On Monday 13 October well known Cape Town activist and leader of the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign, Max Ntanyana, was kidnapped by unidentified police. Max was bundled into an unmarked car in Mandela Park, blindfolded and taken to an isolated beach. There, the police repeatedly dumped Max in and out and the water, threatening to drown him and telling him that they would only stop if he agreed to act as a police spy and pass on information about community activities in Mandela Park and elsewhere in Khayalitsha, according to this press statement.
PRESS STATEMENT
POLICE KIDNAP, ASSAULT AND THEN ARREST CAPE TOWN ACTIVIST, MAX NTANYANA
Yesterday (Monday 13th October) well known Cape Town activist and leader of the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign, Max Ntanyana, was kidnapped by unidentified police. Max was bundled into an unmarked car in Mandela Park, blindfolded and taken to an isolated beach. There, the police repeatedly dumped Max in and out and the water, threatening to drown him and telling him that they would only stop if he agreed to act as a police spy and pass on information about community activities in Mandela Park and elsewhere in Khayalitsha - they also offerred him a large amount of money. Max refused to cooperate and eventually the police took him back to a Khayalitsha police station and drew-up fabricated charges of attempted murder.
The charge sheet states that Max had entered a local community radio station and pointed a gun at staff even though Max pointed out that he had been nowhere near the station and indeed had not visited the station since late last year after a judge had slapped an effective banning order on him. Presently, Max is being held in prison in Khayalitsha. The kidnapping, assault and trumped-up charges against Max Ntanyana have prevented him from making a long-scheduled appearance in the Cape High Court (which was to take place today) in order to contest the apartheid-era bail conditions imposed on Max for the last several months (since a previous arrest for fighting evictions in Mandela Park). The Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign is presently trying to get Max out of jail on bail.
This latest outrage of the police against Max and the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign is only further confirmation of a concerted, cyncial and illegal campaign, ultimately orchestrated by local and provincial ANC politicians, to smash community activism and resistance to the neo-liberal policies that are destroying poor communities in and around Cape Town. Just like the apartheid authorities used to do, the new political mandarins and their police thugs have now turned to outright criminality in a desperate attempt to crush their self-proclaimed 'enemies'. This is the true face of the 'new' South Africa and it must be exposed!
For further information call Fonky on 073 154-6555
Author
Anonymous (not verified)
