The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) condemned Telkom on Wednesday for asking police to break up a small picket held on Monday outside Telkom’s head office in Pretoria.
The FXI picketed to express its anger at Telkom’s refusal to attend a meeting on Saturday September 10, where more than 400 people from poor communities discussed Telkom’s high tariffs and poor roll-out of telecommunication lines in poor and rural areas.
In a press statement on Thursday, the FXI said: “Telkom’s attempt to stop the picket by calling on the police to intervene was unjust, as the 10 protesters were strictly following the Regulation of Gatherings Act.”
The FXI believes that Telkom’s actions on Monday make it clear that it does not “understand the Regulation of Gatherings Act”.
According to the Act, a gathering should involve more than 15 people before it can be considered illegal, the FXI said.
“Therefore, the FXI offers to workshop Telkom management in the contents of the Act, as clearly the company does not understand its provision,” it further stated.
Virginia Setshedi, spokesperson for the FXI, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday that the institute is planning to organise a march soon.
“Telkom should allow freedom of expression. It’s trying by all means to cut the freedom of expression.
“We condemn their repression mentality by calling the police every time when we are peacefully protesting outside their offices. We think they should be ashamed [of] always calling the police whenever we are there,” she said.
She added that the police themselves didn’t know about the Act on Monday and that they were given a “small workshop” by the FXI.
“Sometimes the police themselves don’t understand the law,” said Setshedi.
In October last year, Telkom ignored a memorandum that was handed to it during an organised march that same month.
“This incident follows an incident on August 11 2005, where Telkom called in the police to break up another picket held by the campaign. On that date, the police briefly arrested the eight picketers protesting outside the Telkom offices,” said Wednesday’s FXI statement.
“By calling the police to disperse the small group of peaceful protesters, Telkom clearly signals that it wants to stop the FXI from communicating its anger at the telecommunication giant, in the process interfering with the right to freedom of expression of communities aggrieved by high tariffs.”
A Telkom spokesperson told the M&G Online on Wednesday: “Our previous comment to you on this matter is still relevant and we have nothing to add.”
On Monday, Lulu Letlape, the corporate communication head at Telkom, said the FXI picketers were “asked by the South African Police Service to leave the entrance of Telkom’s corporate office in Pretoria, as they were conducting an illegal gathering”.