#press release 14/03/14 Artrest 4326 Mareka Street Sharpeville Vereeniging 1928 South Africa Good Morning All, I never believed for one second that I would have to think about committing a crime to get justice. My experience with the police and the justice department has been extremely frustrating. So infuriating that it would make one ready for violence, however since violence is not our policy we must channel our anger into a creative form of protest. Our story has not been contrived nor is our story meant to entertain you. It is meant to get you up and ready for our fight for justice. This press release has been sent to all the government departments, more specifically the department of justice. We have ccd CNN, BBC international, the city press, 702 radio station who have heard our story. We managed to get our story in the citizen newspaper on the 15 August 2013. We would especially like to thank Jevanne Gibbs for publishing the first official story. We are from the township of Sharpeville. Teboho Mofokeng and I Radile Mokone had multimillion rand 3D fresco style painting maliciously destroyed by two conmen. Even though we have photos, emails and witnesses as evidence against the perpetrators of this crime, the justice system, particularly the police have ignored us. The community was extremely enraged by our story. Our calls to remain calm have been heard. We managed to get a visit to our Mayors office. We were taken from pillar to post. They made us speak to their PA’s and dodged our calls for a meeting. The community loved our project because they believed that our project was going assist us in our community. We run a restaurant, gallery and community business centre in Sharpeville called Artrest. We were trying to help resolve the problems of high crime levels, increasing drug flow and usage, xenophobia, teenage pregnancies, high unemployment levels, poor police services and poor quality roads. Most places have no roads at all. This project would have allowed us to attract investment into tourism and key township industries like Mandela advised in his first year as the President of the Republic of South Africa. We are calling for our justice! The South African justice system is failing its black youth. We are being rejected by the justice system because we live in the township, because we are poor, because of the historic and current burden of being black people in South Africa. So often the media covers destruction. We are sad for Reeva Steenkamp. This case makes me deeply contemplate the problems of violence against women in this country. I wonder whether our justice system is even when it comes to dealing with white and black women, or white and black men when it is not in the media spotlight. We are sad for the people who died in Marikana and their loved ones. I would like to hope that the media will continue to report on this matter and continue to stimulate debate on this issue at least half as fervently as they are doing for the Oscar Pistorius Trial. We are attempting to avoid a destructive situation. We believe in the power of a free media and hence we people without a functional or fair justice system must rely on the media to help us fight our daily battles in this country. I would like to invite the media to Artrest our gallery in Sharpeville on the 21st March 2014 at 12:00pm. The president is expected to be in town. So if you get a chance do pop in. This experience has been tremendously costly. It has cost more than money. It has cost time, effort and emotion. Teboho Mofokeng and I have become human rights activist. We are fighting the biggest fight yet. Follow us on twitter via @mzanzisfinest, or like our facebook page Artrest. The profile pictures we use on there is of the 3d fresco style portrait of Madiba. The same look as this chromaluxe prototype. We look forward to seeing you there. The date is 21st March 2014 at 12:00pm, at Artrest Gallery in Sharpeville. Thank you and God Bless. Radile Mokone and Teboho Mofokeng Artrest Gallery 4326 Mareka Street Sharpeville Vereeniging 1928 South Africa Contact: 076 282 3932 / 083 872 2404 Email: artrest4326@gmail
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:29:58 +0000