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Anwa Dramat, the DA and its alliance partner the EFF Ian Beddowes, Umsebenzi Online, Johannesburg, 11 February 2015 The recent decision by the North Gauteng High Court sitting in Tshwane is breath-taking in its total disregard for the undisputed fact that Lieutenant-General Anwa Dramat, Deputy Commissioner of the Hawks acted as a willing servant to the notorious and ruthless Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation, as did his accomplices. Most media stories have only mentioned the technicalities of his suspension and totally ignored serious allegations: Dramat ordered the abduction in South Africa of four Zimbabwean political activists; the four were severely beaten here in South Africa before being sent to Zimbabwe where they were subjected to further torture and two were murdered. The act of abduction and sending people to another country outside the provisions of the law is called 'rendition'. Legally, a foreign citizen, following due legal process, can be deported. Likewise, another country can apply for the extradition of any person wanted for an alleged criminal act in that country. Again, due process must be followed, as happened in the case of Shrien Dewani. In the case of Maqhawe Sibanda and Shepherd Tshuma, now in hiding in South Africa and Witness Ndeya and Nelson Ndlovu who were murdered in Zimbabwe following their rendition, no such process was followed. In such circumstances Minister of Police Nkosinathi Nhleko's suspension of Dramat and his accomplices is substantively reasonable. However this is not to say procedural issues do not matter. They do, and surely the Police Minister should be aware about this. Then we hear that the DA and their alliance partners the EFF were challenging the authority of the Police Minister! This begs the question. If the Police Minister does not have the authority to suspend senior officials who commit brutal, illegal and treasonous acts, then who does or should exercise those powers? Further, the Helen Suzman Foundation, named after a person, who, though far from being a revolutionary, was a genuine supporter of human rights, is now defending the right of the police to abuse other people's human rights. Or is it because Zimbabweans have no rights and are not in that category to which human beings belong? As Minister Nhleko said in Parliament: "Having taken into consideration our history, I am convinced that because the lives involved and the lives at stake are those of black people, therefore, all that the colonial forces can do is prop up the debate, and for it to be about the institutional arrangements of the Hawks. Had the lives involved been those of white people, the debate and headlines would have been about human rights." The DA has amongst its members a number of white "Rhodesians". Can anybody imagine their reaction if the Hawks had abducted white DA members of Zimbabwean origin, beaten them and illegally sent them to Zimbabwe for further torture and murder? It is very clear that the DA, with the assistance of such and so-called "left" forces as EFF, is trying to subvert the right and duty of the democratically elected ANC-led government to govern. It is also very clear that the court system which is far from fundamentally being transformed especially by first removing the role that money (i.e., therefore, class) plays in determining access or lack thereof to justice and top quality legal services finds itself acting perhaps as an unwilling partner with the DA politically in order to usurp democratic government. The North Gauteng High Court is notorious for granting eviction notices which has the effect of making black South Africans homeless. It is not surprising, then, that the same court did not take into consideration the rights of those who come from the wrong side of the Limpopo. Neither is this the only court at issue: the legal system. In this respect, we should note that the Constitutional Court is only available to the rich due to the role played by money in initiating and sustaining related processes. The majority of South Africans, however much their constitutional rights are abused, in practice in contrast to paper have no right to bring their cases before it. They have no rights because they have no money. This recent court decision reveals the truth that the Roman-Dutch legal system is only for the Romans and the Dutch: not for Africans; not for anybody else without a massive income. The legal system in South Africa is, in the ultimate analysis, effectively owned by the capitalist class and works for them more than any other and mostly against the interests of the working-class and the poor. Politically things have begun the same shape in several respects. There can be no doubt that it is very much part and parcel of the forces that are hostile to the government to challenge it using the courts after losing or without contesting elections. A trend in underway in South Africa for the courts to usurp the powers of the Executive and directly govern through their rulings. The DA and its friends are very insistent about the "Rule of Law". Law existed under apartheid and was administered in the interests of the white minority and of capitalist interests. Communists are not fighting for the "Rule of Law" without assessing both the content of the law and how it is being administered. Communists are fighting for the establishment of a Just Legal System and in this context for the Rule of Law. . Ian Beddowes is General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Communist League and is based in South Africa due to obvious reasons. -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. 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