Cape Town - The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) says it has suspended three security officers who were involved in the Clifton Beach incident last year December.
PSIRA appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs on Monday, which conducted an inquiry into the incident.
PSIRA Director Manabela Chauke said: “Beachgoers were removed from Clifton Beach by the Professional Protection Alternatives (PPA). PSIRA received four complaints, and those complaints were mainly about the conduct of the PPA.
"We have charges served for violation of the code of conduct on 3 security officers, Director of the PPA and PPA as a legal entity,” said Chauke.
He said there were allegations of assault, unauthorised restraints, use of abusive language.
PSIRA commenced its investigation into the matter on 27 December 2018.
The committee has invited stakeholders such as the Department of Environmental Affairs, City of Cape Town, the Professional Protection Alternatives (PPA) Security company, South African Police Service (SAPS); Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) and the affected people.
This was after private security company PPA allegedly forced beachgoers to leave Cape Town's popular Clifton Fourth Beach in December.
PPA in a statement after the incident denied that it shut the beach down, but said it had been there to help government authorities with problems at the beach.
The City of Cape Town also distanced itself from PPA in a statement, saying it had not given any private company authority to enforce by-laws.
The incidents were followed by a series of protest rallies at the beach, which one saw a sheep being slaughtered.
Protesters clashed with residents and beachgoers while a sheep was slaughtered as part of a cleansing ceremony. It was claimed that the slaughtering of the sheep was to hold a cleansing ceremony calling for the end of the exclusion of black people at the beach.
PSIRA said it has not yet concluded its investigation, and it will further update Parliament was the investigation was concluded.