Seri vindicated by ConCourt ruling on Intimidation Act
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa said that this ruling was not only a victory for General Alfred Moyo but for ordinary South Africans who wished to genuinely express their grievances.
JOHANNESBURG - The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (Seri) said it felt vindicated by Tuesday's Constitutional Court judgment declaring a section of the apartheid-era Intimidation Act unconstitutional.
In 2012, General Alfred Moyo, an activist from Makause informal settlement in Germiston, was arrested and charged with intimidation under a section of the act.
Moyo was planning a community march against police brutality and poor policing in the area.
It's alleged he told officers he would make sure they were removed and that there would be bloodshed.
Today, the apex court ruled in Moyo's favour to have the section of the Intimidation Act struck down.
General Alfred Moyo has been fighting for the past seven years to not stand trial for allegedly intimidating officers from the Primrose Police Station.
Moyo has maintained that he did not say or do anything with the intention to create fear, threaten or intimidate the officers when he was expressing his anger over poor policing in his community and police brutality.
Today the apex court agreed with the activist that the section of the Intimidation Act violated the right to freedom of speech.
Moyo's lawyer Nkosinathi Sithole.
"Had the Constitutional Court not made this ruling, it would have meant that he would still have had to go back to the Germiston Magistrates Court and stand trial in terms of that section. He's basically been acquitted."
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa said that this ruling was not only a victory for Moyo but for ordinary South Africans who wished to genuinely express their grievances.
