‘Soldiers, police must act within the law’
ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za
A High Court judge has made it clear that all armed forces must toe the line during lockdown, but added that citizens also have a duty to ensure that they follow the rules and regulations of lockdown.
In a step to improve the accountability of the police and the SANDF force while enforcing the Covid-19 lockdown regulations, the ministers of Defence and Police have been ordered to, within five days, develop and publish a code of conduct and operational procedures to regulate the conduct of its members, including that of metro police departments, countrywide.
The order is part of a 77-page judgment issued by Judge Hans Fabricius and comes in the wake of the death of Collins Khoza, who was assaulted at his home in Alexandra in Joburg for allegedly contravening the lockdown rules by drinking alcohol in his yard.
Fabricius ordered that all SANDF members and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) members who were present at Khoza’s home that day, or adjacent to his premises, be placed on suspension pending the outcome of an investigation into his death.
The new guidelines must include how to enforce physical distancing and the restriction of movement and other activities at each stage of lockdown and indicate circumstances under which the use of force or an arrest is warranted.
The public must know where they can go to lodge complaints against members of the SANDF and SAPS who do not toe the line, the judge said.
Khoza’s family brought an urgent application before the North Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria.
According to a post mortem report handed to court, Khoza died of blunt force trauma to the head.
His family also successfully secured an order that the Khoza incident, as well as other similar incidents which occur during this time, must be properly investigated.
Judge Fabricius said his orders are designed to ensure that South Africa complies with its Constitutional and international obligations.
The judge said lockdown brutality requires a remedy and his order provides that remedy.
Citizens are entitled to dignity and fair treatment, whether we are in a state of disaster or whether we were in a state of emergency.
He called on the SAPS, SANDF and other armed forces to instruct their members to act in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
He ordered that the ministers of police and defence, and their entire chain of command, warn members that failure to do so would expose them individually to criminal, civil or disciplinary sanction.
They must also ensure that the investigation into Khoza’s death
– and any other similar incident in which their members are implicated – is completed and that reports regarding the findings are handed to the court before June 4.
Independent Police Investigative Directorate must file a report into the matter with the court by May 22.