COGTA‘S MEDIA BRIEFING.
The Provincial Executive Council
(EXCO) Lekgotla, which took place on 8 February this year expressed concern
about the gatherings which degenerate into chaos. EXCO recognizes the fact that
the right to protest as a way of expressing grievances is enshrined in our
Constitution. Section 17 of the
Constitution gives effect to this as it states: “Everyone has the right,
peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present
petitions”. However, as government, we cannot fold our arms when these
gatherings turn into war zones where the safety of our people is undermined and
public property misused as objects to express anger.
As government, we recognize the fact
that there are service delivery challenges in Mpumalanga. We are aware that
most of our communities are affected by the lack of water. Improvement of the
roads and electricity connections are often on the list of the demands.
However, we are concerned that the protests are a short cut to express
dissatisfaction without exhausting all other avenues.
We appeal to the conveners of the
protests to consider the following avenues before taking any action:
o
Refer
their concerns to the Executive Mayors and Ward Councillors, as elected public
representatives at local level.
o
The
concerns can be elevated to the MEC for COGTA for further discussions.
o
The
concerns can be elevated to the Premier’s office as an arbiter.
o
Gatherings
and marches should be the last resort and as elected public representatives, we
will then attend to receive the grievances, provided the convener has complied
with the guidelines.
While these protests affect the
delivery of basic services by the three spheres of government, however, our
municipalities are mostly affected. They are at the coal face of our
communities and are the first point of contact for our people. As such, they
become a target for gatherings which are non-compliant to the gatherings act.
This non-compliance leads to the following:
o
Road
blockades in which our people are prevented from going to work,
o
Destruction
of public property.
o
Interrupt
classes by burning schools and prevent learners from attending school.
o
Interrupt
delivery of basic services in various service delivery points.
o
Cause
disorder by confronting law enforcement agencies who intervene to bring order.
I must emphasize that rights and
responsibilities go together. Every protest must be done within the ambit of
the law. Any deviation will be dealt with by law enforcement agencies.
Conveners must comply with the following guidelines:
o
Notice form must be filled
within seven (7) days prior the gathering and must be sent to the local
municipality,
o
The Notice form must be
filled with details of the conveners purpose of the gathering, proposed number
of people, possible names of the marshals, the assembly point, the manner in
which participants will be transported.
o
If the notice is given
later than 7 days, reasons should be given for the delay.
o
The notice can be
prohibited with reasons if it is submitted within 48 hours before the
gathering, such as disruption of traffic, possible damage to property, possible
injury to participants.
o
The convener can approach a
Magistrate or a High Court to declare the prohibition illegal, in order to
obtain permission for the gathering to go ahead.
We
hope that our people will take heed of these guidelines and adhere to them. I
am glad that our Provincial Commissioner, Lt-Gen Dumisa Magadlela is here with
us to enforce compliance to these guidelines
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