Ending gun violence requires a pragmatic approach that includes collaboration between the police and communities
This week three shootings in Gauteng and one in the Northern Cape highlighted the scourge of gun violence that grips South Africa and calls for collective efforts to make our country a safer place for all.
Way too many illegal guns are in the hands of criminals, wreaking havoc among defenceless citizens.
It’s way too easy to gain access to firearms. Some criminals rob police stations and get away with guns, in other cases, corrupt police officers sell firearms to criminals. The firearm amnesty of 2019 and 2020 also seems to have failed to yield results.
Just this week, five traffic wardens were shot by criminals in Ekurhuleni. Although they were lucky to survive, this incident shows criminals are so ruthless that they are not even afraid to pull the trigger on law enforcement agents. The wardens, informally known as amaPanyaza, do not carry guns and were no match for these rifle-carrying criminals.
Just days earlier, the cold-blooded assassination of insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk sent shockwaves through not only the legal fraternity, but the entire Sandton, proving that even behind the high walls and secure gates of affluent suburbs, nobody is safe.
On Tuesday, in what appears to be a hit, Limpopo ANC Youth League member of the provincial executive committee Nkateko Mbhoma was shot dead in the early hours of the morning in Leeudoringstad, Northern Cape, while en route to the youth wing’s national general council.
Almost daily, we hear about criminals shot dead by police in KwaZulu-Natal as no-nonsense provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s men in blue fight to reclaim the streets from criminals who shoot at police as they try to evade arrest. Some of these criminals are izinkabi (hitmen) who originate from KZN but ply their trade across the country.
Gun violence does not always only involve criminals, as we saw in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, where an off-duty police constable held his mother and nephew hostage for hours before shooting the boy and taking his own life in what appears to have been a family feud. His mother survived but the scars will linger for life.
Ending the scourge of gun violence requires a pragmatic approach that includes collaboration between the police and communities. It requires political will and tightening gun laws, making it harder for citizens to own guns, while ensuring law enforcement is effective, so they don’t become sitting ducks in this violent country where criminals don’t fear the law.
We must extend the firearm amnesty and encourage illegal gun owners to hand their firearms in to the police.
Otherwise, none of us is safe.