The Government tweeted about illegal protests, there is no such thing as an illegal protest! We help you understand your constitutional rights for Friday.
South Africans and organisations are getting ready to host various protests, human chains and rallies all in aid of standing together to get rid of South Africa’s current president and of getting the political party in power to make serious changes that will benefit only the country and not corrupt officials.
The people of the country have had enough. Recently on Twitter the official Government handle tried to discourage the public from protesting by labeling the protests as ‘illegal’. An article was published on Ground Up fully detailing how the use of the word ‘illegal’ is incorrect.
“The law regulating the right to protest is the Regulation of Gatherings Act. It creates three categories of protests: “notified”, “unnotified” and “prohibited” protests. We won’t refer to any protest as “illegal” because the Act never uses that word and we shouldn’t either: the term “illegal protest” is a vestige of apartheid and should be left in the past.”
So here are some facts to keep in mind while you are out with your fellow South Africans:
- Persons wanting to organise a protest need to inform their local authorities, this is a notification and not an application. Should the protest notification not get responded to, the protest may proceed.
- ” You are under no obligation to first check whether notification has been given to the police for a protest that you wish to attend” (This only applies to attendees, not organisers)
- It is currently a crime to convene a protest without giving notice.
- It is unambiguously unlawful for police to arrest people for simply attending an unnotified gathering. That said, they may arrest the conveners (organisers) of the gathering.
- In some exceptional cases a protest can be prohibited. Once a protest has been prohibited, it is a crime to convene or even attend such a protest. There is always a procedure authorities must follow to inform people that a given protest has been prohibited.
- It is not a crime to simply attend a protest unless it has been prohibited and protests can only be prohibited in very specific circumstances.
- It is illegal to incite violence, vandalism, arson or hate speech.
- Disobeying a lawful police order is also illegal.
Given the high stakes political situation of the moment, it will be unsurprising if more people are arrested unlawfully in the coming weeks. In such cases it is critical to insist on your rights and to seek legal help.
For full details on each of these points refer to the article by Ground Up, they cover the full extent of the constitutional rights around protesting.
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