24 Nov 2021

The leader of the minority opposition in Parliament Mr Wynter Mmolotsi says in recent years, incidences of bias in dispensing justice have grown, and the principle of all being equal before the law has been tossed aside.

In his response to the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday, Mr Mmolotsi said  it was apparent that the law had been weaponised to fight political battles.

He said the state of affairs pointed to a captured judiciary and one that no longer prosecuted but rather persecuted.

The MP also observed that there were growing incidences of people being arbitrarily arrested and jailed prior to investigations being carried out, noting that in the majority of such occurrences, the courts of law would later throw out the cases on account of lack of evidence.

Such arrests and detentions, which he said were often effected by the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DIS), were indicative of government’s disrespect for the principle of presumption of innocence until one was proven guilty.

Mr Mmolotsi expressed concern that government continued to turn a blind eye to the rogue behaviour of the DIS despite it being clear that the institution often acted outside the parameters of law.

Appealing for the disbanding of the institution, Mr Mmolotsi said given how much it had derailed from its mandate, it would be impossible to get it back to the direction it was supposed to have taken.

On another matter, Mr Mmolotsi argued that corruption had taken root across the different levels and structures of government.

He said the State of Public Emergency (SoPE) which the country recently emerged from had also fueled corruption.

He further accused government of also having been reckless in spending public funds during the state of emergency.

In addition, Mr Mmolotsi chastised government for what he termed neglect for private sector employees.

He said presently there were no laws to protect the rights of such employees; something that he said had made them susceptible to labour rights violations.

He said it was sad that to date some private sector employees still worked under one-month contracts, which left them predisposed to a life of stagnation as they could not push ahead with plans to better their lives under such unfavourable contract terms.

Regarding unemployment, Mr Mmolotsi noted that since assuming office, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was yet to put on the table a clear-cut strategy of addressing the situation.

On COVID-19, the leader of the minority opposition said from the SONA, it was clear that the country had not drawn any lessons from dealing with the pandemic.

He said while there was a shortage of nurses in public health facilities, it was disappointing that instead of absorbing unemployed nurses, government had chosen to engage some graduate nurses on temporary basis.

Mr Mmolotsi further noted that in spite of some gaps having been identified within the health sector as being impediments in the fight against COVID-19, not much had been done to plug them.

Attributing the loss of some lives to COVID-19 having been as a result of shortage of oxygen, he said nothing had been done to guard against a similar occurrence should another wave of the disease hit the nation.

Nonetheless, he applauded frontline and essential service workers for the resilience they had shown in the face of COVID-19.

He said the sacrifices they had made to keep life in motion were commendable. ENDS