New Weapons Act welcome, but too late for Marikana

26 July 2013 - 02:16 By The Times Editorial
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The Times Editorial: Yesterday's signing into law of the Dangerous Weapons Act will be welcomed by all right-thinking South Africans.

The act, which prohibits the carrying in public of all dangerous weapons, including spears and knobkerries, bricks, glass bottles and other dangerous items, is aimed principally at quelling violence during protests.

Firearms, and toys that are replicas of real weapons, and which can be used in the commission of crime, are also outlawed.

Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa has given his assurance that the purpose of the law is not to render defenceless ordinary people who carry items such as a pepper spray for their own protection.

A police officer who misused the law to make such an arbitrary arrest would ''face justice'', Mthethwa told parliament.

The real significance of the new law is that it gives the police the power to arrest anyone carrying an object that could cause injury during a protest.

After the terrible events at Marikana last year, many people asked why the police had not disarmed the panga-, iron rod- and kerrie-wielding strikers long before they assembled in such large numbers on Wonderkop.

Had they done so, a tragedy of such magnitude would surely have been avoided on August 16.

How could the police have argued that they had acted in self-defence if the protesters had nothing in their hands?

The beauty of the law is that it does not infringe on the inalienable right to protest. What it does do is help to create an environment in which lawful protests can proceed peacefully.

For too long protesters have got away with using violence to press home their point.

Protests and strikes do not chase investors away - they happen in every country, particularly in tough economic times.

But lawless demonstrations that result in people being killed and maimed certainly do.

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