NOT for the first time the name of Swanieville evokes horror and revulsion. Five years ago, a Zulu impi cut a bloody swathe through the squatter camp, attacking alleged African National Congress supporters, in full view of the police.
The police were again on the scene this week as schoolchildren were bussed in to exact vengeance for the death of a friend in a shebeen the week before.
The story elsewhere in this issue of the last moments of Eric Ndeleni, the innocent victim of vigilante retribution, will chill the heart of every decent South African. The killing leaves one grasping for answers.
What has become of our country that young people aged between 16 and 22 should commit premeditated mob murder? Does the rule of law mean so little that the police, having disarmed the victim, look on and do nothing while he is murdered and his house petrol- bombed? Apartheid and the struggle to end it are the root causes of this breakdown of values, but we cannot forever blame the past.
If this country is to have a future, we have to put a stop to the culture of violence and give living expression to the fine words of our Constitution that guarantee the sanctity of human life.
We know that Swanieville is not isolated but is symptomatic of a frightening breakdown in the moral fabric in our society; it is a major factor in the crime problem. To start to counter it, our leaders need to go back and help to rebuild our damaged communities.
Jessie Duarte, the Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security, was on the scene by midweek, urging calm and promising action against the perpetrators. We commend her, but vastly more should have been done and must be done.
The Gauteng government, the national government and leaders from all walks of life should be pouring into Swanieville to make abundantly clear that no society can tolerate this behaviour. These youths are not just murderers. They are wounded people whose lives are in crisis. They deserve the punishment of the law, but they are also victims and need counselling and help to rehabilitate themselves.
The leaders need to stand up and present themselves as role models – people who believe in the rule of law, who do not succumb to corruption and who will root it out when it does occur, people who can show that concern for the common good is the foundation of the South Africa we all want.
They must start giving the lead now and keep doing it to prevent the repetition of such shameful events. We need to restore our common humanity.