In his State of the Nation speech, President Thabo Mbeki was frank about the failings of the criminal
justice system. A letter sent this week to the Mail & Guardian Online heart-rendingly underscores how bad conditions are in many townships. This is the text of the letter:
My name is Hazel Makuzeni and I’m 25 years old. I stay with my mother in Khayelitsha, outside Cape Town. My question is directed to our Justice Minister, Mr Charles Nqakula and also anyone in the Democratic Alliance (DA) who can answer me honestly.
This morning my mother, who’s over 50, was robbed at gunpoint here in Site B while coming back from Nonqubela train station. The trains were not working because there was a power failure, so my mother was on her way to catch a taxi. I’m sure every South African is aware of crime, but I feel no one knows what is happening here in Khayelitsha.
You might ask yourself: Why is this girl writing a letter? Crime is everywhere and is affecting everyone, so what makes her think her mother’s ordeal is new or special? Here in Khayelitsha what happened to my mother is nothing new. This is the second time this year she has been robbed. Two weeks ago, while going to Nonqubela train station, she and some ladies were robbed at gunpoint and her bag was stolen with R5 in it. Today aboTsotsi stole her cellphone, after they thoroughly searched her and found it in her bra.
Here in Khayelitsha that’s what we do. We have to hide money, cellphones and other valuables in funny places, sometimes in your bra, your shoes or socks, your mouth, your beanie and some ladies hide their stuff in their panties. Sometimes this works, but now the tsotsis do a full body check, even feeling in your vagina. Nothing or no place in the body is sacred.
Well you might say hey, her mom is lucky, she’s only been robbed two times. Read my letter again — I said two times this year and we are only in the second week of February. Last year, I lost count of how many times she was robbed with a gun pointed at her.
And she’s not the only one. Almost all her friends have been robbed. I wish someone could do a study and find out how many people have been robbed in Khayelitsha, I truly believe this place is hell on Earth. No place in South Africa can be more dangerous than this township.
The guys that robbed my mother today were carrying countless ladies’ bags on their shoulders and robbed another young lady of her jewellery at the same time. We also heard that last week a young lady, while coming back from church, was shot dead in Y-section in Site B, because she wouldn’t give up her cellphone. We heard she was lying face down with her Bible next to her. She was still dressed in her church uniform.
My mother and some ladies she was robbed with went to the Site B police station to report the case. They were told it’s pointless opening up a case because even if these kids are caught by the police, the court will set them free because most of them are minors. Also, crime like this is seen as petty crime so not much attention is paid to it. And then the cops pointed to a pile of cases that they still have to go through. Needless to say, my mom and those ladies didn’t open a case.
I want to vote because that’s the right thing for our democracy, but I really want to know why this is allowed to happen. I know cops cannot be on every street corner but they can surely drive around the neighbourhood, especially early in the morning and at night, to try and maintain some order. I don’t understand why they are so invisible in the township.
Mr Nqakula you must be aware of our situation, so why don’t you deploy more cops in Khayelitsha? Once these kids see more police vans patrolling the area, they will not be that bold in doing criminal activities. My question is simply: What do you plan to do to protect me, my mother and the citizens of Khayelitsha? And to the DA: You were in power for some time in the Western Cape and I didn’t see any difference then. So what are your plans to better my township?
Poverty is really a curse because if we had money we could better protect ourselves, maybe by hiring a security company to patrol our streets. I’ve never heard of a place where thieves are not even afraid to rob a church while the service is on. That’s Khayelitsha for you.
