As Covid-19 continues to scythe through the country with a ferocious intensity, an epidemic that is often forgotten or taken for granted is doing almost as much damage. Unlike the pandemic, though, it doesn't dip, nor does it come in waves; it only rises. Crime has been so endemic it's become embedded in our soul. Unfortunately we've almost learnt to live with it.
As the country's attention is wholly consumed by the existential threat posed by Covid-19, crime from time to time rudely intrudes into our stupor. But it's the more outrageous incidents that grab the headlines. But unlike the pandemic, which is an intruder from outside in more ways than one, crime is us turning against each other, it's an undeclared civil war. In fact more people die from crime in SA than
in many countries involved in actual war. Murders, rapes, armed robberies are carried out daily, and they go unreported. They don't
make news any more. But in each one of them, many lives are scarred and lost.
But some of these incidents are so shocking that - battle-hardened as we are - even we find it difficult to ignore them. This week seven people were shot and killed at a traditional ceremony in Gugulethu, Cape Town. An eighth victim died in hospital. In Hazyview, Mpumalanga, a man described as a feared rhino-horn poaching kingpin was gunned down in broad daylight as he sat relaxing in his car. One of his alleged assassins was killed a day later. A top detective on the kingpin's case was killed last year. Rumour has it that local top cops were on the alleged poacher's payroll. Students at the University of Mpumalanga have not been able to sit for half-yearly exams because taxis blockaded the campus, demanding to be granted the contract to ferry them to class. Instead of arresting the taxi men, police tried to mediate, then gave up. Many such incidents are playing themselves out in many parts of the country, unreported and therefore unseen by the larger public.
Sometimes people get fed up and decide to take the law into their own hands - often with dire consequences. Last month in Zandspruit, north of Johannesburg, nine young men accused of a spate of crimes in the township were frogmarched to a local sports ground, beaten up, doused with petrol and set alight. Eight of them died. It's easy to condemn such acts of brutality, but we aren't wearing the community's shoes. Violence is the language of the unheard. The authorities' dismal lack of action will often invite vigilantism.
The question should be: where are the police? Where is the government? To say the police are useless would be an understatement. In some instances people don't even report incidents of crime to the police any more because it's often pointless. In some cases police have been found to be acting in cahoots with the criminals. And opening a case at a police station could lead to the criminal coming after you.
The primary mandate of any government, its raison d'être, is the security of its citizens. That's its main purpose. Otherwise there's no reason for its existence.
Judged on that score, this government has failed many times over. It has become a bystander as innocent people are intimidated, harassed and even slaughtered with absolute impunity. It's not as if the police are short of resources. The police budget is not ungenerous, one of the country's biggest expenditures. Does President Cyril Ramaphosa think we are getting bang for our buck? Does he really think Bheki Cele, who can't seem to make up his mind whether he's the minister or a police commissioner, the best man for the job? Why are we expected to accept such an intolerable situation? Why should people be hunted like beasts of prey in their own country, in their own homes? There just doesn't seem to be enough outrage over such an appalling situation.
Apparently in one of his forays to Zandspruit, Cele partly put the blame for the lynching of the young men on the community, accusing it of having "dropped the ball". And thugs seemingly have no respect for authority or the law. The chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga is none other than Ramaphosa himself. It seems even he can't sort out the problem there, or maybe he doesn't think the situation is serious enough to warrant his attention.
The problem is not merely that crime has become second nature in our society, it has contaminated the criminal justice system itself, especially the police. It's not simply a question of a junior policeman or prosecutor accepting a bribe to make a file disappear; the corruption and malfeasance have reached the upper echelon of the police. And once the police become part of the problem, as is the case right now, the fight against crime is almost as good as lost.
Several senior police officers, including former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, were arrested last year on various charges of corruption and tender irregularities. Other senior officers were later fired after disciplinary hearings. It almost seems as though the senior ranks of the police have become a crime syndicate. The arrest and firing of some of the top brass does not mean the problem is sorted, not when the guy at the top is still in charge. Cele has requested Ramaphosa to suspend the police commissioner, the dull and colourless Khehla Sitole, who's accused of having tried to illegally secure R45m to buy intelligence-gathering equipment for use at the ANC conference in 2017. As usual, Ramaphosa is taking his own time to make up his mind. Meanwhile, police leadership is almost in limbo because of the standoff between Cele and Sitole.
The ANC has never been able to get on top of the crime wave in this country. In fact, after taking office it tried to play down the problem and even politicised it, arguing that crime was an elitist preoccupation and that township residents had been victims of crime for years without complaining. But crime affects everybody. Period. Getting on top of the crime wave is a prerequisite to progress.
Unless ordinary people can feel safe and secure in their homes, at work and in the streets, a better life for all will always remain a pipe dream.
