SOUTH AFRICANS CANNOT ALLOW THE CURRENT STATE OF LAWLESSNESS IN OUR NEW DEMOCRATIC ORDER TO CONTINUE ANY LONGER

BY SUBRY GOVENDER The tragic killing of a nine-year-old school girl in an hijacking incident in Shallcross, Durban, on the morning of Monday, May 28 2018, is yet another reminder of the manner in which our new South African democratic society has degenerated and is descending into anarchy. It is totally shocking and unforgiveable that the young girl, Sadia Sukhraj, being taken to school by her parents is killed in an incident involving car hijackers. The shooting of the Shallcross school girl took place at a time when the broadcast, print and the social media reported the killings of two young girls, aged 16 and 17, at a school hostel in the North West Province at the weekend. A 19-year-old teenager was arrested for the murders. At the same time two teenage sisters and a baby were murdered by two men in the Kathelong area in Johannesburg. Also at the weekend an MK veteran, Samson Madonsela, was shot dead during an ANC Youth League regional conference in Mpumalanga. One person was arrested. The Shallcross tragedy took place almost at the same time when South Africans were informed of yet another cash-in-transit heist, this time outside the city of Polokwane in the Limpopo Province in the early hours of Monday morning. One person was injured as the violent thugs made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. VIOLENT CRIME IN ALMOST ALL RESIDENTIAL AND BUSINESS AREAS The killing of the young girl in Durban, the cash-in-transit heist outside Polokwane, the murders of the two school girls in the North-West, the slaughter of two sisters and a baby in Kathelong and the murder of the MK veteran are the latest in a series of killings, hijackings, cash-in-transit heists, political killings, taxi murders, and general lawless deterioration that have intensified in our beautiful country recently. This lawlessness has been festering in almost every part of our business and residential areas for nearly two decades. LAWLESSNESS HAS GRIPPED OUR NEW DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA This is shown by the antics of majority of taxi drivers who show no respect for the rules of the road. They stop anywhere and don’t care about motorists behind them. No one dares to confront the taxi drivers. Motorists fear that taxi drivers will have no qualms about pulling out their guns and firing at anyone who is brave enough to speak up for their rights. POLITICAL KILLINGS Political thugs and their cohorts have also come to the fore. These opportunists only want to enrich themselves and their allies and they show no mercy when they are exposed for their corrupt and deviant activities. They hire hit men to take out their opponents and over the past year or two a number of politicians have been gunned down or killed in gruesome ways. The latest political killings bring back memories of the everyday killings that took place between political enemies in the 1980s and early 1990s in KwaZulu-Natal and the Johannesburg region. More than 20 000 people lost their lives violently during this period of political war in KwaZulu-Natal alone. The latest political killings have reared their ugly heads at the same time as violent criminals roam the length and breadth of South Africa wreaking havoc on the lives of South Africans. They roam the streets without any fear of being arrested by the police. VIOLENT CRIMINALS THINK THEY CAN OPERATE WITH IMPUNITY As already stated, these violent criminals are found in almost all fields of life and all citizens live like prisoners in their own homes. Hard-working and tax-paying citizens have to go to extreme lengths to protect their lives behind high walls, guard dogs, barbed wire and electric fences, burglar guards and armed rapid response security. But despite these costly protective measures, many South Africans are still killed in their homes by violent criminals who monitor the movements of their victims. They brutally break into the homes of people and show no mercy to victims. The killers are so ruthless that they smash, hammer and shoot their victims irrespective of whether they are senior citizens, women, or children. It seems they operate with impunity. VIOLENT CRIMINALS HAVE DISRUPTED THE STRUGGLES FOR A "BETTER LIFE FOR ALL" Since the dawn of our new democracy in April 1994, our successive governments since the first democratic order of President Nelson Mandela did everything possible to improve the lives of the people. But sadly while trying to create “a better life for all”, at the same time violent criminals, thugs, drug lords, war lords and other violent scums have flourished in every nook and corner of the country by taking advantage of the liberal policies of the new democratic order. REFERENDUM SHOULD BE HELD ABOUT THE DEATH PENALTY One of the liberal actions was the withdrawal of the death penalty from the legal statutes. Our new leaders had been of the view that the death penalty was not necessary in our new democratic dispensation. They felt that the death penalty belonged to the archaic past and that in the new South Africa the people would respect the rule of law and they would also respect the right to life of citizens. But sadly the growing number of brutal killers show no respect for the rule of law or for the lives of fellow citizens. BARBARIC BANDITS SHOW NO RESPECT FOR THE RIGHT TO LIFE OF CITIZENS These bandits have created a climate of lawlessness, anarchy and fear in our new democratic order. Over the past few decades hundreds of families whose close relatives and friends had been tortured and killed have seen no closures because the most of the brutal barbarians have not been brought to book. I personally know of three family members, one a medical doctor, who had been gunned down by robbers between the mid-1990s and 2 000 but the killers have not yet been brought to book. The families have received no information from the police about whether there has been any progress in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice. It seems the police files are collecting dust in rusty cabinets of some police officers. I am certain many thousands of other murder files are also collecting dust in police cabinets. ARE WE MOVING INTO A STATE OF ANARCHY? The intensified killings in KwaZulu-Natal and other parts of the country have just shown that our country is descending into a state of anarchy. Enough is enough. We cannot put up or tolerate this type of lawlessness any longer. PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA MUST ACT AS A MATTER OF URGENCY Our government under President Cyril Ramaphosa must be told in no uncertain terms that he must take steps to counter the violent thugs, warlords, drug lords and other lawless elements. President Ramaphosa, in addition to shaking up police actions, must initiate steps for a referendum where the people of South Africa can decide on the question of whether the death penalty should be introduced to combat violent killers and murderers. In addition to this action, we the citizens must also take action where ever we reside. Every street must have a street committee in order to monitor the criminals and to work with the police to bring the wanton murderers and killers to book. We have had enough. The buck now stops with President Ramaphosa. VIOLENT CRIME SHOULD NOT BECOME PART OF OUR LIVES IN A NEW DEMOCRATIC ORDER EVEN THOUGH WE FIRST ATTAINED OUR FREEDOM 25 YEARS AGO IN APRIL 1994. Ends –subrygovender@gmail.com May 28 2018