BREEDING ANARCHY

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The police have finally come to their senses and begun doing their job to ensure that Ding Dong Bus Services conducts its business without restriction at the Mbabane Bus Rank.

For weeks on end, notwithstanding the court order interdicting marshals and the Mbabane Branch Swaziland Local Kombi Association from interfering with the smooth operation of the buses, the public was deprived of the service due to the failure by police to enforce law and order at the bus rank.

While the aggrieved parties have every right to question the process of how the Ding Dong Bus Services was granted the permit, they ought to respect the channels availed to everybody for a fair hearing. The courts are better placed to adjudicate on this and nobody has the right to take the law into their own hands.

Blocking roads with sticks and stones to enforce what they believe is the law can only serve to instigate anarchy.
The delayed action by police is inexcusable. It has not just had the consequence of possibly contributing to the bus owner being admitted to hospital after suffering a heart attack, as he faced the prospects of losing his buses for failing to keep up with monthly instalments, but opened the door to a state of lawlessness.

This is sending out a red flag to the business community with regards to protection of their investments. It renders what should be a healthy competitive environment, extremely hostile.

The country cannot afford to send out these negative signals at a time that it needs to be promoting business growth at all levels. Businesses should be guaranteed that they will have workers that can get to work on time everyday. 

  The role of the police, therefore, is to enforce the law to provide this guarantee, including the protection of the commuters’ right to choose the most affordable, most convenient and most efficient public transport service. 

What the perpetrators of the defiance ought to understand is that if they want the law to be followed in the granting of permits, they have the responsibility to demonstrate how the law is obeyed in the first place.

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