Phoenix water protesters to take legal action after stand-off with police turned violent
A group of around two dozen protesters from Phoenix, north of Durban, plan to take legal action against the South African Police Service (Saps) for their alleged use of excessive force during Monday’s picket over water outages in the area.
Voice of Phoenix, the civic movement that organised the protest, said that around 12 people have approached them so far to help build a case, according to leader Vassie Govender.
Govender has employed the help of legal counsel Miten Narain from Phoenix to help navigate a legal path forward.
In a statement, the VOP urged those injured during the protest to open a case at Phoenix Saps and thereafter contact Narain to form part of the civil claim they plan on making, as well as a docket for the South African Human Rights Commission and Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
Govender confirmed that they did not have a permit to protest on Monday morning.
“We staged a peaceful protest about something that severely affects our daily lives. We felt we did not need a permit to do that.
“It was a peaceful protest until police opened fire and shot people with those rubber bullets.
“We plan on taking this matter to the highest possible level that we can because this is about a serious issue, water. There was no reason to shoot people in the back and even in their face because of a water protest,” Govender said.
“The fact of the matter is that the police used excessive force for no reason.”
Govender said that a memorandum was sent electronically to the eThekwini Municipality on Monday morning, after which, the tensions amid the protest began to ease.
IOL has contacted the Municipality to confirm if the VOP obtained any form of permission to stage the protest and are in the process of responding.
Taking the legal route does not always work in favour of the alleged victims, according to University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Law lecturer Doctor Rowena Bernard.
Bernard said it is not a clear cut case but there are other incidents, including the Marikana mine massacre, that could possibly shed light on the situation.
In instances like this, where it was not one isolated incident but rather small incidents spread out over various areas, gathering evidence may be difficult, Bernard explained, evidence that could point to what sparked the need to shoot protesters.
“If this ends up in a courtroom, they will try to determine a number of things.
“But mainly, it will boil down to what exactly sparked the violence and whether or not the police’s actions were justified.
“You have to also look at if protesters carried weapons, was there any form of violence on their side. Was it a lawful protest, these are all things that should be considered beforehand.
“On the other hand, if the protesters say they were not violent, we must ask why the police started firing in the first place. What sparked such a reaction from them and was that reaction necessary.
“They must determine if firing rubber bullets into a crowd was the best possible route to take in terms of dispersing the crowd or if other methods could have been used,” Bernard said.
Earlier this week, KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson for the Saps Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala said that the crowd became violent and threw stones at police, which is what prompted such crowd control measures.
“Minimum use of force had to be used after the crowd became violent. They were throwing stones and bricks at the police,” Gwala said.
Meanwhile, the three protesters arrested for public violence, aged 24, 26 and 50, were released as the state did not provide sufficient evidence against them, the Post reported.
IOL