Political violence must be rooted out
WE ALWAYS want to protect our territories with everything at our disposal and to claim a bigger share of the cake.
What we don’t think of, in many cases, are casualties.
Hate speech and political intolerance have damaged our country in the past and many lives were lost, while some still have scars that bear testimony to our past.
Some called it black-onblack violence while others labelled it the work of a third force. Leaders of political parties affected at the time are enjoying police and personal protection today, while the foot soldiers are still haunted by what they did with no emotional and physical support from their parties.
Many families were torn apart and condemned to a lifetime of poverty since their breadwinners perished, with many still languishing in jails for committing those atrocities.
My point is about politically motivated violence that is starting to raise its ugly head and shouldn’t be encouraged. Instead, it should be uprooted without mercy by the police and our judicial systems.
We can’t have leaders who are always under heavy police and personal protection peddling violence through their reckless and provocative speeches.
Lawmakers should make sure that any hate speech and actions of violence within and between political parties should be punished with harsher sentences and, if proven to be involved, political parties should be deregistered and their leaders blacklisted from belonging to any political party for life. Moses Zola Manake, Roodekrans