STATE OF EMERGENCY IS UNCALLED FOR
CALLS for the government to take the gloves off and declare a state of emergency are gaining traction and momentum.
The country last experienced tough emergency regulations during the apartheid era in the late 1980s.
Industries hit hard by the property destruction and looting frenzy have increased their call for the government to introduce the draconian law.
The freight and sugar industries have called on the government to suspend some social rights in order to regain control of the situation.
While looting and destruction of property had largely subsided in Gauteng yesterday, it continued unabated in parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
Sector leading organisations such as the Beer Association of SA, Consumer Goods Council of SA and the Durban Chamber of Commerce have been calling for the declaration of at state of emergency since Monday.
Former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli added his voice to the call. A state of emergency would result in the suspension of rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.
Sugar cane fields in KwaZulu-Natal continued to see massive destruction, the SA Canegrowers Association said yesterday. At R600 per ton, this represents a revenue loss of more than R211m, the association said.
We agree with the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac), who warned against the push for a declaration of a state of emergency. According to Casac this is an extraordinary measure which should be reserved purely for the most extreme of circumstances.
With it follows the suspension of fundamental rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, the exercise by the executive of broad legislative powers with few checks in place to regulate the exercising of such powers, and may even expose South Africans to the excesses of military and police power.
We believe the duty of the government is to protect lives and property, which can be achieved under existing laws without resorting to a state of emergency.
In the democratic dispensation that has prevailed in the country for the past 25 years, a state of emergency is not the omnipotent and absolute power panacea many seem to think it is.