Africa-Press – South-Africa. The criminal case against King Khoisan SA, who has been living and protesting outside of the Union Buildings in Pretoria for more than three years, has been postponed as police conduct further investigations.
Khoisan SA and fellow protester Donovan Manuel, appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for their second appearance since their arrest in January.
At the time, police said Khoisan SA was arrested for dealing in drugs and the illegal cultivation of dagga and for failing to put on a mask when instructed to do so by a law enforcement officer.
However, according to the charge sheet, both men had been charged with dealing in dagga.
Khoisan SA had been growing dagga at his makeshift kraal at the foot of the Nelson Mandela statue at the National Key Point.
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King Khoisan SA arrested for growing, selling dagga at Union Buildings
After his first appearance in court, Khoisan SA and his co-accused were released on a warning.
Commenting on his arrest, Khoisan SA said the laws that led to him being placed in a police van on Wednesday “was a smack in the face for the first nation”.
“They thought they we were going to follow their laws. Their laws [around] smoking dagga put us in prison. This cannot be fair,” Khoisan SA said.
He said the dagga was used for medicinal purposes. “We cannot continue with other people’s laws that they want to inflict on us as the first nation.”
Protest
Khoisan SA and a small group of protesters had staged a sit-in protest for more than three years after making the arduous 1 200km journey from the Eastern Cape on foot in November 2019.
The protesters are demanding that:
This was the group’s second bid to have their demands met.
In 2017, Khoisan SA and three others made a similar journey to the Union Buildings in an attempt to be recognised. Things took a dangerous turn when the four of them embarked on a hunger strike that lasted close to a month.
News24 reported that Chief Khoisan SA suffered from extreme fatigue, malaise and that he lost 34kg.
Christian Martin, 37, who joined them at the Union Buildings, lost 26kg and suffered from hypoglycaemia due to malnourishment.
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