Time for us all to stand together against sick attacks

WHAT a sick society we live in! The attack on KZN triathlete Mhlengi Gwala this week serves to confirm just how crazy a nation we have become. And unless good men and women stand up and say “enough of these senseless attacks”, we are pretty doomed.

As I am writing this, I am struggling to imagine Mhlengi lying in a hospital bed, his face contorted as he struggles to cope with the pain from the injuries inflicted when those crazy people tried to amputate his legs.

The image I have of Mhlengi is of a happy-go-lucky guy who always seems to be smiling.

Just last month we were in Cape Town for the Discovery Triathlon where the lad from Ndwendwe in KwaZulu/Natal was competing.

The night before the race at dinner, Mhlengi was all excited as he anticipated his second participation at the event.

He and his friend Sandile Shange had missed their flight and arrived late for dinner. While Sandile explained why they had missed their flight, Mhlengi simply smiled.

When he spoke, it was about how excited he was at the prospect of watching the big guns such as Richard Murray and Henri Schoeman in action.

The next day, done with his race, I saw Mhlengi standing on the roadside with the crowd as the elite athletes competed – no doubt wishing that he could be among them next year.

Such were the lofty dreams of the young man whose life could so easily have gone off the rails.

Before becoming a triathlete, Mhlengi was on a fast road to nowhere – involved in drugs as many kids from the villages and townships of South Africa are.

But a near-death experience helped put him on the straight and narrow and a chance meeting with the renowned Glen Gore saw him take up triathlon as well as become a lifesaver on the Durban beaches.

I’d met him in Durban for our interview in the build-up to the Cape Town event and was struck by how honest he was about his past and his determination to become a better man and a top triathlete was inspiring.

Athletes in this country are fast becoming targets of thugs who have taken to attacking them during their training runs or rides.

Just last week, I read of an old man in my neighbourhood of Centurion who was attacked while jogging on a route I regularly use. That nothing bad happened to him was thanks to some women who saw the attack as they drove by and hooted so loudly the assailant fled.

As I am writing this, a message has come into one of our running Whatsapp groups about a guy who was stabbed during his morning run and robbed of his phone.

Suddenly, the early morning run/ride (most runners/cyclists run from 4.30am so they can still drop kids at school and then go to work) that was pretty good in that it happened when there was no traffic is no longer safe.

Suggestions have been made for people to carry pepper-spray with them for protection.

Yet what chance does a runner stand against gun or chainsaw-wielding assailants intent on robbing him or her of a watch or mobile phone or running shoes.

With attacks such as those on Mhlengi, people training or just keeping healthy and fit are going to be dissuaded and the challenge is on the government (sports and recreation as well as safety and security departments) to work together and ensure their safety.

Such sick attacks as that on Mhlengi do not have a place in society and must be nipped in the bud.