Thulasizwe Nkomo
Durban - CIVIL society organisation AfriForum says the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has dismissed its case against Ballito residents who were arrested in May for contravening the Disaster Management Act’s lockdown level 4 regulations when they allegedly took a walk on the beach with their children.
AfriForum said the eight residents who had been facing charges, including the father of the child seen being dragged by two KwaDukuza Municipality police officers in a video that went viral on social media, would no longer be prosecuted.
According to the statement released by AfriForum, its protection unit, which represented the residents, was informed in writing by the NPA that it had decided to dismiss the case.
“AfriForum welcomes the NPA’s decision to dismiss the complaints, but strongly feels that the complaints against these people should never have been lodged, and also that the law enforcers’ behaviour, in this case, was arbitrary and unnecessary. “Most of the members of the public, especially during level 5 of lockdown, tried to make sense of the vague regulations, that were frequently changed and were irrational as well,” said
Natasha Venter, campaign manager at AfriForum. Venter said punishing people for just walking on the beach and burdening them with criminal records would have been preposterous.
One of the residents who was arrested said she felt that the incident was uncalled for and that the police officials had come out to make a point and humiliate them that day.
“It was a very traumatic experience, especially for the kids, who were so scared when the officials kept on saying they are going to arrest us and how we were going to spend the night in jail,” said the woman, who did not want to be named.
Asked for comment, NPA provincial spokesperson Natasha RamkissonKara said they would have to look at the docket to ascertain the status of the case.
The Mercury