While you were sleeping!
It’s difficult to accuse opposition party members of sleeping on the job while the ANC enjoys a two thirds majority in Parliament. The problem is that regardless of how much of a fuss opposition politicians make, the ANC can push practically any piece of
Squashing the Scorpions doesn’t reflect the people’s will
Lets’ begin with the General Laws Amendments Bill – which for all intents and purposes should be renamed the ‘Scorpion Crushing Bill – Part I.” This bill was tabled on Tuesday, 13 May 2008 and proposes that a new unit (the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation) be established within the SAPS. This follows a decision taken by the ANC executive at last year’s Polokwane conference to abolish South Africa’s top crime busting organisation, the Scorpions. Regardless of what safety & security minister Charles Nqakula says the decisions is purely political – motivated by the desire to centralise control of the country’s criminal investigative capabilities – and to better direct such forces. After all, it’s far easier to pull the strings on one puppet than on a number of them.
Unhappy with the track that many of the Scorpion’s investigations were taking and unable to influence or halt the investigations the only alternative for the ANC was to get the entire unit shut down. Can anyone seriously contend that national police commissioner Jackie Selebi would have been arrested had the Scorpions been housed within the SAPS? Of course not – because the head of police would never authorise an investigation into his own activities. And it’s already alleged that Selebi was diverting SAPS attention from various individuals. A truly independent investigative organisation is needed to prevent such abuses of power.
In disbanding the Scorpions the ANC is once again ignoring the will of the people. Some time ago e-TV ran a documentary in which they asked viewers whether the scorpions should be retained or done away with. If we recall correctly more than 90% of viewers indicated they wanted the Scorpions to be retained. More recent polls show that 60% of respondents across a broad spectrum of the population want to keep the Scorpions. But it’s not to be… A late legal challenge by businessman Hugh Glenister who filed papers in the Pretoria High Court recently might offer a glimmer of hope. He’s fighting a real goliath in the South African government; but the underdog has won fights before...
Ushering in a new chapter in land reform
While the Scorpions are getting crushed on the one hand, a new Expropriation Bill was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, 14 May 2008. There has been plenty of criticism of the proposed changes from political opposition. Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front says his party believes “the consequences of the proposed legislation will be totally different to that which the ANC intends…” They believe provisions in the bill are constitutionally unsound.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the changes to find out what all the fuss is about. The first major shift from existing legislation is that any government department (or non-profit organisation) will be able to petition the Public Works ministry to expropriate land. Additionally, this land no longer has to be agricultural land. The only requirement is that the request be ‘in the public interest’ and so motivated. It remains to be seen whether this line of thinking results in serious land disputes. What concerns us more is that the bill doesn’t provide for properly skilled boards to help make these important decisions. In an article titled “New expropriation bill hysteria” published in Farmers Weekly, Stephan Hofstätter notes that “race and gender are the only criteria for appointing members of boards set up to advise the minister on which land to expropriate, the merits of each case and compensation to be paid.”
And the final blow to current landowners will be that once an expropriation order is granted the owner of the land will lose its use. A farmer will therefore not be able to remain on the land while fighting the matter in court. From government’s side this is probably a move to speed up the expropriation process… But it would massively compound the financial and logistical problems faced by the landowner, particularly when consideration is given to the time taken to resolve complex legal issues.
We’ll do as we do – not as you say!
Another example of public will differing from political conviction is on the sensitive death penalty issue. It’s common knowledge that the majority of South Africans want the death penalty reinstated. We don’t want to get into a debate on this issue; but use it simply to demonstrate how the ruling party ignores the desires from the electorate it serves. Right now it seems the ANC is hell bent on ignoring the will of its people.
They’re crushing the Scorpions, ignoring calls for a death penalty referendum, pushing through heavy handed land expropriation legislation and standing by while Zimbabwe burns... Perhaps the people will speak out at the next election!
Editor’s thoughts:
South Africa is one of hundreds of democracies worldwide. The term infers “government by the people – directly or through an elected representative.” We have no argument that the ANC has the support of the majority of local citizens. But we do believe the collective will of these citizens is too often discarded by the ruling elite. Do you believe the elected government should so blatantly disregard the will of its electorate? Add your comments below, or send them to gareth@fanews.co.za
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