In many communities, killing suspected criminals has become acceptable
THE recent reports about communities killing alleged criminals are not surprising or unexpected.
In many townships and informal settlements, people die almost every day while the residents everyday face, the risk of dying.
It is no wonder statistics about coronavirus deaths hardly move many of them. In general, murder and killing another person have become a normal and acceptable thing.
Most people may think that the people who kill the most are poor and lawless, but the greatest killers are governments through law enforcement agencies and armies.
Unsurprisingly, joining the police and army is a legal way for a bloodthirsty murderer to kill and get away with it, provided it is lawful. More often than not, the security agencies have justification for murder through exemptions like classified information and self-defence.
Although this can be considered legal and morally necessary, a recent SAPS report clearly indicates that they cover up for each other, tamper with evidence and impede investigations including police killings. As it happens, in KZN, the police killed more than 1000 civilians. Elsewhere, numbers are not so unlike with police killings, rarely resulting in prosecutions of the offenders. Murder and killing have been idolised to the extent that video games initiate children to kill and destroy for as long as they can press “start” again.
If one considers which movies or dramas are the most bankable, amateur research will show that it is the ones about mafias, criminal figures, ruthless action heroes and merciless historical figures.
These are the people who are honoured and respected rather than boring missionaries and pastors.
The truth of the matter is that it is the knights in shining armour who are the professional killers for as long as it is legal, honourable and not the people of their own race, nationality, religion and tribe.
But words, especially lies and rumours, kill more than hands. KHOTSO K.D MOLEKO | Bloemfontein