26 Black First Land First (BLF) members were arrested on 18 July 2016 and subsequently imprisoned for 8 days on false charges of public violence, intimidation, trespassing, and kidnapping.
This followed a protest undertaken by the BLF26 at the office of the former Public Protector (PP), Thuli Madonsela, regarding her failure to investigate and report on the complaint of the theft of R26billion from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) by white monopoly capital (WMC). The PP’s conduct was unacceptable given that the R26billion was recoverable immediately.
A further issue of protest was the PP’s delay in addressing BLF’s complaint of state capture by WMC.
After two years of being dragged through the courts, the charges were withdrawn against the BLF26 due to a lack of evidence. 16 months later, the #BLF26 were summoned to court on 26 November 2019 by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on new charges (based on the same protest) of allegedly violating the apartheid era ‘Control of Access to Public Premises and Vehicles Act 53/85.’ On appearance the State was not in a position to even set a trial date and the matter was postponed to the new year.
The BLF26 will accordingly be back in court under the following details:
Date: 7 February 2020
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)
6 February 2020
Contact Details
Black First Land First Mail: [email protected]
Zanele Lwana
(BLF Deputy President)
Cell: +27 79 986 7225
