Swift action must be taken on violent crime

With violent crime spiralling out of control and the bodies piling up after mass shootings in Wedela on the West Rand and Lwandle in the Western Cape on one of the country’s bloodiest weekends yet, it’s no surprise many are calling for a referendum on bringing back the death penalty.

Weak police intelligence gathering, under-resourced police stations and poor control of curbing illegal firearms are just some of the reasons attributed to the police’s failure to combat high crime levels, with many experts and politicians saying “enough is enough” and that harsher penalties need to be adopted immediately.

African Transformation Movement MP Vuyo Zungula said: “The death penalty serves as the ultimate punishment for the most egregious crimes committed. It would work to send a strong message that there is a zero tolerance to such crimes. That’s what referendums are for, to give people a voice on matters. A referendum must be a decision of the people, which must be executed by the arms of the state.”

Other experts question bringing back capital punishment as inept investigations and shoddy police work justifiably puts doubt on whether they would even execute the right person.

The conversion rates of successfully punishing perpetrators for crimes committed is especially poor.

Chair of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron said: “An execution cannot be undone if the state gets it wrong,” adding he was more in favour of “giving the police the means to fight crime, from sector patrols and detectives, through to crime intelligence, forensics, prosecutions and incarceration capacity, should come before the drastic alternative”.

We are not saying bring back the death penalty, but serious, swift action needs to be taken because whatever is implemented now is clearly not working.

And each life lost is one life too many. If examples aren’t made, we will just be subjected to even more bloodbaths.