The article headlined “Aarto system: 'Far too many road users in SA behave like there are no consequences for their actions'” (Cape Argus, January 14) refers.
It is not surprising to read that the courts have declared a piece of legislation to be incompetent. We often see legislation pushed through Parliament despite warnings from the experts.
This is done on a regular basis to pursue a political agenda as opposed to being in line with the Constitution and as opposed to being able to correct an evil. One does see some merit in trying to tighten up the administration of traffic offences but this needs to be carefully thought out and properly drafted beforehand.
Parliament has a whole host of legal advisers who are highly qualified but tend to play to the tune of their political masters. In this particular instance, their legal advisers and MPs were specifically advised with regard to the illegality of what they were doing.
Despite this, they went ahead and bulldozed the legislation through the various structures. Experts and opposition political parties all warned the parliamentary legal advisers of the outcome.
The courts have now spoken clearly and said that Parliament was wrong and that the ministry has to pay the legal costs.
We are going through a similar exercise right now with regard to the Employment Equity Legislation. The MPs have been warned that the Department of Employment and Labour is wrong and they have been warned that the proposals are unconstitutional.
Parliament is hell-bent on going ahead with a political agenda once again.
* Michael Bagraim, Cape Town.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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