Democratic Left Front (www.democraticleft.za.net)

23 October 2011

PRESSS STATEMENT: RELEASE COMRADE SIMPHIWE ZWANE, OKM COUNCILLOR FROM THEMBELIHLE (JOHANNESBURG)

The Democratic Left Front (DLF) calls for the immediate release of Comrade Simphiwe Zwane, the Operation Khanyisa Movement (OKM) councillor in the Johannesburg City Council. On Friday 21 October 2011 at about 11 p.m., Comrade Zwane, was arrested at her home in Thembelihle – the shack settlement in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, where there have been sustained community protests for services, housing and unemployment. She is being held at the Lenasia Police Station cells.

Her arrest follows the release on appeal of Comrade Bhayzer Miya who was arrested on September 13 and spent more than a month in jail after being refused bail by the Protea Magistrate’s Court. Miya is a key leader of the Thembelihle community who was also the OKM candidate for ward councillor in the 2006 and 2011 local government elections. Another 13 comrades had also been arrested in the course of the ongoing struggles in Thembelihle. The state is using arrests and the courts to frustrate the struggle of the Thembelihle community by victimising its leaders. We demand the unconditional release of Councillor Zwane, and the dropping of charges against her and Miya, and the 13 other comrades from Thembelihle who will appear in court on the 27th October.

Following the callous and illegal slaying of Andries Tatane by the police in Ficksburg, Zwane’s arrest confirms that the repressive organs of the state are directed at people and workers engaged in protest action. Councillor Zwane’s arrest is linked to the march she led on the 22nd August where she read and handed over a memorandum to the ANC ward councillor. She had reported on this march when she addressed the DLF National Workshop on Local Government that was held at the beginning of July. Through this march, the community of Thembelihle demanded that the City of Johannesburg must speedily deliver housing, electricity and water.

The memorandum also demanded an end to the exploitation of workers by Lenasia employers. The government’s failure to address these demands angered the community leading to the recent weeklong uprising in Thembelihle. Instead of responding to these demands, the City of Johannesburg has collaborated with the police to victimise Comrade Zwane. As the OKM press statement released on Friday showed, Councillor Pravin Naidoo, the ANC Chief Whip in the Johannesburg City Council, publicly attacked and slandered Councillor Zwane for leading the march. This was shortly followed by Advocate J. Browde, the Commissioner for Integrity in the Office of the Speaker of Council, summoning Councillor Zwane and interrogating her about the march, suggesting that disciplinary measures would be taken against her for leading the march.

The ANC government must deliver on its election promises of houses, electricity, water, education, healthcare, public transport, jobs and a better life for all. Comrade Zwane is an exemplary councilor who speaks and acts on behalf of the people who elected her. She is the only councilor in the City of Joburg who actually takes mandates from the community and reports everything discussed in council meetings. She is subject to the right of recall by those who elected her. More than half of her salary is used by the OKM to fund campaigns that defend and promote the interests of the working class and the poor. She is bound to do these things because during her election campaign she signed a pledge and a legally binding contract to this effect. She is being victimised in order to kill the vision of the necessity for a government that is run and controlled by ordinary people.

The DLF endorses the call for solidarity with Comrades Zwane, Maziya and 13 other Thembelihle comrades issued jointly by OKM, the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, the Landless Peoples Movement (Protea South), the Commercial Services, Agricultural and Allied Workers’ Union, GOLCOM, the Solidarity Economy Education and Communication Cooperative, the Mine Line Workers’ Committee, the Democratic Socialist Movement and and the Socialist Group. The DLF also endorses the press conference that will be held later today: 23 October 2011, at 11h00 at the offices of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee at the Careers Centre, corner Chris Hani Road and Immink Drive, Baragwanath, to provide the media with more details of this shameful development and the campaign that OKM will wage to secure her release.

Finally, the DLF reiterates its call for a People’s Tribunal into State Violence and Repression Against Social Protest. In June this year, the DLF together with 27 social movements called upon COSATU, as the foremost representative of the working class, to convene a such a Tribunal. Such a tribunal must aim to assess the extent and legality of such violence, determine who has been responsible for the brutality, and formulate proposals for reform of public order policing. The tribunal should include representatives of trade unions and civil society organisations and also individuals whose involvement would add credibility to its deliberations.

FOR COMMENTS, CONTACT:

Vishwas Satgar (DLF) – 082 775 3420

Mazibuko K. Jara (DLF) – 083 651 0271

Sphiwe Segodi (OKM) – 072 655 4177