Safeguarding the Right to Protest and Prohibition of Violent Protests in South Africa: Issues and Perspectives

In post-apartheid South Africa, section 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 permits, safeguards and guarantees the right of the citizens to demonstrate and protest. However, nowhere in the South African law or any international law instruments is it indicated that violent protests are permitted, rather there are different restrictions imposed on violent protests. However, violence has been symbolic in social protests in both the pre-1994 and post 1994 contexts. Recently, it has been the epitome of dissatisfaction among local residents on issues of water, sanitation, housing and roads among other things. It is widely accepted that the post-1994 violent protests are associated with lack of service delivery or slow pace of service delivery in some cases. Amongst other things, the aim of this paper is to critically analyse the laws or legal frameworks governing the right to protest in South Africa. These laws include the aspects of the Constitution and Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993 (RGA) which protect peaceful protests. It argues that while the right to protest is available to protesters to utilise for their grievances against the government, it should be exercised within the confine of the law. Furthermore, this paper looks at international and regional instruments safeguarding the right to protest. The judiciary plays a critical role in upholding this right and this paper examined salient Courts' decisions on the right to protest and restrictions against violent protests. This paper uses qualitative research methodology and used secondary data from the library, case law, scholarly works and legislation.