Why are we silent about the crime next door?

Crime has gone beyond the point of redemption in this country. The audacity to shoot to kill, even at a courthouse, is unbelievable.

As a country, we are under siege. And so it seems that the only pushback civilians have is to arm themselves.

In townships, mob justice has become the norm. There is a possibility of the “alleged” dying because of suspicion.

My sympathy on a human level should not be mistaken for tolerance for any wrongdoing on their part – if they kidnapped or even tried to, they should face the full might of the law.

I have my own views on the meting out of mob justice. What bothers me is that it’s easy for everyone to confront the alleged criminals, but where was this choir when the criminals were flourishing?

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The criminals are known in the community.

We all know who they are and what they do. We all know who to go to when there has been a break-in at the local corner cafe.

We know who might know who stole sis’ Betty’s car tyres while the rest of us were sleeping.

Word on the street and the neighbourhood grapevine can give insight on which local delinquent might be responsible.

Where was “word on the street” when the BMW spinning interrupted the afternoon’s peace and when unauthorised gun salutes pierced through song at a local funeral?

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Where was “word on the street”, the judge and jury of the community, when the township air was drenched in the smell of an illegal substance that is not being used for medicinal purposes?

This “word on the street” seems to have been very inefficient when Stevovo was selling Gucci cologne for R100, even though we can all clearly see the price tag, still stuck on the product, for R799.

But we all creep out the woodwork to serve mob justice? On what authority?

While there may be many reasons why the criminal element flourishes in communities, one of them is that we know the perpetrators, they are our friends. We know them on a first-name basis – but we say and do nothing.

The criminals in our communities are known, but we say nothing and do nothing. We jump up and down protesting that the police do nothing, but what is it that we are doing as responsible and concerned citizens?

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We must be capable of doing more than just pressing the share button on social media.