Political repression in post apartheid South Africa

Threats to media freedom

Under Jacob Zuma the ANC has expressed open opposition to media freedom. Serious concern has been expressed about the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and Protection of Information Bill which, if passed, would significantly reduce press freedom.

There have been a number of reports of serious intimidation of journalists. In 2007 the Freedom of Expression Institute and The Mercury newspaper reported a death threat against a journalist in Durban by controversial local businessman Ricky Govender who claims close links with Jacob Zuma. In Durban in 2009 the editor of the The Mercury, Philani Makhanya, laid a charge of intimidation against S'bu Mpisani, a politically connected contractor for the housing department in that city who had allegedly threatened the newspaper for its investigations into his activities. In Port Elizabeth the branch chairperson of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Nceba Faku, called for party supporters to burn down the offices of the local newspaper the Daily Dispatch in 2011. In 2012 Piet Rampedi and Adriaan Bassoon, journalists at the City Press, were subject to various threats and forms of intimidation while covering a story on corruption by Julius Malema Also in 2012 ANC supporters publicly burnt copies of the City Press newspaper in Durban.

Threats to artistic freedom

Poet Mbongeni Khumalo has claimed "that his no-holds barred lyricism attracted the attention of state security".

In 2012 leading figures in the ruling party called for a painting, The Spear, to be destroyed and publicly endorsed the defacement of the painting.

Unlawful state bans on protests

There have been a number of independently documented cases where the constitutionally protected right to protest has not been honoured by the state. One particularly well documented instance occurred in Durban in 2006 and another in Cape Town in 2012. It has also been claimed that the right to protest has been summarily denied to shack dwellers on the East Rand. It has been argued that not just ANC controlled municipalities, but also opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) ones, engage in unlawful bans on the right to protest. It has also been suggested that recent judicial interventions amount to a de facto curtailment of the right to protest. It has been argued that there was an increase in the unlawful banning of protests after the 2012 Marikana massacre and that this has taken the form of a de facto "state of emergency".

Militarisation of the police

The police, which were demilitarised after apartheid have been remilitarised and some politicians have encouraged the police to 'shoot to kill'. In the view of some analysts this has contributed to escalating repression. Concern has also been expressed at use of tactical response teams to contain popular protest and at the idea that the army should support the police in containing popular protest.

Police harassment of journalists

In 2010 journalists Mzilikazi waAfrika was arrested at the offices of the Sunday Times. Charges against him were later dropped. waAfrika's phone was also unlawfully tapped by the police. In July 2012 Nic Dawes, Sam Sole and Stefaans Brummer, journalists at the Mail & Guardian, were questioned by the police following the publication of a story alleging corruption by senior ANC leader Mac Maharaj.

Police harassment of activists

There have been numerous allegations from activists in grassroots social movements about arrests on trumped up charges and assaults at the hands of the police. For instance it was reported that Ashraf Cassiem from the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was assaulted by the police in 2000 while resisting an eviction and that S'bu Zikode and Philani Zungu from Abahlali baseMjondolo were arrested and assaulted while on the way to a radio interview in 2006. In September 2010 four residents of Hangberg, in Hout Bay, near Cape Town were shot in the face at close range by police with rubber bullets leading to the loss of their eyes. In February 2011 two protesters were killed by the police and a number subject to torture in Ermelo. In January 2012 it was reported that Ayanda Kota was assaulted in the Grahamstown police station. In August and September 2012 strikers and community activists in Marikana were subject to sustained police harassment, including a large number of fatalities. In October 2012 activists in Makause, on the East Rand, reported death threats from the police. In December 2012 it was reported that in Wesselton, Mpumalanga, police were engaged in sustained collective harassment, some of it violent, of a local community.

Police torture of activists

There has been general concern about police torture in South Africa, which has been described as "occurring en masse" and "spiralling out of control". In 1996 Kevin Kunene, founding chairman of the KwaMbonambi Environmental Group, was tortured by the police. Organisations such as the Landless People's Movement have documented cases in which activists and protesters have been tortured. There were media reports of police torture of activists in Wessleton, Ermelo, in 2011 and in Marikana in 2012. People Killed by the Police During Protests

The worst instance of lethal police violence in response to protest since the end of the apartheid era in South Africa is the shootings of 34 striking miners at Marikanan near Rustenburg, which have come to be known as 'The Marikana Massacre', during the Marikana miner strike on 16 August 2012.

The ICD has reported a rise in police violence against protesters since 2010 and a number of unarmed protesters have been killed by the South African Police Service since 2000. Four people were killed by the police during protests between 2000 and 2004, two in 2006, one in 2008, two in 2009, three in 2010 and eleven in 2011. The media have reported at least 27 police killings of protesters and bystanders (not including the 34 people killed in the Marikana Massacre) and a number of killings by private security guards since 2000.

People killed by police during protests

People killed by private security guards during protests

Activists killed by vigilantes

People killed during protests by attackers whose details have not been clearly reported

Harassment of activists by intelligence structures

The Right2Know Campaign has documented several instances in which activists have been harassed by intelligence structures.

Party political violence against activists

Organisations such as the Landless People's Movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo and the Unemployed People's Movement have been subject to armed political violence by groups claiming to represent the ruling ANC. The Makause Community Development Forum have also claimed to have been subject to state sanctioned violence by an ANC aligned 'mob'. There have also been cases where ANC supporters have disrupted protests organised by independent groups. One example of this was the attempt to disrupt a protest by the Moretele Concerned Communities Association in May 2012. It has been argued that the violence associated with the Marikana miners' strike in August 2012 began after officials of the National Union of Mineworkers murdered two strikers.

Death threats against activists

Grassroots activists have been reporting fears that they may be killed since at least 2002. There have been reports of death threats against activists in Ermelo (2011), in Grahamstown (2011), in eTwatwa on the East Rand (2010), and in Durban (2006, 2009, 2012).

Unsolved murders of activists claimed to be political assassinations

Convictions for political assassinations

Political violence & intimidation by MK veterans

In July 2012 Alpheus Moseri (68) collapsed and died following an assault by MK Veterans at a lecture given by Jacob Zuma. In October 2012 COSATU President Sidumo Dlamini called for MK veterans to use "their guerrilla military skills to work with us on the ground to defend this movement and our revolution as a whole" In November 2012 it was reported that MK veterans had made threats against Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe. In November 2012 it was reported that armed men claiming to be MK veterans stormed into an ANC branch meeting on the East Rand and threatened to shoot members of the branch if they did not nominate Zuma for re-election.

According to Barney Pityana "we are beginning to see the emergence of party (or presidential) militia in the guise of the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans, who are the new Gestapo with a fascist agenda."

Breakdown in the rule of law

In Durban in 2013 the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo secured five High Court injunctions against evictions which were "systemically ignored by state actors who have repeatedly torn down the shacks of local residents".

Ruling party attitudes to independent organisations

According to Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU Secretary General, "The [ruling] party unfortunately has adopted in our view an unnecessarily hostile posture to some progressive civil organisations and coalitions, painted a number of organisations with the same brush and has tended to take the view that they are the product of external agendas."