Funeral of murdered activist
Thursday 8 May 2008.
Funeral of murdered activist, Jan ‘Mathafeni’ Matshobe to be held on Saturday in Sebokeng, followed by march to Sebokeng Police Station
Sebokeng Police interfere with ICD investigation and continue to terrorise the Zone 20 community and Coalition activists
On Wednesday, 7 May 2008, the Coalition Against Water Privatisation supported by the Anti Privatisation Forum (APF) held a memorial service in the community of Zone 20 in Sebokeng to respect and honour the late comrade Jan “Mathafeni” Matshobe. Comrade Mathafeni’s battered body was found lying in open veld in Zone 20 on the morning of Thursday 1st May. The community and the family believe that the Sebokeng Police are responsible for his brutal murder.
When the community of Zone 20 took to the streets and blockaded the Golden Highway on 29 April 2008, many residents and activists were arrested and brutally beaten by the police. Mathafeni was beaten with golf clubs and batons and eye-witnesses confirm that the police continued to beat him inside the cells at Sebokeng Police Station. When he was finally released several hours later, police offered Mathafeni some KFC in a cynical attempt to persuade him not to file a case against them. He refused and proceeded to hospital where he received several stitches for his wounds. Mathafeni was then re-arrested later in the evening that same day and was last seen alive in the hands of the arresting officers. It was these same police officers who happened to ‘discover’ his body the next morning. A close comrade of the late Mathafeni has told the family and the Coalition how, since the death, the police have continuously harassed him for information that Comrade Mmathafeni “might have told him while they were together”.
The Coalition contacted the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), which is now investigating Mathafeni’s death. However, the Sebokeng police, in league with the government mortuary, have already interfered with this investigation. Last Friday, they illegally and unilaterally ‘cleaned’ Comrade Mathefeni’s body as it lay in the government mortuary. This was in direct violation of prior arrangements with both the Sebokeng Police and the government mortuary for the family to come to the mortuary to do so. In response, the Coalition has engaged the services of an independent pathologist who will conduct an autopsy before the funeral. The Coalition and the family are also seeking legal advice through the Wits Legal Clinic.
The Coalition Against Water Privatisation demands that immediate action – by provincial and national police authorities - be taken against the Sebokeng police to stop interfering with the ICD investigation and to stop their continued harassment of residents and Coalition activists in Zone 20, which have included veiled death threats. The behaviour of the Sebokeng police is beyond unacceptable – it must stop now! The Coalition and the family are determined to find out the whole truth about Comrade Mathafeni’s murder and to ensure that those responsible are arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law (which the police are supposed to uphold). If the Sebokeng police continue to terrorise the community and our comrades, it will leave us with no choice but to actively defend ourselves.
The funeral of Comrade Mathafeni will be held from 08h00 on Saturday 10 May at his family home in Zone 20 Sebokeng. After the funeral, from 10h00, residents of Zone 20 and activist from the Coalition and the APF will march on the Sebokeng Police Station
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