Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
This piece seems to suggest it was:
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news...l-and-invalid/
New firearms amnesty period declared illegal and invalid
Police Minister Bheki Cele finds himself in hot water after going against parliament's recommendations.
by Jan-Jan Joubert
2019-10-11 08:20
in News
The new firearms amnesty period was proclaimed illegally and is therefore invalid, ANC MP and chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, warned on Thursday.
She quoted the law that such an amnesty can only be proclaimed once the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) have agreed to it. Both the NA and the NCOP very specifically did not agree to the amnesty, so it cannot be implemented, Joemat-Pettersson said.
Police Minister Bheki Cele bungles firearms amnesty process
The fact that police minister Bheki Cele proclaimed the amnesty in the Government Gazette anyway, despite the NA specifically rejecting it and the NCOP not taking a decision on it, left Joemat-Pettersson and her committee very unhappy and with the impression that it was possibly being undermined.
Deputy Minister of police Cassel Mathale, who attended yesterday’s portfolio committee meeting, apologised and promised to explain what went wrong as soon as he had all the facts at his disposal.
In the NCOP meeting last month, the attack on the amnesty was led by DA MP George Michalakis, who said people simply did not trust the police enough anymore to keep such a large number of firearms safe and not to sell them to criminals, because of the police’s track record with the previous amnesty, when thousands of firearms handed in by the public were sold to criminals by high-ranking police officers who are now, themselves, in jail.
Michalakis also asked whether it was true that a firearms amnesty leads to a decline in crime because it is those who obey the law who hand in their firearms, not the criminals.
He claimed that the weaknesses in current firearms legislation must first be addressed before a successful firearms amnesty can be attempted by the police.
ANC members ridicule police procedures
Whereas such criticisms from the DA are not unexpected, events took a surprising turn for the worse when inputs by normally timid ANC MPs turned the police’s Cape Town visit into a nightmare.
Arguments made by ANC members of the committee included:
- The point of the amnesty was questioned if there are background checks on those handing in the firearms, because it is precisely the firearms belonging to dodgy people which must preferably be handed in;
- The police do not have the ability to run a safe, effective and honest amnesty process;
- An ANC MP said the DA was correct that the police was no longer trusted by the community and
- Police stations are so poorly run, maintained and secured that it is a bad idea to keep those firearms which are handed in at police stations, lest the police stations be attacked and robbed by criminals.
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
This was an absolute rout for SAPS.
They (Cele) tried to sneak this through and got thoroughly spanked!
This was on the heels of the North West Provincial Commissioner issuing false instructions a week after Parliament shot the amnesty down three weeks ago. These bloody muppets just NEVER learn.
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
The positive is that we could not have asked for a better outcome than for Cele to go ahead and do this anyway. Now he has the ANC stack up against SAPS and even agreeing with the DA. Awesome!
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
So... there certainly is no doubt now about where Parliament stands on an amnesty.
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, though. Sure, they don't want to declare an amnesty, which is nice, but what if they're aiming to criminalize everyone with expired licences?
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Toxxyc
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, though. Sure, they don't want to declare an amnesty, which is nice, but what if they're aiming to criminalize everyone with expired licences?
Well... they can't can they?
The ConCourt proclaimed that the strictest sanction could NOT be applied if the holder of an expired licence firearm had attempted to comply.
That's why GOSA created the Renewal Rescue Pack... to show that the licence holder was denied the opportunity to relicese by the police!
So, the strictest sanction (prosecution/arrest) is off the table. Then GOSA secured the interim interdict against SAPS prohibiting them from demanding the surrender of firearms with expired licences.
You see now why it's so important that we hang onto these advances we have secured?
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Paul
Well... they can't can they?
The ConCourt proclaimed that the strictest sanction could NOT be applied if the holder of an expired licence firearm had attempted to comply.
That's why GOSA created the Renewal Rescue Pack... to show that the licence holder was denied the opportunity to relicese by the police!
So, the strictest sanction (prosecution/arrest) is off the table. Then GOSA secured the interim interdict against SAPS prohibiting them from demanding the surrender of firearms with expired licences.
You see now why it's so important that we hang onto these advances we have secured?
Yes of course, I'm just very confused about where this is headed. I want to be optimistic, but you know what they say about optimism...
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
Any update on the amnesty?
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Skaaphaas
Any update on the amnesty?
The 'report' (read recommendation to announce) was approved by the National Assembly yesterday.
Re: Was an amnesty proclaimed yesterday?
Okay thanks. So no amnesty in force as of yet. Do we have more details of the proposed terms, I suppose the PC’s recommendations won’t be followed.
