An unusual situation developed in the Grocott’s Mail newsroom yesterday soon after we heard a group of protesters coming down High Street.
An unusual situation developed in the Grocott’s Mail newsroom yesterday soon after we heard a group of protesters coming down High Street.
To hear chanting protesters from our upstairs window is not in itself noteworthy, because our office is strategically positioned on Church Square, just opposite the City Hall, so we often hear angry groups of demonstrators trying to catch someone’s (maybe the media’s?) attention.
This time it was different, because the people of the Unemployed People’s Movement and the Women’s Social Forum who usually lead marches were not there. The absence of Ayanda Kota, Xola Mali and Nombulelo Yami can be directly attributed to the bail conditions set for them, after they were arrested for public violence two weeks ago.
If they had participated in yesterday’s march, their bail could have been revoked and they could have been locked up once again. This is disturbing. Such bail conditions immediately recall apartheid-era banning orders, when activists were not allowed to participate in public meetings.
These bail conditions appear to be an overreaction, and possibly an unconstitutional overreaction, to a protest march on 10 February. However, the bail conditions appear to be only a further link in a chain of questionable overreactions. The Makana municipality, in an apparent overreaction to service-delivery protests, declared the march illegal without any legal basis.
Police officers then overreacted with rubber bullets and stun-grenades when the situation became tense. There was no need to bring out any weapons. At yesterday’s protest meeting, the mayor did eventually come out and face the (cacophonous) music so to speak. We think that it must have taken a fair dose of courage to engage with the angry demonstrators – but he did have the support of a rather large contingent of police officers in the immediate vicinity.
This rather peculiar scene of township residents berating the mayor and the municipal manager was viewed with amusement by banned Unemployed People’s Movement leaders watching from windows overlooking the square.
