by Gaynor Paynter

G21 Africa Columnist

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Gaynor Paynter & her sons

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Hello America, hello the world! Yes, it is me, your long absent friend from South Africa! If I am not mistaken, when I last wrote to you South Africa was in the last days of summer - we were fending off heat rays and thinking about sun and swimming. We are now in the last stage of what has been a cold, dull and invasive winter and are looking forward to that most glorious of days, the first of September, when we will at last be able to say "Spring has sprung!"

Today we had a phenomenon which is not common in South Africa - the wintry morning dawned cold, wet and murky. Used to dry, harsh winters, we were quite taken aback by the day we were presented with today! My five year old son even made reference to it this morning, by asking me if I thought it was going to snow (in his exact words, "is the ice, cold stuff that we can play in going to come down from the sky?") Considering it last snowed in Johannesburg in 1981 when I myself was in my first year of primary school, I don't even know how he KNOWS about snow, let alone how he would figure out that today's weather was conducive to snow. Luckily, as it turns out it hasn't snowed yet - South Africans drive badly enough in rain and I would hate to see the chaos on the roads that snow is sure to bring about.

And so to the issue which I would really like to discuss with you today: Crime. A touchy subject, but one which cannot be ignored. It has too big an influence on the lives of most South Africans (we all have security bars, alarms, panic buttons, etc.) to pretend it doesn't exist.

When I commenced writing this column about twelve months ago, I maintained that my "letters" would not become a vehicle for negative publicity about South Africa, but rather that by my work I would strive to spread positive messages about this beautiful country. I still maintain this ideal and endeavour to bring you the good news, so to speak, because to coin a phrase which is currently popular here, I am "Proudly South African".

South Africa has a lot of good things going for it, as I have documented in the past: Its climate, for one. I have a friend who has just recently returned from London, having spent nine months there. What was the reason for her return? Being used to our days of (for the most part) sunshine, she could not tolerate the cold, wet, weather any longer - it made her moody!

Our people are another one of our best assets. We are a friendly, diverse and hard working nation - a microcosm of the world in one nation, if you like. We have representatives from each nation and language and so many different races of person who can be called one hundred percent South African. We truly are a rainbow nation and we have all the joy and happiness that is associated with that colourful weather phenomenon.

For a third, South Africa's fledgling democracy goes in its favour. Nine years into our democracy, inter-racial tolerance has come a long way.

However, flying in the face of all this are a few things going against the successful future of South Africa, most notably the AIDS pandemic and the wave of violent, inhuman crime which has escalated so immensely since the death penalty was abolished some years ago.

To cite a current example, some days ago a mother and her one year old baby as well as her mother-in-law to-be were hijacked (after celebrating the baby's first birthday at a restaurant). Later, a sixteen year old girl, independent of the family, was also abducted by the same people. The mother, mother-in-law and sixteen year old were raped and beaten repeatedly. The mother was able to send an SMS to her fiancÈ requesting help. Unfortunately, it is believed that the hijackers caught her in the act of sending the message. She was beaten further, and together with her baby and her mother-in-law was murdered execution style. The sixteen year old girl was shot in the mouth and left for dead. She is now recovering in hospital.

Crime itself breeds hatred. There is now a bereaved father, son and fiancÈ, and a violated sixteen year old girl who will find it hard not to become prejudiced. For South Africa to work our citizens need to understand that LOVE AND COMPASSION BREED LOVE AND COMPASSION, and conversely, HATRED AND CRIME BREEDS HATRED AND CRIME. That is the negative side of the affair.

Following the atrocious events of the past few weeks, the police, working in conjunction with the Scorpions, a highly trained specialised group of investigators, arrested three men in a settlement close to Pretoria, and a fourth one a day or so later. These suspects are due to go to court sometime in the next week. There is no doubt about the following fact: South Africa has a good police force. They are efficient and fast and in this country criminals are caught.

In my opinion the actual catching of the perpetrators is not the problem. The problem, a many pronged one, comes in when legal procedures ensue after criminals have been arrested - a) in the courts (some of which are dismally run-down and under-equipped for the service they are supposed to provide to the community) - inadequate sentences are passed; (These court cases are not the stuff of "Law and Order"or "LA Law" or even "Ally McBeal"! and b) in the jails, which are overcrowded, there are a lot of corrupt staff members (recent media coverage in South Africa has exposed this) and jail breaks are not uncommon events.

If I state that South Africans have become almost complacent about crime in our country, I will probably meet with resistance from fellow South Africans. "We haven't!" they may say. "We are as shocked by new crimes as we were by past ones!"

To which I respond: You may think so, but picture this: In today's day and age, if we hear of rape and murder, even of babies, it does not even make us stop and think long enough to register what we are hearing -we are used to this type of violent crime.

If you lived in the 'fifties and somehow time travelled forward to the present and heard about this crime, how much greater do you think your shock would be? My friends, Good Samaritans we are not. We find it easier to turn a blind eye in vain pretence that these atrocities do not exist. And what the man on the street does, the MP in the government does too.

Many feel that the government prefers to ignore the state of the correctional and legal services in South Africa in favour of putting up toll roads and implementing new licensing systems, thus actually enhancing poverty, which leads to crime.

The questions in my mind are: What can be done to alleviate the crime situation? Where can the legal / justice system be improved to ensure that guilty criminals are brought swiftly to book and dealt with in a suitably decisive manner? For the mother, baby and mother-in-law, whatever steps now follow in South Africa are too late. The murderers' human rights will be taken into consideration in that the death sentence will not be passed, but what of the human rights of those who died?

I don't know for sure what steps can be taken in order to alleviate crime here. What I do know, however, is that I would like the chance to vote in a referendum regarding the re-introduction of the death penalty. I call for the government to allow this for us. The simple act of holding a referendum would send the message to the people that the government does care about us and respect us enough to ask our opinion about something. If there was a referendum I would know that justice had been done and that the people of South Africa had had an active chance to state in no uncertain terms their opinion about crime. My faith in the government would be restored. If this is a true democracy we the people should be allowed to have our say.

Without the death sentence, the victims of crime are coming off extremely badly and the criminals are benefiting - even if they are caught and jailed they get food and lodging for the tax payer's account. Can someone tell me where the justice in that is? When are we going to give our excellent policing service the legal backup that they deserve?

As ever, my American friends, I wish you all the best. May you remain safe in God's love. I end with a prayer we say at Church, which I think is now as relevant as it ever has been:

God Bless Africa
Guide her leaders
And give her peace
For Jesus Christ's sake
Amen