Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille plans to sue the state for R300Â 000 following her arrest at an anti-drugs march earlier this year, she said on Friday.
”I intend to sue the police on three counts: unlawful arrest, unlawful detention and malicious prosecution. The amount involved on each count is R100Â 000,” said Zille in a statement.
She has instructed her legal team to start proceedings.
In September, she was arrested during a march against drugs in Mitchells Plain.
The legal process she intends to use is set out by the Legal Proceedings against Certain Organs of State Act (40 of 2007).
”In accordance with this Act, a letter was on Thursday sent to the minister of safety and security, giving him notice of my intention to sue. Thirty days after this notice, papers will be filed with the Magistrate’s Court in Mitchells Plain, following which a court date can be set,” said Zille.
She intends donating any damages that might be awarded to her to drug rehabilitation work in the Mitchells Plain area.
Dissenting voices
Also on Friday, writing in her weekly online newsletter, Zille lauded the ”upsurge in dissenting voices” within the African National Congress (ANC), saying it could lead to a realignment of politics.
Zille said there have recently been signs of a change from the past few years when any critical or challenging voices were effectively silenced through various measures. Lately, prominent party leaders have spoken out publicly on issues of conscience.
”In a political climate marked by intolerance and enforced conformity within the ANC, this is a positive development. In fact, the belated upsurge in dissenting voices from within the governing party highlights how abnormal our political culture has been for far too long.
”The lack of open debate has affected the quality of our democracy, replacing a diversity of opinion with the sham silence of assent imposed from the top,” Zille said.
Now, disagreements between key government office-bearers on topics as various and urgent as Zimbabwe, HIV/Aids and the arms deal point to growing impatience with the iron grip the Presidency had placed on the governing party.
”The new mood of public dissent comes, of course, in the context of the continuing bitter succession battle in the governing party.”
It has now permeated Cabinet, as well as highlighted a clash of policy between the ANC in government and in Parliament. Such public disagreements would have been unimaginable a year ago. There can be no doubt that the right to dissent is being asserted both inside and out of the ANC, she said.
Crumbling facade
In the run-up to the ANC’s national conference in Polokwane in December, the enforced facade of unity is being jettisoned in favour of some kind of debate. This presents a small window of opportunity for all outside the governing party who care about the open society that should define democracy.
It did not happen before, because the ANC, like the old National Party, had insisted on a political culture based on fear and conformity to party bosses.
With potentially independent voices constrained, President Thabo Mbeki has been able to insist that it is not ANC tradition to express personal ambition.
”The worse aspect of the succession battle currently raging within the ANC has been the abuse of state institutions to further partisan political agendas,” she said.
Now, if the uncertainty and fear that surround the succession race have at least one positive spin-off, it is that dissenting opinions are being publicly heard. This is a positive, healthy development. But the divergent views emerging could also be incompatible within a single party for much longer.
There are those within the ANC who still cherish the vision of an open society, where political divergence is reflected through real debate and dialogue, rather than smear campaigns.
”The growing evidence of the ANC’s internal debate is the first indication of a gathering momentum towards a realignment of South African politics. May this momentum accelerate. It is already long overdue,” Zille said. — Sapa