There has been an outpouring of soul-searching in the media this week following the accidental shooting of four-year-old Richard Belang. Uriel Abrahamse apparently fired a warning shot at a young man who was said to have stolen his son’s cellphone. It is thought the bullet then ricocheted off a palisade fence and struck Belang in the stomach. He died at the scene.
It has now emerged that the alleged shooter is a senior figure in the African National Congress and a former law-enforcement official. He appeared in the Newlands Regional Court on Wednesday and was released on R4Â 000 bail.
The child’s father — a police captain — said Abrahamse acted irresponsibly and should have been more careful. Photographs this week showed police Captain Belang at his home, appearing to be trying to come to terms with his son’s death, while his inconsolable wife, Abigail, wept in his lap.
This is a story of despair — one among many — and with that one shot, multiple lives have been ruined.
Should it need to be repeated, South Africa is one of the world’s most violent societies, according to reports just behind Columbia and ahead of Jamaica. With the commonplace perception that the South African Police Service is failing miserably, at least on something as routine as visible policing, frustrated ordinary South Africans have armed themselves, and accidents are bound to happen.
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The Shikota party
Whatever they’re going to call themselves — apparently the South African National Congress has been doing the rounds — this new group has breathed some life back into South African politics and has the ANC scrambling to contain the situation. |
 Mlungisi Buthelezi
One Mlungisi Buthelezi — a defence advocate for one of those accused of the Jeppestown massacre, failed to make it court this week, saying he was “somewhere in Berea and requests to be fetched”. He was hauled over the coals by High Court Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng, who said the country’s legal system had lost its integrity. |
Most-read stories
October 23 to 29
1. Youth league’s dirty-money deals
A confidential dossier on the financial affairs of the ANC Youth League suggests prominent members massively enriched themselves through transactions under the banner of the league’s investment arm, the Lembede group.
2. ‘Why was I shifted, Kgalema?’
President Kgalema Motlanthe will this week face the first political storm of his short career as head of state after his deputy controversially signed a Cabinet minute that will see the directors general of the Correctional Services Department and the Department of Sports and Recreation swapping jobs.
3. Expect an ANC exodus, says Lekota
Expect African National Congress (ANC) members to quit in “big numbers” in support of a breakaway party, suspended ANC veteran Mosiuoa Lekota said on Thursday.
4. US may get a president before black Americans vote
As the sun rose over Soweto on South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, the Mwale family were too busy with practical matters to ponder the historical resonance of the day.
5. YCL slams publication of Malema’s matric results
The Young Communist League (YCL) has condemned the publication of African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema’s matric results in a daily newspaper on Friday.
6. The ANCYL ‘is as good as dead’
With the ANC’s breakaway group campaigning on a Julius Malema-gevaar ticket, the battle is on to lure disgruntled young people away from the ruling party’s youth league.
7. Malema lashes out at ‘political imbeciles’
The levels to which prophets of doom have stooped to rubbish the African National Congress demonstrates their level of desperation, said the party’s youth league president, Julius Malema, on Sunday.
8. Police warn against hate speech in ANC feud
South African police warned on Monday that they would take action against hate speech by politicians, who are making increasingly tough remarks about a planned breakaway from the ruling party.
9. Why Kader Asmal resigned from Parliament
Former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal resigned from Parliament because he did not want to vote for the disbanding of the Scorpions, he said in a lecture on Tuesday evening.
10. Fresh elections loom for Zimbabwe
Ahead of next week’s regional summit to save the Zimbabwe power-sharing deal, what began as a row over a passport has escalated into the possibility of yet another round of elections for weary Zimbabweans.