13 December 2005

Petition to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from Delegates to the Comparative Constitutionalism and Rights: Global Perspectives Conference

While in Durban we have come to learn that on the Thursday 10 November 2005 the eThekwini Municipality sent a fax illegally banning a proposed march on the Mayor organised by the Foreman Road Development Committee, the elected representatives of one of the poorest shack settlements in Durban. Two reasons were given for banning the march. The first was that “Officials from the Mayor’s Office have advised us that they have no feedback for your organisation”. The second was that “The Mayor’s Office labour is unable to assist you and there will be no representative there to meet you.” The respected Freedom of Expression Institute issued a statement condemning the ban as “a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Regulation of Gatherings Act”. The statement went on to explain that the reasons given by the Municipality for banning the march were “absurd” and without any legal basis.

On the day of the scheduled march, three thousand people met in the Foreman Road settlement, and decided to stage an act of passive resistance against this attack on their basic democratic rights in the form of a peaceful demonstration. It has been widely reported that the police responded with extreme force and that at least two police officers fired live ammunition. A number of protestors sustained serious injuries. Journalists and academics have stated that police officers threatened them with violence if they reported what they had seen and that cameras were confiscated by the police. The Freedom of Expression Institute issued a statement declaring that the Institute “condemns the eThekwini Municipality’s blatant disregard for the rights of marginalized communities to exercise their freedom of expression” The statement described the police action as illegal on two grounds. The first was that no warning was given to disperse before the police attacked and the second was that there was no justification for the degree of force used in the police attack. The Mercury newspaper lodged a formal complaint against the intimidation of one of it journalists by the police.

We, the undersigned, delegates to the Comparative Constitutionalism and Rights: Global Perspectives conference would like to register our deep concern at these reports of the eThekwini Municipality’s violation of various laws governing the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and the right to peaceful protest. We strongly recommend that your office urgently conduct an official enquiry into these alleged violations of basic democratic rights.