It was around 11pm when a frail young woman was led into one of the docks at the Nanterre criminal court in Paris. With her hands cuffed behind her back, Ines* desperately looked for relatives in the courtroom after spending two days in police custody. She nervously twisted and untwisted a bun of light-coloured hair, banned from wearing her hijab in court. "She's very afraid of going to prison," her […]
LOCAL he South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has kicked off its second round of sittings on allegations of law enforcement brutality during land evictions in the Western Cape. Commissioner Chris Nissen says they have received several complaints in the Southern Cape and Cape Town on allegations of excessive force being used by law enforcement agencies during removals and demolishing of shacks. The first hearings were in Knysna earlier this year. The […]
More than 120,000 people have signed an online petition to demand justice for 16-year-old Nathaniel Julius, who was allegedly shot and killed by police in Eldorado Park on Wednesday last week. Julius had Down syndrome. Hazel Waydene, who started the petition last Thursday, wrote that Julius was “shot for no reason” and alleged that the police did not give a true account of the events which led to his death. […]
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said on Friday night it had decided to arrest two police officers in connection with the murder of 16-year-old Nathaniel Julius. In a short statement, Ipid spokesperson Ndileka Cola said the police watchdog had taken the decision on “careful consideration of the evidence at hand”. “The pair will be charged with murder and possibly defeating the ends of justice. The two South African Police […]
Demonstrations against racism and police brutality have spread to even more cities across the United States as people in many parts of the country defied curfews to protest against the killing of George Floyd. The days-long protests sweeping the nation have reawakened outrage over years of deaths of Black people at the hands of police, renewing long-standing accusations of institutionalised and systemic racism. After a night of unrest on Friday, […]
With South Africans four weeks into the national lockdown implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19, 41 congregants were arrested at the weekend in separate parts of the country for apparently disobeying lockdown regulations. On Saturday, in a video that has gone viral, police intruded on a group of Muslim congregants that had gathered to pray in Mpumalanga, while 17 worshippers were handcuffed inside a building in Pretoria west on […]
Wesbank, home to one the most impoverished communities on the Cape Flats has found the national lockdown period nothing less than dehumanizing. On one hand residents are forced to endure endless days and nights of ever-growing food deprivation and on the other, they are subjected to acts of police brutality without question and certainly without reason. One of the residents that has experienced the heavy-hand of the South African Police […]
A Cape Town man was allegedly manhandled by city traffic officers yesterday, in video footage posted on Facebook that has since gone viral. Speaking to VOC News on Tuesday, Zaahira Allie said her father 51 year old Zainodien Allie had gone to assist his 81-year-old uncle Yusuf Davids in Belmore Road, Mountview, where he found Yusuf being questioned by traffic cops for making calls while driving. Zainodien proceeded to remove […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
