Crime a clear and present danger to SA

I was horrified to read about the brutal assault on Comrades legend and 1991 winner Nick Bester near his home in Pretoria as he was training. Bester is in ICU and the ferocity of his assault is blood-curdling. According to reports he was “beaten with rocks, dragged up a hill and beaten again with rocks and tied up and left for dead”.

What kind of twisted minds do something like that? As our country stares corruption in the face, we are once again reminded of another scourge that bedevils it. Violent crime is out of control with violent criminals ruling the roost. Murder, GBV, rape, and assault are the order of the day.

Criminals seem to have an upper hand on the police who are supposed to protect citizens from them. The public is fast losing patience with the police's inability to arrest criminals with their actions also called into question. The recent police killing of Eldorado Park teenager Nateniel Julies springs to mind.

It is a dangerous recipe for vigilantism when citizens lose all confidence in the police. Something needs to be done about the crime in our country. The rule of law must be intensified and criminals made aware that they will be arrested and punished. South Africans cannot continue to live as prisoners in their own homes.

The time has come to turn the tide against crime. It has to start with government setting an example by arresting the rampant corrupt government officials. Criminals are emboldened when those supposed to govern commit crimes and get away with it. The police must also get their house in order to strengthen their fight against crime.

The effects of crime are manifold, including the personal, psychological and economic. At a personal level, people may lose their lives or suffer trauma. Economically, SA can suffer through loss of tourism and retail sales.

Foreign direct investment is also severely affected with several countries opting not to trade with SA owing to the crime situation which contributes to instability. Crime is a clear and present danger to our society and a full societal onslaught is needed to tackle and defeat it.

The police alone will not win the war against the scourge. The space for criminals to operate and thrive should be narrowed. This can be achieved if our attitudes on crime are altered. Criminals are not heroes but villains who should be shunned by society.

There needs to be a culture of reporting crime to the police who must do proper investigations to ensure that criminals are successfully prosecuted and put behind bars.

Our homes should not serve as sanctuaries for criminals. Parents should not aid and abet crime by protecting their children from arrest. People must stop buying stolen property. Children should also be dissuaded from crime from an early age through programmes using rehabilitated offenders to drive the message of the futility and undesirability of crime.

Our homes should become places where children are taught good values to turn them into good citizens who do not do crime. Fathers in particular should show love and “daddycation” to their children and not abandon them, adding to the scourge of “fatherless” children.

Children who grow up under unfavourable circumstances are more susceptible to influences that might lead them astray. It is time to say “enough is enough” with the crime situation. We need to fight and conquer this scourge together. Wishing a speedy and full recovery to Nick Bester and hoping he will bounce back and do what he does best.