S. Africa accused of spying on civil society groups

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/158708/s-africa-accused-of-spying-on-civil-society-groups

South African intelligence agencies have been accused of illegally spying on civil society groups and community leaders in the country.

“Intelligence officials are reportedly calling people working for civil society groups and asking them for information about the groups in exchange for money,” Murray Hunter, a spokesperson for the Right2know campaign, told.

He said that, although intelligence agencies had a legitimate role to play, they also at times viewed certain activists as threats to the state.

“Our report primarily looks at physical surveillance, for example, where officials call and ask activists when they will be attending their meetings,” he said. Continue reading →

Dear Mandela Screening Tour

Award-winning film tours to informal settlement communities

April 30 – 25 May 2015

Dear Mandela, the multi award-winning documentary film, directed by Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza, will be screened in shack settlements on a national tour.

The film, which premiered at the Durban International Film Festival in 2011, follows the journey of three friends living in Durban’s vast shantytowns who refuse to be moved from their shacks after the South African government begins to evict of shack dwellers in an endeavor to ‘eradicate the slums’. From their humble homes, the three take their pleas to the highest court in the land as they invoke Nelson Mandela’s example and become leaders in a growing social movement, known as Abahlali baseMjondolo. The film is at once inspiring, devastating and funny, offering a new perspective on the role that young people can play in political change and is a fascinating portrait of South Africa coming of age. Continue reading →

Daily Maverick: The Army vs. Thembelihle: Where the truth lies

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-05-05-the-army-vs.-thembelihle-where-the-truth-lies

Richard Poplak

At around 3:30am last Wednesday, a young man named Sipho Dlamini was startled awake by insistent knocking. It was the sort of baton-on-zinc wake-up call that people have been experiencing in this country for generations. When he leapt out of bed and approached the source of the commotion, Dlamini couldn’t help but notice that his shack was surrounded by a phalanx of cops and soldiers. The law had shown up before dawn on this chilly morning, ostensibly to deal with the problem of xenophobic violence. But Dlamini wasn’t involved in xenophobic violence—in fact, he was involved in protecting foreign nationals from xenophobic violence—and he suspected that the men with guns might have arrived with something else in mind. When the first blows connected, he knew he was right.

“Ah, comrade, they were very rough,” Dlamini told me. Continue reading →

The Times: More than 180 arrests in raid on Thembelihle informal settlement

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/04/30/more-than-180-arrests-in-raid-on-thembelihle-informal-settlement

Police‚ metro cops army and home affairs officials descended on the Thembelihle informal settlement near Lenasia on Thursday morning.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Kay Makhubela‚ who said Thembelihle had been identified as a hotspot for violent crimes‚ told RDM News Wire that‚ at the time of publication‚ more than 180 people‚ including illegal immigrants‚ had been taken into custody.

“It’s more than that [180]‚ much more‚ and we expect to make many more arrests for various crimes during the course of the day‚” said Makhubela. “We will be here the whole day.”

A media briefing with arrest statistics is expected to held later on Thursday. Continue reading →

Big Brother EXPOSED

Big Brother EXPOSED is a report by the Right2Know Campaign that documents the stories of activists and community leaders who have been monitored and harassed by South Africa’s intelligence agencies – especially the State Security Agency and the Crime Intelligence Division of the police.

Certain organisations in South Africa have been raising concerns about this for years, but too often these concerns have been dismissed. Since the early 2000s, South Africa has witnessed several high-profile ‘spy’ scandals involving the surveillance of high-ranking politicians, and even some journalists, but this report presents a different perspective: that of community activists and unionists who have had similar experiences.

This report tries to understand why this is happening, explore the harm that can be done when intelligence structures intrude in democratic spaces, and equip people with the knowledge they need to fight back.

Attachments


Big Brother Exposed

Cape Times: Freedom Day only words for us

http://www.iol.co.za/news/freedom-day-only-words-for-us-1.1850795#.VT86uCGqqko

Freedom is not something that is held in the hands of the politicians and renewed on April 27 each year, writes Abahlali baseMjondolo.

Cape Town – Once again “Freedom Day” is here. Once again we will be told that we are free. Once again we will be lectured about our freedom and told to accompany the politicians, businessmen and the rich to their stadiums.

Twenty-one years of shack life has not been easy for us. In 21 years of ANC rule lies and evictions have become the order of the day.

The land has not been restored to the people. Our dignity has been vandalised.

In 2005 we declared our humanity. The response of the ANC has been lies, the denial of life-saving basic services, arrest, assault, imprisonment, illegal evictions, torture, armed attacks by members of the ruling party, the destruction of our homes by members of the ruling party and assassination. The vandalisation of our humanity has become even more extreme.

We are not alone. We do not forget Marikana or all the people murdered by the police during countrywide protests. Continue reading →

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

24 April 2015

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

UnFreedom Day 2015: 21 years of Exclusion and Repression

Once again ‘Freedom Day’ is here. Once again we will be told that we are free. Once again we will be lectured about our about freedom and told to accompany the politicians, businessmen and the rich to their stadiums.

21 years of shack life has not been easy for us. In 21 years of ANC rule lies and evictions have become the order of the day. The land has not been restored to the people. Our dignity has been vandalized. In 2005 we delcared our humanity. The response of the ANC has been lies, the denial of life saving basic services, arrest, assault, imprisonment, illegal evictions, torture, armed attacks by members of the ruling party, the destruction of our homes by members of the ruling party and assassination. The vandalization of our humanity has become even more extreme. We are not alone. We do not forget Marikana. We do not forget all the people murdered by the police on protests around the country. We do not forget all the harassment and violence against people born in other countries. Continue reading →