Shack dwellers’ leaders to lay charges

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Shack dwellers’ leaders to lay charges

September 14 2006 at 01:15PM

By Thamsanqa Ngubane

The two leaders of the shack dwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, who were arrested and charged on Tuesday with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, were released after brief appearances in the Durban magistrate’s court on Wednesday.

Sbu Zikode and Philani Zungu, the movement’s president and deputy president respectively, were released and issued with warnings to appear in court again on October 18.

According to Richard Pithouse, of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Civil Development, who is working closely with Abahlali, the two would lay charges of assault against the police.

‘They abused us in a racially motivated manner’
The two claimed they had been assaulted and insulted when they were arrested at the Kennedy Road informal settlement on Tuesday night.

Residents of the settlement gathered outside the court on Wednesday, waiting for the leaders to be released.

Zikode and Zungu were given heroes’ welcomes on their release, and were carried from the court on the shoulders of their supporters.

Soon after their release, both went to a district surgeon for the injuries they claim to have sustained at the hands of policemen to be assessed.

“We are going to lay charges against the policemen, as they abused us in a racially motivated manner,” said Zikode.

# thamsanqa.ngubane@inl.co.za

o This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on September 14, 2006