Marikana residents toyitoyi outside court during the bail hearing for twelve of their neighbours who were arrested while resisting eviction a month ago. Photo by Daneel Knoetze.
22 September 2014
Residents from Marikana informal settlement were jubilant outside Athlone Magistrates Court today when twelve of their neighbours were granted bail. The men had been in custody since 22 August for resisting evictions at the settlement in Philippi East.
At the time of publishing, nine of the men had been released and the community were in the process of raising the money to pay the bail for the remaining three.
To motivate for their release on bail, defence lawyer Carla Boer argued that the men’s families, jobs and income had been compromised by their lengthy detention without bail. She further argued that the police had acted unlawfully when enforcing evictions in the area on the basis of an interim interdict. Finally, she questioned evidence given on Friday by Detective Warrant Officer Richard Cronje, a state witness, who is assisting in investigating the public violence charges against the twelve men.
“(Cronje) could not identify the accused by name or answer whether photo and video footage taken on the day of the arrests linked my clients directly to the crimes they are accused of,” said Boer.
“The mere fact that they appear on videos taken by the police is not sufficient evidence of a crime.”
During an emotional testimony to the court on Friday, Cronje had to be called to order a number of times as he aggressively pointed at the twelve accused and Boer while answering questions under cross-examination.
Both Cronje and the state, represented by prosecutor Quawnitah Geyer, opposed bail for the twelve men.
“The accused committed serious offences and were arrested on the scene while endangering the lives of passersby and community members. Shops were looted and private and police vehicles were damaged. The court cannot ignore these facts,” argued Geyer in her closing statement.
Yet, in handing down her decision to grant bail, Magistrate April reminded the men that they are “presumed innocent until proven guilty”. The men were warned to appear in court for the start of their trial on 12 November.
After a brief celebration outside the court room, around 60 supporters from Marikana informal settlement gathered under the banner of Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement to mobilise frantically to raise the R500 required for each accused’s release on bail.
“This was very good news,” said Wiseman Maqhula, a Ses’khona representative from Marikana. “But it is a lot of money to pay and it will be difficult for us to raise. We have to do it though, because we don’t want to leave anyone behind. They have been locked up for long enough.”
Cynthia Heselu told GroundUp that her son, 27-year-old Yibanathi Heselu, had little more than bread to eat during the month he was in Pollsmoor Prison awaiting his bail hearing.
“Those conditions were not good for his health and I can see that he needs to be properly fed when he gets home,” she said.