The PAC notes the crime statistics released by the Ministry of Police under the leadership of Bheki Cele.
We are not appalled by the figures we are seeing because the situation has been like this for about three decades under the watch of incompetent police/law enforcement agencies.
We are told that 57 people are killed daily, but the ministry claims there is no war. There is a war taking place, and that is a civil war. We understand war as the absence of peace and stability, which are not present in this country.
The civil war taking place is between the rich and the poor (haves vs have-nots).
It is a war between people of different economic standing/class where the poor use violence as a means of moving to the upper class. Violent crime is a result of growing inequalities, unemployment and abject poverty.
The only viable solution to addressing our conundrum is by means of addressing the original/real problem, which is the dispossession of wealth so that we strive for an egalitarian solution.
We can’t place the entire blame on the law enforcement agencies. There is a political crisis which should be confronted politically.
We are told that more than 100 sexual harassment incidents are reported daily, which is not really the genuine number of people experiencing such a trauma.
Our mothers, sisters and wives have lost faith in law enforcement. They just have to continue with their lives, as perpetrators hardly face any consequences.
Our people are hungry for land so that they can be part of the economy.
Someone who is employed would not be involved in a robbery as the person is part of the economy.
Our country is also a haven of alcohol and drugs as the result of poor livelihoods, and that affects their thinking in a gross way.
* Kenneth Mokgathe, PAC spokesperson.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media