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'Is this the Wild West?'
23/04/2008 10:26 - (SA)
Pieter du Toit, Beeld
Cape Town - It is time the government clearly stated whether the deputy minister of safety and security's statements about shooting were in line with its policy or not, said Jody Kollapen, chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).
He was reacting to an interview with Susan Shabangu published on Tuesday in the Cape Times and the Pretoria News in which she said that members of the public did not have to fire a warning shot before they took aim to kill a criminal.
This came after her recent statements that the police should shoot to kill and on Tuesday was related to a letter to the Cape Argus in which Hangwani Mulaudzi, Deputy Director of Communication of the Department of Safety and Security, said that the government had declared war against crime.
'Populist statments'
"One armed criminal, one bullet!" he wrote.
"Shabangu's statements are extremely populist and boost her profile but unfortunately we live in a constitutional democracy where laws and rules can't simply be thrown out of the window," Kollapen said on Tuesday.
Shabangu said in the interview that there was a misconception that members of the public who are threatened have to fire a warning shot before aiming at the criminal: "There is no such law... a criminal aims his gun at you and you have a legal firearm. How do you fire a warning shot?" she wanted to know.
Shabangu has dug in her heels and responded to Kollapen: "He says I'm misbehaving as if he's chiding his little girl. He can say what he wants."
Getting perspective
"If he is a part of the country he can't keep handling human rights without putting them in perspective. If he has a problem, he must go and look at victims of crime. He must listen to them. They are the walking dead. They are dead. They lose their self-respect."
Kollapen said on Tuesday that the SAHRC already had written to Shabangu to get clarity on her statements.
"The time has come for the highest levels of government to say whether she was stating government policy.
We want clarity over the supreme authority of the law, or is this the Wild West we're living in?"
"The lack of communication of our leaders is worrisome.
I believe she must be hauled over the coals or supported," Kollapen said.
He added that Shabangu's statements created uncertainty in the mindset of citizens as well as of the police because she was not clear about what the law dictated: "(The law speaks) of proportional reaction to threat. One can't just shoot. If you then shoot someone down in your garden without being threatened, is Shabangu going to help you with legal costs?"
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