This is scary as it means 46 of us may be killed at any time.
We may leave our homes for work, the malls, or for any other reason and never return because we have been killed or even get killed in our homes.
This figure is enough to send shivers down any human being’s spine and if I were in any authoritarian position, I would have surely done something to try and decrease it tremendously.
Forty-six is just too many people as this means we have more than 46 people being deprived of a close relation or friend through their death on a daily basis and this, remember, does not include those who lose family members from natural deaths.
The country’s top police bosses have been aware that 46 people are killed daily, but we have not really heard them aligning any plans to stop this.
Fast forward to this week, the country’s top footballer in the person of Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa becomes one of the 46 and boom, again, the reality of how simple it is to kill a person in South Africa comes to mind.
Top police bosses, hit by this reality, are up and running again in trying to deal with this case that has a “global appeal” — just to borrow from national police commissioner Gen Riah Phiyega’s words.
Phiyega, in explaining why the state is offering a R250 000 reward for any information that could lead to the arrests of Meyiwa’s killers, said this particular case has a “global appeal”, hence the importance to show that SA had the ability to deal with crime.
She said Meyiwa’s death was “undesirable and did not augur well for the brand and image of the country, making it critical for the police to make arrests”.
In displaying the seriousness to fight this crime to the world, the reward was also topped with the announcement of a special police task team to investigate the case.
There is no doubt that Meyiwa was prominent and played an important role in the country soccer circles.
But the reality here is that 46 of us are getting killed every day.
As a tax paying ordinary citizen the thought that there wouldn’t be enough effort to arrest my killers should I be murdered, leaves me very worried.
I find that Meyiwa’s death is somehow exposing the loopholes in how police deal with murder cases of ordinary South Africans and those that have “global appeal”.
But global appeal or not, the reality here is that 46 people are being killed and something needs to be done.
Shouldn’t we maybe use funds reserved to reward whistle-blowers in cases that have a “global appeal” to prevent these “global appeal” and ordinary murders from happening?
Government, as the leader of the people, should set up a task team not to only probe “global appeal murders” but to thoroughly investigate the root causes of the 46 people being killed daily.
Until we get to the root causes and deal with them accordingly, we will never be able to curb these murders including those that have a “global appeal”.
Let’s address the national appeal before going global. MM
