SJC members defend civic centre protest

Mlungwana is one of 21 SJC members charged under the Regulation of Gatherings Act with convening and attending an illegal gathering in the form of a picket for sanitation.

The 21 were arrested after a protest on 11 September last year on the steps of the Cape Town Civic Centre.

The SJC members have said that they admit the facts but are not criminals and that they challenge the constitutionality of the Act.

Questioned by defence advocate Michael Bishop on Tuesday, Mlungwana said she and ten others had formed a Special Executive Council (SEC) after a mass meeting with SJC members, where it was decided that a picket should be organised to get the attention of the City of Cape Town about inadequacies in the janitorial services provided by the City and poor sanitation in Khayelitsha.

“At the mass meeting, members spoke about their frustration and anger towards the City. [They] wanted to take action and most of them suggested that we protest [against] the City. The frustration was clear to us and we needed an action that would be strong, because emails and letters did not have an impact. As the SEC we decided we would picket outside the Civic Centre with our demands [for] the City,” said Mlungwana.

“We wanted an action where the City would publicly affirm that they would act. “

She said it was decided that 15 people would picket.

“We decided not to seek a permit for the picket because we did not need one since there were only 15 of us, as the law states. It was important for the City to see how serious and frustrated we were, “ said Mlungwana.

She said the 15 protesters had been dropped off by taxi from Khayelitsha in Hertzog Boulevard in Cape Town at around 9am. Other SJC members had arrived later with padlocks and chains they had bought at a hardware store. The 15 had chained themselves together in groups of five, and walked to the Civic Centre where they had chained themselves to the railings on the steps to one of the entrances.

Asked by Bishop whether the intention was to block access to the Civic Centre, she said no, because there were other access points. Also, people had been able to pass under the chains, she said.

“There were 15 of us chained when the picket started, but the number grew when people arrived and started singing along with us. Then there were also members who were carrying placards and some had brought us water. After an hour a security guard came and asked why we were there. We explained to him that we were picketing for sanitation and we wanted the Mayor to come out. He said he would go inside and ask for someone from the Mayor’s office to come out and address us, but that there would be consequences for our actions, because we were not supposed to be there. He left and came back and said the Mayor’s office refused to come out and we told him that we wouldn’t leave until someone came out,” she said.

Mlungwana said there were about 20 to 30 police members at the scene at different times. One of the policemen had given them five minutes to leave because there were too many of them but they had decided to stay even if it meant getting arrested.

“After a couple of minutes the police came with tools used to cut padlocks and chains and they started cutting aggressively and pushed us in a group towards the police van. Other people were arrested as well who were not part of the chain.”

Bishop’s final question was how the SJC viewed protests. Mlungwana replied that the SJC believed that protests were a tool to get heard and an opportunity to make voices heard and bring attention to issues. Protests should not be viewed merely as an event, she said.

The case continues on Wednesday.