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The recent statistics released by the police department under the leadership of Bheki Cele are appalling.
We know, because we are terrorised and ruled by criminals in South Africa. We have lost confidence in our law-enforcement agencies because there are no consequences for criminals.
Crime is not the issue or concern of the police solely – it is a societal matter and should be respected as such without politicising it.
The figures might be smaller than what people experience because many cases are not reported to the police.
Our people no longer see the need to report such cases because criminals are never apprehended or face the might of the law.
The rate at which our people are killing each other signals that the country is at war – that war is civil because it takes place among citizens.
The minister seems not to understand the meaning of war. War, we understand, is the absence of peace and stability. This war is between the rich and poor; it’s between the haves and have-nots. The poor blame their immediate situation on the rich and they feel that they are doing justice by stealing from the rich to be able to feed themselves and their poor family.
Abject poverty, unemployment and inequality are what causes crime in this country. These triple challenges seem to be widening instead of being addressed and that has negative implications on the statistics of crime in this country.
It would make sense to say that crime is the symptom of the country’s real problems. Once we have resolved the gist of the issues then crime will dramatically drop.
The fact that 57 people are murdered brutally in this country does not make it different from Syria. It’s a war zone; a “silent” one. While the matter should never be politicised, we do not have competent leadership and personnel in the guise of the South African Police Service. Cop shops are being robbed by criminals to steal weapons from those helpless personnel.
The situation is out of hand. Politicians in the Western Cape are calling for the national government to deploy soldiers into violent townships, which are riddled by well-known and dangerous criminals, whom the politicians and the police themselves fear. Drugs and illegal cigarettes are traded by gang leaders who are known to the police but nothing is done because no one wants to spill blood.
People do not even feel safe in their own homes. Those who can afford to hire private security continue to do that because police are just not up to the task.
You call the police for intervention and they arrive at the scene after several hours, knowing that criminals have dispersed. What is the use of them coming to a place when the victim is in a mortuary and the criminals are enjoying the money or property they stole from the person they decided to kill?
What makes the matters worse is the fact that our police officers – who often don’t exactly have a postgraduate education – cannot even build a case. Investigative journalists do a much better job than a “trained” police personnel.
Every life is important but we should be setting benchmarks from high profile cases such as that of former Bafana Bafana player Senzo Meyiwa – who was killed years ago. The police cannot even trace the killers or at least the reason for the feud.
We also heard how DJ Mandla was brutally killed when he was trying to protect women at the club but the useless police cannot apprehend the killers.
Families are being failed by our inept police officers who have been hired by their friends – not meritocracy.
The police are also victims. Many of them are shot by trigger-happy criminals who are ruling and running the country. They have been stealing money from cash-in-transit vans, and the police have failed to apprehend the criminals.
We have been made to forget that criminals burgled the office of the chief justice. The police, with the help of toothless Hawks, have failed to apprehend those criminals.
We cannot go on like this, the police do not understand what is expected from them. They know pay day and bribes they get from corrupt citizens. The dignity of the police must be restored. This won’t be an easy assignment. It needs brave men and women who are committed to patriotism.
The cases of sexual harassment are many. Our women continue to experience this every day in their workplaces, churches, schools and even crèches. The government must set up an institution parallel to police stations that will operate like the CCMA of labour to probe all sexual harassment encounters – because, in many cases, these involve politicians, unionists, academics and other powerful individuals in the society.
Crime is also rising as a result of moral decay. We have political leaders who are a law unto themselves. Many politicians have been found on the wrong side of the law but nothing has been done to correct or punish their doings.
We must begin to see corrupt politicians going to jail. That will serve as some form of deterrent to all. How can we expect our citizens to observe the law when Mduduzi Manana is not being punished for doing wrong to the society?
• Kenneth Mokgatlhe is PAC national spokesperson. He writes in his personal capacity.
