More than 400,000 people were arrested for violating Covid-19 lockdown regulations, and a large number of them are now saddled with criminal records.
Though the severity of the cases varies from person to person, there are some who feel they are being punished for laws which are no longer relevant.
Sunday Times reported at the weekend that though some were given warnings by the police for violating regulations at the time, others entered into guilty pleas and received criminal records.
Among those who were affected was small business development minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who was fined for visiting former deputy higher education minister Mduduzi Manana at his home while South Africans were banned from visiting relatives.
She got a criminal record in the process.
Closer to home, Patriotic Alliance national chair Marlon Daniels was charged for a public statement he made on social media about the strict lockdown regulations.
In a video posted on his Facebook page, Daniels encouraged South Africans to defy the government, and he took issue with taxis not being permitted to operate at 100% capacity, the ban on alcohol and cigarette trading and home visits not allowed for families.
Daniels was charged in only December 2022, when the lockdown regulations had long since been lifted.
Though the charges were eventually withdrawn, he was particularly perturbed by what he said were draconian regulations.
Civil rights organisation AfriForum has written to justice minister Ronald Lamola requesting his consideration that the criminal records of those who violated regulations be expunged.
This, it argues, would be in the interests of justice and fairness as the lockdown regulations did not follow the traditional parliamentary legislative process.
Lawlessness should not be condoned or excused.
However, it would be amiss to ignore that there were instances of gung-ho law enforcement officers who were hell-bent on making examples of civilians.
This made criminals out of law-abiding citizens who would otherwise never have been caught in the crosshairs of the law.
Who can forget the Johannesburg father who was arrested while rushing to a nearby hospital during curfew hours to buy formula milk for his newborn baby?
We believe the state should consider an amnesty period for those who received criminal records for violating lockdown regulations to allow them the opportunity to have their records expunged.
It should, however, depend on the severity of the incident and a decision made on a case-by-case basis.
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