Cops lack will to enforce the law to benefit citizens

From: MURRY KELLY Hillcrest THE fact that this glorious country of ours is about to be declared junk status is not surprising. The cause is inexcusable incompetence, or a simple “could not care less” attitude right through authoritative society from the head of government to the “footmen” on the street.

On a recent Monday, a frantic call was received that staff could not get to their place of work due to there being no taxis. No problem – I would fetch them, albeit they would be late. They live in Msunduzi area. On the MR423 Road (road from Cato Ridge to Nagle Dam), just before the road drops into the valley, there were makeshift barricades across the road.

There was one SAPS police van with four policemen standing by, doing nothing.

There were no protesters, no crowds, just a few people milling around. So having a 4x4 type vehicle I drove up an embankment and past the barricade. Two bakkies wanting to drive the same route followed me. There were rocks strewn over the road, but with careful driving our three vehicles made four stops to move rocks too large to drive over, to create a passage through.

Safety crash barriers had been ripped out, and signage broken and strewn across the road. This continued for about 4km.

At the other end when we moved and drove through a makeshift barricade, we were challenged by metro police (three seated and two officers standing outside their vehicles) as to what we were doing. They asked why we could not see the road was barricaded.

My response was that as a taxpayer and businessman, I had a job to do and staff to collect, and questioned why they were standing around and not doing anything to open the road? They said they were not sure when the protest would get under way.

The protesters, who were conspicuous by their absence, had illegally closed off a public road, destroyed safety barriers and road signs. This apparently happened at about midnight.

My question is why did the police or metro police not call in reinforcements or the army to clear the road at first light so that labour could get to their places of employment, instead of waiting around for something to happen?

When the country is held to ransom by a minority, and the authorities buckle to their demands, instead of enforcing the law, it is no wonder that the country is descending fast into junk status.

The place should have been opened hours before so that labour could get to work for the sake of the economy. Sadly this happens every day throughout this fantastic country – yet no one seems to be arrested, or made to pay for damages or losses incurred. Shame on the authorities who seem powerless to enforce the law.

As a footnote, it is a shame too that the writer of the letter last week, seemingly in so desperate a state to ensure he gets his weekly contribution published, resorted to scraping the bottom of the barrel for content.

How can he be so critical of the RSA flag in such a callous fashion? I would ask him to please observe the flag flying in the wind at a distance, and the prominent colours are those of the precolonial power, red and blue.

Perhaps it was prophetic that when the flag was designed, now over 20 years hence, we have a flag that depicts the present situation – ANC colours as a narrow band, being pressed on either side by a bulky red EFF and the blue DA block.

Leave the flag alone. It is certainly better than some that have machine guns and clenched fists, prominent in their design.