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Farouk Araie of Benoni writes by email:
The brutal murder of four-year-old Jasmin-Lee Pretorius in neighbouring Brakpan is a grim reminder of the state of lawlessness in our rainbow nation.
We are on the edge of an abyss and the only way our democracy will survive is if we fight fire with fire.
Like the pirate and the slaver before him, the law judges the violent criminal as Hostis Humani Generis, an enemy of all mankind subject to severe punishment.
We abhor violent crime, and, confronted by it, we share the sense of justifiable outrage, frustration, and vulnerability that is the response of people everywhere.
Society has both the right to defend itself against the perpetrators of violent crime and the duty to reach out compassionately to the innocent victims of crimes and their loved ones.
Justice must be placed in parity to what the criminals have done.
Justice is a highly regarded word in society and politics, but within the judicial system and that which concerns crime and punishment, justice has, both as a word and as a conception, ended up existing in the shadows.
Justice is not only about capturing the criminal and getting a conviction, but first and foremost about the penalty and the sentencing, which has to be just.
While legal experts over the course of time have worked with different theories of justice, every time has had its theory and emphasis, one reality is remaining and never disappearing from the vast crowd, and that is justice.
Even if the aspect of justice has not had an especially large part in our criminal policy, it is nevertheless the soul of our people. It will always remain there. If the state is going to win the respect in the long run for its anti-crime policy it must be based on justice and severe retribution.
Justice and law are married to each other.
If there is a divorce between these two, both will have difficulties surviving. If there is no justice the law will be transformed from being the threatening sword into a toothless tiger.
It is time for the civil authorities to take consistent, strong and resolute actions to protect law abiding citizens and to severely punish law breaking criminals.
