26 ARRESTED AT MADONSELA’S OFFICE

OVER 20 members of Black First Land First (BFLF) organisation and its leader Andile Mgxitama were arrested yesterday for allegedly holding hostage the staff at the public protector Thuli Madonsela’s head office in Pretoria.

Police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said 26 people would appear in court today after they were charged with trespassing.

Naidoo said the group allegedly forced their way into the building and when the police arrived at the premises they exited the building but were subsequently arrested.

Public protector spokesman Oupa Segalwe said the group stormed the office and climbed over the front desk to gain entrance into the rest of the building.

“Some of them are alleged to have held up three or four of our staff members, demanding that they call the public protector – who was not in the office – and inform her that they BFLF were at the office,” said Segalwe.

He said Madonsela was dismayed by the group’s action.

“This, especially because they are not complainants in the matter they claim is not enjoying her attention.”

Zanele Lwana, spokeswoman for BFLF, confirmed to Sowetan last night that Mgxitama was among those who were arrested.

She said the group had gone to Mandonsela’s office to lodge their dissatisfaction about the snail’s pace she was taking at investigating cases of corruption by white South Africans that they had launched with the office first in 2015 and another in March.

Lwana said one of the cases of corruption amounted to R5-billion that could be used to, for example, fund free higher education in the country.

She said the organisation’s national coordination committee met over the weekend and one of the resolutions was to occupy Madonsela’s office.

Lwana accuse Madonsela of focusing only on cases involving black people who are implicated in corruption but ignores those involving white people.