Clifton fiasco racialised by media, City tells inquiry

THE City of Cape Town told Parliament that the Clifton Fourth Beach incident, which gave rise to protests in late December, was in no way racial, but was racialised and politicised by the media.

The city appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs, which held an inquiry into the events of December 23 at the Cape Town beach.

On the day in question, members of the public were allegedly removed from the beach by private security officers from Professional Protection Alternatives (PPA).

Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for community services, Zahid Badroodien, said: “Legitimate cases of racism must always be addressed, but what happened on the 23rd of December was not a race-related incident.

“Mayor (Dan Plato) found that people of all races… were asked, and not forcefully removed as alleged, to leave the beach on December 23 by a private security company,” said Badroodien.

He blamed the uproar that accompanied the incident on the “media’s appetite to sensationalise any word of racism for (a) front-page story”.

The incident was followed by a series of protest rallies at the beach, one of which saw a sheep being slaughtered.

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira) said it had suspended three security officers who were involved in the incident.

Psira director Manabela Chauke said: “Beachgoers were removed from Clifton Beach by PPA. Psira received four complaints, mainly about the conduct of the PPA.”

He said there were allegations of assault, unauthorised restraints and the use of abusive language.

PPA, however, said they had conducted themselves in a similar manner in the past, and were not clear why this particular incident was racialised.