THERE is a moment when a society can galvanise the anger and rejection of a heinous act for the greater good. That moment arrived in the form of a call from an unlikely source but struck a powerful chord in the wake of the murder of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa.
Dr Danny Jordaan, the head of the SA Football Association, was addressing the media following the tragic events that unfolded at the weekend and asked rhetorically: “Isn’t it high time we introduce the Senzo Meyiwa gun law?”
He added: “There are too many illegal guns around and here is a young man eager to plough back into society mowed down without mercy. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
At the very least, Jordaan’s suggestion should be put on the table. A high proportion of violent crime in South Africa is committed with the use of illegal firearms. The debate should perhaps go further and include tougher gun control measures for those who legally own firearms.
The argument from the pro-gun lobby would predictably be that the laws are sufficiently strict but not properly enforced.
This week, in the face of a spate of robberies at shopping malls in which at least two people have been killed, Canal Walk management announced that while it was policy to prohibit firearms on its premises, it would now adopt a zero-tolerance enforcement of that policy. It apologised to legal gun owners for the inconvenience but believed that most shoppers would understand the need for the ban, given the attacks carried out at the centre.
South Africa is by no means alone in grappling with gun control. In the US, the debate rages around whether the ease of access to firearms is a contributing factor to the incidents of mass shootings.
It depends on how we wish to project ourselves as a nation. Do we arms ourselves to the teeth or do we engage as active citizens against crime?
If it is the latter, and we strongly contend that it should be, a pre-condition has to be the vast improvement of our criminal justice system, as recommended by the National Development Plan, as a means to restore public faith.