S. Africa mulls over Bill to tackle terrorism

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, JAN. 7. The enactment of the anti-terrorism legislation and the amendment of the Constitution to deal with ``urban terrorism'' are likely to be among the top priorities of legislative business when Parliament reconvenes in Cape Town next month.

According a report in a weekend newspaper, the Minister for Safety and Security, Mr. Steve Tshwete, wants the Constitution to be amended to enable the State to fight ``urban terrorism'' more effectively. Specifically, the Minister is quoted as saying that he wants such amendments that would enable the law and order authorities to hold for more than 48 hours persons arrested on suspicion of being involved in acts of ``urban terrorism'' - in effect, enabling detention without charges being framed. He also wants access to legal representation restricted for such suspects.

Article 12 in the Bill of Rights Chapter of the Constitution dealing with ``freedom and security of the person'' guarantees that the right to freedom includes the rather curiously formulated ``right not to be detained without trial'. Though the Minister has only spoken of an amendment, the maximum period allowed before suspects have to be produced, the distinction between detention without charge and detention without trial is thin.

The ``right not to be detailed without trial' like everything else in the Constitution, is subjected to the ``limitation clause' (Article 36). Indeed, this right is not among the ``non- derogable'' rights under a state of emergency. Nevertheless, the openly expressed desire of the Minister to limit the existing rights reveals the frustration of the authorities over the failure to deal with urban terrorism, particularly in the Cape Peninsula.

The question, however, is whether the Government has been able to use effectively the enormous powers and the popular legitimacy it has to tackle the problem. A truism of the South African criminal justice is the lack of co-ordination among the three arms that comprise the system - the police, the judiciary and the correctional services. The flaw, long recognised and indeed somewhat of a scandal during the first term of the Government, is now much less evident following structural and administrative changes over the last two years.

But the popular mood of ``zero tolerance'' of crime, of which Mr. Tshwete seems to be an eloquent, indeed aggressive voice, demands instant solution to what is assumed to have become a ``phenomenon''. Mr. Tshwete has said that new legislation and modifications to the Constitution does not mean ``reverting to old apartheid laws''.

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Section  : International
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