Lockdown Ballito beachgoers off the hook as charges dropped
Lobby group, Afriforum's welcomed a decision by prosecutors to drop charges against a group of Ballito residents, who allegedly broke level 5 lockdown rules by going to the beach.
The arrests of eight people grabbed headlines earlier this year, when a scuffle between KwaDukuza traffic officers, who allegedly manhandled a four-year-old child, and the boy's father was caught on camera.
The peace officers had gone for a group of people who'd been on Shakas Rock Tidal Beach. Afriforum took on the case in May. Spokesperson Natasha Venter says they've had to explain why the residents shouldn't be prosecuted.
"Law enforcement's behaviour, in this case, was obituary and unnecessary.
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As we know most of the members of the public especially during level 5 of the lockdown were trying to make sense of the vague regulations that were frequently changing and were also irrational.
She adds that to punish the people, just because they were walking on the beach and furthermore to burden them with criminal records would have been preposterous.
KwaDukuza Municipality conducted its own probe and found no wrongdoing on the part of the two officers.
