Detention Without Trial To Return? 1
One of the biggest civil rights infringed upon during Apartheid (especially during the State of Emergency years) was detention without trial. Back then the NP government could snatch whoever they wanted off the streets, jail them for a month or two, dish out a beating every now and then before dumping them on the front porch. That’s probably one of the reasons why it is guaranteed in the Consitution that a person, once arrested, will appear in court within 48 hours.
Which makes it a bit distressing to see Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula say that perhaps we need to make that time limit a bit longer. Now this doesn’t quite mirror George Bush’s suspension of Habeus Corpus for certain ‘enemy combatants’ (although some would argue that the SA government has done the same already) but it is certainly something that should be resisted.
I’m all for fighting crime but the way to capture and convict criminals is to have a motivated, effective policing force, backed up by sufficient support units (forensics etc) with an efficient judicial system behind them not by eroding the existing rights of citizens. Let’s hope this goes no further.
An interesting (if not surprising) development and one which is unfortunately being tried in other so-called Democratic countries. Mr Blair attempted it, following the 7/7 London bombings, but got short shrift from the law lords.
The most ironic thing about it is that our Secretary of State for NI, Peter Hain, was all for it! You will remember Mr Hain as a one time anti-apartheid activist and destroyer of cricket pitches in SA.
Makes you think, wot!