Democracy won’t cure this ill

IN SOUTH Africa we now have the dehumanising of a band of citizens who are prepared to kill for the most trivial of reasons.

In addition we have rape, hijackings, muggings, etc. Name it, it's all there.

To say now, in the name of democracy and freedom, that we must nurture these citizens is to say that we must allow a malignant cancer in the body to exist, in the hope it will disappear.

Leaving all the academic and intellectual discussions and what the government of the day has to say, the death penalty should be brought back for two simple reasons.

Many states of America who experimented with the abolishment of the death penalty in the name of human rights and democracy for decades have now realised their folly and brought back the death penalty.

Should we not as a fledgling democracy learn from their painful and costly experiment?

One of the US States, Texas, executed its 500th convict since the death penalty was re-instated in 1996.

In all countries where the death penalty is in force, crime is at a low level. Ordinary citizens are relaxed and without fear.

In our country, thugs and murderers are relaxed and ordinary citizens live in fear.

It is the best policy to remove criminal elements from society.

One must pay with their lives for taking someone's life.

Many may disagree about the introduction of the death penalty and feel it should be abandoned only until such time as serious crimes have been extremely reduced.

In our South African extenuating crime situation, there is a need to reintroduce the death penalty.

Nevertheless, I may ask, is it all right for criminals to blatantly take innocent lives, but it is not all right to give criminals capital punishment? It is an absurd situation. Abolishing capital punishment merely helps the cancer of confirmed criminals to grow in the bosom of society.

Removing criminal elements from society must not be regarded or seen as violence, but a blessing.

ISMAIL M MOOLLA

Umzinto A VERY fair view by the Editor of POST, Aakash Bramdeo, about the new political party Agang, led by Mamphela Ramphele (POST, July 3-7, 2013).

She has assured the minorities who played a positive role in this country that they are South Africans.

Ramphele is extremely clear on the vision and strategy