Protest March to Mthethwa’s office

1 December 2012

The Potgieter family was murdered on their farm near Lindley in the Free State on 1 December 2010. In the light of this, AfriForum, together with victims of farm attacks and persons who had lost loved ones in farm murders, held a protest march to Mthethwa’s office in Pretoria. Initially, Mthethwa tried to prevent the march from taking place, and later even went so far as to declare it to be an illegal gathering. AfriForum was informed telephonically by the Tshwane Metro Police that the march could not take place and that it may not be postponed either. No reasons could be given for this decision, except that the instructions had come from top management.

After AfriForum had received an urgent order in the North Gauteng High Court that there was no legal impediment to the march and that it may continue, Mthethwa ignored the court order and continued treating it as an illegal march. No police escort was provided to ensure the safety of the marchers (the few police officers who were on the scene were in the area by accident and said that they had received no notice of the march), and Mthethwa refused to accept the memorandum. The memorandum was then read out in the street.