Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) views with serious concern the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department’s (JMPD) agreement for March & March (along with its various allied organisations) to hold a number of marches in and around Johannesburg. While we respect the right of all who live and work in our country to peaceful assembly and protest, the JMPD’s selective application of the Regulation of Gatherings Act and associated laws exposes a deeply troubling pattern of double-standard, political-organisational bias.

,Our own experience is instructive. When KAAX, a civil society collective committed to fighting xenophobia and promoting social justice gave notification in March this year to the JMPD for a march opposing the ongoing targeting of migrants by the likes of March & March, the JMPD indicated that they would not allow the march to proceed, citing the threat of potential violence. KAAX eventually was able to march, notwithstanding major changes to the intended route and a threat from the JMPD that they would arrest any “illegal immigrant” who was part of the march.

Yet the JMPD now has absolutely no problem agreeing to a whole host of marches being undertaken by anti-migrant groups that have a demonstrated history of public intimidation, hate speech and incitement to violence. In the process, the JMPD has also clearly ignored recent court rulings interdicting xenophobic groups from engaging in such actions and narratives. The same JMPD that tried to prevent KAAX from marching now uncritically facilitates a number of marches by groups who actively propagate and facilitate the very conditions that supposedly justified the JMPD’s concerns around violence. This is not the rationale exercise of public safety; it is a clear example of political bias and unacceptable favouritism.

Further compounding this injustice is the JMPD’s unlawful practice of trying to enforce the charging of fees to exercise constitutionally protected rights. Fees range from R172 for a civil society picket to R15 000 for a union strike, costs that have been found by the High Court to be unconstitutional. When KAAX and our allies refuse to pay these unlawful fees (which we have consistently done for the last 4 years), JMPD threatens to label our gatherings “unlawful” and to  withhold police services and protection.

Meanwhile, there is no indication that JMPD has applied the same approach to these plethora of marches undertaken by the likes of March & March; indeed, it would appear that such marches will continue to receive full public resourcing—law enforcement deployment, traffic management, and security at no charge to the organisers. This raises the question as to whether public monies meant for all citizens are now being weaponised against those with whom the JMPD (and/or its political master) disagrees

ENDS