Cape Town – The City of Cape Town and Police Minister Bheki Cele have reached an out of court settlement over the legality of permits for filming on local beaches which have been closed to the public to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The City had filed an urgent interdict application at the Western Cape High Court to prevent the police minister from interfering in or shutting down film productions which had been given the green light before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new restrictions on beaches in the province on Monday.
On Friday the parties reached an out of court settlement which will allow filming to continue unobstructed.
Cele and Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith clashed at Camp’s Bay beach when the minister stopped filming taking place there.
Cele accused City officials of attempting to override national regulations and asked his officers to monitor the closure of the production, which he said was declared unlawful.
“The regulations are clear that no events, music, dancing and gatherings (are allowed) on beaches. The production people argue that is not an extra activity on the beach and they were given permission by the City to shoot.
“Our argument is that we are dealing with the national regulations here, which is above all other local regulations. The City cannot override national regulations. This is breaking the law. We will take on the person from the City who granted the permit and until that happens the shooting cannot continue,” said Cele.
Smith insisted that the office was authorised in terms of the City’s Film By-law to issue permits to commence filming in public spaces.
“The minister has given an unlawful instruction to officers to proceed to shut the shooting. We have checked with our legal advisors who advised that this activity is not excluded in the regulations, it’s not prohibited. The minister’s interpretation is incorrect and we are busy getting an urgent court interdict to prevent the minister from interfering with a lawful film shoot,” said Smith.
Commenting on the settlement on Friday, Smith said the City had filed the interdict to protect jobs in the film industry which employs around 25 000 people in the province and had been hard hit by the prolonged lockdown.
According to Smith, the agreement states that “the minister of police confirms that the City of Cape Town is not precluded from issuing permits in terms of the Film By-law promulgated on June 24.”
“(The) out of court settlement prohibits SAPS from interfering with film shoots where the City has issued a permit. (This is an) important victory for federalism and the rights of local government when it is subjected to arbitrary and unlawful interference by national government office bearers,” Smith said.
IOL and Cape Times