A case of assault has been laid against e-toll employees for allegedly manhandling a small group of protesters in Johannesburg last week.
This comes after a group of e-toll protestors, who gathered outside the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) customer service centre, at the BP Oasis on the N1 South at Beyers Naude Drive on Friday morning, were allegedly forcefully dispersed by Sanral employees.
According to Justice Project SA (JPSA), the anti-toll faction had gathered to take a photograph of themselves holding a "No E-toll GP" banner that had been draped over bridges around the e-toll roads over recent months, when a group of the centre's employees approached them and "started grabbing at the banner, pushing protesters around and shouting at them that they are 'not allowed to do that' outside Sanral's premises".
JPSA chairman Howard Dembovsky notes that while the organisation was not part of the protest, it strongly condemns the "heavy-handed tactics" employed against the said protesters. "No one, including Sanral employees, has the right to take the law into their own hands. Should they have wished to disperse the protesters, all they had to do was call the police."
Dembovsky cites Section 17 of the Constitution: "Everyone has the right, peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present petitions." He says it is not necessary for small groups of persons to apply for permission to exercise their constitutional right to picket. "Furthermore, no person other than a police officer above the rank of warrant officer is authorised to order any gathering to disperse and indeed, use physical force to disperse picketers."
He further notes that, because Sanral customer service centres are not national key points, it is not against any law for people to take photographs outside the offices.
Two of the women claiming to have been "manhandled" have laid charges of common assault against the people concerned.
Electronic Toll Collection - the consortium created about four-and-a-half years ago to run and manage the e-toll system - says it is aware of the incident, but cannot comment at this stage as it is under investigation.
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