[ad_1]
By Francesca Villette, Lou-Anne Daniels 
9h ago
Cape Town – The city of Cape Town and Police Minister Bheki Cele reached an out-of-court agreement on the legality of permits to film on local beaches that were closed to the public to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The city had filed an urgent interdiction request in the Western Cape Superior Court to prevent the police minister from interfering with or shutting down film productions that had received the green light before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new restrictions on the province’s beaches on Monday.
On Friday, the parties reached an out-of-court settlement that will allow filming to continue unimpeded.
Cele and Mayco member of security JP Smith clashed on the beach at Camp’s Bay when the minister stopped filming there.
Cele accused city officials of trying to override national regulations and asked his officials to monitor the shutdown of production, which he said was declared illegal.
“The regulations are clear, events, music, dances or meetings are not allowed on the beaches. The production people argue that it is not an extra activity on the beach and the City Council gave them permission to shoot.
“Our argument is that here we are dealing with national regulations, which is above all other local regulations. The City cannot override national regulations. This is breaking the law. We will take the person from the City who granted the permit and until that happens the shooting cannot continue, ”Cele said.
Smith insisted that the office was authorized under the City’s Film Ordinance to issue permits to begin filming in public spaces.
“The minister has given an illegal instruction to the officers so that they proceed to close the shooting. We have consulted with our legal advisors who informed us that this activity is not excluded from the regulations, it is not prohibited. The minister’s interpretation is incorrect and we are busy getting an urgent injunction to prevent the minister from interfering with the making of a legal movie, ”Smith said.
Commenting on the settlement on Friday, Smith said the City had filed the injunction to protect jobs in the film industry that employs about 25,000 people in the province and had been hit hard by the prolonged shutdown.
According to Smith, the agreement states that “the police minister confirms that the city of Cape Town is not prevented from issuing permits in terms of the film’s statutes promulgated on June 24.”
“(The) settlement prohibits SAPS from interfering with film shoots where the City has issued a permit. (This is a) major victory for federalism and local government rights when subjected to arbitrary and illegal interference by national government officials, ”Smith said.
IOL and Cape Times
[ad_2]
