De Lille: In memory of Tatane, we call on you to account for police violence in Cape Town

Friday the 13th of April 2012
Press Statement by activists in support of Andries Tatane

It is exactly one year since the South African government murdered teacher and activist Andries Tatane.

Today we are holding a surprise funeral procession inside the Cape Town Civic Centre. At exactly 12pm, we will walk together inside the Civic Centre and lead a funeral procession in honour of Tatane and the other hundreds of people who die at the hands of the SAPS every single year.

We will call on Patricia de Lille and her cabinet to come down from her office and join the funeral procession and pay her respects to our fallen freedom fighters.

We will also call on her to attend our memorial service for Tatane and other victims of police violence which will be held in Mandela Park (Khayelitsha) on the 22 of April 2012. At this memorial service, communities from all over Cape Town will be asked to come forward and testify about their own experiences with the police.

It is clear now to many that it is not only the individual actions of police that are violent and vicious, but the administration of all three tiers of government which sanction and often even instigate such violence.

At the national level, the militarisation of the South Africa Police Service is one example of this.

Here in Cape Town, the DA-led government is equally complicit. For example:

* The weekly harassment by the Anti-Land Invasions Unit and the Metro Police against the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers after their brutal eviction in from the N2 Gateway in February 2008.
* The attack on the community of Hangberg authorised by Helen Zille where hundreds were shot with rubber bullets and three residents each lost an eye (September 2010)
* The violent eviction of thousands of landless people from Swartklip field in Mitchell’s Plain (May 2011)
* The shooting and arrest of peaceful protesters at Khayelitsha Hospital and the deployment of the South African Army to intimidate protesters (January 2012)
* The pepper spraying, assault and arrest of peaceful protesters on the Rondebosch Common (January 2012)
* The murder of Zamuxolo Zozo of Nyanga in police custody (January 2012)

These are just some of the more well-known examples of police violence and brutality in Cape Town.

Our politicians must be held to account for condoning violence against the people of this country.

For comment about today’s action and the memorial on the 22 April, please contact:

Anele @ 0834472939 or alternatively 0795125677