The death of Kieran Forbes, known as AKA, has cast the spotlight on violent crime and elicited renewed calls for the tightening of gun laws in the country.
In the Johannesburg suburb of Westbury, residents are “living in a war zone” after the death of alleged Fast Guns gang leader Keenen Sheldon Ebrahim, who died in a suspected hit.
An 18-year-old matric pupil was shot dead during a gang-related killing in the suburb. According to reports, 13 people have been shot in six incidents resulting in two deaths. The 18-year-old was not a gang member. Residents claim that children as young as nine are paid a paltry R300 to commit murder.
Schools are not spared from the gangs’ reign of terror as principals are said to be forced to get children to join gangs from an early age. Children are used as assassins because they are more likely to be released back to their parents. School violence continues unabated, with a grade 10 boy from Dinokaneng Secondary in Sebokeng, Vaal, stabbed to death by a fellow pupil two weeks ago.
A grade 11 boy from the same school was reportedly stabbed the previous day. The department believes the incidents are linked to gangsterism in the area. School safety has become a major concern that threatens the already fragile culture of teaching and learning in our schools.
Last month, a teacher at Kagiso Senior Secondary School allegedly shot dead an intruder who held teachers hostage. The intruder is said to have charged at a teacher and stabbed him with a knife after he had fired a warning shot in the air. Questions have been raised about why the teacher was armed within school premises.
The call for stricter gun laws is reminiscent of the aftermath of the killing of Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa in 2014. It will be remembered that then there were calls for the reinstatement of then dismissed police commissioner, Bheki Cele. The same Cele, now police minister, has failed to live up to his billing.
The president of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordan, even advocated for a “Senzo Meyiwa gun law”, which called for the handing over of all illegal guns.
It would seem his proposal fell on deaf. The argument for the reduction of guns in civilian hands is based on the fallacious notion that it will lead to a reduction in homicides.
The latest crime statistics reveal that an average of 82 murders a day were committed in SA between October and December 2022. They also reveal that only one in five of these murders are solved.
Gun ownership is regulated under the Firearms Control Act of 2000. The act calls for prospective owners to provide genuine reasons for possession such as for hunting, target shooting, personal protection, among others.
Background checks are also carried out, which can all disqualify prospective applicants from owning a gun.
The maximum penalty for unlawful possession is 15 years’ imprisonment. This indicates that the laws are there and stringent enough. What is lacking is effective implementation. We do not have a gun problem, but a violent crime problem where killings cease to shock.
What the country needs is a sustainable plan to deal with and root out the culture of violence in general. The starting point should be our homes, where parents should seek to restore values such as respect for authority, diligence, a strong work ethic and problem-solving skills, which will assist young ones to eschew violence as a means to solving problems.
For their part, schools should reinforce these foundations to ensure that our children grow up to become law-abiding and economically productive citizens of our country.
Churches should preach and campaign against violent crime and champion the strengthening of family values. In the end, what is needed to tackle the ills of our society, including violent crime, is a holistic approach that involves communities in the fight against factors that keep our country from attaining its full potential.
We need to create a society that will obviate the need for private gun ownership or possession. Gun restriction laws alone are not a panacea for our violent society.
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