Anti-Privatisation Struggle in South Africa Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Riaz Tayob Unlike Venezuela, the silent coup in South Africa goes uncontextualised! The Star - April 9, 2002 Electricity protestors to stay in jail for a week by Anna Cox Fifty Soweto residents who participated in the trashing of the home of Johannesburgs executive mayor will spend the next seven days in jail. The 50, part of a group of 87 members of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) that were arrested on Saturday, were remanded in prison while the police verified their addresses. Yesterday, 37 protestors, mainly the elderly, youths and the sick were released by the Jeppe Magistrates Court. On Saturday, more than a hundred SECC members had gathered outside mayor Amos Masondos Kensington home protesting and chanting slogans. The protestors trashed Masondos place, threw rubbish around the garden, banging on te doors and damaged his garage door, while his wife and children were locked inside the house. The SECC has accused the governmetn of politicising the event and putting pressure on court officials not to release the accused. SECC spokesperson Phillip Matseoane said this was a mockery of democracy. We have child rapists and murderers walking the streets yet a few protestors who were fired on with live ammunition by Masondos security guard now face a week in jail, he said. The accused, all members of the SECC, claim they were simply delivering a memorandum to Masondos house and were trying to push it under the door because they were informed Masondo was not at home when they were fired on. A group of about 100 protestors arrived at Jeppe Court yesterday, singing and demanding the release of their leaders and the arrest, instead, of Masondo. When the march became disruptive, police asked protestors to move 100m away from the court. However, the marchers spilled off the pavement, disrupting traffic. When a Johannesburg Metro Police Department officer tied to force the protestors back to the pavement with his vehicle, they surrounded his car chanting anti-police slogans. The mood again turned ugly when several SAPS members threatened to use batons to disperse the crowd. Later, police officers spoke to SECC leaders who persuaded the gathering to disburse peacefully. Sapa reports that Mineral and Energy Minister, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka yesterday condemned the weekend attack on Masondos home. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytaf-04.26.02-02:49:26-29429