Police repression of service delivery protests in Khayelitsha

What the SAPS allege against our members is not true: Nqingo and Fotoyi did not intimidate or attack workers and trucks that delivered portable toilets to the SST section of Khayelitsha. Nqingo and Fotoyi were part of the PYM and SST community protest against portable toilets and that called for community consultation and decent sanitation. Nqingo has been in police custody since Wednesday (18 July 2012). Fotoyi was arrested this morning at the Harare police station when he was part of a PYM delegation accompanying Nqingo’s lawyer. Nqingo was refused release yesterday as the responsible SAPS officials claimed to have lost her docket. Surprisingly, the same SAPS officials managed not to lose the docket of Nqingo’s 8 assailants. Yesterday, these same SAPS officials were preparing to release Nqingo’s 8 assailants from police custody until the prosecutor objected against this on grounds of clear bias. To arrest and keep Nqingo and Fotoyi in custody for their engagement in legitimate protest is to violate their freedom of association and to entrench the violation of their dignity by the imposition of indecent and disease-causing portable toilets. This is against the clearly expressed will of the people of SST.

As part of the ongoing community action, the local ANC ward councilor (Amos Komeni) has ridden roughshod over the community. He has refused to consult and meet with the community. He has mobilised a small number of local goons to terrorise those residents active in community mobilisation against the hated portable toilets.

As the PYM and the DLF, we call on the SAPS management to take action against SAPS Sector Commander for Harare, Commander Nyalambisa, for his biased conduct. On Wednesday, Commander Nyalambisa allowed the assault of Nqingo by 8 people who are associated with the unaccountable Komeni. In other words, this assault took place in front of Commander Nyalambisa. Nyalambisa took no action to stop the assault. Instead, Nyalambisa stopped PYM members who were intervening to stop the assault on Nqingo. Commander Nyalambisa’s actions are biased and fall short of his service commitments in the SAPS. Indeed, the SAPS is increasingly becoming the primary tool in the state’s response to the public expression of popular discontent with failing service delivery. The 8 assailants included individuals with tenders for the provision of the hated portable toilets. Some of these tenderpreneurs include members of the Komeni-led ward committee. In effect, these 8 assailants were there to physically enforce the imposition of these toilets. Through Nyalambisa’s actions, the SAPS colluded with this imposition. Nqingo’s 8 assailants were only arrested after the PYM and Nqingo laid a complaints and charges with the police.

The PYM and the DLF call on the SAPS to immediately release Nqingo and Fotoyi. We call on the SAPS to desist from using its force and power to stop legitimate public protest. We call on the ANC’s Amos Komeni and the DA-controlled City of Cape Town to respect the wishes of the people of SST not to impose portable toilets but to immediately install decent sanitation systems. Despite their apparent political differences, the SST case confirms the neo-liberal, anti-poor and authoritarian convergence of the DA and the ANC as governing parties. As the PYM and the DLF, we reaffirm our commitment to provide support and leadership to the sustained community struggles for decent sanitation in SST. Despite the arrest of Nqingo and Fotoyi, we will not lose focus in building community power and action for social justice, decent services and accountability.

Finally, we call on all progressive organisations and individuals who stand for social justice to write letters of protest to the SAPS Harare Station Commander as follows:

- Colonel Adams, Station Commander, Harare Police Station, Khayelitsha, Fax – 021 363 0396

The letters must call for the immediate release of Nqingo and Fotoyi, action against Commander Nyalambisa, action against SAPS officials involved in the loss of Nqingo’s docket, an end to biased anti-constitutional actions of the SAPS.

The PYM is an affiliate of the DLF.

For comments, contact:

- Mabhelandile Twani (PYM) – 083 886 1831
- Andiswa Bhabha (PYM) – 073 417 0049
- Zama Timbela (PYM) – 076 731 6157
- Mazibuko K. Jara (DLF) – 083 651 0271