OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday
THE South African government is facing legal challenges on two fronts over its moratorium on the release of crime statistics.
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was convinced the moratorium was unconstitutional, while Independent Newspapers announced it was taking Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete to court on the issue.
DA leader in the National Council of Provinces, Piet Matthee, said if government persisted with “this foolhardy approach by keeping the public in the dark”, while simultaneously claiming successes in combating crime, his party would have no option but to take legal action.
Matthee has tabled a number of questions to Tshwete on the issue. He said that with two days before President Thabo Mbeki delivered his state-of-the-nation address in Parliament, it was assumed he would once again refer to crime and the measures government had implemented to deal with this growing crisis in South Africa.
“It will, however, be impossible to properly evaluate the president, as government is still refusing to make public crime statistics.”
The moratorium was not only counter-productive, but after legal advice had been obtained by the DA, “we are convinced that it is also unconstitutional in terms of Section 32 of the Constitution, which gives everyone the right of access to any information held by the state”, Matthee said.
The protection of the safety and security of its citizens was regarded as one of the most fundamental duties of any government.
It is therefore impossible to properly evaluate the performance of the government as to whether or not it is succeeding in discharging this duty, without proper crime statistics to substantiate it,” he said.
Independent Newspapers said on Wednesday it was taking Tshwete to court after a refusal by the police to provide crime statistics for a section of the N2 national road outside Cape Town, where there have been a number of recent attacks on motorists.
In a front-page announcement in its morning newspapers, the group said its lawyer had advised the moratorium — implemented in the middle of last year – was “in direct contravention of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, which guarantees members of the public the right of access to any information held by the state”.