Civil rights groups vindicated by protests judgment

CIVIL rights organisations have claimed victory after the Western Cape High Court declared sections of the Regulations of Gathering Act (RGA), which prevented the gathering of more than 15 people with a notice or permission from a municipality, unconstitutional, unreasonable and unjustifiable.

Judge Tandazwa Ndita proclaimed that the “criminalisation of a gathering of more than 15 people on the basis that notice was given violates the constitution, as it deters people from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to assemble peacefully unarmed”.

“The limitation is not reasonable and justifiable in an open democratic society,” she said.

The case relates to 21 Social Justice Coalition (SJC) members, who chained themselves to the railings of the Cape Town Civic Centre. They were protesting after attempting to engage Mayor Patricia de Lille. They had not obtained a permit for the protest. The activists were arrested and charged with contravening the RGA.

About two years later, 10 of the SJC members were convicted. However, they appealed the conviction, arguing that sections of the RGA were unconstitutional, limits the right to freedom of assembly and remnant of apartheid laws. Ndita upheld the appeal and set their conviction aside.

“Section 12(1) (a) of the RGA is hereby declared unconstitutional. The declaration of invalidity is not retrospective, and shall not affect finalised criminal trial, but will apply to any criminal matters in which, as the date of this judgment, an appeal or review is pending or the time for the noting of an appeal has expired.”

One of the activists, Phumeza Mlungwana, said: “We feel government has always treated protesters with hostility. We are not criminals, but using protests to hold the government accountable.”

SJC legal representative Steve Kahanovitz, from Legal Resource Centre, said: “The next step is to go to the Constitutional Court to rectify today’s outcomes.”