CAPE TOWN BARS PROTEST OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT DURING #SONA2016

By: LUNGELO SHEZI

The City of Cape Town has put a tight lid on Right2Know‘s (R2K) protest at today’s State of the Nation Address (#SONA2016).

R2K was planning a protest over what it calls “the continued appetite for secrecy by the President, the security structures he leads and from within the private sector”.

The protest was due to take place on the Father John Oliver footbridge, which members of parliament and the President must pass under on their way to into Parliament at its annual opening and SONA address.

However, the city reportedly told R2K that protest action will only be allowed to take place 600 metres from Parliament, a decision the group deems appalling and unacceptable.

Parliament was the target of protest action for some time in October by students of the #FeesMustFall and #EndOutSourcing movement, as well a strike held by employees in November over salaries.

“The right to organise, protest and speak out is central to all community struggles for social justice. We demand that the government respect this right” the group said in a statement.

R2K says it will instead demonstrate over the N2 on Bunga Avenue in the Langa township, between 7am and 9am and in the afternoon from 3pm and 5pm today.

“The Bunga Avenue bridge represent the connections and continuities in our divided society. Between a violent past controlled by a secret state apparatus and a present in which many state institutions are actively countering freedoms such as our Right2Know,” R2K said.

R2K has also published a list of demands that it’s presenting today which includes the following in brief:

• Open Parliament: An open parliament that is accessible to the people
• Stop the secret deals: Why are we building nuclear power plants when social spending is set to be cut? We demand transparency on such decisions
• No signal jammers and forceful removals of MPs
• Respect Chapter 9 Institutions​ and Oversight Bodies: The fact that we still don’t have an Inspector-General of Intelligence is worrying and totally unacceptable…R2K demands that this matter be brought to a vote as the first order of business when Parliament re-opens tomorrow
• Peaceful protest is our right: We call on the government to stop suppressing our dissent by clamping down on the right to protest and turning a blind eye to police brutality.

“The Right2Know Campaign believes it is time government put the people first and invest in our democracy. We must return to the vision of a people centred, people driven development. In particular we call on the President to advance the right to know,” the group said.

Coincidentally, the Western Cape ANC has also planned to march through Parliament, specifically at Keizersgracht from 2pm, to mark the 26th anniversary of former President Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

The city said it had not given the party permission to do so and that should the party go through with the march, police forces would be deployed.

[Image – CC Wikimedia Commons]