Riedwaan was upset that the case was postponed four times without any reason. Anti-Eviction Campaign members were also disappointed that they did not get a chance to show the clear aggression of police in this matter (video 2).

The Anti-Eviction Campaign sees the constant arrest of its members (with the matter either never making it to court or getting thrown out of court) as a violation of people’s rights. It is an intimidation tactic that police officers use punish activists all over South Africa and make residents scared to protest in the future.

The AEC welcomes Riedwaan Davids back and hopes he will continue to fight with others in the community for land and housing!.

For comment, contact Aunty Jane at 0784031302

Earlier today at around 17h15, police officer De Vos of the Delft police station along with 4 other officers entered Symphony Way and began verbally swearing at and abusing residents. The majority of residents were in a workshop led by an American from a children’s NGO. When Jane Roberts came outside the office where the workshop was taking place, De Vos immediately began threatening Auntie Jane with arrest. He told her quote: “I am going to moor you” and “I will lock you up” and a number of other words inappropriate to publish. He was clearly picking on Aunty Jane because of past instances in which she has opposed his abuse of the community.

Two Americans were also present. The one is the Executive Director of a children’s NGO and the other an American journalist. When they both began documenting the abuse on their cameras and phone, police immediately began threatening to confiscate their cameras and arrest them. A woman police officer then came and slapped the one American and threw his camera to the ground. Police left at around 18h00 once other police officers arrived at the scene.

Then, at 20h00, De Vos came back with his crew and arrested resident Roger Wicks who had nothing to do with the previous incident. He has now been charged with swearing at police and malicious damage to property.

Tomorrow, residents, along with the two Americans, will attempt to lay a charge at the Delft police station against De Vos and the other four police officers on duty.

This is not the first incident of police abuse. There have been over 10 incidents since February 2008 including on 30 October 2008 and 4 October 2008 and 29 June, 2008 and 25 February 2008.

There was also the many instances of brutality during the 19^th of February evictions. Documentation includes: (a) Star article: Delft refuse, resist eviction, (b) video by a bystander, (c) video by eTV and (d) photos

For more information, contact Ashraf 076 186 1408 and Auntie Jane 078 403 1302
For statements from the two Americans, contact Matt at 071 422 3515 and Jay at 076 512 5677

Delft-Symphony — Last night at 22h00, three police vans pulled up to Symphony Way dressed in riot gear. Without warning, they began pepper spraying people in the settlement and attempted to arrest a 58 year old resident named Auntie Tilla. When it was all over, the road’s pastor had been assaulted, beaten and abducted and five residents had been pepper sprayed multiple times. An American journalist had also been sprayed merely for taking photographs of police officers. The Anti-Eviction Campaign believes this intimidation and violence is uncalled for and condemns such cowardly actions by police. As of today, residents and the American journalist have laid charges of assault against Superintendent Van Wyk and the police under his command. Pavement Dwellers call on police to work with them to protect them from speeding drunk drivers rather than against them.

The incident began in the late afternoon when a drunk (on-duty) police officer from the Delft police department arrived at the Symphony Way pavement settlement and began to harass residents. Auntie Tilla, a loved and respected elder in the community, was bothered by the officer’s actions and attempted to make a citizen’s arrest for public violence and consumption of alcohol while on-duty. However, after bothering residents, the cop jumped into his car and sped away.

An hour later, a caravan of 3 police vans with over 15 officers arrived in front of Auntie Tilla’s shack and began threatening residents and seeking to arrest them. American journalist, Toussaint Losier likened the police operation to “cowboys jumping out of their vans looking for a fight. Without their name-tags on they had the clear intention of intimidating and assaulting residents”. But residents banded together trying to protect Auntie Tilla from being arrested. As a response, Van Wyk ordered police to pepper spray residents.

Brother Alfred Arnolds, a respected pastor who lives on the road with residents, was sprayed, assaulted, beaten by police and then thrown unconscious into one of the vans. He describes the event as follows: “When they came back it was like they were going to shoot some kind of movie. The way they came at Auntie Tilla and Etienne, I had to intervene…As you can see, this government has no sympathy for us. That is why we are living in these conditions”. Arnolds claims that after he awoke at the police station, he was kicked and beaten again, striped of 150 Rand, and then left injured in from of the station.

Toussaint Losier, a student from the university of Chicago as well as a journalist for the Boston Banner, was was taking pictures of the incident when Superintendent Van Wyk came and pushed the camera out of the way threatening: “you can’t take pictures of police officers conducting their operations…[and added] you shouldn’t be supporting the people on Symphony Way”. Knowing he was protected by South Africa’s constitution, Toussaint identified himself as a journalist and took a picture of an officer shoving a resident. Immediately afterwards, a police officer came right up to him and sprayed him directly in the eyes.

Twenty minutes after the police had abducted Pastor Arnolds, residents marched to the Delft police station where where they were ignored and laughed at by detectives and other policemen. Residents then went all the way to Bellville Police Station where they laid the charges of assault against Superintendent Van Wyk and called for the arrest of the special operations gang of Delft police who were under his command at the time.

While residents wait, hoping the law might finally be on their side, Tilla offered others a bit of perspective on the incident: “Why are they making us live like this when there are empty houses right here [across the road]. They think we are animals, but we are not animals. We know our rights!”

In reality, this unwarranted brutality by Delft police officers is merely part of a larger campaign by provincial and city government to vilify, intimidate and control the families who have nowhere else to go. Residents refuse to leave the road until they are given the houses that have been promised to them for decades. They know that if they leave Symphony Way, they will be swept under the rug, forgotten and stuck in a ‘temporary’ shacks for another ten years. But because they choose to protest and not be silent, they are bearing the brunt of this oppressive government and violent police gangs.

For comment, contact Ashraf at 076-186-1408. He can connect you to the witnesses and victims of the crime.

For more pictures, click here or contact us at wcantievictioncampaign@gmail.com

The city of Cape Town says it is to strengthen oversight of its metro police, following reports of indiscipline and alleged brutality.

A task team, chaired by city manager Achmat Ebrahim, would be set up to perform this oversight, the city said in a statement on Thursday.

The team would include metro police chief Bongani Jonas, council officials with skills in areas such as industrial relations and law, and politicians.

“This will be the start of an extensive process … to improve service delivery, discipline and operational effectiveness,” the city said.

“This team will deal with matters such as getting the basics right, discipline and speedy disciplinary action where needed [and] improving the image of the service.”

Dumisani Ximbi, mayoral committee member for safety and security, who will sit on the team, said there were many committed officers in the metro police who were doing a tough job well.

“It is unfortunate that the service is tarnished by the wrongdoing of some members.

“Cape Town needs a functional and effective metro police service and this is what the task team will try to achieve.”

Ebrahim said there had been a number of incidents over the past few months which necessitated disciplinary action against metro police.

These included the blockade of roads into Cape Town in August last year “and other incidents involving the public where metro police officers have not adhered to the … manual”, he said.

The unit was in the news recently when a woman claimed she was assaulted by a metro officer after he ordered her to clean up her dog’s excrement from a Sea Point pavement. – Sapa

19 February, 2008 – Evictins begin; police open fire on residents.

Video #1 – this was the situation about 10 seconds before the police started shooting. As you can see it is tense. However, there is no violence from any of the residents. The guy in the red shirt is a community leader with the Anti-Eviction Campaign. He is on the truck instructing residents to stay calm and sit down. Abut 10 seconds later, after someone tried to remove his mattress from the truck, the police started shooting into the crowd andstun grenades began exploding. The police claim that they were provoked by people throwing rocks, but as you can see, there were no rocks thrown at either police or the sheriff of the court before the police started shooting.

Video #2 – this was about 2 minutes after the first video was shot. As you can see, pretty much everyone has already run away. I took cover next to a group of media people assuming that the cops would not shoot at them. The cops were running after people and shooting at them even though everyone was running away and posed no threat to them. You can hear some gun shots in the video and some police running with their guns raise ready to shoot. At the end of the video, a policeman came running at me and the group of media with his gun raised. We ran away fearing we’d get shot (I personally was shot at about a minute earlier and was lucky not to get hit by the bullets).

Result: About 20 residents were shot. Most of these residents were women and children who were unable to avoid the bullets. Six children were shot and I personally brought three of them to the hospital. One of the children, who was only 3 years old, was shot three times and almost killed by the rubber bullets.

I also spoke with numerous residents who claimed a lady with a child in her hands was held at gunpoint by a police officer and ordered to run so he could shoot her from a non-lethal distance. She refused, lay down on the ground and curled up into a ball to protect her child. I spoke to this lady who confirmed that this was true.

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign

URGENT NEWSFLASH!!

10:57am

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Police proceed with unlawful eviction of 1600 residents in Delft, Cape Town

Police have started shooting people at close range in Delft. There is pandemonium and brutality. Following yesterday’s ruling in the High Court which uphold’s Thubelisha Homes and the state’s eviction order against the community, the residents decided to appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. The lawyers worked through the night doing the paperwork for this appeal.

Right now, Ashraf Cassiem, Anti-Eviction Campaign Legal Co-ordinator is still finalising the paperwork for the case to go to the Supreme Court of Appeal but the police decided to proceed with the evictions anyway. All the Anti-Eviction Campaign co-ordinators have advised the police that there is another legal case pending and they have no authority to evict until the legal process is exhausted but they are doing it anyway. This is unlawful.

Mncedisi Twalo of the Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign was making a speech to the people of Delft urging them to sit down on the spot, and the police suddenly opened fire on him and the Delft residents who were directly in front of them – very close range.

20 residents have been injured and rushed to hospital, including the three children.

There are an estimated 55 dogs on the scene. Peoples’ furniture is almost totally destroyed with the police going out of their way to trash it instead of removing it in an orderly fashion.

Police are now trying to drive all the residents off the site away from their furniture and residents are trying to resist.

For comment from the scene call Ashraf Cassiem on 076 1861408 or Mzonke Poni on 073 2562036 or Mncedisi Twalo on 078 5808646

The AEC is currently an umbrella body for over 10 community organizations, crisis committees, and concerned residents movements who have come together to organise and demand their rights to basic services. The organisations that make up the AEC, include:

• Blikkiesdorp Informal Committee (Delft)
• The Crossroad Anti-Eviction Campaign (Nyanga)
• The Delft Integrated Network (Delft)
• The Eastridge Anti-Eviction Campaign (Mitchell’s Plain)
• The Gugulethu Anti-Eviction Campaign (Gugulethu)
• Hanover Park Anti-Eviction Campaign (Hanover Park)
• The Mandela Park Backyarders (Khayelitsha)
• Newfields Village Community Representative Committee (Hanover Park)
• Nyanga East Anti-Eviction Campaign (Nyanga)
• The Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign (Delft)
• The Woodridge Anti-Eviction Campaign (Mitchell’s Plain)
• Zille-Raine Heights (Parkwood)

Affiliated movements and committees we work with or have worked with in Cape Town include (but are not limited to):

• Abahlali baseMjondolo of the Western Cape
• Sikhula Sonke Women Farmworkers Union
• Joe Slovo Liberative Residents (Langa)
• QQ Section Informal Settlement (Khayelitsha)
• Hangberg Solution Seekers Association (Hout Bay)
• KTC Concerned Residents Movement (Nyanga)
• Mitchell’s Plain Concerned Hawkers and Traders Association (Mitchell’s Plain)
• Gugulethu Informal Traders (Gugulethu)
• Gatesville Informal Traders Association (Athlone)

The Poor People’s Alliance

Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign, together with with Landless People’s Movement,  the Rural Network and the Abahlali baseMjondolo, is part of  the Poor People’s Alliance – a network of radical poor people’s movements.

Role of AEC Coordinators

As one AEC activist put it: “As coordinators of the anti-eviction campaign, we are not leaders in the traditional authoritarian sense. Instead, we are like a set of cutlery. We are the tools that are there to be used by poor communities fighting against the cruel and oppressive conditions of South African society. Power to the poor people!”

AEC Current Activities
The AEC is fighting evictions and water and electricity cut-offs on many different levels. Its current activities range from direct action demonstrations against evictions and cut-offs. Activities range from legal actions that challenge the constitutionality of evictions, to mass mobilisation and popular education initiatives, to creative organisation and capacity building programs. Some of its current activities are as follows:

• Direct Action. Aside from organising mass marches and demonstrations against evictions, the AEC directly challenges evictions as they are taking place. The AEC protects families from being evicted primarily by staging sit-ins and demonstrations aimed at turning away government and privatised security forces that come to evict families. For those families who have already been evicted, the AEC often responds by moving them and their belongings back into their homes. Should these tactics prove unsuccessful in waving off evictions and in instances where the government is determined to move forward with evictions, the AEC has at times responded by rendering the contested property unliveable, saying if the people cannot have the land, then no one will.

• Legal Challenges. The AEC’s Legal Aid Team provides much needed free legal advice to all those affected by the possibilities of evictions and forced removals.

• Mass Mobilisation and Popular Education. The AEC is currently involved in a wide spread mobilisation campaign to get communities from all around the Western Cape involved with the AEC. Via mass public meetings and more targeted activists workshops, the AEC has engaged in popular education initiatives around the issues of evictions, and water and electricity cut-offs. Through it’s popular education activities, the AEC works to make the linkages between people’s concrete experiences with evictions and cut-offs, the government’s macro economic strategy GEAR and its privatisation policies. By mobilising the communities around these issues, the AEC hopes to build a mass political base from which to challenge evictions, one that the government will be forced to listen to and think about before continuing with its eviction policies.

• Organisation Capacity Building. The AEC is currently embarking on various activities geared toward building the strength and capacity of the Campaign. In an effort to develop the capacity of its Legal Aid Team, the AEC has taken part (and continues to take part) in a legal research training courses offered by a number of organisations. The skills learned in these courses are used in order to help community members in dealing with legal documents and procedures relating to evictions and cut-offs. They also to facilitate the strength and number of the legal challenges against evictions. By building up the skills of our members, we are able to also conduct research on the socio-economic affects of evictions and water and electricity cut-offs. This research is used not only to give empirical evidence to the Campaign’s counter arguments against GEAR and privatisation, but is also used to take the Campaign forward in terms of developing concrete alternatives to such policies.

• Democratising Communities. The Anti-Eviction Campaign works to democratise the internal governance of poor communities as they attempt to mobilise and stand up for their rights. We assist communities in setting up participatory platforms whereby all residents are able to challenge their elected leaders and hold them accountable.