LEBOGANG SEALE
MIYELANI Chauke wept as she recounted her agony at being denied bail and the thought of the 18 weeks she spent in detention.
The 25-year-old went into hysterics and wailed each time the 24 people accused of torching two councillors’ houses in Chiawelo were denied bail.
The Johannesburg High Court released the suspects on free bail on Thursday, after two earlier bail attempts were turned down in the Protea Magistrate’s Court.
Chauke was arrested along with her aunt, Gift, and uncle, Tyrone.
“I was so confident we would be released on warning or on bail. I even told the investigating officer that I should be given a life sentence if I was on the video footage (showing the protests). I was so shocked I just cried, not knowing what to do.”
Chauke said the mere thought of being detained at Johannesburg Prison – the prison they also call Sun City – had made her shudder.
“I used to hear lots of stories about how dangerous it was at Sun City, so I was hoping that I would be held at the Moroka police station.
“The way we were escorted by the police to Sun City made me feel like I was this hardened criminal who had killed people.”
More heartbreaking, Chauke said, was seeing other detainees arrested for public violence and damage to property being released while she and her co-accused remained incarcerated.
She said: “I was in the same cell as some people from Thembelihle (near Lenasia) and Tembisa. When they were released, I kept on asking myself how special was this case I was accused of? Even Jub Jub (hip hop artist Molemo Maarohanye) was given bail.”
As her time in detention dragged on, Chauke said she had turned to prayer, which she credited for their release moments before they appeared in the magistrate’s court on Thursday.
In court last week, advocate Neo Mosalakae, in her argument for her clients to be granted bail in the Johannesburg High Court, said: “The accused in this case are not lawless bandits or al-Qaeda militants…
“With more than 6 000 service delivery protests having occurred in South Africa in the past year alone, releasing frustrated citizens from detention cannot be construed as a threat to public safety, order and security.”
Among the detainees was a couple, Simon Mbedzi and Meriam Bologo. They told of their distress at not being able to communicate with each other.
Said Mbedzi: “What was more painful was that we had left behind two children, with no one to take care of them.”
Grade 10 pupils Tshifhiwa Mavhivha and Eric Sithole missed their spring and end-of-year exams due to their detention.
“I wish they can make some arrangements for us to write the exams,” said Eric.
The suspects face charges of public violence, malicious damage to property, arson and attempted murder, relating to an incident in July when residents blockaded streets and set alight the homes of councillor Joe Nemaungane and his predecessor Mirriam Ramafola.
The protests were sparked by grievances over high electricity tariffs from prepaid meters.
The 24 accused left Sun City on Friday. The trial has been set down for December 1.