Land Party Chief Leader Faces Charges at the Stellenbosch Magistrates Court on 7 June

To: All media

From: Land Party National Spokesperson, Mandy Owens

Contact: landpartysa@gmail.com | https://www.landpartysa.co.za/contact | @LandPartySA | 082 336 4295

Date: 2019/06/06

Embargo: None

The media is invited to attend the court case of Land Party Chief Leader, Gcobani Ndzongana at the Stellenbosch Magistrates Court tomorrow morning, 7 June at 9:00.

The charges facing the Chief Leader are incitement of violence and damage to public property. These charges stem from the riots in Hermanus in 2018, where the community of Zwelihle broke down a fence that the municipality put up to separate the white community of Sandbaai from the black community of Zwelihle. This fence was seen as a symbol of apartheid by many and served only to divide and segregate further.

The homeless, starving and destitute black people watched this fence being erected while they wondered where their families would sleep that night. A group of 300 or so angry Zwelihle residents used their combined strength to knock that fence down.

Gcobani Ndzongana was immediately arrested and incarcerated even though he did not actively participate in kicking down the fence. The Zwelihle community was furious and gathered to march peacefully to the police station to hand themselves in as the actual perpetrators of the offense. They were met with rubber bullets and tear gas before they reached their destination.

A harrowing two weeks followed. The only demand: free Gcobani Ndzongana. The protest, starting out peacefully, turned into a full-blown riot when a thinly staffed and stressed police force used unnecessary brute force and violence to try and stop the protesters from gaining access to the main road in Hermanus. The community of Zwelihle fought back and succeeded in getting South African Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to intervene and address parties on both sides of the proverbial fence. The riot came to a halt at last, but not without its casualties. A young baby died from tear gas inhalation, a pregnant woman lost her unborn baby due to tear gas inhalation, a young man went blind after being shot in the eye by a rubber bullet, a police man was brutally axed in the head, municipal buildings were torched and destroyed, Hermanus business suffered.

Gcobani Ndzongana was released on bail as there simply was not enough evidence or wrongdoing to keep him imprisoned. He was initially charged with a string of offences including terrorism, which have all subsequently being dropped.

The Land Party looks forward to seeing justice in action tomorrow and we are confident that the remaining charges will also be dropped as any reasonable person can see that no such offences were ever committed by Gcobani Ndzongana.

End.