The law that regulates the right to protest is called the Regulation of Gatherings Act (some people call it “the Gatherings Act” or the RGA for short). The ‘Gatherings Act’ was drafted in 1993 in a period of great political violence. The Goldstone Commission which investigated political violence and police brutality against protesters, recommended that a law be drafted to establish a new framework for the right to protest and change the role of police in protests.

As a result, the Gatherings Act has some good and some bad in it. It contains some important protections for the right to protest, and some sections that undermine the right to protest or are just outdated.

The Gatherings Act says what protest organisers must do before a protest, and what the authorities must do, and also what they can’t do. It also says that authorities must allow people to exercise this right, and can’t just ‘ban’ people from protesting. When there are serious concerns that protest is going to be unsafe, the authorities must engage with the organisers to find a safe way for the protest to happen. Only in the most extreme cases can the authorities prohibit a gathering from going ahead. But authorities often abuse this process.