Early in January, a Zimbabwean, Victor Zowa, and Omar Said from Tanzania, were murdered in the Durban City centre. The two immigrants were fleeing an armed mob who forced them to jump out a high-rise building. Another Zimbabwean, Eugene Madondo, survived the fall. Six people were arrested on the two counts of murder, for attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. These are all schedule 1 offences for which a magistrate should only grant bail in exceptional circumstances. Yet, SAPA reports that the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday released five of the accused on R2,000 bail each. The sixth, Vusumuzi Khoza, an ANC eThekwini ward councillor, was released on the 28th of January for the same bail amount.
The Anti Privatisation Forum joined with the Coalition Against Xenophobia at the ‘Lindela Repatriation Centre’ in Krugerdorp yesterday/today for a 24 hour picket calling for Lindela to be shut down. Our struggle knows no borders and we extend our solidarity to our African brothers and sisters who are being grabbed on the street, chased out of their homes and abducted to the deportation camp. The existence of the camp is a long-standing shame of democratic South Africa.
The Anti Privatisation Forum with the Social Movements Indaba and a coalition of organisations marched on Saturday 24 May 2008 against xenophobia through the inner city of Johannesburg to the Gauteng Legislature to submit a memorandum to government.
MARCH AGAINST XENOPHOBIA AND HATE
SATURDAY 24TH MAY GATHERING FROM 9am
VENUE: PIETER ROOS (Empire and Hospital Road)
The march will proceed through Hillbrow and stop at the Departments of Home Affairs and Housing before ending at the Library Gardens.
The message marchers will be conveying is that our struggle is common and knows no borders.
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