R2K Statement: MASHABA SCRAP JOBURG PROTEST FEES!

On Friday, 16 November 2018 the Right2Know Gauteng will march to the Joburg Mayor’s office and the JMPD offices calling for a scrapping of the Joburg Protest Fees, and an end to the City’s unlawful protest practices.

The Constitution says you have a right to protest, but the City of Johannesburg is forcing activists and communities to pay fees to do so! It starts with a R185-00 ‘planning cost’ to process your ‘notification’ of a protest. But some organisations have even been asked to pay extra costs, to ‘hire’ the police and the vehicles that will be deployed at the march. At a mass march last year, it was reported that SAFTU was charged over R10,000 for the police’s time.

This is exploitation, whether as applied to poor communities or any other organisation wanting to exercise its right to protest; it is a violation of our constitutional right to protest. We will not pay a fee to exercise a basic right!

We call on Mayor Mashaba and JMPD chief David Tembe to end these practices.

Scrap the Joburg Protest Fees!

Background:

For years, R2K and allied organisations have refused to pay the fees and demanded that JMPD stop trying to charge it. The JMPD is using the Public Open Spaces By-laws, which allows the City to charge fees relating to commercial and recreational events such as sports events, festivals and concerts – but not for  protests which are constitutionally protected and governed by the Regulation of Gatherings Act. However, JMPD continues to request a fee from people exercising their right to protest.

R2K and its allies have tried for years to engage JMPD officials on this. They refuse to budge, saying these fees are required by the Joburg Council. R2K has also  engaged the Office of the Speaker of Johannesburg, to urge an intervention on this exploitation and violation of a basic right. Nothing has happened.

Why does this matter?

In our current political context, the right to protest is crucial for communities to hold the powerful to account and ensure their voices are heard.

The protest fee is just one example of how different government officials are denying and repressing  our right to organise. Even when people try to adhere to the Regulation of Gatherings Act, all too often the authorities twist these very processes to try intimidate, dissuade and repress the communities from exercising this right.

Our demands:

• We demand the City of Johannesburg and JMPD stop applying their fees to protest gatherings immediately!
• We urge citizens not to pay the protest fees that are being charged by the JMPD!
• We demand an end to other tactics employed by JMPD to frustrate communities who are trying to follow the bureaucratic process of the Gatherings Act, such as only ‘accepting’ notices in person, and only ‘processing’ them on Wednesdays. JMPD must not act like it is doing us a favour: they are required by law to support protests under the Regulation of Gatherings Act.
• We demand the right to give notice any day of the week, in person, on paper or digitally!

March details:

Venue: Pieter Roos Park (Empire Rd) to Mayor’s office then moving to JMPD offices

Time:  9:30AM for 10AM

ORGANIZE AND RESIST! SIZOHLALA SIYINYOVA/ZABALAZA MAHALA!

• Call the Right2Protest Hotline (0800 212 111) for legal advice when your right to protest is being restricted.

For more information contact:

Ntombi Tshabalala, R2K Gauteng Organiser: 082 710 3138/011 339 1533

Thami Nkosi, R2K Gauteng Campaigns Organiser: 062 624 5992/ 011 339 1533

Murray Hunter, R2K Secrecy & Securitisation Organiser: 072 672 5468