‘Clapping’ officers are not above the law

The first casualty in any war, the old saying goes, is the truth. In South Africa, it is worrying that the first casualty in the “war” against the coronavirus appears, increasingly, to be official accountability.

In a situation where this country’s citizens are being asked (told, might be a more accurate word) to accept that their freedoms have been curtailed “for the greater good”, it is vital that those enforcing the emergency restrictions are held to account for their actions.

Right at the beginning of the crisis, as President Cyril Ramaphosa was about to declare a “state of national disaster”, a draft set of regulations proposed granting a blanket indemnity from prosecution to any member of the security forces, or government official, from any action carried out “in good faith” to ensure compliance with the regulations. Fortunately, sanity prevailed and that “get-out-of-jail” card was removed.

However, that has not prevented the government – and specifically the forces responsible for ensuring law and order – from ducking out of accountability for their sometimes brutal actions.

So, the cops who were caught on video man-handling a child in Ballito in KZN, after an alleged breach of lockdown regulations, were cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal inquiry. Then Police Minister Bheki Cele did a similar thing for the policeman accused of blasphemy against Muslim Prophet Muhammad, when arresting people at an allegedly illegal religious gathering.

Now, the SA National Defence Force has, in an internal inquiry, cleared the soldiers involved in beating an Alexandra man, Collins Khosa, who later died. The inquiry claimed there was no evidence that the actions of the soldiers caused the death of Khosa, who only got “kicked and clapped” (sic).

All of the incidents smack of a whitewash which can only encourage cops and soldiers to believe they are above the law.

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