Political repression in post-apartheid South Africa

"[15] Amnesty International has expressed serious concerns about brutality, including torture and extrajudicial killings, at the hands of the police in South Africa.

[23] Serious concern was expressed about the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and Protection of Information Bill which, if passed, would significantly reduce press freedom.

[30] In 2007 the Freedom of Expression Institute and The Mercury newspaper reported a death threat against a journalist in Durban by controversial local businessman Ricky Govender who claims close links with Jacob Zuma.

[31] In Durban in 2009 the editor of The Mercury, Philani Makhanya, laid a charge of intimidation against S'bu Mpisani, a politically connected contractor for the housing department in that city who had allegedly threatened the newspaper for its investigations into his activities.

[32] In Port Elizabeth the branch chairperson of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Nceba Faku, called for party supporters to burn down the offices of the local newspaper the Daily Dispatch in 2011.

[33] In 2012 Piet Rampedi and Adriaan Bassoon, journalists at the City Press, were subject to various threats and forms of intimidation while covering a story on corruption by Julius Malema.

[44] It has been argued that not just ANC controlled municipalities, but also opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) ones, engage in unlawful bans on the right to protest.

[56] In July 2012 Nic Dawes, Sam Sole and Stefaans Brummer, journalists at the Mail & Guardian, were questioned by the police following the publication of a story alleging corruption by senior ANC leader Mac Maharaj.

[57] There have been numerous incidents of repression against grassroots social movements[58] and activists have alleged arrests on trumped up charges[2] and assaults at the hands of the police.

[61] In September 2010 four residents of Hangberg, in Hout Bay, near Cape Town were shot in the face at close range by police with rubber bullets leading to the loss of their eyes.

[63][64] In August and September 2012 strikers and community activists in Marikana were subject to sustained police harassment, including a large number of fatalities.

[66] In December 2012 it was reported that in Wesselton, Mpumalanga, police were engaged in sustained collective harassment, some of it violent, of a local community.

[163] It has been argued that the violence associated with the Marikana miners' strike in August 2012 began after officials of the National Union of Mineworkers murdered two strikers.

[213] According to Barney Pityana "we are beginning to see the emergence of party (or presidential) militia in the guise of the Umkhonto weSizwe Veterans, who are the new Gestapo with a fascist agenda.