Magistrate says charges stand against sanitation activists
The trial of 21 Social Justice Coalition (SJC) members continued in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court today. The group are charged with unlawfully attending and convening a protest in September last year.
Magistrate Alta Fredericks dismissed an application by defence attorney Michael Bishop for all charges against eleven of the accused to be dropped.
Bishop had argued that the eleven were not “conveners” of the march and that their attendance at the protest was not in contravention of the Regulation of Gatherings Act. Fredericks considered the application over the lunch interval, after which she announced that the application had been refused. The reasons for her decision will be made clear at a later stage.
In September 2013, the group were arrested at a protest outside the Civic Centre, where the offices of Mayor Patricia de Lille are located. Fifteen of them chained themselves together to form a human chain blockade of the Civic Centre’s main entrance. The chained SJC members were supported by others who toyi-toyied outside the building.
Yesterday, the first day of the trial, the state called two witnesses, Noel da Silva, the City of Cape Town officer on duty at the time tasked with managing march/gathering applications and issuing permits, and police Warrant Officer Jacob Pietersen, who attended the scene and arrested some of the members.
Today, the defence called SJC General Secretary Phumeza Mlungwana —one of the accused— to the stand. She told the SJC’s history, structure and main objective: ensuring that access to decent sanitation is realised in Cape Town’s informal settlements. The City is in charge of providing and managing these sanitation services. Mlungwana testified that De Lille refused to engage with the SJC on matters relating to sanitation, especially the poor implementation of janitorial services since 2012. This, she explained, happened in the months leading up to the Civic Centre protest.
At adjournment this afternoon, Bishop had not finished questioning Mlungwana. She has for instance not given her recollection of the protest and details relating to her and others’ arrest.
The trial, which was originally scheduled to conclude today, will resume on October 8.
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