March and March to stand down until after elections, rules judge

Barely an hour after Durban high court judge Peter Olsen ordered March and March to suspend demonstrations until November 6, protesters caused chaos as they ran through the Durban CBD streets in peak traffic on Friday afternoon.

Olsen granted interim relief in the police application against March and March, while stressing that he had made no finding of wrongdoing against the organisation’s founder Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.

After the elections, March and March will then face strict limits on marching hours and a ban on traditional weapons — including the knobkerries and sticks brandished during recent protests — until the matter returns to court on January 18.

After the ruling, attorney Xolani Zuma, who was cited as a respondent in the interdict application, briefed a gathering outside court. He told them members would be allowed one final walkabout after being briefed on the order until November 6.

Members thereafter marched from South Beach to the Point area, while large groups ran through the streets armed with sticks and other weapons in the Durban CBD, prompting a number of shops to close.

In his interim order, Olsen also banned night marches, wearing masks, engaging in violence, looting or burning houses.

Once they resume, marches will be restricted to between 10am and 3pm.

Zuma said efforts to ban the organisation from their democratic right failed.

“What the police wanted was for the court to prohibit the organisation from ever marching again, but the court said no. However, you have to take a break until November 6,” said Zuma.

Olsen issued a rule nisi, requiring the respondents to answer the state’s case, and set January 18 as a holding return date.

He emphasised that the merits would be determined after the parties had an opportunity to put their evidence before the court.

“I would like to make it absolutely clear to everybody, however, that the order I’m about to make does not decide that there has been any wrongdoing on the part of the first to seventh respondents.”

The decision followed exchanges with advocate Sandile Kuboni, representing the respondents, over the connection between the movement’s organisers and unlawful conduct by people participating in marches.

Advocate Nalini Govender represented the applicants, police minister Firoz Cachalia and KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Kuboni argued that the police had generalised about the cited respondents and had not established their criminality.

He challenged the inference drawn from leaders being seen addressing people at the encampment opposite the home affairs refugee reception centre on Che Guevara Road.

He also pointed to engagement between the movement and police over how marches should proceed, arguing that the respondents were being associated with the conduct of participants who did not comply with conditions.

Olsen questioned whether that distinction disposed of the responsibility of conveners and marshals.

His questions focused on what organisers should do when they could not control people joining their marches, particularly given the movement’s stated commitment to lawful and peaceful activity.

The judge referred to the organisation’s objectives concerning peaceful demonstrations, respect for the rule of law and community safety.

He put it to counsel that organisers should consider stepping back from convening marches if they could not prevent participants from behaving unlawfully.

The application arose from police allegations of escalating violence and intimidation associated with marches and an intelligence warning about a plan to burn down the refugee reception centre.

Other respondents were Xolani Zuma, Mthokozisi Alfred Gumede, known as Felimtwini, Nozibusiso Khambule, Lindani Xulu and Oyama Mthembu.

The police papers acknowledge that marches were initially largely peaceful, that Ngobese-Zuma had spoken against killing and physical assaults, and that the detention of people from the camp in a murder investigation did not establish guilt.

TimesLIVE