Provincial Standing Committee Speaks Out on Protests in Cape Town, Johannesburg

Provincial Standing Committee has supported peaceful protests against gangsterism on the Cape Flats in Cape Town and Westbury in Johannesburg.

The annual meeting of PSC, meeting in Benoni, Gauteng, adopted a resolution backing efforts by local religious and community leaders to help in the crisis that has hit the two areas in recent days.

The resolution was proposed by representatives of the Diocese of Cape Town.

The full text reads:

THE SHUTDOWN MOVEMENT AGAINST GANGSTERISM ON THE CAPE FLATS

This PSC,

1. acknowledges the struggle and pain experienced by communities in Southern Africa caught in ongoing cycles of poverty;

2. expresses specific support for communities in Westbury and on the Cape Flats and The Shutdown Movement in seeking to peacefully protest against the gangsterism flourishing in their communities;

3. condemns the lack of effective action by National, Provincial and Local Government in addressing the rampant criminality in these communities, and the police’s substantial use of non-lethal means in dispersing The Shutdown Movements protest in the Cape Flats on Tuesday the 25th September 2018; and

4. requests the Archbishop to assure the religious and community leaders and structures on the ground of our prayers and support as they continue to give guidance to these communities in seeking to ensure these crises receive urgent and practical attention by the authorities.

Proposer: The Revd Canon Mark Long

Seconder: Canon Charleen Van Rooyen