The Duty to Produce One’s Firearm for Inspection in Terms of the Firearms Control Act: The Right to Silence under Siege?

Authors

  • Phindile Raymond Msaule

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2018/v21i0a4746

Keywords:

KEY WORDS Accused, arrested, detained, firearms, limitation of rights, right to fair trial, right to silence, suspect

Abstract

The right of the arrested and accused persons to remain silent at pre-trial and during their trial are significant to ensuring a fair trial. The purpose of the right to remain silent is to ensure that the state bears the duty to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. In essence, the right serves to dissuade the state from engaging in any manner or form of coercing the accused person to assist the state in meeting its case, whether during pre-trial or during trial. An individual who is accused of committing an offence must not through his or her words or deeds assist the state in satisfying its burden of proof. The Firearm Control Act 20 of 2000 (the Act) seems to dilute these rights. The Act empowers the police official to request an owner of a legal firearm to produce it within seven days of the request at a threat of a criminal sanction. At the time the request is made the individual has been neither arrested for nor accused of a criminal offence. However, on the failure to produce the firearm on demand by a police official the individual may be charged with a criminal offence and evidence that has been obtained in terms of the Act would be admissible at the subsequent trial. This is despite the fact that at the time the request to produce a firearm is made the individual does not have a choice but to comply with the request lest he or she be charged with an offence under the Act. The purpose of this contribution is to investigate whether the individual to whom a request to produce a firearm has been made is entitled to the right to remain silent entrenched in section 35 of the Constitution, and whether the limitation of this right by the Act passes constitutional muster.

 

Google_Scholar43.png 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Literature

Ally D 2010 CILSA

Ally D “The Need for Clarity on Whether ‘Suspects’ May Rely on Section 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996: A Comparative Law Analysis” 2010 CILSA 239-259

Basdeo M, Geldenhuys T & Karels MG “Securing the Attendance of the Accused at Trial”

Basdeo M, Geldenhuys T & Karels MG “Securing the Attendance of the Accused at Trial” in Joubert JJ (eds) Criminal Procedure Handbook (JUTA & CO Claremont 2017) 128-160

Bibas S 2003 Iowa Law Review

Bibas S “The Right to Silence Helps Only the Guilty” 2003 Iowa Law Review 423-432

Devenish DE “A Commentary on the South African Bill of Rights”

Devenish DE “A commentary on the South African Bill of Rights” (BUTTERWORTHS Durban 1999)

De Ville “Constitutional & Statutory Interpretation”

De Ville JR “Constitutional & Statutory Interpretation” (INTERDOC CONSULTANTS Goodwood 2000)

Hocking BA & Manville LL 2001 Macquarie Law Journal

Hocking BA & Manville LL “What of the Right to Silence: Still Supporting the Presumption of Innocence, or a Growing Legal Fiction” Macquarie Law Journal 2001 63-92

Jackson J 2009 The International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Jackson J “Re-Conceptualising the Right of Silence as an Effective Fair Trial Standard” The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 2009 835-861

Klare K 1998 SAJHR

Klare K “Legal Culture and Transformative Constitutionalism” SAJHR 1998 146-188

Klukach J & Lumba D 2008 Supreme Court Law Review

Klukach J & Lumba D “The Right to Pre-Trial Silence: Where Does it Stand and What’s Next After Singh?” Supreme Court Law Review 2008 479-494

Masandzu K 2006 CILSA

Masandzu K “‘Of Guns and Laws’: A South African Perspective in Light of United Kingdom and United States Gun Laws” CILSA 2006 131-151

Naude BC 2009 SAPL

Naude BC “A Suspects Right to be Informed” 2009 SAPL 506-527

Schwikkard PJ “Arrested, Detained and Accused persons”

Schwikkard PJ “Arrested, Detained and Accused persons” in Currie I & de Waal J “The Bill of Rights Handbook” (JUTA & CO Lansdowne 2005) 737-797

Schwikkard PJ 2001 Int’l J Evicence & Proof

Schwikkard PJ “Is It Constitutionally Permissible to Infringe the Right to Remain Silent?” 2001 Int’l J Evidence & Proof 32-38

Schwickkard PJ “Private Privilege”

Schwickkard PJ “Private Privilege” in Schwickkard PJ & Van Der Merwe SE “Principles of Evidence” (JUTA & CO Claremont 2016) 133-169

Steenkamp A & Nugent R “Arrested, Detained and Accused Persons”

Steenkamp A & Nugent R “Arrested, Detained and Accused Persons” in Cheadle MH, Davis DM & Haysom HRL “South African Constitutional Law: The Bill of Rights” (BUTTERWORTHS Durban 2002) 631-692

Stein A 2008 Cardozo Law Review

Stein A “The Right to Silence Helps the Innocent: A Response to Critics” Cardozo Law Review 2008 1115-1140

Steytler N “The Constitutional Criminal Procedure”

Steytler N “The constitutional Criminal Procedure: A Commentary on the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996” (BUTTERWORTHS Durban 1998)

Snyckers F & Le Roux J “Criminal Procedure”

Snyckers F & Le Roux J “Criminal Procedure: Rights of Detained, Arrested & Accused Persons in Woolman S & Botha B (eds) Constitutional Law of South Africa” 2nd ed (JUTA & CO Cape Town 2014 (Looseleaf updated 14 April 2014)) 51-1 to 51-38

Theophilopoulos C 2003 TSAR

Theophilopoulos C “A Descriptive Analysis of the Anglo-American Right to Silence” 2003 TSAR 258-275

Theophilopoulos C 2002 SAJHR

Thephilopoulos “The So-Called Right to Silence and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: A Constitutional Principle in Search of Cogent Reasons” 2002 SAJHR 505-529

Case Law

Certification of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 1996 (4) SA 744 (CC)

Dawood v Minister of Home Affairs; Shalabi v Minister of Home Affairs; Thomas v Minister of Home Affairs 2000 (3) SA 936 (CC)

Hassan v Jacobs NO 2009 (5) SA 572 (CC)

Khan v S [2010] JOL 25782 (KZP)

Levack v Regional Magistrate, Wynberg 2003 (1) SA 187 (SCA)

Magwaza v S 2016 (1) SACR 53 (SCA)

Minister of Safety and Security v Gaqa 2002 (1) SACR 654 (C)

Murray v United Kingdom [1996] ECHR 3

Osman v Attorney-General, Transvaal 1998 (4) SA 1224 (CC)

R v Grant [2009] 2 RCS 353

R v Herbert [1990] 2 RCS 151

R v Singh [2007] 3 RCS 405

R v Therens [1985] 1 RCS 613

S v Langa 1998 (1) SACR 21 (T)

S v Manamela 2000 (3) SA 1 (CC)

S v Meaker 1998 (8) BCLR 1038 (W)

S v Mthethwa 2004 (1) SACR 449 (E)

S v Ndlovu 1997 (12) BCLR 1785 (N)

S v Orrie 2005 (1) SACR 63 (C)

S v R 2000 (1) SACR 33 (W)

S v Sebejan 1997 (1) SACR (W)

S v Sehoole 2015 (2) SACR 196 (SCA)

S v Van der Merwe 1998 (1) SACR 194 (O)

S v Zuma 1995 (2) SA 642 (CC)

Salinas v Texas 570 US 1 (2013)

Sanderson v Attorney-General, Eastern Cape 1998 (2) SA (CC)

South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association v Minister of Safety and Security [2017] 3 All SA 1059 (GP)

Thebus v S 2003 (6) SA 505 (CC)

LEGISLATION

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996

Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000

General Law Amendment Act 62 of 1955

INTERNET

Skinnider E and Gordon F

Skinnider E and Gordon F “The Right to Silence- International Norms and Domestic Realities” Sino Canadian International Conference on the Ratification and Implementation of Human Rights Covenants Beijing, 25-16 October 2001 accessed from https://icclr.law.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Paper1_0.pdf (28 November 2017) 1-33

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

African Declaration of Human and People’s Rights (1986).

ICCPR- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and

ABBREVIATIONS

CILSA – Comparetive and International Law Journal of Southern Africa

SAJHR – South Africa Journal on Human Rights

SAPL – Southern African Journal of Public Law

TSAR - Tydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg

Published

13-12-2018

How to Cite

Msaule, P. R. (2018). The Duty to Produce One’s Firearm for Inspection in Terms of the Firearms Control Act: The Right to Silence under Siege?. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 21, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2018/v21i0a4746

Issue

Section

Articles