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In response to a question by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State Legislature, MEC Sam Mashinini reported that 27 791 criminal cases were opened with regard to violations of the Covid-19 regulations during the period 27 March and 30 May, while 11 422 people had been arrested.

This statistic is outrageous when we consider that these are not regular statutory crimes such as murder, robbery, assault, housebreaking, etc but only offences in terms of the "special disaster regulations" gazetted by Ministers, such as the sale of tobacco products or alcohol, or driving in the street without a permit.

At the same time 2 280 convicted persons were released by Correctional Services in the province, as part of President Ramaphosa’s approval of parole for 19 000 prisoners countrywide to curb the spread of the virus in overcrowded prisons.

In many cases the crackdown by law enforcement officials was brutal, as we saw on social media, with cases of excessive force being used, and eleven people allegedly killed countrywide as a result of SAPS or SANDF actions.

In his reply, MEC Mashinini also revealed that between 26 March and 29 May, 155 cases against SAPS officers were reported to the Independent Police Investigations Directorate (IPID). Of these, two-thirds or 104, were in terms of Covid-19 related activities in the Free State, while one third were for regular statutory SAPS activities.

The enormous increase in the case load for IPID investigators could not have come at a worse time, when their numbers have been reduced by 6% countrywide because of budget constraints. On 13 May the NCOP Select Committee on Security and Justice were told that there had been a 67% increase in complaints to IPID in the Free State, the biggest increase in the whole country. The MEC further stated that 2 matters involving SANDF officers were referred to the SAPS for investigation.

With the extreme pressure on SAPS as a result of the lack of resources like vehicles or office space, challenges with the high rate of crime, and difficulties in completing investigations, the last thing they needed now was policing the often ridiculous regulations thought up by Ministers thoroughly enjoying their new found authoritarian power. Now the equally stressed judicial system must face the additional burden of all the 27 791 cases which must be heard in our courts.

The ANC, overwhelmed with the enormity of the Covid-19 storm on the horizon, and relishing the sudden powers afforded them under the Disaster Management Act, quite obviously lost the plot. Instead of calmly guiding the population into doing the right thing, they often made everything much worse by placing an unbearable burden on residents, the policing and judicial systems, not to mention administering the final coup de graceto the dying economy.

The greatest disaster which has befallen us is not the Covid-19 virus, it is the inept and hapless ANC government.

Issued by The DA