I'm not one to get all political in general, but in a few threads i follow, the crime situation in SA has reared its ugly head, again.
I've been a victim of crime, my entire family have been victims at one time or another. My baby sister was hijacked off her bike at the age of 10, been attacked outside our home with one of her friends getting stabbed and her throat slit at the age of fourteen and is now a nervous wreck. My gran was hijacked in our driveway, Lollipop was hijacked outside her friends house, i had a smash and grab and my car was stolen from my company parking lot. And I lived in a nice area too. Not affluent, but the nicer part of middle class.
What I don't understand is why criminals are attacking children for cellphones and wallets. I can't see why you need to kill someone for thier car.
I read the Sunday Times while i was home and there was the most disturbing article in it. The journo interviewed some gangsters and they boasted about how many people they have killed, how many cars they have stolen and how they outrightly stated that they prefer being criminals to working as criminals are respected and the money is easy.
If i had to get my hands on those kids, i'd kill them!
But it doesn't help that the community respects these retrobates. These are not italian Dons. These are little hooligans running around with guns thinking they're in the latest gangster rap music video. These are not people to be respected. They need to be dealt with, swiftly.
I understand that in times of AIDS orphans and broken homes etc tht children will be looking for alternative families tht can provide, but for fucks sake, lets not send them to be raised by Fagin. Sure Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger were cute and sang, but they were still criminals and there is nothing right about that.
So how do we solve this problem?
Harsher punishment.
There are criminals who prefer to get caught and sent to jail cos its free food, board and networking. oh, it would be a violation of thier human rights to cut off a limb as punishment. Excuse me, but the moment you threaten someone elses basic human rights, you forfeit your own. The charter does read something like - Each person has the right to live in a safe environment. Every person has the right to be treated well. No one must live under any type of threat.
We are living under numerous threats. Our rights are being ignored, blatantly. Not only by the tsotsi around the corner, but by the people who are entrusted to uphold the charter of rights.
If someone invades my home, I will practise the right to defend myself by all means, including emptying a clip into his chest. And i won't shed a tear for it, as his life was forfieted the moment he threatened mine.
Africa has always been a harsh continent, survival of the fittest etc. But, for crying out loud, if we want the international community to look at us as equals, then we should shake off the wild past. The country has been conquered long ago. The wars are over. Instead of concentrating on the past wrongs, lets work on becoming a first world nation, worthy of respect, not fear.
We don't need leaders telling our youth that its fine to steal from the white man. Its not. in fact, to steal from anyone is wrong. We need leaders that will be able to weed out the corrupt and replace them with the morally uncorrupt. I want to move back to SA without fear. I love SA, but I don't want to raise my children behind electric fencing and burgular bars. I want to be sure that when I send them to school, they won' be shot for being the wrong skin colour.
After all, isn't that what crime boils down to? Race. Yes we can argue that there are black against black crime, but in most cases, it is black against every other race crime. What are they trying to prove? Is this payback for apartheid? Sorry, I wasn't even born when it ended. Are our criminals aligning themselves as victims of the struggle just like the 15 year old Zimbabwe war "veterans"? Are they being raised with a chip on thier shoulder they don't need? And since when is laziness any excuse to commit crime.
I'm lazy. I hate getting up to go to work. But I still do it. Whats thier excuse?
No work for them? Make a plan. Start an honest business. Go work for the council, sweep the streets for crying out loud! It really is that easy.
Crime in terms of theft i can understand as there is financial gain, but crimes against people, children and animals just changes the face of criminals.
If the need for power is so strong that the only way you can see to achieve it is to overpower someone weaker than you ie women and children, then you are a coward. Read the history books, heroes, men of power and respect didn't need to rape or pillage for it, they earned it through hard work. the weak leaders felt the need for exursion.
So it all boils down to cowardice. on both parts. The criminals are cowards, hiding from work, killing on the slightest provocation, exherting "power". And we, the public are cowards for not stadning up to them. We hide behind our walls and electric fencing. We hide behind our police force instead of supporting them. we hide behind our fears and suspisions and therefore, allow the criminals to take advantage of our fear.
Yet, when we take a stand, we are punished for it. Vigilantes are prosecuted for taking the law into thier own hands. But if the hands that hold the law are sullied with the blood of innocent people, I'm afraid its the only course we can take.
Which is why i'm a big fan of vigilantes, like Spiderman, Superman, Batman etc etc. Where are our comic book heroes?
