NPA Drops Complaints Against Ballito Beach Goers

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has officially decided to dismiss the eight complaints against people who were arrested in Ballito during South Africa’s Lockdown Level 5 in May 2020.

The arrests made national headlines when video emerged of a four-year-old child being manhandled by two ‘peace’ officers from the KwaDukuza Local Municipality in Ballito. The officers also arrested eight people for having been on the beach.

On Monday AfriForum said its private prosecution unit had been informed in writing of the decision to dismiss the complaints which had arisen from the “so-called infringement of the Disaster Management Act, 57 of 2002″.

AfriForum’s unit, which became involved in the incident in May, had addressed representation to the NPA why the eight should not be prosecuted. 

The NPA summoned the eight to appear in court on 10 August 2020 – which happened to be a public holiday – and then indicated they would first refer the cases back to the police for further investigation. The prosecutor in this case however indicated on 21 October that the NPA will let the prosecutions go, said AfriForum in a statement today.

Natasha Venter, Campaign Manager at AfriForum, said: “AfriForum welcomes the NPA’s decision to dismiss the complaints, but strongly feels that the complaints against these people should never have been lodged, and also that the law enforcers’ behaviour, in this case, was arbitrary and unnecessary.

“Most of the members of the public, especially during level 5 of lockdown, tried to make sense of the vague regulations, that were frequently changed and were irrational as well. To punish these people just because they were walking on the beach and furthermore to burden them with criminal records, would have been preposterous.”

The incident took place at a gated community in Shaka’s Rock, which is between Salt Rock and Ballito on the KZN Dolphin Coast.