(FXI/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of a 12 September 2006 FXI media release: The Freedom of Expression Institute is becoming extremely concerned at the repression and denial of free expression to especially poor communities by South Africa’s police services. Over the past few days, three cases of police violence against unarmed citizens […]
(FXI/IFEX) – The following is an abridged version of a 12 September 2006 FXI media release:
The Freedom of Expression Institute is becoming extremely concerned at the repression and denial of free expression to especially poor communities by South Africa’s police services.
Over the past few days, three cases of police violence against unarmed citizens who have been simply exercising their constitutional rights were reported to us. The most recent of these was that of Durban’s shack dwellers’ movement, Abahlali base Mjondolo.
Police abuse of the Regulation of Gatherings Act (RGA) results in poor communities and organisations of the poor being denied the only real avenue of expression that is available to them – taking to the streets through protests, pickets, marches, etc. The FXI has repeatedly expressed concern about the illegal and unconstitutional ways in which the RGA is often implemented. A further effect of repressive police responses to such gatherings on freedom of expression is that they have a chilling effect on the confidence of people to engage in public demonstrations and even critical public debate. As such, people may refuse to engage in demonstrations out of fear of being arrested, injured or worse.
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On 11 September 2006, shack dwellers in Durban’s Kennedy Road settlement crammed into a hall after hearing that three leaders of their movement (Abahlali base Mjondolo) had been assaulted and arrested by police. When they heard that bail had been refused, a group of women decided to march to the police station. The decision was spontaneous.
According to various sources, a few minutes after the protestors moved to the road, police arrived. They reportedly gave no warning to the marchers to disperse and began shooting at the marchers with rubber bullets and live ammunition. Residents claim police also fired live ammunition into the hall. Anyone seen on the road or moving between the shacks was shot at, residents said. A woman in her 50s was shot in both legs.
Soon after the alleged police attack on the settlement, a group of about 40 people that had gathered outside the Sydenham police station were allegedly attacked by armed police who told them the “gathering” was illegal. Some of those that had gathered said that police prodded them with the weapons and that some police had “shotguns and machine guns”.
The FXI views the actions of the police in Kennedy Road and at the police station as illegal and unconstitutional. The attempted march was clearly spontaneous and hence no notification could be given to the police regarding the march as required by the Regulation of Gatherings Act. The Act contemplates spontaneous gatherings and specifies how the police should respond. When no notice was given for a gathering, the police are obliged to make all attempts to contact the organisers of the gathering and negotiate how the gathering will proceed. . . .
The police involved in the operation against Abahlali base Mjondolo were in violation of [various provisions of the Act] and, thus, acted illegally. Further, they acted in such a manner as to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights to free expression, gather and associate. These actions of police, as if they are above the law, is an extremely disturbing trend of late in all parts of South Africa.
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On 5 September 2006, Oupa Mbhele, an official of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union in Gauteng, was wounded four times in his knees and lower legs and underwent surgery because of an “unprovoked” attack by police who shot at him with rubber bullets from close range.
According to Satawu, Mbhele had been sent to the scene of a march to look into reports that some union members had been arrested for rowdiness. At the time of the shooting he was asking police officers for the names of those arrested to verify whether they were Satawu members. Satawu officials say another police officer then approached Mbhele, holding a gun, and told him to move. Although Mbhele tried to explain what he was doing, the officer opened fire on him four times.
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On 6 September 2006, thousands of residents from Orange Farm (south of Johannesburg) blockaded the Golden Highway, a major arterial road in Gauteng, demanding the Mayor, Amos Masondo, avail himself to residents in order to address the lack of service delivery in the township. The police, allegedly without warning, opened fire with rubber bullets, hitting a woman on her leg and a man in his stomach and injuring 16 others. Some of those injured were not even part of the blockade, but were hurt when police allegedly entered Orange Farm, blindly shooting at residents in their homes. An 18-year-old boy was shot in the stomach while gardening. Orange Farm residents are unified in their anger at police response to their peaceful gathering. They highlight the fact that the police opened fire without any warning on a group of protesters that were doing nothing to intimidate them. While the police claim that they were responding to being stoned by the crowd, residents strongly deny this. They point to the fact that a young pregnant woman was shot and that many were shot in the back.
These incidents highlight an extremely worrying phenomenon: police that act outside of the law, while claiming to be upholding the law. The result is a frightening environment of repression developing within South Africa, with free expression constantly being in danger – especially the free expression of poor communities for whom their main form of expression is to take to the streets.
