Abahlali baseKennedy statement
6 August 2011

SIXTEEN OLD BOY, THE SON OF WITNESS X, SHOT BY THE STATE IN KENNEDY ROAD

This morning the eThekwini Municipality launched another armed raid on the Kennedy Road shack settlement to try and disconnect the people from electricity. As usual there was resistance, unarmed resistance, to this attack from the Municipality. The Municipality's security guards responded by firing live ammunition at the protesters.

A sixteen year old boy was shot and badly wounded at around 8:40 this morning. He was not part of the protest. He was shot while walking to the shop. He has been rushed to Addington Hospital and there is, as yet, no clarity on his condition. This is the reality of the war that the eThekwini Municipality and the government of South Africa is waging on the poor of this country day after day.

Every attack on the poor by the state is a matter of deep concern. Every time the police or the state's other armed forces attack protesters with live ammunition we are deeply concerned. But in this case there is another reason why we are deeply concerned.

The twelve year old boy who was shot and rushed, bleeding massively, to the hospital is the son of Witness X. Witness X was a state witness in the trial of the Kennedy 12 who became a court witness and told the truth about what happened and how she had been asked to lie. She was subject to death threats from the local ANC following her decision to tell the truth in the court and she was attacked and was only saved by the quick support of her neighbours. After the verdict she received more death threats. At this point we do not know if it was co-incidence that it was her son that was shot this morning or if he was deliberately targeted. We hope that the shooting this morning was not connected to the case of the Kennedy 12 but we cannot rule that possibility out until we have all the information about how it was that a 12 year old boy was shot in Kennedy Road this morning.

For more information and comment please contact:

Busisiwe Gogo 078 191 3021

Update: 5:03 p.m. A second boy of a similar age was also shot. He has also been admitted to hospital.