Cops have little choice against armed gangs

KWAZULU-NATAL has seen a sharp increase in incidents of exchange of gunfire between the police and suspected criminals which have ended fatally for either side.

This week's killing of nine young men at the Mozambique informal settlement in Desai, Mariannhill, sparked a social media debate between those who think the police are trigger-happy and those who extol the police’s virtue for permanently removing dangerous criminals from society.

As necessary as these debates are, many communities like Mariannhill have been forced to live in fear because young criminals, barely out of their teens, are terrorising them through rape, robbery, extortion, assault and murder. They simply don’t have the luxury of engaging in discourse about the preferable, logical way to end a criminal's career.

Kwazulu-natal has an oversupply of illegal guns that are in the wrong hands. There are socio-economic issues that make crime a choice, and the political violence history that continues to make it a slaughterhouse for local government-level personnel, politicians, taxi industry figures and drug turf war.

The concerns that these raids by the police have the potential to harm or kill innocent people are valid.

A massive killing of criminals today; easily, a massive killing of an innocent family tomorrow. Nonetheless, these criminals are heavily armed and many of them would rather die shooting than surrender to the police.

The litany of heinous crimes they are linked to would send them to jail for a long time if convicted.

The police are facing a tough battle out there. Facing a rifle at the hands of a teenager who’s either high on drugs or drunk, or both, in the middle of the night negates any thought of human rights debates.

SAPS has also lost many members in the line of duty. Those deaths in the line of duty don't justify an attitude of shoot first, ask questions later.

However, there's little or no chance of arrest for people who are shooting at the police.