Max Ntanyana of Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, Cape Town is still in jail. This morning, the magistrate refused to grant him bail. The state is determined to hold him for at least seven days on the bogus excuse that they need to "do more investigation". They are looking for grounds to totally oppose bail for Max this coming Friday and keep him in jail for a lengthy period of time.
This is grossly unfair. Nothing less than an international "Free Max Ntanyana" campaign will do.
Max has been targetted for silencing by almost every major power there is - water multinationals, the South African government, and the five richest banks. As is outlined below, all the criminal charges he faces are a direct
result of his being involved with campaigns which seek to ensure that mainly pensioners get to remain in the houses that they've been paying off for the past 14 years, and to ensure that the houses get upgraded.
* He faces an outstanding case of "trespassing" for leading a peaceful sit in on the floor of the Western Cape Provincial Government lobby after the Provincial Minister of Housing, Nomatyala Hangana of the ANC, refused more than nine times to meet with the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign to discuss the housing crisis of pensioners. He and 43 others have been banned from the government buildings.
* He faces at least 14 days in jail on a contempt of court charge for breaking an interdict brought against him by five banks and Servcon - a public-private partnership set up jointly by the government and the banks to facilitate the eviction of poor families from four roomed houses into one
roomed "dog kennels". The interdict was unprecedented, draconian, and thoroughly unconstitutional - it prohibited Max, a minimum wage labourer, and four other campaign co-ordinators (who are now in hiding) from addressing meetings where they might agree with poor people that their
evictions were unfair. This is a gross infringement on freedom of expression rights.
* He is out on bail on a charge of "public violence", along with nine others, after police opened fire on the community who were protesting against the repossession of clothes from an old pensioner who owed R800 on her water account. On this occasion, Max was arrested after police became angered when they saw him talking to TV News.
* His latest arrest on bogus charges came while he was participating in a strike against WSSA - a privatised water company, the child of notorious water multinational Suez Lyonnaise. The Zandvliet workers had embarked on strike after two of their comrades in the Queenstown plant were threatened with dismissal for organising a strike there last week.
Background on Max:
Max is a privatised water worker and the senior shopsteward at the WSSA Zandvliet Water Plant in Cape Town. He is active in the Branch Shopstewards Committee of the second largest branch of the South African Municipal Workers Union. He is a national negotiator for the union in the privatised water sector. He is Deputy Chairperson of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. He is a co-ordinator of the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign.
Since his youth, he has worked tirelessly in the Mandela Park Action Youth Housing Committee. Max has been instrumental in setting up township based art projects such as Khayamep - the Khayelitsha Media Project. He was instrumental in striking a deal with WSSA to only employ permanent workers on full benefits from Mandela Park, thus wiping out casualisation, and the exploitative temp system. He was involved in a campaign to stop casualised multinational cleaning companies from privatising the cleaning services at the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court. He is now behind a campaign to get rid of the Suez Lyonnaise subsidiary privatised ownership of the water plants, and
have these returned to public control.
He has been beaten by the police during his arrest two months ago, and shot four times with rubber bullets while preventing the sheriff from repossessing the furniture of an elderly woman who fell behind in her water bills. He has assisted in organising memorial services for pensioners who
have died of cold and starvation after being evicted into dog kennels, far away from the community who supported them.
Last month, Max visited piqueteros in Argentina thus cementing the bonds between the poors on our two continents. The piqueteros are planning protest action in Argentina this week.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign has asked for protest action this coming Friday, 13th September at South African embassies around the world and in all the cities of South Africa - either at the ANC offices or at Ministries of Housing. Please email details of everything you do to
pvh@wfeet.za.net.
Please see
http://www.antieviction.org.za for more information and for background
on the ANC/government/banks' exploitation of the pensioners of Mandela Park.
See
Max Ntanyana of Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, Cape Town is still in jail. This morning, the magistrate refused to grant him bail. The state is determined to hold him for at least seven days on the bogus excuse that they need to "do more investigation". They are looking for grounds to totally oppose bail for Max this coming Friday and keep him in jail for a lengthy period of time.
This is grossly unfair. Nothing less than an international "Free Max Ntanyana" campaign will do.
Max has been targetted for silencing by almost every major power there is - water multinationals, the South African government, and the five richest banks. As is outlined below, all the criminal charges he faces are a direct
result of his being involved with campaigns which seek to ensure that mainly pensioners get to remain in the houses that they've been paying off for the past 14 years, and to ensure that the houses get upgraded.
* He faces an outstanding case of "trespassing" for leading a peaceful sit in on the floor of the Western Cape Provincial Government lobby after the Provincial Minister of Housing, Nomatyala Hangana of the ANC, refused more than nine times to meet with the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign to discuss the housing crisis of pensioners. He and 43 others have been banned from the government buildings.
* He faces at least 14 days in jail on a contempt of court charge for breaking an interdict brought against him by five banks and Servcon - a public-private partnership set up jointly by the government and the banks to facilitate the eviction of poor families from four roomed houses into one
roomed "dog kennels". The interdict was unprecedented, draconian, and thoroughly unconstitutional - it prohibited Max, a minimum wage labourer, and four other campaign co-ordinators (who are now in hiding) from addressing meetings where they might agree with poor people that their
evictions were unfair. This is a gross infringement on freedom of expression rights.
* He is out on bail on a charge of "public violence", along with nine others, after police opened fire on the community who were protesting against the repossession of clothes from an old pensioner who owed R800 on her water account. On this occasion, Max was arrested after police became angered when they saw him talking to TV News.
* His latest arrest on bogus charges came while he was participating in a strike against WSSA - a privatised water company, the child of notorious water multinational Suez Lyonnaise. The Zandvliet workers had embarked on strike after two of their comrades in the Queenstown plant were threatened with dismissal for organising a strike there last week.
Background on Max:
Max is a privatised water worker and the senior shopsteward at the WSSA Zandvliet Water Plant in Cape Town. He is active in the Branch Shopstewards Committee of the second largest branch of the South African Municipal Workers Union. He is a national negotiator for the union in the privatised water sector. He is Deputy Chairperson of the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. He is a co-ordinator of the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign.
Since his youth, he has worked tirelessly in the Mandela Park Action Youth Housing Committee. Max has been instrumental in setting up township based art projects such as Khayamep - the Khayelitsha Media Project. He was instrumental in striking a deal with WSSA to only employ permanent workers on full benefits from Mandela Park, thus wiping out casualisation, and the exploitative temp system. He was involved in a campaign to stop casualised multinational cleaning companies from privatising the cleaning services at the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court. He is now behind a campaign to get rid of the Suez Lyonnaise subsidiary privatised ownership of the water plants, and
have these returned to public control.
He has been beaten by the police during his arrest two months ago, and shot four times with rubber bullets while preventing the sheriff from repossessing the furniture of an elderly woman who fell behind in her water bills. He has assisted in organising memorial services for pensioners who
have died of cold and starvation after being evicted into dog kennels, far away from the community who supported them.
Last month, Max visited piqueteros in Argentina thus cementing the bonds between the poors on our two continents. The piqueteros are planning protest action in Argentina this week.
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign has asked for protest action this coming Friday, 13th September at South African embassies around the world and in all the cities of South Africa - either at the ANC offices or at Ministries of Housing. Please email details of everything you do to
pvh@wfeet.za.net.
Please see
http://www.antieviction.org.za for more information and for background
on the ANC/government/banks' exploitation of the pensioners of Mandela Park.
See
http://southafrica.indymedia.org for breaking news from Mandela Park and
other poor communities.
To phone one of the Mandela Park comrades for updates, dial +27 83 2560457
or +27 73 2152004 (083 2560457 or 073 2152004 inside SA).
for breaking news from Mandela Park and
other poor communities.
To phone one of the Mandela Park comrades for updates, dial +27 83 2560457
or +27 73 2152004 (083 2560457 or 073 2152004 inside SA).