ZILLE PLANS ANOTHER ANTI-DRUG MARCH

The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, the mayor of Cape Town,
is once again going to challenge the authorities by marching against
gangsterism and drugs in a community where the drug lords are thriving.

She announced that on Sunday she would conduct a march through the streets
of Macassar in the east of the city, near Somerset West. A statement issued
on Friday by her party said: "Macassar is one of the many communities in
the Western Cape that have been ravaged by drug abuse and gangsterism."

In September last year, Zille was arrested while leading a gathering
outside a police station in Woodlands, Mitchell's Plain, where she had also
been marching against the drug lords.

Seven weeks later the charges against her were dropped. "These were always
trumped up charges, and I do not believe that they were the result of
ineptitude by the SAPS, but rather of something more sinister," she said.

"To arrest people when they have not contravened any law or regulation,
demonstrates once again the growing tendency by the authorities to
undermine the constitution and treat people's rights as if they were
arbitrary favours granted by the police and the ruling party."