Cops 'assault' blind man

The only value I can see in buskers having to get permission is that they can then guarantee the spot is theirs. Is that why the City is requiring permission and restricting the hours, because they have a busking timetable for all possible locations? Since really the point of street entertainment is that it should be unrestricted, and at least have the appearance of being spontaneous.
 
marine1 said:
Dont know what really happened but I can say the Metro cops in Cape Town are generally like the bloody Gestapo.
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Same in Durban. Experience in areshole seems to be a job pre-requisite.
 
noxibox said:
The only value I can see in buskers having to get permission is that they can then guarantee the spot is theirs. Is that why the City is requiring permission and restricting the hours, because they have a busking timetable for all possible locations? Since really the point of street entertainment is that it should be unrestricted, and at least have the appearance of being spontaneous.
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In certain locations in London, you even have to audition.
 
How can SIX police officers lose control of a situation with the perp being a blind old man????????????
 
Brawler said:
How can SIX police officers lose control of a situation with the perp being a blind old man????????????
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Gang/pack mentality.

Same problem with football hooligans and what have you. It just goes to show how completely undisciplined and badly trained most South African cops seem to be.
 
I see Tony Cox has donated him a Takamine Sante Fe, so at least he can start earning his living again.
He should have listened to the police though.
 
So by laws are there because some citizens want them. Some arb doesn't think they apply to him and when the cops enforce them a bunch of people have a hissy fit.

You don't like the by laws? Go petition for change.
 
Greylor said:
If he didn't have the required permission, and had been warned, then it's a case of cause and consequence which applies to all people, blind or not.

Breaking the guitar was unnecessary though. It should have been confiscated and returned when he was released.
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So it is okay when police step outside of their bounds when using force? Do you really need to have 6 police offers beating a blind man? What you are promoting is very dangerous indeed.
 
Rocket-Boy said:
I see Tony Cox has donated him a Takamine Sante Fe, so at least he can start earning his living again.
He should have listened to the police though.
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And Rooftop Recording Studio’s Matthew Davison has offered to record and mix a song for him...

Good advertising.
 
Albereth said:
So by laws are there because some citizens want them. Some arb doesn't think they apply to him and when the cops enforce them a bunch of people have a hissy fit.

You don't like the by laws? Go petition for change.
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The cops involved are still a bunch of power-hungry fsckers though.
 
Sounds like the guy didn't really care much for the law.

I watched the video and didn't see much violent behaviour from the cops. They seemed restrained considering the guy was sort of fighting back while being taken away. Doing their best to move him without hurting him or anybody around. He didn't seem all that aggressive either.

Perhaps we missed the main altercation?

It looks like his guitar was broken already in that video though so the claim by the city that his guitar broke when he resisted being loaded into the van looks to be false.
 
porchrat said:
/snip
Perhaps we missed the main altercation?
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It looks like his guitar was broken already in that video though so the claim by the city that his guitar broke when he resisted being loaded into the van looks to be false.
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The video only starts after the main altercation when the guitar broke.
Cape Times pictures of the incident: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.547258235331982.1073741869.127615103962966&type=1

Media Statement from the City of Cape Town:
City begins suspension proceedings in the case of St George’s Mall busker

The City of Cape Town has commenced suspension proceedings against three Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) following an incident involving a busker at St George’s Mall.

The hearings will take place this week.

Whilst the investigation into this incident is ongoing, it has been deemed that the actions of these officers were not in keeping with this administration’s commitment to building a Caring City that respects every resident’s right to dignity.

It must also be noted that the vast majority of the City’s Law Enforcement Department work in what are sometimes challenging and dangerous environments to ensure, as far as they are able, that the people of this city live in an ordered and peaceful environment.

It is largely because of their vigilance that busking is anecdotally more popular in Cape Town than in other CBDs around South Africa. In Cape Town, the CBD is not a no-go zone but an inclusive area where people work, socialise and live. For this, we have our Law Enforcement Officers to thank.

In the outpouring of support for Mr Nono, the point has repeatedly been made that Law Enforcement Officers should be focusing their efforts on serious crimes.

This indicates the widespread and fundamental misunderstanding of many residents about what our LEOs are mandated to do. The role the City’s LEOs is to enforce by-laws thus creating a City that is well-run and in which the needs of all residents are considered.

It is the assigned role of the South African Police Services to ensure safety and security. It is also their responsibility to investigate crimes and to bring matters before the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Whilst the City of Cape Town acknowledges that the incident involving the busker was regrettable and has, and will continue to, ensure that appropriate action is taken, we must also acknowledge the sterling work that the majority of our LEOs do in their line of duty every day.

Last night, I received a call from Mr Nono’s brother, Lungiswa Goodwell Nono, who had lost all contact with him. He had read about this incident and asked for his brother’s current contact details. Earlier this morning, they made contact for the first time in a decade. It is pleasing that out of this unfortunate incident, the silver lining of the reuniting of these brothers has occurred.
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http://www.africacheck.org/2013/07/19/the-city-that-works-for-you-except-if-youre-poor/

Cape Town metro police smashed Lunga Goodman Nono’s guitar, threw him to the ground and shoved him into a police van. The 51-year-old blind busker, they said, had violated the city’s by-laws. But, as TO Molefe discovered, the by-laws don’t exist and Cape Town officials were relying on an apartheid-era policy document.
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The city supports busking and creative forms of entrepreneurship. In this case, officers reported that they were merely trying to enforce that the busker stick to the regulated times, following a number of complaints from local businesses,” JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, said in a media statement that repeated the word “by-laws” at least six times.

Days later Cape Town’s mayor Patricia de Lille said an investigation had been launched and suspension proceedings had begun against three law-enforcement officers involved in the incident with Nono. Like Smith, De Lille suggested that the incident was based on balancing Nono’s right to freedom of expression and artistic creativity against the rule of law.
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After some sniffing around and hammering on the doors of shirking city officials, I discovered that the widely reported by-laws that Nono supposedly contravened, the ones that, according to news reports, limited the hours he could play his guitar to a 75-minute slot between 12.45pm and 2pm on weekdays and 10am to midnight on Saturdays, did not exist.

Cape Town officials eventually conceded that the stated hours originated in an apartheid-era policy document last updated in 1993. They did not come from the provisions of a by-law.
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However, in May this year, the city’s anti-land invasion unit, part of the same law-enforcement department that assaulted Nono, was caught using legal pretext to evict shack dwellers who had occupied a vacant piece of city-owned land. In that instance, the city first claimed the unit was acting in terms of the Protection of the Possession of Property Act, but after it was exposed that no such act existed, the city invoked the common law notion of “counter-spoliation”. Several legal experts said, however, that counter-spoilation did not apply in the case of the evicted shack dwellers.

Taken in combination with recent controversies around the street lights in Khayelitsha and bucket toilets within the city’s municipal bounds, both instances in which the city was accused of being liberal with the truth to the detriment of the poor, the Nono case calls into question whether the Cape Town is really living up to its motto of “This City Works For You”. If these incidents are anything to go by, the city’s real motto is “This City Works For You, Except If You Are Poor”. If you are poor, this city, as Nono said, has had enough of you.
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