Fear Restricts Freedom of Movement
www.MyPE.co.za:
Commenting on Human Rights day and the state of Human Rights in South
Africa today, Bobby Stevenson, MPL had the following to say; “The right
to freedom of association movement is a fundamental human right that
people have struggled for decades to achieve in South Africa.
This was a struggle against some of the most onerous apartheid
legislation such as the pass laws.
Today in South Africa we still have a new form of the pass
law. It’s called fear and intimidation. In the case
of the former, it was a written law, in the case of the latter it is an
unwritten law. The consequences, however, are still the same.
Freedom of movement is restricted.
On Monday, 15 March 2010, Nelson Mandela Metropole experienced this new
form of pass law when thousands of commuters could not attend work
because of the taxi strike. The Algoa Bus Company
also did
not run that day, because many drivers feared intimidation.
The word also went out that only one person could be a passenger in a
car.
Fear and intimidation had a crippling effect on the economy of our
city. Many people who wanted to go to work couldn’t, because
they feared the repercussions. The failure of the busses to
run highlights how deeply entrenched this fear is. If we are
to create a human rights based democracy in this country then this new
pass law needs to be vigorously opposed just as the apartheid pass laws
were. When there is no freedom of association and movement,
the core of our democracy is threatened.
It is up to political leaders and the institutions of state to stand up
and condemn and take action against this new scourge.”
Port Elizabeth Budget Accommodation
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