A power-drunk minister once said people who whine about crime could leave the country. Then safety and security minister Charles Nqakula was responding to opposition MPs who had expressed concern about the high crime rate.
“Those ones can continue to whine until they’re blue in the face, they can continue to be as negative as they want or they can simply leave this country…” said Nqakula in 2006 during a debate on his department’s budget speech.
The former minister was rightly criticised for those inconsiderate remarks. Fast forward to today, our country remains a crime hotspot where criminals rule the land, and the police are overwhelmed. We are under siege and clearly the criminals are winning. Nyaope boys rob and kill, armed copper cable thieves fearlessly conduct their sabotage even during the day; gender-based violence is the order of the day and convictions for rape are shockingly low.
A female friend and other women spent last weekend on night patrol to ward off cable thieves who were planning to plunge her neighbourhood in darkness. A call to the police station yielded no joy.
She says they are considering going for training to get firearms, hiring a security firm, continuing with their patrols or letting up and giving the thugs free reign.
“I wish I could have a meeting with the minister of police and president and ask why the black woman is still a moving target, why sizingelwa like iinyamazane”.
In my hood, our WhatsApp group is undivided about how to deal with strangers. Last week, we apprehended three boys who had stolen mealies from the nearby fields.
When we called the police, they claimed there were no vehicles so we let the boys go.
Now the group is divided on whether or not to buy sjamboks, alongside the whistles we bought to sound the alarm when a crime is suspected.
I have an issue with that because when Cosas decided last year to arm schoolchildren with sjamboks to deal with those who vandalise schools, the Department of Basic Education frowned upon the idea.
I am not an advocate of mob justice but something needs to give. Even Police Minister Bheki Cele has conceded that our courts are not helpful as suspects are granted bail to return to the communities to wreak more havoc. One such alleged monster appeared in court this week for the murder of six-year-old Bontle Mashiyane while out on parole.
Since most of us don’t have the means and desire to simply “leave the country”, the sjamboks will have to do the talking.
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