Muizenberg beach protest: EFF slam ‘racially prejudiced’ police action

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have reacted angrily after chaotic scenes unfolded on Muizenberg beach in the Western Cape on Saturday 30 January, where scores of people gathered (in direct contravention of the Level 3 lockdown laws) in a bid to oppose legislation they feel is disingenuous and restrictive of their basic freedoms. 

No arrests during Muizenberg beach protest  

Police were tasked with dispersing the crowd of fed up beachgoers, but met a stubborn opposition that largely refused to adhere to their calls. Despite this, no arrests or fines were issued and police were ultimately satisfied that the situation had been resolved in an orderly fashion. 

The EFF disagree:

“It is clear to us that if the majority of these protesters were black they would have been arrested and shot at with stun grenades and water canons by the police and law enforcement, but because the majority are white the police did nothing,” they said in a statement on Sunday. 

South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said that officers attending to the protest in Muizenberg had issued a warning to the group of 200 protesters, and said that no incidents had warranted arrests. 

“On arrival, the police observed the situation and issued a warning to the group,” she said. :Taking into account a number of variables, police monitored the situation for some time from a distance. After careful consideration of the situation at hand, the unit members peacefully removed the crowd from the beach with no incidents reported.”

She said that “except for a few people who showed up on Camps Bay beach” on Saturday in a separate set of incidents, no further law-breaking was reported elsewhere in Cape Town. 

“Police continue to keep an eye on public spaces including beaches.”

EFF accuse police of racial bias 

The EFF have taken the view that the lack of action taken by police is indicative of a racially biased approach to law enforcement though. They said that those who participated in the protest actions had flagrantly broken the law and should be punished accordingly. 

“As per the COVID-19 regulations under lockdown level 3 all beaches are closed and therefore no one is allowed to use the beaches in the way that these protesters want to use the beaches,” they said. 

“On the part of the law enforcement officers and SAPS, this is a clear dereliction of duty for they failed to uphold the rule of law, thus allowed lawlessness to undermine established COVID-19 regulations.”

Clicks, Brackenfell sagas cited

They referred back to protest action that had taken place on the parties watch last year – specifically incidents that turned ugly involving Brackenfell High School and retail giant Clicks – and said that there is a disproportionate motivation to use force on protesters being exhibited by police. 

“We saw this police violence during peaceful protests against racism at Clicks stores across the province and as well as Brackenfell. As the EFF Western Cape, we vehemently condemn this deeply entrenched apartheid mentality,” they said. 

“It cannot be that we have certain set of rules for whites and different rules for others race groups.”

They placed the blame for Saturday’s allegedly non-existent exhibition of compliance enforcement on the City of Cape Town, who the EFF say is  “responsible for ignoring regulations on beaches and SAPS for standing by idly by while the Disaster Management Act and its regulations are being violated”.

“This kind of selective application of law and arrests are responsible for the increased animosity against law enforcers,” they said. “SAPS is asking communities to assist them in solving crime, but it is the very same SAPS that on a continuous basis breaks the trust relationship that should exist.”