an eye for an I?

An Eye for an Eye

Ok. So we now have a president in power willing to acknowledge that we have a serious crime problem in our country. Not only does he say these sweeping statements but he has started to act upon this issue (something seriously lacking from the Mbeki era). In the beginning of the year, Mr Zuma said that, ahead of the 2010 world cup, police need to make serious inroads into the infestations of crime that have become synonymous with South Africa(http://www.mydigitallife.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1049691&Itemid=43).

In September, Zuma promised to get rid of the red tape that told our police to fire a warning shot before firing on criminals. This basically means that the police may now shoot to kill without warning. I am sure you can just imagine the roar of approval coming from citizens long tired of being the victims of so many acts of violence. There were, however several concerns about police getting trigger happy at the expense of innocents.

Well we have recently had one of our first casualties as a result of the new policy. Many know the story about Olga Kekana, who was out partying with her friends in a grey car when the police, mistaking the vehicle for a hi-jacked one, opened fire, wounding three and killing Olga ( http://www.newstoday.co.za/cgi-bin/newstoday/show.pl?1254232026).

The traditionally negative Australian press had a field day. They used words such as “Zuma’s buddy” to refer to South African police commissioner Bheki Cele. This move on Zuma’s part may have been made to quell the anger of a nation and in so doing, he will probably win major popularity points but this is definitely a short term solution that may and probably will cause huge and negative ramifications later on… this is definitely just the easy way out.( http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=84316)