Cyril, take action against crime

South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Roelf Meyer, vigorously condemned the insinuations by right-wing groups that there is a “political persecution” against white farmers and that they are the targets of violent murders.

His point – in response to the planting of 3 000 white crosses in Washington, DC, over the weekend in memory of the supposed victims of farming killings – was that violent crime affects everybody in South Africa. Black people, in fact, are the victims of brutal homicides more than whites are.

Bloodiest weekend

And, on cue, our awful, brutal country proved him right, as one of the bloodiest weekends in recent South African history produced a death toll of at least 27 people, with another 26 wounded, in separate mass shootings.

“With every murder in South Africa, whether it’s farm murders, township murders or gang violence, we must have empathy and sympathy,” Meyer said.

But, Mr Ambassador, we would say it has to go much further than that… a message which you can convey to the government that appointed you.

Crime intelligence lacks

Our current state of policing – and specifically our crime intelligence gathering – is clearly hopelessly inadequate.

Why did the authorities get no inkling of the tavern attack in Carletonville? Or the hit on an entertainment venue in the Cape Flats?

If our crime intelligence units are under-resourced, that can be fixed. If they are incompetent, that, too, can be dealt with by improved training and even by bringing in foreign experts to help. (The US Federal Bureau of Investigation comes to mind…)

No course of action

But if they are corrupt and part of organised crime themselves – a situation which is revealing itself at the Madlanga commission and elsewhere – then that can only be tackled with harsh action right from the top.

Sadly, the man at the top of our mess of a country doesn’t do action, harsh or otherwise.