Crimes, Courts and Politics

Comrades, our veteran Johannesburg Central Comrade Esther Barsel’s flat was burgled yesterday morning while she was sleeping in her third-floor Yeoville flat, and expensive things were stolen. Although she is in her eighties, Esther is a hero and an example to us all. She was going to attend the CHI Swaziland Seminar today and the peace picket in Killarney on Saturday. She phoned to apologise! Recently, the SACP’s National Organiser had his hand broken while his car was being hijacked. Not long after that, COSATU’s driver and SSN’s organiser were shot at by hijackers at a robot. By good driving, they got away, but bullets hit the car. This thing of crime has become too much to tolerate. It has become a political problem. It touches the security of our organisations, and affects our freedom to operate as political people. There is no Communist University session today. The next one is next Friday, March 24th, and the topic is “What Future for the Family”, by Jennie Bristow. The venue, as usual, will be the Women’s Jail, Constitution Hill, and the time 17h00. That’s next week, not this week. Today there is a Chris Hani Institute Seminar on Swaziland in the Conference Room, 10th Floor, COSATU House, starting at 09h00. This is a major event involving COSATU GS Zwelinzima Vavi and SACP GS Blade Nzimande. It is a must for any Communist University student who can possibly attend. Tomorrow there are peace pickets in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Picket is at the US Consulate, 1 River Street, near Killarney Mall. There are going to be activities in 242 cities around the world this weekend to protest the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the USA, Britain, Denmark and their small allies. The petition linked below demands the closure of all arbitrary detention centres. Please read it and sign it before our Human Rights Day on March 21st, via the Internet links in the document. Organisations can also sign. If you need an extra slogan for Saturday, “Rice – War Criminal” is a possibility. See link. Anton Harber and Terry Bell have two different points of view about the use of courts in political campaigns. See links. The Zuma rape trial has been adjourned until next Thursday, March 23rd. It is expected that the defence will make an application to have the trial stopped on the grounds that the prosecution case is too weak to justify any further waste of the court’s time. Full reports of the four days of the trial this week are linked below. Comrades, we must think what to do for the security of our beloved Comrade Esther Barsel. She must now get quotes for burglar bars. She is not a well-off person. She does not want to be made a fuss of, she says. But, on the other hand, she does see that all these crimes have become a menace to us politically. Links: Cease hypocrisy on the issue of Human Rights, Petition (190 words) Zuma Rape Trial reports, Days 6 to 9, Friends of JZ (9615 words) Rice a war criminal, News24 (409 words) Bad idea to use courts to gag voices, Harber, Business Day (703 words) Rath and Company assault working class, Bell, Business Report (736 words)