The meeting was scheduled after their leader, Brother Maxi, a Judah Square elder, wrote to the minister's office to lodge an official complaint regarding a raid last year during which the police ransacked their homes and gardens.
"I'm very upset to see my name in the paper after a police report apparently named me as a man presumed peddling drugs at the taxi rank in Nelson Street," said a visibly upset Clifford Daniel. "We are Rastafari and do not consider ganja to be a drug, but a holy herb with many medicinal benefits. What about the people who sell Tik and chemical stuff for everyone to see? Why don't the police go after those guys?"
Daniel, who says he is a priest in the Order of Nyahbinghi, along with his wife arranged to meet Colonel Nolan Michaels, then Knysna's station commander to discuss the situation. "Michaels said he respected my honesty. I told him I was a priest and that we are sick and tired of the police constantly stopping us and searching us wherever we go, yet the real hardcore drug dealers in Knysna are left alone. Why?"
Daniel said that on April 9, five police vehicles pulled up alongside him and he was searched.
"They found a R50-note on me and they said that they had set a trap for me and that that specific note was one which their buyer had used to buy 'bankies' (plastic coin bags) from me, but they didn't find anything on me?"
He was taken into custody and locked up for dealing in drugs. "Later they told me to sign for 250 grams and in court I heard they said there were 29 'bankies' of ganja, but nothing was ever weighed in front of me, which is what they were supposed to do. And those 'bankies' were found in a hole somewhere, not on me. Yet they hit and kicked me - they do that to all of us on a regular basis, even though they know we are a peace-loving community."
Daniel also showed a video clip on a cellphone of how, on a different occasion, the police dragged him towards a police van in front of the whole community.
"It's true," chorused the rest of the group, "Everyone knows who the real druglords here are because they drive around in their big shiny cars like icons! And sure enough, even if there is a raid at their home, they first get a phone call to tell them, 'why don't you go to the beach or drive around for three hours to avoid any trouble?'."
Says Joseph Sela: "Our lives are hard and we 'sukkel' (struggle). We get a R200 fine for just a little bit of ganja, not even worth more than a few Rand and the judge told me if I'm caught again I can get up to five years imprisonment! For what? This is my faith, my religion and my culture. We pay and we pay, but the real drug dealers get away?"
Plato said that he would discuss the situation of unnecessary brute force, damage to their property as well as accusations police taking money from hiding places in the Rastafari's homes and vegetables from their gardens during raids. Yet, not long after, they suffered another raid.
"Some people use ganja for healing, to keep from getting 'onsedelike siektes' (indecent diseases). They need us and we actually put ourselves in danger to help them get the medicine they need."
They also question why they are being held in jail for days, while they used to be held for a few hours only, before paying a fine and being released.
Plato said that as long as dagga was unlawful the police had a right to confiscate it, but that the use of brutality was against the South African Constitution. "As far as I know the legalisation of ganja is under discussion by the government, but until it becomes lawful, it will remain an illegal substance."
Plato did say that he would gladly look at photographs and video clips of police brutality and investigate the matter if he received sufficient proof of such behaviour. He was also presented with a booklet, Challenges Faced by Rastafarian Communities in South Africa 2012, issued by the CRL Rights Commission. In it several recommendations are put forward. They include the legalisation of ganja and that Rasta priests should be allowed to carry on their person at least 100g for spiritual purposes; that all police prejudices, discrimination and harassment should end and that raiding of Rasta homes and plantations without search warrants should be discouraged. The 1911 ban on ganja in South African should be declassified.
(More allegations against the police will be published next week since a request for the police's response could not be sent in time for this week's publication.)
Rastafarian brothers who came to show their support for Clifford Daniel (third from left) are Joseph Sela, Ras Yelo Bloom, Ras Samson Nzutha, Alphonso Ketanie and Aubrey Talmaggies.
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