The Gauteng Provincial Government has strongly
condemned the illegal march by the Congress of South African Students (Cosas)
to the Office of the Premier and the Gauteng Department of Education. The
demonstrators met at the Johannesburg Library Gardens, then they moved on to the
Office of the Premier en route to the Department of Community Safety and Education.
The department received reports of incidents
of looting by members of Cosas during the march, signifying a break of trust
between the Gauteng government, the South
African Informal Traders Forum and Cosas.
Whilst anyone reserves the right to
demonstrate, picket or march to government, this should be done within the
constraints of the law, the department added.
The MEC for Education in Gauteng, Panyaza
Lesufi condemned the illegal march. “We
are extremely disappointed that Cosas staged an illegal march today and went
against our standing agreement that future marches will be conducted in a
peaceful and legal manner without any interference with the hawkers trading in
our streets” said Lesufi.
Lesufi had previously convened a meeting with
the leadership of Cosas following reports of looting in stalls of hawkers by
members of Cosas during a march late last year.
The leadership of Cosas apologised unconditionally to the South African Informal Traders Forum for the conduct of their members during this march and assured them
that this will never happen again.
“We will seek an urgent meeting with the
leadership of Cosas to condemn this illegal behaviour and find solutions that
will ensure that this sort of behaviour never happens again,” added Lesufi.
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