Fewer things drive home the point that we have become an unsafe society more forcefully than coming across a gang of heavily armed men in bulletproof vests — inscribed “VIP protection” — taking up defensive positions in a shop while their client goes about buying groceries.
While security guards, and even police, do patrol public spaces, their weapons are seldom as unsettling, intrusive and intimidating as those of the private bodyguards who roam some of our shopping malls and high-end restaurants nowadays.
The phenomenon has become so common that in some parts of the country one can hardly attend a funeral without encountering R1s and AK-47s in the hands of men who had come to “protect” one or other mourner.
Imagine having to constantly look over your shoulder at a wedding because at the back of the chapel stands a group of armed men who are accompanying a guest who feels too unsafe to travel without guns.
It might be that hiring private bodyguards has become a status symbol for some of our rich and famous — it makes them look and feel important. You may not carry the title of cabinet minister or mayor, but at least you get to move around with a conspicuous entourage.
But it is also true that many do it out of necessity.
It used to be that if you chose to be in the minibus taxi industry, you were putting your life in danger. You ran the risk of being killed by a competitor who wants your route or simply because you belonged to the wrong taxi association.
These days, however, the risk extends far beyond the taxi industry and, unless steps are taken to root out violent crime and contract killings, we will join the likes of Mexico in the club of countries in which it is extremely dangerous to do business.
Over the past week a shocking video has been doing the rounds on social media showing the killing, execution-style, of a businessman by the name of Jabulani Ben Gumbi outside a coffee shop in Rustenburg in North West. Although the motive is unknown, it has all the hallmarks of a contract killing. Police are still looking for the suspects captured in CCTV footage.
In recent years there have been too many such shootings, some of them high-profile. In most cases, no-one is ever apprehended — even when there is video evidence showing what they look like. They simply disappear off the face of the earth.
In the rare instances where killers are prosecuted, they are often found to be repeat offenders or to already be awaiting trial in connection with other hits.
In the beginning they confined their activities to the taxi industry, but the advent of democracy and increased competition for elected positions — especially at municipality level — saw their client list expand exponentially
As police minister Bheki Cele once pointed out, some of these hired guns travel across the country to carry out paid hits. Many of them, as in the Babita Deokaran case, are closely associated with the minibus taxi industry.
Since the 1980s, the industry has been infested with izinkabi — a colloquial term for men who make a living as contract killers.
Whereas in the beginning they confined their nefarious activities to the taxi industry, the advent of democracy and increased competition for elected positions — especially at municipality level — saw their client list expand exponentially.
With political power came access to government tenders and other economic opportunities; but competition for a space at the trough is fierce.
Enter izinkabi, who, for a price, can eliminate rivals.
All efforts to fix our country by rooting out corruption and electing morally upright leaders to public office will come to nought if South Africa does not put a stop to the izinkabi phenomenon. It is a direct threat to democracy, good governance and a thriving economy.
Already the local government sphere becoming too dangerous for many bright and talented citizens, who would rather not serve in municipalities for fear of the consequences of crossing those with criminal intentions.
As murders of emerging business people by contract killers proliferate, many of those who can take their businesses elsewhere are doing so, in the interests of self-preservation. As a result, economic growth and job creation is being curtailed. With no prospect of finding a job, many more South Africans will be forced into a life of crime, making the country even more unsafe to live in.
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