South Africa

South Africa

Boiketlong four – and the community fighting for the truth

Boiketlong four – and the community fighting for the truth

What happens in a community after a violent protest? In Boiketlong, community leaders could face 16 years in jail for crimes that activists and comrades claim they did not commit. By GREG NICOLSON.

Community members crowded into the Boiketlong Christian Primary School hall on Monday. The school has no electricity and the sun was fading. “Why are these people sentenced for 16 years and we have someone like Pistorius who killed his own girlfriend [getting a lesser sentence]?” asked Father Mokesh Morar. “If you have money, can you buy the law in this country?”

“Yes!” the crowd roared.

The community was gathering to support the ‘Boiketlong Four’ who were given 16-year sentences this year for burning down a councillor’s house during a 2013 protest. On Tuesday they were granted leave to appeal the case that allegedly features political intimidation and police bias, a case that may show what happens in a community in the fallout of violent service delivery protests.

This year the Gauteng government declared “the 15-year wait for land to develop a human settlement in the area has come to an end”, but for now Boiketlong remains undeveloped. Locals of the large informal settlement outside Sebokeng have been petitioning and protesting for housing, electricity, and other services for years. Over the ochre dirt, shacks are evenly scattered. There is no electricity, and locals use pit toilets and communal taps. According to the state, development has been restricted because the Boiketlong sits on private land.

In May 2013, residents barricaded the streets. Once again, they were demanding proper housing, electricity and sanitation. They were angry the state had not kept its promises and demanded to be addressed by the president or minister of human settlements. Police intervened, firing rubber bullets. “Moments later smoke rose from the shacks and a huge fire lit up the sky as the councillor’s house was set alight,” wrote a Daily Sun reporter. Councillor Maselloane Nthebe was already on her way to hospital after being hit with a brick and didn’t see her house and her two cars set alight.

Days later Emfuleni Mayor Greta Hlongwane mentioned Nthebe in her state of the municipality address. “Her house was set on fire and she sustained serious injuries and this led to her being admitted at the hospital. This is simply deplorable act of criminality which must be condemned as such and we invite law enforcement agencies to execute their mandate,” said the mayor. “I would like to echo the call by the president of the Republic, Honourable Jacob Zuma when he said that, and I quote: ‘While our Constitution allows protest action as part of the freedoms we fought for, the violence that sometimes accompanies the protest is unacceptable.’”

Four people were convicted this year on charges of arson, assault and malicious damage to property: Dinah Makheta, Sipho Mangane, Dan Molefe and Pulane Mahlangu. They each received a sentence of 16 years. Activists and residents claim the convictions are a gross violation of justice.

“I don’t know even today who burned my house,” Councillor Nthebe said on Tuesday. She told police she saw three of the four convicted outside the property before she went to hospital and before her house was set alight. “Only God knows the truth.”

The United Front claim the convictions were political. It says the four were targeted by the police and arrested in February only after a related case fell through. “Throughout the case, the police failed to produce any credible evidence. Not a single witness could identify any of the four. The conviction and sentence are mistaken and outrageous. They make a mockery of Constitutional rights to freedom of expression and association,” said United Front Gauteng in a statement. “This case was instigated by the Emfuleni Local Municipality as a diversion away from its responsibility to meet the demands of the Boiketlong community. This case is also part of the rising use of repression and untransformed courts to clamp down on protest. If this is not challenged, the same fate awaits other community protests and activists.”

On Monday, the United Front’s Siyabonga Mbuqe said the convictions were a repeat of tactics used by the state during Apartheid. Outside the primary school hall, people used pink chalk to craft placards on the inside of beer boxes: “Free Sipho. We want houses not jail”, “Justice must prevail.” While Daily Maverick has not seen the court documents that led to the conviction, community members said the arrests were politically motivated. The four people convicted were community leaders perceived to be behind the local protests against the ANC councillor and municipality.

Attorney Raymond Eastes has taken over the case (the four were previously represented by Legal Aid SA) and hasn’t seen the previous court papers either, but was in court on Tuesday when leave to appeal was granted. His personal opinion is that identifying the culprits is a big problem. Nthebe’s property was attacked in the early morning, a crowd outside. “You can just imagine you have a crowd of people around the house,” said Eastes. “I think it’s a political thing, this,” he added, suggesting disputes over land allocation could be at the heart of the issue.

“We never, ever, ever spoke about attacking the councillors house,” said Papi Thobias, one of the community leaders during the May 2013 protest, on Monday. He claims he was with Dinah Makheta, one of the convicted, while the councillor was attacked and her house burnt. He said they had gone to meet the Daily Sun’s Sonqoba Kunene to assist the journalist getting through the barricades and they only arrived at the house after it was burnt. Sipho Mangane, also convicted, had a suspended sentence against him and claimed he wouldn’t join any of the protests, said Thobias.

“You cannot debate the truth,” he said. Thobias said he went to the police to offer his version exonerating, at least, Makheta, but the police did nothing about it. He remains ready to testify, he said. According to Thobias, the community believes local youth attacked and burnt the councillor’s house and he claims the councillor’s partner later went to confront a young man he thought was responsible.

The Right2Know Campaign has recently been challenging the police and state response to protests and the group’s Dale McKinley said drawing on his experience in the Anti-Privatisation Forum there has been a consistent pattern of isolating and targeting protest ring leaders. When there are politicians like local councillors involved police arrest those the politicians identify, even if they are not specifically implicated in violence but are seen as a political threat. The aim is to quell further dissent and the police are used to intimidate.

Whether or not the “Boiketlong Four” receive bail or win their appeal, the case highlights the toll that protests, politics and police take on communities. Councillor Nthebe has moved her children to the Free State, too scared to keep them at home. Community leaders could face 16 years in jail over an incident which started by demanding their rights, potentially for a crime they didn’t commit. And Boiketlong has received more promises, but for now remains as it was in 2013. DM

Photo: Residents of Boiketlong gather in the local primary school during a prayer vigil for those convicted of burning a councillor’s house in 2013, allegations local activists claim are politically motivated. (Greg Nicolson)

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