Red Ants accused of firing rubber bullets

Residents also claim their belongings were stolen during evictions

By Andrew Bennie
14 July 2017

Residents sit with their belongings after being evicted by the Red Ants. Photo: Andrew Bennie

On Tuesday, the Red Ant Security Relocation and Eviction Services (commonly known as the Red Ants) evicted shack dwellers on the border between Ivory Park and Tembisa township. Residents once again accused the Red Ants of violence and theft of their cellphones and cash.

According to the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) about 700 “illegally erected” shacks were removed by the Red Ants.

The evictions targeted the site where a land occupation started in late 2016, the area known as Dali Mpofu settlement in the Montsu Section, Extension 5 of Tembisa, bordering on Section 7 of Ivory Park.

Residents say that they were not given prior warning that their shacks were to be demolished. Many residents have been living in their shacks on the occupied land for six months. The Red Ants arrived at 9am and gave them time to remove their belongings.

According to the metro police, it was tasked by the municipality to attend to the evictions, together with public order police and the South African Police Service (SAPS) to ensure safety and security. Metro police said the evictions “went well because no casualties were reported” and no arrests were made.

But residents say that some of them tried to defend their shacks, and running battles between the Red Ants and occupiers broke out. One man said that as the Red Ants were advancing, he got his two daughters to run away while he stayed behind to defend the family’s shack. He says he was shot with rubber bullets by the Red Ants and they also hit him with a crowbar.

The man says the Red Ants then marched him towards one of their trucks but he was “saved” by SAPS members who told the Red Ants to release him.

He says in the end, the roof of his shack was removed, but not the walls.

GroundUp has seen a cellphone video that appears to show a Red Ant carrying a firearm. Several people showed us their rubber bullet injuries. The Red Ants have not responded despite our best attempts to get comment since Wednesday, including three emails, two phone calls to the organisation’s front desk and multiple calls to an employee’s cell phone. We would have wanted to ask about the legality of Red Ant employees using their firearms and the training they’ve received.
EMPD’s Media Liaison Officer, Khobeli Mokheseng, confirmed that the Red Ants usually carry pump action rifles that fire rubber bullets when they undertake evictions, due to the responses they often receive from evictees.

Section 7 of Ivory Park after the Red Ants demolished shacks bordering on Tembisa. Photo: Andrew Bennie

As with the previous eviction, residents again accused the Red Ants of stealing cellphones and money. One resident said R1,400 was stolen, another claimed that R650 was stolen.

Eye-witnesses said the Red Ants broke down the door of a backyard room in a nearby RDP house (unrelated to occupations) and demanded cellphones. They allegedly made off with three. They allegedly broke the house’s only tap with a crowbar on their way out.

Metro police said anyone who had cellphones or money stolen by the Red Ants should open a case at the nearest police station.

Some residents who had removed their belongings found that their shacks were not demolished, but they were afraid to move back in. At sunset, people were still scattered across the settlement, sitting in the open with their possessions. Some started to dismantle their shacks, fearing the Red Ants would return.

Hours after the Red Ants had left, the anger of residents was palpable. A man took a handful of bullets out of his pocket and said: “When they [Red Ants] come back again, I’m going to shoot them. I’m going to shoot them… Why do they destroy our properties? We have spent a lot of money to do this and we are not working. This shit government, I’m not scared of them.”

The Ekurhuleni Municipality confirmed that they did not acquire an eviction order as they intervened within 48 hours of the shacks being erected. However, some residents say that they have been living on the land for three months, and others say they had been living there for seven months, since the occupation first took place in late 2016.

In June, GroundUp reported on a violent eviction by Red Ants of shack dwellers in the same area. The evictions resulted in the death of Samuel Mabunda. GroundUp also reported on other violent evictions conducted by the Red Ants in Bekezela, Newtown, where police found stolen goods hidden in the Red Ants’ vehicles.

After the death of Mabunda land activists in Ivory Park opened a case with the Independent Police Investigations Department (IPID). IPID has confirmed that it is busy with preliminary investigations to decide whether to proceed with a full investigation.

Activists lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) as well as with the Private Security Industry Regulator of South Africa (PSIRA) regarding the role of the Red Ants.

Rights groups Amnesty International and the Right2Know campaign have since offered their support after reading the GroundUp reports.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Is it legal for private security to fire rubber bullets?

We spoke to a researcher with expertise on this issue, but who wanted to remain anonymous. He said that the Red Ants are “basically assaulting people” and asked what gave them the legal authority to assault people.

“They have as much permission as you’ve got,” he said. He referred to a previous case where the Red Ants argued that they were protecting themselves, something that they could try to argue in this case.
“I imagine its grey area in law but people if they are acting lawfully then basically they do have the right to defend themselves, preferably with less lethal means. The question is whether there is an obligation to retreat.”

He also spoke of a recent death of two Red Ants in Hammanskraal, which might have led to the Red Ants being regarded as “cannon fodder”. He said that the use of rubber bullets may be a new development that the company has taken following the deaths of two of their employees.
All this raises another question: Are Sheriffs of the Court using private security to carry out evictions because police are too afraid to, while the people hired by private security firms are desperate for work and will therefore do it?

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Published originally on GroundUp .

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Explainer: unpacking the issues around fracking in South Africa

South Africa’s Karoo has shale gas and could be the location for fracking exploration.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings

South Africa has been considering shale gas development in the Karoo – an arid part of the country that spans more than 400 000 square kilometres – to add to its energy mix. The possibility of “fracking” in the region has provoked heated debate. The Conversation Africa’s Ozayr Patel asked Robert Scholes and Greg Schreiner to unpack the issues.

What’s happening in terms of shale gas development in South Africa?

The Scientific Assessment for Shale Gas Development in the Central Karoo was published in October 2016. So far no decisions on the current exploration right applications have been made, despite reports to the contrary. If rights are granted, exploration activities could start within the next 3-5 years, conditional on the results of site-specific environmental impact assessments.

If it’s found that gas from deep shale layers can be liberated at commercially viable flow rates, the Karoo could be the location of a domestic gas industry within the next 20 years, lasting for several decades.

The public and the regulators have had lots of questions about the potential development of shale gas in the Karoo. The scientific assessment assembled a team of over 140 experts to evaluate these questions, clustered under 17 broad issues raised by the stakeholders. It is perhaps the most comprehensive study of its kind undertaken in South Africa.

Is there gas under the Karoo?

Definitely. The deep boreholes drilled in the 1970s revealed traces of gas, especially in the shales of the Whitehill Formation at the bottom of the Karoo geological sequence, several kilometres below the surface. At the time it was deemed non-recoverable because it is “tight” gas, reluctantly yielded by the rock. Technical advances, especially horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking), now make it possible to extract tight shale gas.

This does not mean that it’s economically viable to do so in the Karoo. Large volumes of gas have been claimed to be present based on sparse data, but the economically recoverable resource is much, much smaller. Best current estimates put it in the range 5 to 20 trillion cubic feet (tcf). By global standards, even the top end would be relatively small. For example, the proven reserves of conventional gas in the Mozambique Channel are 75 tcf. But by local standards, even the low end would be helpful; the offshore Mossgas field, now almost depleted, was less than 1 tcf.

What are the benefits of shale gas development?

Why use gas at all when there is abundant cheap solar and wind energy? Because adding quick-to-respond gas turbines into the South African energy mix increases the ability of the power generation system to use intermittent renewable energy sources in a way which slow-to-respond power sources like coal and nuclear cannot.

This technical policy decision has already been taken, as reflected in the country’s integrated resources plan; the only question is where to source the gas.

Cartoon demonstrating the difference between ‘conventional’ and ‘unconventional’ gas reserves.
adapted from
http://worldinfo.org/2012/01/point-of-view-unconventional-natural-gas-drilling

Relative to the use of imported gas, a viable Karoo shale gas find would save foreign exchange, accrue tax and employment benefits and improve national energy security. The number of jobs provided is quite small, especially for the low-skilled unemployed (a few hundred). The size of a shale gas industry in financial turnover terms is of the same order of magnitude as the existing Karoo farming and tourism industries. So it would make little sense to promote shale gas if it were to the significant detriment of existing, longer-term sectors.

What are the main concerns?

Fracking has been shown to increase the frequency of small earth tremors. But the Karoo is exceptionally seismically stable, and the increased risk of dangerously large earthquakes was judged by the scientific assessment to be small.

The risk to water resources is the biggest concern to all those involved. Each production well needs about 15 million litres of fluid to frack. The fluid is mostly water (it doesn’t have to be fresh), sand and a small quantity of potentially harmful chemicals. After fracking, the fluid is pumped back to the surface and stored for fracking the next well. Eventually the contaminated water must be purified, the hazardous material sent to a licensed disposal facility (currently there are none in the Karoo), and the clean water returned to the environment.

The greatest risk is that the fracking fluid leaks into the surface water and shallow aquifers used by people, livestock and the ecosystem, due to inadequate sealing of the upper parts of the borehole, or following a spill on the surface. These risks can be reduced, but not eliminated, by good engineering.

Current potable water resources in the Karoo are already fully allocated. The additional water requirements for shale gas development would either need to use water from local non-potable sources, such as deep saline groundwater, or water imported from outside the region.

The impact of shale gas development on the unique Karoo fauna and flora would mainly come from the accompanying habitat fragmentation and disturbance, rather than physical destruction. Each well-pad occupies just over a hectare, and the number per well-field is about 50. A small gas find may be one well-field, a big find may be five. So the area directly affected is a tiny fraction of the Karoo land area, even once the connecting roads and pipelines are considered. The exact location of the well-pads is quite flexible, which reduces the potential impact on both the rich Karoo cultural heritage resources and particular plant or animal populations.

The biggest and least tractable impact is likely to be social: the introduction of noise, traffic, lights, workers, work-seekers and their dependants into a formerly quiet environment, already struggling to service the resident population.

What questions remain?

Fracking in the Karoo has been presented as a “yes-no” decision that will be taken by government. In reality, the choices are more nuanced, far in the future, and not solely governmental. The scientific assessment asked “under what circumstances and under what regulations would it be sensible?’” It found no reason to completely eliminate shale gas as an option – if best practice is followed. The question that will determine if development proceeds is whether the resource is sufficiently attractive for the private sector to invest the billions of rand needed. Only exploration can answer that.

Robert Scholes, Professor Bob Scholes is a Systems Ecologist at the Global Change Institute (GCI), University of the Witwatersrand and Greg Schreiner, Sustainability scientist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

If Racism Is the Sin of White America, Irresponsibility Is the Sin of Black America

There is always a sense of safety when we blame someone even if we are the ones on the wrong. Blame game is usually a self-protective response which is normally aimed at protecting our under-performance. Humans use it to shield themselves from repercussion. Considering the above definition, will I be justified to say that one of the plagues eating America is blame game? The whites are pointing their fingers at blacks while blacks are pointing at whites. Because of this counterproductive approach to sensitive matters, the bridge between white and black Americans continue to widen every other day. Surely, if racism is the sin of White America, irresponsibility is the sin of Black America.

The Revolutionary war in 1770s gave the nation a chance to reach for independence and freedom.

The reason why we went to war in the 1770s was to fight injustice, unfairness and oppression. Britain passed laws which gave them power to milk money from their colonists including America. In 1763 the French and Indian war which was fought North America left a huge financial dent on Great Britain. They demanded taxes from America so as to cover the debts. This led to discontent among Americans who felt that the reason why Britain went to war was to strengthen its empire. Anyway, America's victory during this war led to independence and freedom. But, would you really rate America as a free country? Aren't some of our laws aimed at benefiting the elite few?

The civil war in the 1860s gave the nation a chance to rid itself of slavery and racism.

During the civil war America was divided. States which supported slave trade went against Abraham Lincoln while those who valued human life stood by him. This was a grant opportunity for America to rid itself of racism and slavery. It seemed as if we learnt our lessons during that time. But did we? Could it be correct to say that the war was won but the ideologies behind the war are still tacked somewhere in people's minds? Could that be the reason why there is so much insecurity and mistrust towards whites by blacks. Would I be justified to say that this is the reason why whites feel superior to blacks?

America keeps trying to forget what it is, without changing from what it is.

But really, what is the pink elephant in the room? The American dream is citizens' (whether black or white) ability to achieve success through hard work and willpower. There has to be a level playing field. We have to deal with the real issues if we want a change. After all, you can't change what you don't see.

America a house divided against itself cannot stand.

The American people are one. For a long time we have been separated by race, background, and skin color instead of being unified by our same nationality as well as citizenry. Racial discrimination and ethnic isolation are toxic and should be avoided by all means.

We need to accept that we are all to blame for what our country has turned out to become. We need to agree that, if racism is the sin of White America, irresponsibility is the sin of Black America. Let us take our country back from disunity and division. It can be done. Remember, black or white, we are each others' brothers keeper and strength.

Ranches Lee Hall is a pastor. He's been online now for several years operating different blogs and online businesses and providing helpful information. He enjoy songwriting, reading the bible, playing the keyboard or piano he currently runs http://stopracialprofiling.org

Connecting The Dots: Speculation, Wishful Thinking, Or Accurate Interpretation?

This year, we have witnessed, nearly every day, some sort of report/ reports, questioning particular behaviors, actions, motivations, influences, and/ or reasons, certain elected officials, have done something! If you review almost any of these reports, from a variety of different media, you might believe you are reading about totally different events. For example, here, in New York, I read four newspapers, daily. The NY Post often emphasizes and/ or reports, far differently than, either Newsday, the NY Times, or, even, The Wall Street Journal (although the Journal and Post, share the same ownership). How can someone know, what's actually going on, and differentiate between speculation, wishful thinking, or accurate interpretation?

1. Speculation: How is the connecting the dots, being done? Is it based on digging deeply, discovering additional facts, pursuing leads, etc, or is it mere speculation? How much does the specific media's position, conform to the political views and preferences of the editors, etc? How extreme is the connection? Is there only one situation, being cited, or are there, a variety of related circumstances? In a courtroom, unsupported speculation, is referred to as Circumstantial Evidence! How much effort is made, to discover additional facts, that bring more light, to the matter? Is this speculation, somewhat innocent, and based on a degree of journalistic laziness and/ or convenience, or on a particular political position?

2. Wishful thinking: Does the source of the information, follow the leads, and discover information, or, is it, based on wishful thinking, wish supports your desired perspective and view? Is the reporter delving deeply, or simply, trying to support a specific, preconceived notion, idea and/ or perspective? Is this reporting based on journalistic integrity, or irresponsible skewing of facts, to distort certain positions?

3. Accurate judgment: If a reporter follows the facts, without trying to interpret prematurely, and gathers enough information, to be able to develop a fair and accurate judgment, he or she, is the rare, principled political reporter! Rather than jump to conclusions, we should all carefully review the source of the information, examine the record, and whether, they have previously, let their personal, political philosophy, direct their reporting!

Beware when someone connects the dots! Examine the thoroughness, objectivity, fairness, and accuracy of their information - gathering procedure!

Richard has owned businesses, COO, CEO, Director of Development, consultant, professionally run events, worked on political campaigns, consulted to thousands, and conducted personal development seminars, for 4 decades. Rich has written three books and thousands of articles. Website: http://plan2lead.net and LIKE the Facebook page for common sense politics: http://facebook.com/commonsense4all