Crime and violent criminals continue to haunt the precincts of our neighbourhood and our blood stained rainbow land, says the writer.
By Farouk Araie
The murder of five people in Atlantis is a shocking development in a country where killings of such nature have enveloped every province in our rainbow nation.
Crime and violent criminals continue to haunt the precincts of our neighbourhood and our blood stained rainbow land.
Fear of crime and perceptions of social disorder are widespread. South Africa, our beloved democratic nation, is breeding a nation of criminals, who have no respect for property and life that belongs to others.
The failure of the state and its public order and criminal justice institutions to respond adequately by providing protection and basic security is apparent, and it may threaten democratic development.
Without such safeguards in place, civilised society will falter, causing ordinary people to become prisoners in their own homes. We have a moral and civic duty to promote the rule of law.
Our antidote to the crime wave has been gated communities and private security guards. Crime is an index of a lawless, and disintegration of social order, followed by tyranny and ultimately chaos.
Without a powerful legal deterrent, no nation, no civilization can long endure the vagaries of brazen lawlessness. Such lawlessness has a debilitating effect on society. It disturbs its security and necessarily provokes a situation of insecurity.
Among other things crime impairs the overall development of our nation, undermines spiritual and material well being, compromises human dignity and creates a climate of fear and violence, which endangers personal security and erodes the quality of life.
Our murder rate is the highest in Africa, yet those in power remain unconcerned about the scourge of murder that continues to massacre innocent law abiding civilians.There can be no pursuit of meaningful sustainable development in a situation marked by uncontrolled and uncontrollable crime, because it breeds and accompanies insecurity.
Criminal violence is one of the most worrying problems of our times. Our own era is arguably characterised by a violent crime rate unprecedented in our history.
We know about fear, we wish we did not fear crime. It does not disappear; it just creeps into our terrified minds, hiding somewhere in our beleaguered bodies. We know how corrosive it is, how it taints our lives and steals our freedom and violates the cardinal right to life. Our tears of sorrow, have turned into a raging river as we remain helpless in an impotent legal environment.
It is indeed a travesty of justice for many of us who fought to enthrone democracy in our land, only to become enslaved by violent crime.
Cape Times