Crime rampant but state fiddles
VIOLENT crime in South Africa is escalating to new heights. The crimes are becoming more and more violent, brazen and fearless. South Africa has become the breeding ground for local and foreign criminals who know how easy it is to ply their trade here.
Let’s start from the top; the ANC government has this “human rights” tag that they loosely throw around. This term only works for the benefit of the criminals because when crimes are committed then the victim becomes a statistic and the perpetrator becomes the responsibility of the taxpayer to house and feed.
Criminals know that law enforcement is underresourced and the police can be bribed to look the other way or make the case disappear. The rot and stench of corruption in the SAPS and the metro police starts from the top going right down to the bobby on the beat.
Robberies, murder, rape, hijacking and fraud are daily occurrences in our country; the government is in denial, they are turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to this pandemic.
I have read stories of people trying to protect themselves and their families from intruders on their properties who were threatened with arrest by the SAPS. Our system and constitution has got it all wrong.
The ANC has messed up so badly it is frightening. We have foreign criminal syndicates operating in South Africa involved in human trafficking, drugs, kidnapping and money laundering.
South African currency is being moved out undetected by the millions through our porous and corrupt airports and borders.
Hijacked vehicles cross our borders daily. Robberies at various shopping malls by the notoriously infamous “Hammer Gang” have left a trail of terrified and traumatised individuals.
To all South Africans, this is not going to stop unless drastic measures are taken. This has a domino effect on our society and impacts negatively financially because the cost of insurance and private security soars.
The punishment for violent criminals has to be harsher; these individuals cannot be rehabilitated and they must not be given a second chance.
The ANC must not liken these crimes to politics and they cannot always play the previously disadvantaged card. Apartheid is dead and gone. We are 23 years into a democracy. Let’s move on. The ANC is in a shambles with in-fighting, nepotism, favouritism, factionalism, corruption and just plain greed.
Instead of addressing the issue of crime, the ANC spends too much time fighting the likes of Penny Sparrow and her ilk. I am not condoning racism, but people uttering racial slurs are far fewer than rape and murder. When I read letters to the editor by the likes of the Mohammed Ahmeds of the world asking why there are no black Santa Clauses, I cringe, just knowing that there are more pressing issues we need to address. BENNY SANILAL
Via e-mail