What was all that with Sosma?

A FEW days ago, politicians, the media and human rights activists were abuzz with discussions about Sosma. Specifically, about the moment on Wednesday when the government failed to get the requisite votes to support its resolution to seek an extension of a provision to detain suspects for up to 28 days without trial under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

There was the far-fetched political narrative that this failure showed that the government had lost its confidence in Parliament. There was also the equally misleading assertion that this showed democracy was alive. If at all, this exposed the irresponsibility of some of our members of Parlia-ment if they had no just excuse for being absent from the House during the vote.