Outlawing Private Police Forces in South Africa - and Analogies with Private Electricity and Water Infrastructure - The Failure of States

A Labour Day essay ...

On Workers Day, Mayday, or Labour Day, we need to think carefully, with a lot of care, about workers and the right of workers to have work and to be compensated for that work, and for the workers to have rights at work, and not to be slaves at work. (Just a note that I am in a party of one, a people of South Africa. I am not a member of a "union". And note that I mostly work without breaks and long hours and often on public holidays and over weekends, and I haven't had a proper holiday since January 2016. But that's ok, and perhaps I'll write a separate article about that. One should note that Unions protect workers; they do nothing for the unemployed. It is assumed that The State will look after the Unemployed and that The State will create conditions so that the Unemployed are unemployable and join unions.)

In 2004, government tried to outlaw private security companies. In those days they were called Neighbourhood Watches. They mainly used residents to patrol streets in shifts and in some cases, like in Milnerton, we had a full time car patrolling the streets.

The government said that every one of these associations needed to be registered and that all the patrolmen needed to be registered. Now these patrolment didn't (and still don't) have the power of arrest and mostly they didn't carry weapons. But they are the early warning systems that we need in the system, that proactively prevent threats.

Back in those days one could get companies like ADT and Chubb and Milnerton Armed Response, who were registered, to protect one's property, and to provide "Armed Response". But they weren't proactive and only responded. And often, because the Neighbour Watch cars were already in the area, the Neighbour Watch responded first. The thing about the Armed Response companies is that they are armed.

I tend to think that the Armed Response companies decided that they could do everything and perhaps they lobbied government for protection. And then government outlawed Neighbourhood Watches. And then Crime Watch (an armed response company) registered itself in competition with The Milnerton Crime Watch Trust!!

I was on the Milnerton Residents Association committee at that time, and we worked hard with Milnerton Neigbourhood Watch to create a Trust called The Milnerton Crime Watch Trust, and this allowed our Neighbourhood watches to continue, albeit in a registered way.

Why write this now?

I came across the following letter that I wrote on 1st August 2004, and I want you to read it, and to think about all the other Failures of State in South Africa, and in other countries, and realise that before States and before Nationalism, the poor and middle class looked after themselves, in Friendly Societies and Prosecution Associations, and other organisations, and also that the South African Constitution was breached when Neighbour Watches were made illegal.

It is my hypothesis now that the Electricity Act and the Water Act and many other Acts of the South African State and Parliament, are actually illegal, in terms of Constitutional Law, the Bill of Rights, and Competition Law, to name just a few.

If one understands the reason for a law, then one can transcend the law and make new law.

An Act is an Act of Parliament, a law created by the Lawmakers of South Africa, most of whom are not lawyers, but who are MP's, Members of Parliament. And an Act should be democratic and should protect "the man in the street", ie the South African Citizen, as much as it protects Government Institutions and SOE's, State Owned Enterprises.

Here is my original letter:

1st August 2004

 Dear all

 As citizens in the New South Africa, is there anything that we can do to either:

1) reinstate the crime watch

2) approach the public protector and constitutional court to help us understand what is going on in our society?

 There are 100's of people who work in City Improvement Districts (CID's) and 1000's more who work from home. Of all colours. Who contribute taxes to the upkeep of this country. We didn’t do anything when our doctors got sent overseas; when our pharmacies got closed down; when our schools lost their government subsidies; when our universities lost their subsidies; when affirmative action took place. Why, because we rightly feel that there are formally disadvantaged people who have the right to the kind of life our parents had 20 years ago in the Apartheid era. I know that I only have some of the luxuries our parents generation had and this applies to 95% of my friends as well. I work 6 days a week and I survive. So I live in this beautiful country and the only requirements I have of my government are a secure living environment and the rule of law. And perhaps we so called “elite” (word used in Sunday Argus “Tragedy in police, community row” article on 1st August 2004 referring to comments by Police management that crime watches are “elitist”) ones pay 90% of this country’s taxes. And a few days ago a police reservist who has been doing his job properly for many years committed suicide because he was told that actually he wasn't doing his job properly. Where would that leave each of us? Imagine if you were suddenly told that your job meant nothing and you were summarily dismissed or moved to another area? Besides anything else, isn't this unfair labour practice?

Our Constitution says the following:

7.1 ... The Bill of Rights enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

9.1 Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.

9.2 Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms.

9.3 The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds ...

10. Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.

11. Everyone has the right to life.

12.1 Everyone has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes the right

a) not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily or without just cause;

c) to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources.

12. 2 b) to security in and control over their body.

41.1 All spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must

a) preserve the peace, national unity and indivisibility of the Republic;

b) secure the well-being of the people of the Republic;

d) be loyal to the Constitution, the Republic and its people;

h) co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith by

i) fostering friendly relations

ii) assisting and supporting one another

iii) informing one another of, and consulting one another on, matters of common interest.

Aristotle says in Politics: “Justice is the bond of men in states, and the administration of justice, which is determined by what is just, is the principle of order in political society.” “… the state .. continues in existence for the sake of a good life.” “The governing body, whether Few or Many, must be held in check by the laws.”

The crime watch ran for 6 years in Milnerton. It had an incredibly close relationship with its local police forces. It provided cars for the police. It paid police reservists to do the work. This encouraged more police to become reservists. The police have full powers of search and arrest which armed response companies do not have. People felt safe in this environment. This mutual respect and co-operation which the above clauses of our constitution uphold has been destroyed. It is not too late to resurrect them.

However, if the police were doing their jobs in terms of the rights outlined in our constitution, crime watch, CID's, armed response companies, high walls, etc, would not be necessary. But we “elite” have even put up with this inadequacy in our country to uphold our safety and right of dignity and life by paying for our own crime watches and protection whilst our police stations have been stripped of their capabilities and these capabilities sent to formerly disadvantaged areas. And we don't have a problem with paying this additional tax because we are interested in the long term prosperity of our entire country.

But if this basic safety is removed from our lives, what then? Who do we turn to? When do we let our children walk to school? Do we let our children go to school? Do we go to work anymore? We have to live in the legal system we have, so it is the right thing to continue to pay all the taxes we pay; VAT, PAYE, SDL, UIF, Compensation Commissioner, Council Levy, Corporation Tax, Excise Duty, Stamp Duty, Transfer Duty, Cash Deposit Duty, Credit Card Transaction Duty, Capital Gains Tax. But we “elite people” have the right to expect only one thing back from our government. The dignity and security to live in peace with our neighbours and our environment. We must all search deeply in our selves and find the answer to this vexing problem.

Otherwise our beautiful democracy and all the beautiful things that our Nobel Peace Prize winners, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu (who lives in Milnerton) and FW de Klerk will have all been in vain. I cannot believe that this is the case. I cannot believe that we cannot live in harmony with each other in a beautiful South Africa our fathers Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk have created for us. I must believe that there is a future here. I came back to this South Africa in 1995 after living in exile for 8 years. I came back because I believe that for every skilled and qualified South African who stays or comes back, 50 other South Africans have jobs and access to education, etc, via the skills and resources we bring and by the taxes we pay.

Are we now being asked to leave? Is it a co-incidence that our council executive meets behind closed doors and our local policing has been shut down by our new ANC led council? For the first time in my life I voted for a “black” party in the latest election. I cannot now believe that I made a mistake. I think that the government has made a mistake and the only thing left is either for them to apologise or create a law that allows communities stripped of every priviledge they might have had in the name of the new South Africa to create their own police forces in co-operation with the South African police so that the “peace, national unity and indivisibility” of our beautiful country and its multi-cultural society and its light unto the nations of the past 10 years as described in our constitution is upheld.

Nelson Mandela in his Cape Town speech on 9th May 1994 said the following:

"The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans. We will tackle the widespread poverty so pervasive among the majority of our people. By encouraging investors and the democratic state to support job creating projects in which manufacturing will play a central role we will try to change our country from a net exporter of raw materials to one that exports finished products through beneficiation.

"To raise our country and its people from the morass of racism and apartheid will require determination and effort. As a government, the ANC will create a legal framework that will assist, rather than impede, the awesome task of reconstruction and development of our battered society.

"We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all."

I truly pray that this is all still true.

David Lipschitz, Milnerton, Cape Town, 7441

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