COSATU+Press+Statement+on+Sedition+Charges



=COSATU Press Statement on Sedition Charges=


 * Paul Notyhawa, June 1st, 2005**

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is disturbed by the government’s over-reaction to protest actions by members of some of our poorest communities over the past three weeks.

Instead of listening and talking to the people, who are demanding basic services and legitimate rights, and addressing their concerns, the government seems to want to criminalise them. In one case, in Harrismith, it has even brought wild charges of sedition against protesters. It has also involved the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). This demonstrates a degree of paranoia among sections of the government.

Sedition implies that people have been planning to overthrow the government, and denying them the chance to complete their term of office. This is a very serious charge, carrying huge sentences for anyone found guilty. It should never be used against ordinary people campaigning for their rights and in demand of services promised by government, even if they may have broken other lesser laws. We condemn any violence or lawlessness, but demand that such acts be dealt with under other laws which are quite adequate to cover such acts, e.g. common law.

COSATU warned of a similar danger in the Anti-Terrorism Act, which, as originally drafted, before it was amended to take account of some of our concerns, could have led to normal forms of protest being deemed as ‘terrorism’. There is now a danger of exactly the same thing happening with sedition. If community activists can be charged with sedition, how long before trade unionists face the same charges if their strike action spills over into unlawful actions?

Instead of criminalising the poorest sections of our population, the government must seek to understand the genuine frustrations of people who live in inhumane conditions, in slum settlements, where unemployment is massive and poverty universal. One of the main reasons for COSATU’s Jobs and Poverty Campaign is precisely to avert the kind of unrest which was always likely if unemployment stays at its present high levels.

The state must drop those wild sedition charges against people whose frustrations have boiled over. The matter must be dealt with in a decent, rational fashion. The NIA must be withdrawn and left to investigate the country’s real enemies, and the police should investigate the real causes of the unrest – the slow or non-delivery of services.

Councillors and officials who are failing to deliver on their promises, or are guilty of corruption, must be immediately removed from office. The government must stop wasting our public funds.

COSATU believes that the only way to resolve the unrest is through a massive assault on the underlying problems of mass unemployment and poverty and slow service delivery.

Congress of South African Trade Unions 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets Braamfontein, 2017
 * Paul Notyhawa (Spokesperson)

P.O.Box 1019 Johannesburg, 2000 South Africa

Cell: 082 491 1591 Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24 Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940 E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za ** _______________________________________________