TOMORROW  March 17, 2015, the United Front (UF) Campaigns Coordinator John Appolis, Numsa’s Deputy-General Secretary Karl Cloete and Professor Jane Duncan who has written about how the South African government has fallen under the sway of operatives located within the police, intelligence services and military; will unveil a weeklong programme of localised actions by ordinary people to reclaim their human rights. Joining them at the press conference will be Right-to-Know (R2K) Gauteng provincial organiser Bongani Xezwi, award-winning filmmaker Rehad Desai from the Marikana Support Campaign and the chairperson of the African Diaspora Forum, Marc Gbaffou.
The campaign which kicks-off with a picket outside the US consulate in Sandton on Wednesday 18 March to highlight police brutality against Afro-American communities will move through the country; touching major cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The action will also take place in small towns such as Thabong in Welkom; Whittlesea and Peddie in the Eastern Cape. The actions will focus on how ordinary people can reclaim their rights; the issue of police brutality; a demand for justice for Marikana miners; xenophobia as a form of abuse; the rendering of crime and justice institutions such as the Hawks, Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) dysfunctional; and  the growing undermining of the right to privacy and freedom association by intelligence operatives.
The form of action for the week will be varied; ranging from night vigils, human chains around targeted police stations and setting of tombstones for 44 people who have been killed by the police during protests since 2004.
Details of the press conference are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 17 March 2015
Time: 10H00am
Venue: Numsa Head Office, 153 Bree Street, Newtown
Members of the media are hereby invited to attend and report.
Contact:
Castro Ngobese (Numsa Spokesperson) – 083 6275197/081 011 137