Urgent Media Alert – Picket at Supreme Court of Appeal to challenge apartheid-era Intimidation Act!
On Friday, 2 March 2018, we stand in solidarity with the activists challenging the Apartheid-era Intimidation Act at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.
The SCA is hearing an appeal on two cases of activists who are charged under the Intimidation Act 72 of 1982: Makause activist General Alfred Moyo and former Marikana Women’s Group leader Primrose Sonti (now a Member of Parliament).
Moyo is asking the court to declare that section 1(1)(b) of the Intimidation Act is unconstitutional on the basis that it violates freedom of expression and is used to silence activists. While Sonti is challenging section 1(2) of the Act on the basis that it violates the right to fair trial and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. They are appealing to the SCA to overturn a decision of the North Gauteng High Court which dismissed their case in 2016, a full 15 months after they initially argued their case.
R2K Gauteng, will join activists from Makause on the East Rand, as well as the Free State in a picket outside the court in solidarity with Makause Organiser and R2K activist, General Moyo.
Background
In 2012, Moyo was involved in planning a march against police brutality at Primrose Police Station. In the lead-up to the march, police tried to stop it from going ahead – and in a meeting with authorities, Moyo criticised them loudly.
In a blatant attempt to silence him, the station commander simply charged him with “intimidation” under the apartheid-era Intimidation Act 72 of 1982 section 1(1)(b). This law makes it a crime to engage in any speech or conduct which another person finds intimidating – no matter whether this is reasonable or whether it is in fact intimidating. This broad infringement of free speech allows police to charge any activist they don’t like for engaging in speech or conduct which they feel ‘intimidates’ them and therefore silences dissent.
The SCA will also hear an appeal in the case of Primrose Sonti, who is charged under the Intimidation Act in a separate incident.
Moyo is represented by attorneys at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI). Sonti is represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS).
MACODEFO, an activist structure of Makause, as a community affiliate of the Right2Know Campaign strongly believes that the right to protest and freedom of expression are fundamental to ensuring that ordinary citizens are able to voice their dissatisfaction and to hold government and the private sector accountable for their obligations. By criminalizing the exercising of these rights, government is consciously undermining the Constitution and the quest for social justice. We stand in solidarity with Moyo, the community of Makause, and the Socio Economic Rights Institute (SERI).
Details:
Venue: Supreme Court of Appeal
Cnr Elizabeth & President Brand Streets, Bloemfontein, Free State
Date : 02 March 2018
Time : 8AM
