Friday, November 04, 2005
A struggle for the rainbow
For many years my experience of crime in South Africa has been limited to petty theft, for example a garden hose or the brass numbers off my garden wall. But in this year alone I have been subjected to a break-in to my wife's car; the theft of a laptop from my home-office in the small hours of the night around a month ago (which was miraculously recovered by the SAPS a few days later (WELL DONE Garsfontein police); and just yesterday a business associate had a large piece of building debris senselessly thrown onto his car off a bridge onto the R21 into Kempton Park! This incident nearly cost him his life.
Now, I know that my tiny insignificant experiences are but a big zero compared to the sufferings of others, and I have been fortunate to come off very lightly - but these experiences are all I have - and I share them for what they're worth.
So...
Today on my way to DTI in Sunnyside Pretoria, while sitting in my parked car making a call to a customer (not endangering road users) - I was the victim of a knife point robbery attempt by seven or so young thugs.
The target: my wallet and cell-phone.
My only weapon: my voice.
What followed happened fast. Quickly I clambered into the passenger seat to distance myself from my attackers. Door ripped open. A tug of war for my cell phone, while I unashamedly screamed like a stuck pig to get the attention of passers by. I clung (stupidly) to the phone and my wallet like a leach and screamed some more. Most pedestrians merely looked the other way. They've seen this scene before - many times. But the good guys came running, just as the thugs, nervously reacting to my incessant screaming, merged back into city life - unrecognisable - to try this another day. And maybe kill.
The score: Thugs - nil. Me - extreme anger. With thugs. And with local and national government for lacking the political will to stamp out crime and violence in our country.
Talk does not squash crime!
So why am I writing this? Well, for one thing, to get this off my chest. But secondly, I wish to convey the message that while we have political freedom in this country we are not free from crime, from violence and from corruption. If there is another "struggle" - it should be a struggle against these evils. We, at least the majority of us law-abiding citizens should all be involved in this new struggle as comrades or a volk or a nation. These evils are the BIG ENEMY to us all, irrespective of race, creed, gender or age.
This new struggle is the "struggle for the rainbow" - and the pot at its end.
But do we have the political will? What should we do? Let's find a way to pool our efforts - irrespective of political, economic and other differences to win back the rainbow from the criminals.
Your views are welcome.
