NATIONAL LAND COMMITTEE & LANDLESS PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT
Joint Press Statement
24th August 2002
“Arrested Landless People’s Movement members released”
After spending two nights in prison, 77 members of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and the National Land Committee (NLC) were released from John Vorster Square on warning to appear in court, with an option instead of each paying a R100 ‘admission of guilt’ fine.
Those imprisoned were amongst 1 000 protestors who marched to Gauteng Premier Mbazima Shilowa’s office in central Johannesburg on Wednesday 21 August 2002. The march, organised by the Gauteng LPM, was demanding a moratorium on forced removals and evictions in Gauteng, in particular in Thembalihle and Protea South in Soweto. Amongst those arrested were LPM Gauteng Chairperson Maureen Mnisi, NLC Director Zakes Hlatshwayo and NLC Land Rights Co-ordinator Andile Mngxitama.
Police attacked protestors with batons and tear gas during the arrest. As a result seven people sustained injuries. A two months pregnant woman was amongst those arrested. On Thursday evening she had a miscarriage after pleas for assistance from her jailers were ignored. This tragedy is the result of the police zealously carrying out their orders to act as harshly as possible on protestors.
It is apparent from the arrests that there is an undeclared state of emergency in force to clamp down on protestors on the eve of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The protestors were arrested under an apartheid-era law – the Regulation of Public Gatherings Act of 1993 - for ‘failure to disperse’. The protest march was legal, but protestors were told their time had run out and they had to disperse. The LPM rejects the charges and its members will not pay the fines.
Letters of solidarity have been received from around the world. The Food First Information Action Network (FIAN), La Via Campesina, Focus on the Global South (Philippines) and others have sent messages condemning the arrests to President Thabo Mbeki, Premier Shilowa and their respective embassies. The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign has also sent a message of solidarity. A march opposing the limitations on basic rights of expression and assembly is planned for this afternoon (Saturday 24 August) from Wits University to John Vorster Square (Johannesburg Central police station). Internationally renowned scholars and activists will participate.
The LPM will not be deterred by this brutal show of force by the state. Over the weekend LPM members will be organising in communities around Gauteng and the rest of South Africa in preparation for a massive march against the WSSD in Sandton on Saturday 31 August. The marchers will demand an end to forced removals, an end to the market-led approach to land reform and will also call for a national Land Summit.
ISSUED BY: The Landless People’s Movement and National Land Committee on 24 August 2002.
FOR MORE INFO: Contact Andile Mngxitama on 082-742-9660 or Maureen Mnisi on 084-367-4180 or Samantha Hargreaves on 084-384-0088.