By Iain Robertson
Super Roadblocks are our gift from Government over the Holiday Season.
As usual drivers and their vehicles are liable to be checked, but this time passengers are to be checked as well.
The roadblocks will be manned by the SAP and by other State Agencies looking for amongst other things tax evaders, illegal immigrants and dangerous goods.
Is this a good thing in that a much broader spectrum of criminals will be arrested, or is it a flagrant abuse of State Power?
General Bheki “Rambo” Cele told parliament last Friday that roadblocks are to be manned by combined teams from up to ten Government Agencies including the SAP, SARS, Home Affairs and Nature Conservation. The programme is unofficially set to start in Gauteng early next month and nationwide from December 4th.
He has warned that tax dodgers, illegal immigrants and carriers of dangerous and illegal goods should brace themselves for a hard time. Another new concept he has introduced is that travellers without an acceptable ID will be fingerprinted, and the fingerprints used to check for any outstanding issues. I thought he might mellow after his honeymoon. No such luck.
We normally expect an increase in roadblocks at holiday times, but this announcement takes the concept a whole yard further – longer traffic queues, lots more vehicles, lots more flashing lights, uniformed SAP officers strutting their stuff, pulling you over and interrogating you and your passengers, perhaps demanding fingerprints, certainly demanding ID books or proof of ID. Several groups of people dressed in civilian clothes in the background tapping your ID number into laptops. People searching your vehicle and rummaging around in your possessions. Scary. Especially at night. In the rain. If you are a woman alone.
Road blocks are pretty inefficient in catching criminals. They are highly efficient at catching drivers with outstanding fines. That however, is not law enforcement or crime prevention, that’s revenue generation. Roadblocks on steroids will be no different, just longer queues and more aggravation.
So why the upgrade of SAP vehicle focussed roadblocks to fully-fledged State fishing expeditions ?
To be kind, it smacks of the usual government kneejerk reaction that something must be done, someone having what they think is a brilliant idea to do it, and some suit behind a desk not thinking through all the implications of implementing the brilliant idea.
Not to be kind, it is a PR exercise, pure and simple. We will see Rambo grand-standing sometime in January or February showing what a fine fellow he is by catching so many criminals in December.
To the cynical mind, it has the unholy stench of an impending totalitarian police state. Part of the insidious progression this Government is making towards total dictatorship and removal of basic human rights. Look at the Media Tribunal Bill and the Protection of Information Act as part of the same package.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for genuine criminals being caught. But I don’t think this is the way to do it.
There are a few practical problems. Several of the activities are probably unconstitutional and will be challenged in court.
Dennis Jackson of the Justice Project of South Africa says that there must be “reasonable suspicion” before any action can be taken against motorists or passengers at the roadside. Durban attorney Saber Jazbhay said the roadblocks would not be “constitutionally sound”.
First, there is no easy definition of what constitutes reasonable suspicion. For example, are Home Affairs officials allowed to assess whether someone is potentially an illegal immigrant by the colour of their skin. There will be many claims against the State for unlawful arrest and detention if that is the level of criteria used as a definition of “reasonable suspicion”.
Assuming that reasonable suspicion exists, what are the lawful grounds for arrest at a roadblock by the various Agencies. Are they in fact allowed to arrest you, or do they have to ask the SAP to do so ? Recently the Government inserted Sections 4A and 4B into the Customs and Excise Act conferring the power of arrest on Customs Officials and authorising the carrying of firearms for the purposes of enforcing the Customs Act. In other words, a Customs Officer can be deemed to be a Peace Officer as defined in the Criminal Procedures Act. Customs are part of SARS, so take that sports lovers. You can be arrested at gunpoint at a road block for not submitting a tax return.
It will be a brave one who insists that only the original copy of a court issued arrest warrant is sufficient.
Western Cape Transport MEC Robin Carlisle attempted to justify the involvement of highly specialised groups like SARS by stating that they had emergency vehicles and officials with powers of arrest. They therefore would help in targeting people who caused road fatalities.
It’s the first time I hear that a major cause of our road carnage is not having a tax clearance form. Smooth tyres perhaps, drunk certainly, but irregularities in your tax affairs. Give me a break.
I suspect the biggest problem, and there this is where M’Learned friends will make hay while the sun shines is that most Government databases are not accurate and not up to date, and probably not set up with the immediate updates necessary for use in this environment. As a result incorrect information will make the innocent look guilty and the guilty look innocent. Court cases will follow as surely as lawyers will hang around roadblocks.
The second big problem is that with a few notable exceptions, the people involved do not have the qualifications or intention to act in a professional and impartial manner. It’ll be holiday bonus time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess the option a father will take when presented with the two options of seeing his family spend Christmas in jail or coughing up some folding money. He may even suggest the spot fine option. Other officials, flushed with their temporary power will go on a cosmic ego trip and really make some people’s holiday.
In summary, this looks once again like applying First World principles and policies with African precision.
Whatever the real answer is, applying State Resources in this ham-fisted and heavy-handed way tramples on all the rights that those dear folk fought so long and so hard for.
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