No Amandla to Nkandla: Judges show more backbone than police

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) could not have foreseen the Economic Freedom Fighters or ANC when he wrote: “Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.”

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we see ignorance in action when maskless followers gather in their thousands to chant, shout, march, sing and dance. They declare themselves fearless and willing to die for their cause. But they are ignorant if they don’t understand that it’s not only their lives at risk.

Their comrades, families, friends and colleagues are also endangered by super-spreading behaviour. On Monday, it was said on Twitter that a number of EFF supporters, including regional party leaders, who participated in the recent 2000-strong vaccine march “to save lives” have tested positive for Covid-19.

That would not be surprising.

There will be a similar outcome from the frenzy of ignorance playing out at the Nkandla insurrection. One unnamed man in ANC regalia proudly said on TV that he didn’t mind about Covid and was prepared to die if need be. Our already overburdened healthcare system is put under further strain by this mass wilful ignorance.

If we had a half-decent policing system that, too, would be under strain. But many in the Saps don’t exert themselves when there is a real job to be done. No strain there. What passes for public order policing is lackadaisical.

The weak Saps response to flagrant incitement, the open display and discharge of weapons and wholesale violations of lockdown regulations at Nkandla, Jacob Zuma’s homestead, is inexcusable.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, who relishes harassing beachgoers and making ridiculous threats on TV, has been wholly ineffective in situations where a tough approach is needed. Bullies are often cowards. Invoking memories of the 2012 Marikana massacre is a cop-out.

There’s a vast difference between what police did there and what they could and should do in situations such as the EFF march and Nkandla melee. Their legalistic excuses for doing nothing are unconvincing.

There is a glimmer of hope. Our judicial system is being stress-tested by Zuma and his seditious followers. Make no mistake, what we are witnessing is sedition, defined as inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state.

Yet, despite every understandably negative comment to the contrary, the judicial system is holding up. The Constitutional Court’s decision to hear Zuma’s application for a rescission of the order sentencing him to jail may have seemed like a capitulation.

But it is not so. The court is obliged to hear such applications if they are correctly submitted. And, agreeing to hear an application is not the same as granting it. Nor does the application automatically suspend the order sentencing Zuma to jail.

At this stage, there is no reason to think the ConCourt will simply roll over in the face of intimidation. Thus far, the judges have shown more backbone than the police. Like the media, judges are a bastion of democracy. To be cherished.