Police complicity in repressing South Africa’s poor exposed as 12 activists’ charges are dropped
After nearly one and half years waiting, 12 members from War on Want’s partner organisation Abahlali baseMjondolo KwaZulu-Natal (AbM) were acquitted on all charges of murder, attempted murder, public violence and several counts of assault on Tuesday (18 July 2011). Nicknamed the ‘Kennedy 12’, the men were accused of being a part of violent attacks that left 2 men dead, many injured, and hundreds displaced in Kennedy Road informal Settlement, Durban, South Africa, on September 27 2009.
The Kennedy Road Settlement has been the site of on-going tension between residents, the municipality and the police who have attempted to remove the shack dwellers from the site. The settlement was one of the settlements AbM originally started working in, before expanding to over 30 settlements across Durban.
In her ruling on Tuesday, the Durban Regional Court Magistrate, Sharon Marks, dismissed all charges against the activists, concluding that statements made by state witnesses had been contradictory and their testimony insufficient. Questions were also raised regarding the police line-up, and allegations made into the possible coaching of witnesses.
The impact of this ordeal will likely have long and lasting effects on the lives of the acquitted. However, the arrests and the trial that followed have enforced the need for AbM to continue advocating for the disenfranchised. As Jackie Dugard, Executive Director at the Socio-Economic Rights Insitute of South Africa said, the trial has highlighted the “police complicity in attempts to repress Abahlali’s legitimate and lawful activities on behalf of poor and vulnerable people living in informal settlements across South Africa.” The findings of the trial mark a victory not only for the acquitted men, but for AbM, their communities and the millions of poor and disenfranchised across South Africa.