I admit with some embarrassment that the story of the of the vicious attack on shack-dwellers by the ANC in Durban didn’t initially grab my attention. I can perhaps blame this on that apart from a few opinion pieces, it was largely ignored by the mainstream press. But this is a story that should be ringing alarm-bells for all South Africans. ANC thugs – aided and abetted by the police and ruling ANC officials – attacked a peaceful community, destroying homes and killing at least three people.

Their crime? Members of this community belonged to an independent organisation – crucially not ANC-aligned – which actively campaigs for better housing, sanitation, healthcare and education, to be provided on terms favourable to its members. The organisation is called Abahlali baseMjondolo, and the settlement is Kennedy Road in Durban. Abahlali has successfully fought for its member’s rights – all the way to the Constitutional Court. This has clearly irked the notoriously anti-poor ANC ruling elite who would much rather divert development funds to their own bank accounts.

On the night of 26th September, a heavily armed gang launched a surprise, unprovoked attack on the settlement. They destroyed everything they could while calling on Zulu’s to identify and spare themselves. This ethnic rampage resulted in at least three – many reports have it at eight – deaths. This murderous spree went ahead with the connivance of the police who refused to intervene. The only activity the police undertook was to arrest eight Abahlali leaders!

Watch this video: it’s a heartbreaking tale of repression:

The ANC, in a display of unbridled arrogance and cynicism, held a sham reconciliation meeting – attended solely by ANC activists.  They then complained loudly when the Abahlali leaders – in hiding for their lives – did not attend. They spent their time heaping abuse on the movement and blaming them for everything. ANC Councillor Nigel Gumede left no doubt that this was a case of Zulu vs Pondo:

He added a dash of tribal hatred, saying that “in our [presumably Zulu] culture, this [Mfene] dance is associated with muthi” (witchcraft) and needed to be investigated.

Still the community remains under attack. There is nothing covert about it: the ANC is sending a strong message that anyone not actively supporting them is their deadly enemy and will be destroyed. Here are the reasons given for a planned attack on Sunday night:

A decision has been taken to demolish two more shacks after the meeting. These shacks both belong to AbM members – they are both women. The decision has been justified on the grounds that:

1. They are known AbM activists.
2. They failed to attend today’s meeting.
3. They failed to accept pressure to board the ANC buses to protest for denial of bail at the bail hearing for the Kennedy 8.

Zuma, of course has not said a word. This tacit support for pro-Party fascist thugs – in the mould of the Nazi Brownshirts and Zanu-PF youth militia – must be taken very seriously.

Please sign this petition to ask Zuma to intervene.

Related article:

• State turns against shack dwellers

E-News aired a report last night about the death in police custody of a 69-year-old Alzheimer’s sufferer. He was arrested for not paying for an R8 ($1) bar of chocolate. CCTV footage of the incident shows a policeman pepper-gassing the elderly Mr Brown in what appears to be a premeditated attack. Not shown was how he received a gaping wound. Rather than being taken to a doctor, he was locked up in an unfurnished, dark police holding cell. The police refused to let Brown’s family see him and did not call a doctor, although they were aware of his mental condition.

So you would expect something to be done about this travesty of justice, would you? Someone like the Independent  Complaints Commission which is specifically tasked to investigate this type (Class I) complaint. Well they didn’t see anything untoward about burly policeman assaulting and locking up an elderly Alzheimer’s patient without access to his family or medical care. They thought there was nothing untoward about policemen changing their statement in an apparent attempt to cover up the incident. Clearly they see nothing wrong in a confused old man – who probably didn’t even realise he had picked up a chocolate – dying at the hands of callous policemen who broke every rule and regulation in the process.

Independent? Yeah, right.

So-called independent organs of State are rapidly becoming lap-dogs of the ruling Party and the potentates within it. When an”independent” organisation is seen to act independently – particularly against a politician – it is soon cowed or simply shut down, like the Scorpions.

The South African Constitution admirably defines a number of checks and balances on the organs of state. But over the last year or two we’ve seen this independence slowly evaporate as the institutions come under severe pressure from a rampantly centralist ANC-led government. A few examples:

• The constitutionally-guaranteed independent National Prosecuting Authority was brow-beaten by Jacob Zuma and his supporters to drop the numerous serious charges of corruption against him. It used the gossamer-flimsy pretext of the potential malefides of an operative based on illegally obtained and untested “evidence”.
• Icasa, the ICT regulator caved in to pressure from ANC ally Cosatu and reversed its own decision putting the South African economy under threat.
• The Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana conveniently decided that following a trail of evidence was not required in investigating the broad front of complaints of government/ANC corruption in the arms deal.
• The Gender Commission, which has remained largely silent on gender issues, rose in outrage at Helen Zille appointing an all-male cabinet yet didn’t utter a word about the deeply misogynistic bile spewed out by the ANC-allied organisations.

Oh – and there are many, many more examples.

Independence is anathema to the ANC. The centralisation of power has been an overt strategy for over 10 years now – and it is picking up steam. The last of the independent institutions, the judiciary is now in the ruling party’s sights.

Ever wondered how a brutal regime gets its individual policemen to be so brutal? The answer is: you brutalise them! In this video, Zimbabwean police cadets are systematically beaten, apparently as part of their normal training. It looks as if the recruit takes his beating “like a man”, he is free to join his comrades in a huddle. If not he is subjected to further beating, kicking and verbal abuse.

These are the sick cruel policemen of a sick and cruel regime. Pity the poor populace when this fresh batch of recruits is unleashed on them.