When we begin picking and choosing when the rule of law matters and when it doesn’t, we start down a slippery slope.
Mjoliso Mphotye a waste picker that was arrested during the nationwide lockdown can be seen at the informal settlement along the Hennops river in Centurion, 9 July 2020, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The right to equality is one of the most fundamental. It is an enabling right, a precondition for the realisation of other rights. There are times when certain rights can and should be limited. Like during a state of disaster. But the right to equality isn’t one of those. As waste pickers, when the lockdown took effect, the two men were stripped of their only means of making an income. Driven to desperation, in early April they broke the lockdown rules and ventured out into the streets to try and collect recyclables they could trade for money for food. They were arrested and charged. And then they were locked up for three months.
No, it’s that Shabangu and Mphotshe didn’t get off lightly. And they should have. Their punishment did not fit their crime. You don’t have to agree with the lockdown regulations but you do have to follow them because they represent something much bigger: the rule of law.
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