On 18 July 2016 Black First Land First (BLF) engaged in protest action at the office of the former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, that resulted in 26 BLF members being arrested and subsequently imprisoned for 8 days on bogus charges of public violence, trespassing, kidnapping and intimidation.
The protest related to Madonsela‘s delay in investigating and reporting on the complaint of the theft of R26billion from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), as indicated in the CIEX report. Madonsela did nothing about the matter despite the fact that the R26billion was recoverable immediately.
The R26billion constitutes a small portion of the R563billion stolen by white capitalists as indicated in the “preliminary report on apartheid era corruption and other economic crimes” compiled by BLF in September 2015.
The #BLF26 further protested Madonsela’s delay in investigating and reporting on BLF’s complaint of state capture by white monopoly capital.
After two years, the charges were thrown out of court for lack of evidence.
Now 16 months later, the #BLF26 are being hauled again before court by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration on new charges for allegedly violating an apartheid era anti black law, the Control of Access to Public Premises and Vehicles Act 53/85. This relates to the same protest by BLF against the incompetence of Madonsela in finalizing her reports regarding white corruption.
If convicted each of the #BLF26 face a penalty of a fine of up to R2000 or a term of imprisonment of up to 2 years – or to both such fine and imprisonment.
The court appearance will take place under the following details:
Date: 26 November 2019
Court: Tshwane Magistrate’s Court in Pretoria, Court 8
Time: 8:30
#HandsOffBLF26
Issued by Black First Land First, National Coordinating Committee of (BLF NCC)
22 November 2019
Contact Details
Black First Land First Mail: [email protected]
Zanele Lwana
(BLF Deputy President)
Cell: +27 79 986 7225