Willies Mchunu
Encyclopedia
Willies Mchunu is the MEC for Safety and Security in the KwaZulu Natal Province in South Africa
. He is a member of the African National Congress
.
at Kennedy Road informal settlement was controversial.
At the time of the attack he claimed that the attacks were by a 'criminal forum' associated with Abahlali baseMjondolo
president S'bu Zikode
. Abahlali baseMjondolo and many civil society organisations have responded calling the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo and Kennedy Road residents politically motivated and blaming Mchunu for condoning the attacks by an armed group affiliated with the ANC . Mchunu's response to the attacks has also been criticised by Bishop Rubin Phillip
and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
The MEC refused calls for an independent investigation into the attacks.
Amnesty International
sent a letter of concern to Willies Mchunu but there was no response from his office.
On 18 July 2011, the case against the 12 members of Abahlali baseMjondolo arrested after the attack was thrown out of court. The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa issued a statement saying that the "charges were based on evidence which now appears almost certainly to have been manufactured" and that the Magistrate had described the state witnesses as "“belligerent”, “unreliable” and “dishonest”.
According to Paul Trewhela "The scandal is that this political prosecution was ever instituted in the first place, and that it was dragged on, month after month, by magistrates, prosecution and police without a shred of reliable evidence - with plentiful evidence, rather, of manipulation and intimidation of witnesses by the police and local ANC structures."
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. He is a member of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
.
Controversies
His response to the violent attacks on Abahlali baseMjondoloAbahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
at Kennedy Road informal settlement was controversial.
At the time of the attack he claimed that the attacks were by a 'criminal forum' associated with Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
president S'bu Zikode
S'bu Zikode
Sibusiso Innocent Zikode is the president of the South African shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo. According to the Mail & Guardian "Under his stewardship, ABM has made steady gains for housing rights." -Biography:...
. Abahlali baseMjondolo and many civil society organisations have responded calling the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo and Kennedy Road residents politically motivated and blaming Mchunu for condoning the attacks by an armed group affiliated with the ANC . Mchunu's response to the attacks has also been criticised by Bishop Rubin Phillip
Rubin Phillip
The Right Reverend Rubin Phillip is bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Natal. The great-grandchild of indentured labourers from Andhra Pradesh, Phillip is the first black South African to hold the position of Bishop of Natal...
and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba
Thabo Makgoba
Thabo Cecil Makgoba is the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. He had served in the past as Bishop of Grahamstown.-Biography:...
The MEC refused calls for an independent investigation into the attacks.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
sent a letter of concern to Willies Mchunu but there was no response from his office.
On 18 July 2011, the case against the 12 members of Abahlali baseMjondolo arrested after the attack was thrown out of court. The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa issued a statement saying that the "charges were based on evidence which now appears almost certainly to have been manufactured" and that the Magistrate had described the state witnesses as "“belligerent”, “unreliable” and “dishonest”.
According to Paul Trewhela "The scandal is that this political prosecution was ever instituted in the first place, and that it was dragged on, month after month, by magistrates, prosecution and police without a shred of reliable evidence - with plentiful evidence, rather, of manipulation and intimidation of witnesses by the police and local ANC structures."