The police have gunned down three suspects believed to have been involved in the Christmas Day massacre of Inanda FM presenter Ntombikayise Ngwane (24) and her friends.
In the early hours of Friday morning, possibly acting upon information obtained from the suspect who was arrested on December 31 at a house in Eshowe, where he had been hiding, they swooped on the alleged murderers who paid the maximum price.
“I have been told that three people that were wanted for the massacre were shot dead by police. Details of what happened were still sketchy. I’m on my way to the scene,” said Director Phindile Radebe.
In total it brings the number of people killed or murdered from the Christmas Day massacre to nine with a further three wounded.
Statistics that are all too common in South Africa but only comparable when assessed against war zones rather than other crime-plagued countries.
On Christmas Day, at the home of Ngwane, the presenter and her friends were enjoying all the festivities of the day when three men, armed with R5 and AK47 rifles, burst in and randomly opened fire on them killing six and wounding three.
The motive is believed to have been the killing of Sizwe Ngwane, who ironically survived the attack by playing dead and thereby emerging unscathed.
As in the case of the Midrand murder of 42-year-old Kobus Snyman in front of his family last Friday night, innocent people slaughtered simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Absolutely no regard for Ntombikayise, her friends or family as these thugs simply mowed them down in their quest to murder one man who they couldn’t even be bothered to check to see whether he was dead or alive.
A mentality that is easily equated with the murderers who targeted a bus filled with the Togolese players and staff when it crossed the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda.
There the motive was the ongoing Cabinda separatists wanting to send a message to the Angolan government that nobody is safe until they are given independence. So they simply gunned down people from Togo who were totally unrelated to the conflict but conveniently filled their gun sights.
In some respects the Angolan murderers can at least claim some sort of — pathetic though it may be — justification for their acts, those that murdered six people on Christmas Day have none.
In the case of Ntombikayise, South Africa has lost a person who filled people’s home with warmth and laughter. Her relatives, who have gone into hiding, have lost a daughter, a sister, a family member. The same applies to the family and friends of those who were murdered with her. The family of Kobus Snyman have lost their husband, father and provider.
The statistics of crime in South Africa continue to cause alarm overseas and terrify the people of this country.
It is time for the government and all those charged with bringing this plague under control to accept that South Africa is a war zone and that Ntombikayise Ngwane and Kobus Snyman are casualties of that war.
While Rome burns…
The real enemy in South Africa is placing consensus above agreement.
The Cabinda seperatists have been telling the world since 1975 that they are a different tribe and want their own country.
What are they supposed to do?
How come violence by the ANC is glorified as “a struggle” and they are “separitist rebels”?
The sole problem with the shoot to kill policy is that there is none to stand proof of innocence.
Mike, I would not worry right now about the established fact the we live in a war zone.
What should be of concern is that an over zealous policeman or group thereof shoot and kill a tourist.
Admittedly one would have to colour blind to shoot a tourist from say England but what about the other poor bugger from Africa who in the shaded interior of a car look no different to our local criminals.
We have already seen the results of police mistaken identity.
Is it not of interest that the police commissioner called the man who was captured for having told ETV that they were going to rob tourists was called “a criminal” whereas all others even if they have guns in their hands and have been shooting are ‘suspects”
If anyone thinks that criminals give a hoot about the ‘reputation’ of South Africa and that they are not planning and all out offensive against unsuspecting tourists, they are blind. South Africa already has a reputation as been a ‘war zone’ so anyone who comes here should be aware of the risk that they are taking. The best things to do is to watch the World Cup on TV.
It also begs the question of we should now also close down the crime line because if we send an SMS then it can be traced back to us and then we will have to prove that we are not part of a gang or live in an gang member’s house.
My advice now with the persecution and the forcing of the press, and presumable anyone to spill the beans uis that we all keep quite now and leave the police to do their own work. Perhaps the police should issue all our visitors with a badge to wear that shows that they are foorball fans and therefore should be left alone?? Be assured, the crooks are getting ready to ‘ambush’ our visitors.
The brutal crime in SA is not acceptable and I believe the government has prioritised it as they should.
Now comparing SA to a war zone is a bit far fetched won’t you say? SA is a great country that rivals many a developped nation. Lets not join the westerners in lumping Africa in one doomed box. SA is a great nation doing alot to better itself and continue advancing.
No disrespect to the other African nations but there really isn’t any comparison, well other than the nature of the crime though! SA’s nature of crime is so violent, I believe because it is a traumatised society where human life isn’t so valued.
What we need in SA is a moral regeneration and spriritual rebirth where the sanctity of life will be emphasised and entrenched in the society. The leadership should at all times highlight the sacredness of life and not play the rhetoric of gunning down criminals! If there is no death penalty why should the crime fighting hierarchy talk of “shoot to kill” and we are not appalled?
So yes I do agree with you that SA is a war zone but only I would say it is a spiritual war. We need to heal our society from the spiritual decay where human life is treated as collateral damage. There is crime everywhere, SA’s diffirence is that killing is taken lightly.
There are absolutely no parrallels – dug! The Angola attack was linked to extremist separatists that have been operating in Angola for years. Please explain what the parrallel is to SA? Yes we have a horrific crime rate but that does not mean that we are going to start seeing these kinds of random attacks on sports teams or fans.
What could be more representative in SA society than the fact that everyone is affected by crime? How long will it take for all of us to unite and root it out by voting for another party to rule?
For once, Traps, I fully agree with you. More than that: you finally call a spade a spade and draw attention to one more aspect of the denialism that has so come to characterise the ANC administration under Mbeki and has seamlessly been taken over post Polokwane.
We are taking on responsibility for the safety of hundreds of thousands of visitors many of whom will not even be “tourists” but be here simply because this is where the WC is staged. How will a hypothetical attack on a group of them be argued away ?
Putting it down to “xenophobia” ?
I am a little confused.. Wasn’t that Huntleys argument?
I’ve been in war zones which have felt safer than I felt in South Africa. Ongoing denial by both the SA government as well as the rabidly pro-SA’s who don’t want to face up to the bitter truth that the Rainbow Nation has gone monochrome is doing nothing to help what is now a critical situation.
Perception is it not truth? The world views SA as a minor war zone the crime problem and its associated horrors are legendary. The first thing potential visitors want to know – ‘is it safe’ – how do you answer that truthfully.
It has been shown that South Africa has more deaths every day than die in Iraqi or Afghanistan. Would any of us willingly go to either country?? South Africa is the most violent country in the world that is not in a war or under attack from terrorists. Why come here if there is even the slightest chance that you will be mugged or at worse injured or killed? Rape is our national sport so if you decide to come, leave you wives and daughters at home. This is not alarmist – this is the way it is. The ‘crimes’ that were committed to topple the Apartheid regime are now committed for fun or personal gain with a very small likelihood of being caught or convicted.
You are a serious commentator, so you reference to a ‘war zone’ is not taken lightly. So I wonder Michael, what would you say are the root causes of this war – or plague as you call it? Would you say its an individual level problem (evil people); a societal problem (grossly unequal society); or an interaction of individual propensity and societal context?
Surely ‘getting the plague under control’ requires more than police and policy work. Surely the Criminal Justice system cannot be expected to also solve social problems?
Part of the conflict mosaic is that we all want to hold on to our places in the hierarchy of inequality, but we don’t want the consequences. We are too scared to examine people’s pathways into crime because then we have to confront our complicty as part of an unequal society. So it suits us to cry ‘war’ … its quicker to exterminate rats than to clean the house.
Let us look at the problem of safety during the WC purely statistically.
I will use very rough figures that will certainly do to get a ballpark figure. For South Africa:
Population 45 million
Murder rate 25000 per annum
That is roughly 0.5 murders per 1000 inhabitants per annum.
Let us be conservative and work on 300 000 visitors attending the WC, with associated tourism,
and that visitors will stay an average of say 3 weeks, which is roughly 0.06 year.
All things being equal – and purely statistically -it would mean:
0.5×0.06×300 = 9 murders on our WC visitors
Excluding a major tourist bus accident or an al Qaida-type massacre, can we face the fallout in the international press resulting from 9 murders ?
Can the visitors be shielded from such intrinsic hazards more effectively than the average South African ?
Very interesting observation by Sarah. The inequalities are so vast and in-your-face in South Africa. I am still amazed to see how separate development takes place across the country. Whites ensconse themselves into enclaves along the beautiful coast; while people of colour are tucked away next to the sewerage farm or over the hill in the flood prone valley. The heirarchy of inequality must account for much of the wanton violence that characterises SA. You can’t keep propogating such inequality and expect normal levels of crime. Your system is broken and needs fixing.
The visitors are automatically shielded from such hazards by the fact that they will stay in the rich areas where violent crime hardly ever happens, and which are the best-policed areas even when there is not a special effort for public relations purposes. So that’s a rather silly observation.
Actually, the whole piece is silly.
Fixing the broke system is surely the nations biggest challenge and the primary task of the government. Seems to me they are failing dismally at dealing with the root causes – poverty, education and crime et al, while excelling at protecting the ruling elite’s narrow interests.
Michael,what kind of a society in particular KZN is becoming.On the 2nd January,my brother was killed in KZN by an AK wielding thugs who apparently were looking for my cousin brother.Failing to find him a couple of times they were looking to shoot anything on sight.As you would have it,chances of them taking responsibility for this barbaric act is’ next to zero.Similar to a sad Ntombikayise story he filled our heart with warmth.For the second time in two years I have seen an AK47 in action.what was once a home has degenerated into a house of death.If this country is not a war zone as you neatly articulated it,then I don’t what it is.
I have been affected by crime for so many times and badly so.
My point is we complain a lot but what are we doing, personally, to make RSA a crime-free country? If you not doing anything then shut up or you should not be in the country at the first place if it compares worst than countries outside of war-zones.
It’s just irritating to hear same thing over and over, It’s been called national crisis! Something that big should have received attention from most of us and it should have been dead by now.
My conclusion is that may be, just may be crime is a vital economic tool for great sections of our society and that’s the reason it has stayed with us for this long. ( e.g Trecker, ADT, Chubb, CCTV traders, Gunshops, SARS(VAT), Insurance companies, etc etc) If you can look at the headcout & revenues of these industries/companies you will understand what I mean if I say CRIME HAS ESSENTIAL ECONOMIC ELEMENT IN RSA.
The UK, with a higher population, had 648 murders in the last year, compared with SA’s 21,555! There were 38 fatal shootings, while nearly 60% of SA’s is gunshot.
The UK has fewer fatal car accidents in a year than SA (with a smaller car population) has over Christmas and Easter.
Add to that the rape count, which is the highest in the world; especially for children and babies(!), and you realise what a very broken society you have, and the extent to which the World Cup is going to make this evident to whole world.