Ben Mafani, one of the leaders of the Glenmore Community is due back in court today for having yet again broken a small window of the local High Court. On Friday, 6 January, he deliberately threw a stone through one of the windows of the court and then waited for the police to come and arrest him. His lawyer is expected to request a postponement of the hearing.
Ben Mafani, one of the leaders of the Glenmore Community is due back in court today for having yet again broken a small window of the local High Court. On Friday, 6 January, he deliberately threw a stone through one of the windows of the court and then waited for the police to come and arrest him. His lawyer is expected to request a postponement of the hearing. He knows the procedure because he has down this several times before and yet he remains free. His act of defiance is aimed at getting the government to pay attention to the plight of the people who live in Glenmore, north-east of Grahamstown off the N2, around halfway to King William's Town. Police and court officials all know Mafani well. They all know that when he breaks the window he has to be arrested – but there is clearly some sympathy for his cause among law-enforcement authorities. The magistrates bend over backwards to be lenient with him. They fine him and give him ample time to pay the fine. He has been given a suspended sentence, yet he remains a free man – almost against his own wishes. In a previous case he protested alone in front of the court, carrying a placard with pictures of Glenmore heroes whose faces he had marked with red ink, to show that the residents of Glenmore are crying blood. Mafani has said many times that the ANC government is ignoring him and the residents of Glenmore, but that he is willing to give his life in order to bring justice to his community.
