Presidency denies state of emergency claims
The Presidency has strongly rejected media reports suggesting President Jacob Zuma has started composing draft regulations for a state of emergency.
The Sunday newspaper, Rapport, says it saw the draft regulations.
The Constitution allows a president to declare a state of emergency in times of war, as well as in the event of an invasion or other threats to the nation's safety.
The Institute for Security Studies' (ISS) Johan Botha says South Africa is far from an emergency situation.
"There is no emergency in the country, nothing close to the situation we had in the 80's when an emergency declared. If this should be true then certainly the president and his office knows something we don't.
Rapport has labelled the regulations as vague and says it grants security personnel unfettered power.
"When the president announces a state of emergency in the country this means to large extent that it will suspend ordinary legal processes. This means that people can be arrested in terms of the regulations published," says Botha.