The Clifton beach saga resurfaced on Wednesday with a court dismissing an application to have three private security guards' suspended registration reinstated by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA).
PSIRA said this followed an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria by Professional Protection Alternatives (PPA) in the light of complaints about the guards' alleged removal of beachgoers in December.
PSIRA is investigating the three for alleged breach of its code of conduct.
The incident on Clifton Fourth Beach on December 23 began with complaints about beachgoers being removed at sunset and escalated to an #OccupyCliftonBeach movement which alleged that the removals were racist.
A sheep was also slaughtered on the beach.
Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs conducted an inquiry into the matter earlier in February.
The City of Cape Town, whose law enforcement officers were in some of the photographs of PPA patrollers on the beach, and PPA's representatives said the use of private security in the area was due to an increase of crime there and the fact that there were not enough police to handle it.
PPA denied moving anybody off the beach.
PPA had also stated during the furore that there had been rapes, which justified more security.
The police confirmed that there had been an incident involving an allegation of sexual assault involving people who knew each other, but the affected person opted not to lay an official complaint with police.
At the time of the hearing at Parliament, the committee was told there were also two complaints of alleged harassment of umbrella vendors by PPA guards.
PSIRA agreed with the court's dismissal of the application as not urgent as the security guards had not exhausted their recourse within the regulatory body.
Their hearing was scheduled for March 4.
"Accordingly, the authority welcomes this judgment as it was an unnecessary exercise considering that the three officers had an opportunity to appeal against their suspended registration with the authority," said PSIRA in a statement.
Comment from PPA's lawyer was not immediately available.