Comment issued to the Cape Times

Prohibitions of marches in Cape Town, on the basis that the police do not have sufficient human resources to police the marches, is disturbing. This reason is not a recognised ground for prohibition of marches in terms of the Regulation of Gatherings Act. 

If the City is concerned about overstretched police during the security guard strike, then they must make plans to deploy additional people.

In terms of the Act, a gathering can be prohibited only if credible information is provided on oath that the proposed gathering will result in serious disruption of traffic, injury or damage to property, and the police will not be able to contain this threat. In such a case, the responsible officer also has to consider whether conditions can be imposed on the march to contain these threats, short of prohibition.

The City does not have the discretion to decide whether it 'supports' the march or not; as it is quoted as saying in relation to the mass bike ride. It is duty bound to allow it to go ahead. The City clearly misunderstands the bike ride notification as a permission seeking exercise, where it has the right to 'grant' or 'refuse' permission. This is not the case, and is a misreading of the Act by the City.

Once the bike ride organisers have notified the City of their intention to hold a gathering, the City has to let it go ahead, unless they have the sort of information mentioned above. It is difficult to imagine that they do. What sort of public safety threat can a group of naked bike riders possibly pose? While they may elicit some stares, this would hardly constitute a threat to public safety. The organisers of the bike ride should take the prohibition on review.

The FXI is also deeply disturbed that the ANCYL has been disallowed from marching as well on similar grounds. This is an illegal proscription of the right to protest.

We are also disturbed to learn that the City's permits office has signalled its intention to ask for a moratorium on all similar events and processions. This it cannot do in terms of the Act. It amounts to a lockdown on freedom of expression during the security guard strike, which creates the impression that the City is using the argument about a lack of human resources as an excuse to shield the Department of Public Service and Administration from criticism in Cape Town. If it doing so, then it is engaging in censorship on a massive scale