South Africa
Operation
Clean Sweep: Johannesburg metro police arrests human rights lawyer
G Nicolson and T Lekgowa
06 Dec 2013 02:49 (South
Africa)
Social and Economic Rights Institute (SERI) lawyer Nomzamo Zondo was
arrested on Thursday as she was assisting informal traders in Johannesburg's
inner-city. While informal traders are still fighting Mayor Parks Tau's
Operation Clean Sweep, battling for the right to make a living and have their
rights protected, Zondo's arrest shows just how far the police are willing to
go. As it turns out, very far. By THAPELO LEKGOWA & GREG NICOLSON.
Zondo is one of SERI's lawyers who regularly represent those whose
rights have been denied by a system skewed against them. The Constitutional
Court ruled on Thursday that the City of Johannesburg could not stop traders
from returning to their places of work. Thousands of informal traders have been
cleared off the streets after Operation Clean Sweep saw Metro Police
confiscating goods and allegedly assaulting them for trading.
To stop the trading, Metro Police shot rubber bullets, said Ndlovu,
injuring four people. The traders called Zondo for help. When she tried to
intervene she was allegedly assaulted and arrested by the cops. Zondo was
supposed to be on TV on Thursday night for an interview regarding the informal
traders win. Instead, she was locked up after an apparently brutal arrest.
Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Wayne Minaar
said she was arrested on charges of obstructing justice and assisting traders
to act against officers. "JMPD will continue with its legal mandate to
clear and observe traders until advised otherwise by the legal department of
the City of Johannesburg," said Minaar.
Late on Thursday evening, SERI's Kate Tissington said that apparently
Zondo was being denied bail. She hopes a prosecutor is available so that Zondo
can get bail. (Zondo has a 5-month old baby that she is breastfeeding.)
SERI has before accused the Metro Police of brutally arresting people
with impunity during Clean Sweep. In a chilling press release two weeks ago,
the organisation detailed the story of Belinda (not her real name). “On Friday
at around 12:00 Belinda and a group of other traders were approached near Kerk
Street by more than 30 JMPD officers. Belinda saw JMPD officials chasing people
away and taking bribes. Belinda also saw them assault another female trader by
kicking her with booted feet. She took photographs of both these incidents on
her cell phone. Another female trader reported being hit, slapped and sworn at
by the police,” said SERI.
The account continued: “The JMPD officers approached Belinda, who took
the photos, and confiscated her cell phone, saying that ‘she was making as if
she was a journalist’ and must go home. When Belinda approached them to ask for
her phone back, they told her that she was under arrest because 'it is illegal
to take photos of the police doing their job'.”
SERI accused the police of violence and xenophobia. “The police then
drove around with Belinda and a number of other arrested traders, and she
witnessed JMPD officers confiscating mannequins outside a clothing shop, and
the owner paying money to the officials to return them. Eventually they were
driven to the JMPD station at Faraday Street where they were handcuffed with
their hands behind their backs, spat on and further verbally and physically
assaulted. Throughout this ordeal, the traders were subject to xenophobic
abuse. One trader was told that that the JMPD 'would drag her with the car like
the other guy from Maputo'. Belinda was told that 'all of this is Mandela's
fault for having married Graca,'” said SERI.
Update: Zondo was released late on Thursday night on R500 bail and
ordered to appear in court on Friday.
Photo: Nomzamo Zondo at Marikana. She was also the attorney for the families
of the Marikana deceased
- G
Nicolson and T Lekgowa
