Protest outside court
Whittlsea residents angered by arrest of 12 on murder charge
There was a commotion outside the Whittlesea magistrate s
’ court on Wednesday when members of the local policing forum Isolomzi staged a protest in support of their members who were accused of murder.
The 12 suspects, aged from 31 to 75, and including women, were arrested in connection with the murder of a 23year-old man in Sada near Whittlesea last month.
A crowd of people who identified themselves as community members and members of the forum sang outside the court in solidarity with the accused.
Deputy chair of Isolomzi, chief Mzukisi Qomisa, said they were there in protest at what they felt was a targeted effort against their members by the police. Crime is out of
“control in Whittlesea and yet police arrest our members who are helping the community, instead of criminals who bring terror to our neighbourhood,” he said. When our
“members are involved they send in police from Komani who come in taxis. They have confiscated weapons we use to defend ourselves against criminals and yet there are firearms being used by criminals in the community.
Even now when we “are in court, police come in droves, yet they do not respond in these numbers to the crime in Whittlesea. We now fear the police more than the criminals in our streets,” added Qomisa.
This was the second appearance for the accused. Two had appeared for a bail hearing on Monday, but it was postponed to Wednesday. Ten other suspects were arrested on Sunday and appeared for the first time on Wednesday with the other accused.
Luzuko Mazaleni of L Mazaleni Attorneys Incorporated, who is representing them, said the matter before the court was urgent and his clients needed to be granted bail.
Most of the accused “have no history of arrests or convictions. None of them are on parole. They have no previous cases or pending warrants. They have been
“clean all their lives. Some of them are professionals and
working people. One of my clients is a teacher and needs to go back to work because schools are now open. He poses no flight risk.”
Mazaleni said while taking the law into their own hands could not be condoned, the community of Whittlesea had felt abandoned by police.
Some of them have been transferred to Sada prison where their lives are in danger from the very criminals they were fighting,” said Mazaleni.
Following the arrests on Sunday, Eastern Cape provincial commissioner, Lt Gen Liziwe Ntshinga, said: These arrests must send “a stern message to all those involved in criminal activities but claiming to be doing justice, that police will continue to reaffirm the authority of the state and lawlessness will not be tolerated.”
The bail hearing was put off to Thursday after load-shedding halted proceedings.