Violence not only weapon authority listens to

THE Kaizer Chiefs barbarism and violence speak to the character of our society. Orlando Pirates supporters did the same in a match against Mamelodi Sundowns.

In South Africa, violent demonstrations are not punishable, thus encouraging the use of “violence” as a language best heard by authorities.

In Kwazulu-natal, we have had 24 politically-related murders – no one has been prosecuted and jailed.

Last year, Mduduzi Manana brutalised women but he is still an MP, the ANC Women’s League did not protest. My councillors in Groutville brutalised three women, ANCWL and Commission for Gender Equality kept quiet.

A former ANC councillor in Ballito had his 4x4 and house torched, no arrest. A farmer had his three sugar cane trucks burnt during ANC-ON-ANC war during the selection of candidates for local government.

During#feesmustfall, we saw torching of university buildings including libraries and lecture halls. An Uber taxi driver was killed using acid.

We had the Marikana tragedy similar to Sharpeville, Soweto, Uitenhage, Langa, Kwamakhutha, Ongoye, Shobashobane and Trust Feed massacres. In the Eastern Cape, chairs were used in factional wars. In the Eastern Cape and Kwadukuza, faeces were used as a weapon, Sis! When reasoning and comradeship disappear in ANC meetings, violence erupts.

When Arsenal’s performance drops, supporters did not burn anything. Instead, they carried placards and boycotted games.

True soccer fanatics do not burn stadiums.

We urge police, the prosecuting authority and judiciary to be decisive and sentence culprits who were involved in this mayhem. We need “civic education” as I proposed to the Moerane Commission, so we end this view that “violence” is the only weapon that authorities listen to.

SIYANDA MHLONGO

Kwadukuza