The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) was angered on Monday when Telkom called in the police to break up a picket outside Telkom Towers in Pretoria.
The picket was organised by the FXI in response to the ”contempt” Telkom had shown the institute by failing to attend a forum held last weekend to discuss access by poor communities to telecommunications.
More than 400 people representing poor communities in the Free State, Gauteng and the Northern Province attended the forum, while Telkom, Cell C, MTN, Vodacom and the Department of Communication chose not to attend.
”We have been treated with contempt by companies such as Telkom and Cell C, and we need to say that this is not acceptable. They take our money and then are not prepared to come and talk to us and explain how they are spending the money,” the FXI’s Jane Duncan said at the forum on Saturday.
After the picket, FXI spokesperson Virginia Setshedi said: ”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.”
Telkom spokesperson Lulu Letlape referred to the picket as an ”illegal gathering”, a move that irked the FXI. It pointed out that the Regulations of Gatherings Act stipulates that at least 15 people need to be involved in a gathering for it to be declared illegal; the FXI picket had only 10 protesters.
”FXI offers to workshop Telkom management in the contents of the Act, as clearly the company does not understand its provisions,” said Setshedi.
She added that the police were given a workshop on the Act on Monday, as they did not fully understand the law either.