The government is ”paranoid and overreacting” in enlisting the help of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and bringing sedition charges against protesters trying to highlight their plight, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday.
”Instead of listening and talking to the people who are demanding basic services and legitimate rights, and addressing their concerns, the government seems to want to criminalise them,” said Paul Notyhawa, Cosatu spokesperson.
The labour federation cited a recent case in Harrismith in the Free State, where sedition charges were brought against protesters, as ”a degree of paranoia”.
”It should never be used against ordinary people campaigning for their rights and in demand of services promised by government, even if they have broken other lesser laws,” Notyhawa said.
Sedition, he said, implies conspiracy to overthrow the government and carries huge sentences on conviction.
”Instead of criminalising the poorest section of our population, the government must seek to understand the genuine frustration of people who live in inhumane conditions, in slum settlements, where unemployment is massive and poverty universal,” he said.
Cosatu called on the government to drop the sedition charges against protesters, withdraw the NIA from investigating protests and investigate the slow or non-delivery of services. — Sapa