Willies Mchunu is the MEC for Safety and Security in the KwaZulu Natal Province in South Africa. He is a member of the African National Congress.
His response to the violent attacks on Abahlali baseMjondolo at Kennedy Road informal settlement was controversial.[1]
At the time of the attack he claimed that the attacks were by a 'criminal forum' associated with Abahlali baseMjondolo president S'bu Zikode.[2] Abahlali baseMjondolo and many civil society organisations have responded calling the attack on Abahlali baseMjondolo and Kennedy Road residents politically motivated and blaming Mchunu for condoning the attacks by an armed group affiliated with the ANC .[3][4][5] Mchunu's response to the attacks has also been criticised by Bishop Rubin Phillip and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba[6] The MEC refused calls for an independent investigation into the attacks.[7] [8] Amnesty International sent a letter of concern to Willies Mchunu but there was no response from his office.[9]
On 18 July 2011, the case against the 12 members of Abahlali baseMjondolo arrested after the attack was thrown out of court. [10] The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa issued a statement saying that the "charges were based on evidence which now appears almost certainly to have been manufactured" and that the Magistrate had described the state witnesses as "“belligerent”, “unreliable” and “dishonest”.[11]
According to Paul Trewhela "The scandal is that this political prosecution was ever instituted in the first place, and that it was dragged on, month after month, by magistrates, prosecution and police without a shred of reliable evidence - with plentiful evidence, rather, of manipulation and intimidation of witnesses by the police and local ANC structures." [12]