A Durban cricket supporter has taken the United Cricket Board (UCB) to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) after the sports body barred him from entering a cricketing ground because he was carrying an old South African flag.
The man initially appealed to the HRC’s Durban office but his case was dismissed. He then took the matter on appeal to the HRC national office. Rcently, HRC chairperson Jody Kollapen declined to name the man, saying a decision was expected in the next few weeks.
The man felt that prohibiting him from attending the match at the Kingsmead cricket ground during the 2003 Cricket World Cup was a violation of his freedom of expression. The UCB argued that, by buying a match ticket, the man had bound himself to the rules and regulations printed on the ticket. The man retorted that buying a ticket guaranteed him the right to watch the match. The UCB had argued that ”any person purchasing World Cup tickets from the UCB contractually undertook not to do a variety of things, including displaying the old South African flag”.
The provincial HRC found that people had a choice of abiding by the rules set by the UCB or watching the match on television. ”People wishing to watch the World Cup were able to do so from their homes and other places of socialisation. Those that wished to attend the games, held under the auspices of the UCB, had to comply with the conditions stipulated.”
The provincial HRC found that while freedom of expression was guaranteed in the Constitution, it was not an absolute or unconditional right. It further found that, as a private institution, the UCB was entitled to make rules relating to who was allowed into its cricket grounds. It found that restricting the man’s right to express himself under those circumstances was reasonable.