Sello S Alcock interviews newly appointed Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthetwa.
Since your appointment was announced, you have come across as hard-hitting on the rights extended to criminals or accused persons in this country. How do you justify that in South Africa’s human rights culture, with a Bill of Rights protecting all, including accused persons?
I said it then and I am saying it now that even within the legislative regime, if we are called to do something extraordinary we will, but we will do everything within the Constitution.
There is nothing constitutional when we have criminals killing people. You can’t come and put a Constitution to their faces. You have to deal with them with excessive force, that is the point. These people kill without due regard for law-abiding citizens, so they have to reap what they sow.
The levels of crime in South Africa are high and there are people who make those levels high. There is absolutely no reason you would want to be humane to those people.
You spoke about reviewing legislation that gives criminals human rights. Again, how do you hope to marry this with our human rights culture, in which, for example, you cannot detain anybody for longer than 48 hours?
You see, there is a difference between a criminal and a suspect.
You treat suspects accordingly and you read them their rights. You follow all processes [but] you have people [criminals] who go out of their way and use excessive force.
What we are saying is that we are freeing the police service -- that they do not have to read the Constitution to those [criminals].
You seem to be repeating the statement that if you or the community are in danger, shoot and shoot to kill if necessary.
I am saying in our experience people involved in cash-in-transit heists kill the guard[s] and take the money. We need to be more organised and answer fire with fire.
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