The killing of a passer-by in a hail of rubber bullets fired by police in the general direction of protesting students at Wits University on 10 March reflects a broken society in which the lives of ordinary people, particularly Black people, are not regarded as precious.
Mthokozisi Ntumba, 35, was not a participant in the protest action. Had he been a participant it wouldn’t make his killers any more or less guilty of the crime of murder.
The lives of our people are not so cheap.
Ntumba’s killing reflects an ill-disciplined and trigger-happy police force that is hopelessly unqualified to manage the extreme pressures inequality and poverty exert on a society that has lost faith in the integrity of its government.
It reflects the violence that has become the every-day reality in our dear suffering land.
We must not allow ourselves to become hardened to this injustice.
Good South Africans will welcome the arrest of four policemen accused of taking Ntumba’s life. Our security forces cannot shoot, beat and kill with impunity.
Just as the soldiers responsible for the death of Collins Khosa in Alexandra for allegedly violating Covid lockdown provisions 11 months ago are held accountable for their foul deeds, so Ntumba’s killers must learn that there are consequences for crime in South Africa.
Comments