Law and order are for sale

When the Electoral Court of South Africa made the ruling on the ANC’s bid to deregister the uMkhonto weSizwe party, many of us wondered about the integrity of the judgment.

The legal system seems to have fallen prey to the political meddling that is prominent in modern-day SA.

It is easy to believe that there is no longer any faith in the South African justice system.

That a child molester can be scared off with a mere R2 000 bail warning – and a reminder that he must report to a police station within his jurisdiction every Monday – is nothing but laughable.

That a murderer who butchers cash-in-transit security personnel with not even a thought for the value of life can be granted bail and considered a community leader, that 24 and 26 year olds can brazenly kill security guards who are in the area to serve and protect – these are all signs that we are living in a vacuum of law and order.

The public cannot be blamed for having no faith in the men and women in blue and the courts.

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We are a nation under siege.

The police say that they bring the criminals to book and that it is the courts which then release them.

The courts claim the quality of policing is so shoddy that legally there is no evidence to keep perpetrators locked up.

We cannot have laws that are reserved to be applied only to Joe Soap.

There should be no special treatment for the affluent, or sympathy for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The law should be consistent, not gender or racially biased.

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Once we realise this and conduct ourselves in an orderly fashion, we will be able to uphold the law, regardless of who the perpetrator may be.

The standard of law in the country needs to have more value than the paper on which it’s written.

Government and legal officials need to stop contributing to the crime statistics.

We need to have faith in the justice system.

It cannot be that ahead of every judgment, the public is on tenterhooks, wondering if brown envelopes have been exchanged for the soul of public administration, law and order.