This is a letter which was sent to a newspaper recently. Personally I feel that it sums up exactly what people are feeling about the current ANC government. Click on the image to view it, or right click and save it. Let me know what your feelings on the subjects raised are!

The new Sexual Offenses Act which was signed into law this Thursday has pretty much made a vast number of teenagers into criminals!

According to the Act teenagers under the age of 16 caught kissing, touching or rubbing up against each other may now be criminally charged.

This means EVERY picture on this page shows a criminal offense under the new South African Law. Doesn’t that make you feel good?

This is just plain madness!

Did you know that you can now be had up on criminal charges if you kiss, or even hug your child?

Yes folks that is correct. Under the current wording of the act even a kiss hello or goodbye can now be viewed as a criminal offence. If your child hugs a friend goodbye, they can now be charged.

This law is breaking apart the basics of the family as well as affecting the social growth of our children. What kind of people will they turn into?

Now some of you will say that I am going overboard with this. But isn’t this exactly what the government always does? They initially say they won’t prosecute the innocent things, but then slowly the line is moved until they are prosecuting for the ridiculous.

Samantha Waterhouse, advocacy manager of Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, said that the laws covering consenting sexual behaviour, especially the aspects of non-penetrative sex among teenagers under the age of 16, were “ridiculous”.

“It is irrational. It does not help our cause at all because all it does is that it makes criminals of a wide range of teenagers.

“I can understand where the government is coming from in terms of morality, but criminalising kissing, and even touching, is illogical. What we should have are programmes aimed at sexual education, like what is and what is not appropriate,” she said.

Joan van Niekerk, national co-ordinator of Childline, said the act failed children and adolescents.

As is getting more common, the government drafted and passed the law without having public hearings. Furthermore the Act was not the Bill which was initially recommended by the Law Commission.

Our freedoms are slowly getting eroded away. No longer is the government the servant of the people as it should be. They now think that they are our benevolent guardians who know better than us.

Also illegal under the new act is any sexual activity, including oral sex, between consenting teens aged 15 and younger. Additionally it dealt with the new definition of rape which extends the definition to able men and boys to bring rape charges against perpetrators. These are some aspects of the Act which I can agree with.

Fred has been found not guilty … at a cost. Reports are that his family spent R9 - 10 million to prove it to the court.

They brought in four expert witnesses from around the world, had a team of attorneys and lawyers, private investigators and miscellaneous other expenses. It is no wonder that the cost was so high. After all, what loving parent would not pay everything they had to ensure their child had the best defence possible?

Fred is lucky. He comes from a section of the population that has access to this kind of money. I can’t but help thinking of the millions of other South Africans who do not have access to the same defence as Fred did. Do they get a fair shot at proving their innocence?

Without a good defence, the police have carte blanche in manufacturing evidence, presenting flimsy evidence before the court and/or not bothering with a good investigation. When this repetitively happens, they are exposed as incompetent when someone with money stands up to them - as in this case.
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There has been a lot of talk on the blog about the legal aspects of blogging. What can you say and what can’t you say? Can you be sued for things that have been said?

I am not an expert by any means on ‘blogging’ law and the implications. I can only tell you my interpretation of how I currently see things.

South African law does not currently have any legislation in place dealing specifically with blogging. However this does not mean that someone could not pursue legal action as they could make use of other laws, such as those dealing with libel (or character defamation).

Here are sections of an article written by Dr Gerrie Ebersohn LLD (UFS):

Section 16 of the Constitution enshrines the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to criticise. However, the Constitution does not grant Internet users a blanket right to say what they want, as the right to freedom of expression is limited by the provisions of s 36. Of course, comments or remarks constituting hate speech are not protected by the Constitution.
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There appears to be two laws in South Africa these days - one for government officials and one for the rest of us.

Just today it was announced by Ekurhuleni councillor Izak Berg that Robert McBrides legal fees from a Durban-based firm of attorneys was costing the taxpayers more than R2,5 million.

This is expected to rise substantially when he goes to trial next month on charges of drunk driving, defeating the ends of justice and fraud.

The first thing that really makes me angry is that if a common, every day citizen ends up in court, there is NO way that the state would pay that amount of money for a defence on Legal Aid. What makes McBride so special that he can get so much money from the state?

This is a clear case of discrimination against all the citizens of South Africa!

The second thing that makes me angry is that he got out of jail on only R1000 bail. Most ‘normal’ people would have their bail set a lot higher than that. Did he get it because of his ‘privileged’ position?

Why do the council and state not treat everyone the same? Why does McBride get given all these additional benefits?

What about other examples?

Don’t forget that the presidency agreed to pay an undisclosed portion of Zuma’s legal fees in his corruption trial. Some news sources have estimated the costs so far for Zuma are in the R20 - 30 million range. One wonders how much of that the government has covered!

These people should be entitled to what the common people are entitled to. Why the special privileges?