Picture: THINKSTOCK
Picture: THINKSTOCK

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WYNDHAM Hartley can always be relied upon to cover the behind-the-scenes machinations in the ongoing project to disarm ordinary citizens to make the kleptocracy unassailable (Gun dealers will continue to fight licensing directive, March 10).

The only beneficiary of Gun Free SA’s facilitation of the Firearms Control Act has been the kleptocratic state.

A good recent example is the gun-related signalling to their would-be dictator by generals vying to become the next commissioner of the scandal-ridden, corruption-tainted South African Police Service (SAPS), whose unlawful competition led to the brouhaha about gun licence renewal, which appeared to have been abandoned by universal agreement.

This de facto abrogation of firearms licence-renewal appeared to have been the consequence of "issues" such as gun licence renewals backlogged for eight years, and the failure of the SAPS to comply with several court orders related to licence-issuing.

Quite simply, the SAPS cannot administer the Firearms Control Act. We warned you. We are headed down that administrative-collapse road again — masters at repeating the same behaviour and expecting a different result.

Are guns not property, protected by Section 25 of the Bill of Rights? What about the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and fair? Is an eight-year backlog in licence renewals reasonable, fair or lawful?

A core value of the Constitution is the rule of law.

The effect of refusal to consider the constitutional consequences of the Firearms Control Act has been the creation of political space for the SAPS to laugh off the rule of law.

I fear the time for reorganisation of the SAPS, which could turn it around to make it an effective crime-fighting organisation we could all be proud of, is long past.

The only way to plug the hole in the state-failure dyke now is to privatise as many policing functions as possible.

Brett Nortje
Via e-mail