Cape mayor Helen Zille spent part of Monday afternoon briefing Capetonians on how to seek redress from the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) for damage inflicted during a violent march last week.
Her spokesperson, Robert Macdonald, said about 150 to 200 people attended the meeting at the Civic Centre.
He said Zille told the meeting the city could not sue on their behalf or pay compensation, as the latter was not provided for in law and the former amounted to using public money for private purposes.
Dumisani Ximbi, the city’s councillor for security, then outlined what was being done to prevent a repetition of last Tuesday’s events.
Thousands of striking security guards rampaged through the city in the vicinity of Parliament, damaging cars, vandalising shops, looting the stalls of street vendors and attacking bystanders — including a South Africa Press Association reporter.
Ximbi said the city police and their national colleagues had drawn up contingency plans for all future marches and have established a pool of about 200 reservists as ”back-up”.
They have also stepped up visible policing in the city. The metro’s security committee was also giving all applications for marches over the next three weeks ”extra attention”.
The city’s legal department said claimants could lay a criminal complaint against the union or make a civil claim for damages.
Copies of the relevant legislation — sections 11 and 12 of the Regulation of Gatherings Act of 1993 — was made available to the meeting.
This holds the organisers responsible for any damage inflicted by marchers.
Advice was also given on where to seek free (”pro bono”) legal assistance and information.
”We are pleased to see such a good turn out,” Macdonald said.
”We hope this will be useful not only for providing assistance for those who came, but by setting precedent to encourage organisations to take better precautions from marches getting out of hand,” he added.
”We need to balance the right of people to march with the right of people to have freedom of movement and security of their persons.”
Last Tuesday, thousands of striking security guards smashed car and shop windows in central Cape Town while marching along Plein Street to present a memorandum to Parliament.
Protesters were seen smashing shop windows and looting, as others kicked parked cars and used road signs to shatter car windows.
About 5 000 protesters had marched along Plein Street just before that, many of them armed with steel pipes and wooden sticks.
Some were seen making threatening gestures at bystanders. One was seen dragging his finger across his throat, pointing at security staff on duty at one of the entrances to Parliament.
Glass and rubbish lay shattered along Plein Street after the protesters had passed through. — Sapa