I took a road trip to KZN this week. It rained throughout our journey, and it took all my driving experience to navigate the weather, the corrugated road, and the other drivers. There’s a widespread disregard for the rules of the road, so overtaking on barrier lines and blind rises was commonplace. Yellow warning lines at intersections are treated as extra lanes for the ones in a hurry, and don’t ask about following distances. In the cities red traffic lights are regarded as only suggestions to stop by minibus taxis held together with Sellotape and gum. Who needs a roadworthy certificate.
This behaviour points to a sinister reality that has gripped our country. We are embracing lawlessness as the norm. People simply disregard the rules that should allow for a productive and harmonious coexistence. It isn’t just criminals with this attitude, it is politician sand civil servants and business people, and us ordinary folk.
There is a well-argued critique of the rule of law as being a tool in the hands of the powerful to keep poor people in place. I struggle with the uneven application of our country’s laws and the disproportionate impact of law enforcement on poor and marginal communities. The noble principle of equality before the law is undermined by how much influence money and power have in how it is applied. Robert Mugabe’s son Belamine has just been deported to Zimbabwe following a shooting incident. He paid a R600K fine and will face no jail time despite being present and implicated. The facts surrounding the acquisition and stash of US dollars at President Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala property are still hazy. We still don’t know the full story of who was responsible for this breach of SA financial laws. Rest assured though, the fellows who stole the money are already in custody and are about to face judgement in court. There is the Steinhof matter and other incidents of economic crime that seem to allow those with money to water down the consequences of their criminality. That said, the law remains a tool that we can and must use, and we should worry about the implications of disregarding it. There have been situations this week where growing lawlessness has sounded a harsh warning for society. The Soweto derby is one of the biggest football matches in the world, and each year the stadium hosting the game has been overrun with fans. It is estimated that over 100K fans were present in the 94K capacity stadium earlier this year. Those responsible for logistics talk about the refusal of ordinary people to follow the rules of buying a ticket before coming to the match, and how they simply disregard the control points set up to regulate the crowd. No ticket? No problem. Just pitch up.
Protests and marches by anti-immigrant groups have resulted in violent attacks on foreigners in parts of the country this week. These groups are tapping into a genuine disaffection among poorer communities, but they are using this to mobilise people to engage in actions that break the law. In public interviews, they claim how undocumented migrants are responsible for more than half of serious crimes in South Africa, and how they are depriving locals of services such as health and education. These claims are contested, butt hey use this narrative to justify their forcible prevention of people from visiting hospitals. They march ostensibly to challenge the authorities, but in reality they open up the space for physical attacks on small businesses owned and operated by foreigners. This movement deflects attention from the failures of governance. If half the energy used to generate these protests was directed at the authorities who are responsible for creating the economic and social crises within communities, we would achieve a whole lot more that the violence and lawlessness that comes to pass each time.
And then of course there are the witnesses at the Madlanga Commission who are exposing the corruption of the police, politicians and civil servants.
There was a time when ungovernability was a political strategy against the apartheid regime– we refused to obey unjust laws. A common refrain when we did this was that “we weren’t consulted”. Electricity and rent boycotts, refusing to adhere to ‘whites only’ signs, and throwing stones at the police were credible forms of protest against an illegitimate system. Unfortunately, that principled strategy has been denigrated and now we simply do what we want. I don’t think anybody wants the consequences of that spiral into lawlessness.
