Durban, July 23: Ninety people arrested for looting shops in Durban were released on warning by the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
They will appear in court again on August 28. The matter was postponed to give investigators enough time to investigate further.
Reporters were barred from attending the case.
The first appearance of SA Unemployed People’s Movement members was held in the basement of the court. The case was initially going to be held in Court 10, but the venue was changed and journalists were not informed.
After spending more than four hours waiting, reporters went to control prosecutor Nhlanhla Mkhize to demand permission to attend the proceedings in the basement.
“We cannot allow you to go down there because it is not allowed. We decided to do it there because we could not bring all of them to the normal court room. We did it for security reasons.”
Journalists would be allowed to see the charge sheet, he said.
‘It was demonstrating, not stealing’
The movement’s spokesperson Nozipho Mteshane denied the charge of theft, stemming from Wednesday’s spree that took place in Shoprite Checkers and Pick n Pay outlets.
“We were not stealing. We were just demonstrating. Taking food from the shops was a way of showing government that unemployed people are hungry. We stormed shops after other attempts of appealing for assistance failed.”
She said they had written many letters to the government and also submitted memorandums asking for basic income grants for unemployed people.
Mteshane claimed her organisation represented “millions” of unemployed South Africans. She vowed to continue organising similar protests, saying the state could not afford to keep all members of her organisation in jails.
“We will make sure that the Soccer World Cup is spoiled if our demands are not met.”
Criminal activity
Ethekwini municipality Mayor Obed Mlaba and ANC secretary in KwaZulu-Natal Sihle Zikalala condemned the looting.
The mayor said: “Notwithstanding the constitutional right of people to strike and the plight faced by the unemployed, the looting of shops cannot be justified.
“We are disturbed by the movement’s criminal activity. These are purely criminal deeds and they can never be tolerated.”
The municipality confirmed it received the memorandum from the group a few weeks ago and forwarded it to the departments which dealt with grants.
“While concerns relating to unemployment may be genuine, we believe that yesterday’s rampage accompanied by the looting was smacked with opportunism (sic), where criminals used the protest to satisfy their own selfish needs,” Zikalala said.
He appealed to organisations to use the appropriate channels to voice their dissatisfaction.
—-Agenceis