‘Illegal’ event at Cape Town school shut down, organiser fined for breaching lockdown rules

The City of Cape Town will clamp down on illegal events that are in contravention of the Disaster Management Act Regulations as the country has moved to Level 1 Lockdown.

This after the City’s law enforcement along with police shut down an alleged illegal event at a school in the CBD on Thursday evening.

Cape Town MMC for Safety and Security, JP Smith said the organiser of the event had contravened multiple laws and was subsequently fined R4 000.

“The organiser of the gathering, with roughly 300 people in attendance, had no permit as required by the City’s Events By-law and the national Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act,” Smith said.

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“The illegal event was held in the school’s unused swimming pool that had been converted into a skate park. It also contravened the Liquor Act by serving alcohol without a liquor licence and flouted noise pollution regulations.

“In addition, the organiser had no health and safety protocols in place. These protocols are aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 and are in accordance with the Disaster Management Act regulations.”

The event also contravened the Disaster Management Act regulations, gazetted on 28 February 2021, which only allow for gatherings with a maximum of 100 people for indoor facilities and 250 attendees for outdoor gatherings.

Smith added that while the City supports the return of events and will play a role as an enabler, it is important that gatherings are hosted in a safe environment, and in accordance with the law.

“Illegal events endanger the lives of patrons as a result of the lack of security and crowd management, to name but a few.

“Unregulated events during a pandemic are a major health risk that could become super-spreaders of Covid-19.

“This poses a major risk for the events industry’s recovery if we allow unregulated events to trigger more national government restrictions on gatherings.”

Smith said law enforcement agencies will be on stand-by to clamp down on any non-compliant events and to issue fines to the organisers.

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