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The recent decision by the High Court in Johannesburg to grant multiple murder accused Katiso KT Molefe bail has been met with outrage by many South Africans who believe that among others, setting him free is insensitive to families of his alleged victims.
Molefe was already out on bail when he was arrested in connection with several murders including that of entertainer Oupa Sefoka otherwise known as Dj Sumbody.
Some of those opposed to his release have cited among others fears that he could orchestrate the killing of witnesses in order for the cases against him to fall apart. The EFF went as far as releasing a statement calling for protection to be provided for witnesses.
Many also pointed out that the most heinous crimes are being committed by people who are either out on bail or those released on parole. This is an undisputed fact supported by an abundance of police and records from the courts. The concerns of the EFF and others against the granting of bail for people accused of serious offences is problematic but this was not and can never be a good enough justification for denying Mr Molefe bail or any other accused person.
Bail as contemplated in the law, is part of recourse for accused persons with the overarching principle being that everyone is “innocent until proven otherwise” and has a right to legal defence. For these reasons, the court releasing Mr Molefe should not be seen as suspicious.
Granting a person bail does not imply innocence but unfortunately many South Africans tend to view it as such.Blaming the courts for releasing potentially dangerous criminals back in society by granting them bail is like blaming the butcher when the baker burns the bread because the presiding officers are guided by the law at the end of the day.
Accordingly, this justified societal frustration should be directed at the root cause of the problem which is some of the constitution’s unintended negative consequences including the Bill of Rights itself. Rights, as contemplated in the constitution, are blanket meaning everyone has a right to life, right to comfort and so on even when they themselves have taken someone else’s life. Police themselves are victims of these unintended consequences because the constitution restrains them in terms of what they can do when processing suspected criminals. An officer accused of brutality stands to lose their job and may be imprisoned themselves. It is on the basis of these misguided rights that the administration of justice is so costly in South Africa as the state has to provide free legal representation for accused persons along with translators, and this while feeding those detained at a cost, we are told, of R500 a day when the poorest South African can only get R350 per month. Some have even questioned why the state doesn’t provide school uniforms for children if it spends so much on the upkeep of society’s bad apples.
There’s no way that convicted criminals should have the same rights with law abiding citizens, something has to give. The country should incentivise good behaviour and certainly not molly-coddle criminality as is currently the case.
Ideally it should be an eye for an eye, not in the literal sense but something needs to be done to deter criminality which may include not easily granting bail and or parole. If this is done crime will gradually decrease as people would fear consequences knowing that a life sentence means exactly that, life behind bars instead of the current arrangement of 25 years which is often reduced to even less than a decade based on the so-called good behaviour.
Noble as it may sound the whole idea of rehabilitation is not working. Ideally criminals should be condemned to suffering of the highest proportion which under the current constitution it may be deemed ‘human rights violation’.
The correctional services recently announced a plan to jam signal at some of the most dangerous prisons in the country where inmates don’t just trouble their keepers but orchestrate robberies, kidnappings from there. The announcement was met with hostility from NGOs who are arguing the move will violate the rights of inmates to communicate with their loved ones. So at the end of the day the country cannot provide security and justice for law abiding citizens while mollycoddling killers and rapists, something has to give.
El-Salvador in South America is one good of a country that had descended into a so-called mafia state where cartels could literally who gets appointed minister or mayor. Three years or so ago the government decisively suspended some of the civil liberties, a move that allowed police to reign in the rampant criminality. As you read this Al Salvador is one of the safest places in the world. South Africa can learn a lesson from this experience.
