Time to take a stand against crime in SA

WITH the untimely tragic loss of 9-year-old Sadia Sukhraj in a hijacking, emotions ran high in the Chatsworth community. Residents protested against the bail application for the accused and pleaded for justice to be served.

The Chatsworth community stood united for a common cause – to stop crime. News stations across the world watched with bated breath as men, women, children and the elderly were tear-gassed and shot with rubber bullets.

Police Minister Bheki Cele reported recently, in relation to the attempted hijacking, that: “We have arrested a man who has a string of criminal cases‚ carjacking and attempted murder. I am told he was sentenced to seven years in 2013. I don’t know how people like him get parole. The one that is dead has also got a long list of criminal activity‚ so does the third one”.

All three of the accused had been arrested, charged and jailed previously for their crimes and yet with a criminal record as horrific as that, they were still released.

Police Minister Bheki Cele, when asked about the fate of the accused, said: “Hopefully they get life sentences because they have a string of crimes against them.”

Hopefully?! Hope is a dream, Mr Cele. The Department of Justice must implement an unbreakable law compelling all criminals to serve life sentences with no possibility of parole. Either that or we demand that the government brings back the death penalty.

In certain parts of the US, murder is a crime that is punishable by death or life imprisonment. In Saudi Arabia criminals are immediately sentenced to death for murder. These strict laws are the reason why these countries do not have the massive crime statistics we do. We need to learn from those countries to implement swift justice for the safety of all South Africans.

These hardened criminals need to understand that South Africans will not tolerate this kind of behaviour any more. We are rising up against crime! We will not let another daughter die in vain. We will not stand by as another father is murdered in front of his children. We will not watch as our families suffer.

We will fight to protect our families by any means possible. Criminals beware!

I stand with the people of Chatsworth!

VELISA NAICKER Chatsworth