Editorial: Bheki Cele, we are neither a police nor a military state

The relationship between a citizenry and a country’s police force is not – and should never be – adversarial.

With equal weight, the relationship with the military, when deployed for civil duty, should also not be adversarial.

Both these arms of protection are employed by the people they serve.

It is taxpayer money that funds these services to safeguard the welfare of citizens from internal and external threats.

The lockdown in South Africa needs to be sustained; we all know that. But this should not come at the expense of human rights and the right to life.

Reports so far reflect a dark picture of alleged abuse of citizens at the hands of their protectors.

Those returning from shopping have been forced to do press-ups and squats when stopped by the police or military.

Some have been beaten. Some have died.

This borders on Gestapo tactics and is in violation of the very nature of our constitutionally entrenched human rights.

If you are found to be breaking the lockdown rules, you should reasonably expect to be arrested and allow the law to take its course.

You should not expect to be beaten – and certainly not to die.

The military live by a code of discipline. When they interact with the public, it is not the public who should observe the military code of discipline, it is the military that must adopt the humanity of their citizens while maintaining the order required to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Read: Covid-19 lockdown: be a force of kindness, not of might, Ramaphosa tells SANDF

It is doubly tragic that Police Minister Bheki Cele – who pushed for the militarisation of police ranks when he was national commissioner – seems to be revelling in some new-found authority to push a puritan agenda and allow the police force to punish anyone who defies his standard.

This is not leadership.

It is delusional at best and power hungry at worst.

We are not a police state. We are not a military state. We are a constitutional democracy.

The wanna-be general would do well to heed that.

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