Stun Guns at Dawn

Have we seen it all, or is this shitshow just getting started?

Just as I hear that riot police have ejected surfers from a Cape St Francis surf spot using military ordnance (as Deon Bing mentions in his surf report above), a news report broadcasts that four people have died when a delusional mob of crackpot diehards stormed Capitol Hill in Washington DC to overturn the confirmation of a President democratically elected into that role.

Back home, riot police belonging to the Public Order Policing (POP) Unit hurl thunder flashes at surfers in Seal Point after a local police Brigadier is apparently shown a Tik Tok video (published on this account but since deleted) that shows beachgoers disregarding Level 3 Amended lockdown orders, frolicking sans masks.

As far as I am aware, the POP are the only police unit who can deploy stun grenades, which, according to Wikipedia, are designed as a less-lethal explosive device used to "temporarily disorient an enemy's senses" by producing "a blinding flash of light of around 7 megacandela (Mcd) and an intensely loud "bang" of greater than 170 decibels (dB)".

In South Africa, they are commonly deployed to subdue rioting protesters although my last memory of one takes me back 30 years to when a drunk mate blew up a post box, and got into a lot of kak. Now, the trouble about throwing stun grenades at people surfing (even if they were meant to get the attention of two chaps ignoring gesticulating men on the shore) is the bad signal it sends to a world prone to bad conclusions about this dear land of ours.

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In an opinion piece for Daily Maverick, and in a similar piece on Magic Seaweed that has gone viral, St Francis resident Craig Jarvis described the moment: "In an unconfirmed rumour, a Tik Tok video (headlined "I thought all Beaches Were Closed?"), made its way to a local police forum meeting. Following that meeting, the rumours were out that the shit was well and truly on the R300, and headed straight for the fan."

A local surfer, Misha G, went down to the Seal Point to find the main carpark cordoned off by large police van, with cars blocked off in the car park, and a strong showing of cops. "I saw one of the guys throw something that looked like a rock at the surfers, and I thought, ‘what are they doing? Why would a cop throw rocks at the surfers? That’s not going to work.’ The “rock” landed five metres shy of the water’s edge, with plenty of exposed rock due to the low tide. The first stun-grenade explosion shook his car. The second one he could feel in his chest: “It was this loud, booming explosion,” said Misha, “and it was pretty intimidating. I could feel the shock wave.”

With smoke in the air and ringing in the ears, the two surfers - an older guy and a younger guy - got the message.

Jarvi writes of the schizophrenic contradictions of the context around the incident: “Today, surfing is banned. Tomorrow, surfing is legal. Surfers are getting fines. Surfers are getting arrested. Surfers have permits if they are professional. Surfers are getting friendly warnings. Surfers are getting let off the hook as cops are too busy, and the rest of the Covid-19 dramas drown out the drama of surfers and surfing. No one knows what is happening, to be honest. The only thing that is a certainty is that if the police get a phone call, they have to react. That’s their job."

COVID SPIKE: South African daily Covid-19 related deaths are suddenly soaring.

The belated but no less surreal second surge of Covid-19 has hit South African hard. Between 2 January and 6 January, daily Covid deaths soared from 288 to 844. The surge of infections is horrible. Hospitals are bursting. The blanket ban on beaches may have prevented super spreader events from blasting the numbers into the stratosphere, but it has also caused irreparable harm to innumorous beach-related businesses, and effectively snuffing out the festive season, which for many is a chance to boost the coffers to last the lean winter season.

The blanket ban on booze may have drained trauma wards, which partly eased the influx of patients, and partly vindicated the decision, but has caused a bleak festive season for thousands of people Social media has appeared to my numbed senses quite curiously much less vindictive and angry this time around as the horror rams home about the awfully ironically named Second Wave.employed by liquor related business.

This double edged sword has, it feels to me anyway, finally dawned on many people about how impossible the situation is. And how real. Social media has appeared to my numbed senses quite curiously much less vindictive and angry this time around as the horror rams home about the awfully ironically named Second Wave. It's like we're in the middle of a mutant set and we're scratching for the horizon as the sky blackens with the next one.

More of our friends have the disease now. More relatives have had or have it, and sadly, a growing number of us have seen them die. We hear of some families decimated by multiple deaths. We hear shattering stories from nurses on the brink of nervous breakdowns. I have a doctor friend who describes in person the shocking madness of the situation.

And then there's the South African virus variant 501Y.V2 - named after a mutation of the protein that the virus spike uses as a battering ram to tear open human cells. The mutation has also been tracked in the UK. They are both regarded as boosting the efficacy of the virus, enabling it to spread faster.

RESTRICTED: The ocean is a no-go, which is hard to grasp. Photo Govind Krishnan / Unsplash

This is the context of these regulations. Can we fairly, and with no sense of our own personal entitlement or privilege, blame law enforcement for trying to carry out orders from superiors who in turn are doing the same in a medically urgent atmosphere of pending catastrophe?

Talk about being between a rock and a hard-breaking wave. And at this critically sensitive moment, as we teeter between Level 3 Amended and a potential return to Level Fuckery hard lockdown, all the reason to be reasonable and cautious.

Trained lawyer-turned-surfing-entrepreneur Gideon Malherbe wrote on his Facebook wall about a lengthy tussle with police, which entailed his attempt to point out to the police about his rights, and what constitutes a beach - in terms of access - and a vigorous form of exercise that happens in the ocean and not on the beach.

PUSH BACK: Gideon Malherbe struggles against a police officer in Hermanus. From video

"Actually got physical when I refused to go to their vehicle, and they threatened to arrest me. I asked what law we broke and pointed out that we entered and exited the ocean off the rocks and was never on a beach," Gideon Malherbe, the owner of the Bilou Beach Resort in Indonesia, wrote.

Malherbe goes on to say: "Guys and girls: Please carry on surfing. Just wear a mask as soon as you leave the water (keep it with you) and don't go on the beach. If your surf spot only has beach access I think you may be screwed. The police carry a laminated A4 page with them which has the new 29 Dec covid laws on it which they use to assist them when they fill out their fines etc. If they confront you, please ask them to show you this doc and the new laws. It has nothing on it about surfing. Surfing is not illegal. Don't let them bully you."

To be honest, I have struggled to grasp what the rules are due to a confusing lack of detail. I looked up the recently amended gazetted rules published on 5 January that follows the previously gazetted Level 3 amendment regarding sport and recreation: Without getting into the debate about the definition of beach, and whether you can surf directly off the rocks along a point, or BASE jump from the Sentinel onto a 20 footer at Dungeons"Places or premises closed to the public: all beaches, dams, lakes and rivers inclusive of all recreational facilities at these places, in all the areas declared as hotspots."

They appear to have tweaked the wording to suggest that beaches and any recreational activities thereon are closed, bad grammar notwithstanding. From what I see, you may not surf. Without getting into the debate about the definition of beach, and whether you can surf directly off the rocks along a point, or BASE jump from the Sentinel onto a 20 footer at Dungeons, the lack of distinction in the above wording suggests that “beach” is really being used as “coastline”, and that includes everything along the shore, whether river mouths, rocks, kelp or sand.

We may rail against the efficacy, legitimacy or fairness of these regulations, and how the state interprets them, but if we surf on or near a exposed, public beach, we do run a risk of contact with cops. We may believe our rights are threatened, but to openly defy the authorities, may not be wise in this dangerous new time, particularly after Police Minister Bheki Cele called for military reinforcements to bolster law enforcement in public spaces in the Eastern and Western Cape. That sounds sinister, but again comes within a context that 300 police officers in the Western Cape have Covid and another 800 are in quaratine.

As Jarvi says in his article, we may believe the regulations to be “abhorrent and asinine” but in his opinion, “please don’t try and be a hero. Whether they have the authority to throw stun grenades around or not is another conversation. Regarding the beaches and surfers, the police are merely doing their jobs in trying to flatten the curve. There are no apparent vendettas involved. They are obeying their orders from above and doing what they have to do. Common sense, however, is most definitely not prevailing”.

The extreme of common sense "not prevailing" was morbidly manifest yesterday in the United States. America's ruling party is self immolating in front of our eyes after a Trump-fuelled mob invaded the U.S. Capitol yesterday. The actions of this seditious mob has shaken the alleged bastion of world democracy to the core, and brought it almost to the brink of some sort of civil strife, if war is too strong a word. Trump's own cabinet is considering invoking the 25th amendment, which in effect means lawmakers in his own party want to declare the president unfit to perform the duties of his office.

I have heard it from some old folk about how similar this pandemic is to a world war. And during war, you are rationed. In WWII, you had to stay indoors when air raid sirens went off. At night, there was a blackout (no light could shine so the enemy could not see where to bomb the city), with a strict curfew, and many tough regulations and restraints on your freedoms and rights. You were even told what to eat. You only got a certain (and very minimal) amount of cheese, egges, sugar, salt and meat - to name a few basic foods - as an example. No-one complained. It just WAS.

So surf if you want to. Just do it responsibly and with reason. Have your mask with you. There are plenty of breaks that no-one even knows about, let alone has access to. Some are legally accessible within parks and resort areas. I have one on my doorstep. Others are on remote or private land. If the cops rock up, don't defy them. Put your mask on. And if the local constabulary have opted to quietly ignore your presence at your local (public) beach, well all the better - but don't push your luck if suddenly some superior comes to visit the local cop station and they have to pretend that they're cracking down. There are strategic nuances in this shitshow we should be aware of.

If you're in a Covid hotspot, you might prefer to wait it out ... or not. That's on you. Like the crazy events in the US, the shit is getting real, and it may not be the most beneficial time for all of us if you poke the bear. But again, that's your call.