The sanctity of human life in South Africa is defined by the gun or other deadly weapons of choice like knives, machetes or axes and whose hand it is in!
Thirty six people dead in a fortnight of mass killings: a blood bath in Lusikisiki claimed the lives of 18 people, six CPF patrollers were gunned down in Qumbu, also in the Eastern Cape, five people were knifed to death in Bergville and seven were shot and killed in Orange Farm, Gauteng.
While psychological and psychiatric profilers will have a field day with different hypothetical analysis, several deep-rooted societal problems of cultural, economic, psychological, and environmental could be at the nexus of such brutal behaviour.
In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, he defines the basic needs or physiological requirement of every human as food, water, shelter, sleep and sex.
Let us start with the migration of people from the rural to urban spaces.
Spurred on by the lure of the bright city lights and other trappings of modern, urban life, many have sought to trade the growing poverty of the rural interior for a piece of urban prosperity.
In a world harsh to losers, many have realised that the grass is often not greener on the other side.
This mass influx, galvanised with illegal immigrants has resulted in the mushrooming of informal settlements at every corner of society.
This social isolation means dislocation from the traditional family unit. High levels of unemployment and poverty thrive in this maze of squalid and over-crowded salt-box shacks. Here, there is exposure to alcohol and drugs, firearms, unprotected sex and criminal elements.
Disturbing ideas are planted in young, impressionable minds with false bravado.
For the quiescent downtrodden at the lower end of the social spectrum — the bottom feeders of society — there is a kind of debilitating acceptance of this barren life.
Deeply divided by insular allegiances, for the vast majority, life is a challenge.
Their priority is survival and not salvation.
Survival is the imperative of the present; salvation, the promise of the future.
While alcohol and drugs are common denominators in most crimes, we cannot discount the increasing effect of mental health issues like depression and anxiety , inferior complexes and dual personalities.
Whether it's highly altered states of mind or people “going off their rocker”, the killings need to stop! Access to social media could also be viewed as an issue when considering the impact of influence.
Traditional gender roles , toxic masculinity and historical family trauma could also play roles.
Belief in ancestors and black magic are integral components of the cultural sphere.
Getting the command to kill from witch doctors or voices from ancestral spirits is not uncommon. Certain cultures glorify violence.
Whilst government’s attempt at resolve are mostly scaffolding on an unaltered edifice with their reassuring rhetoric, we commend the arrests and progress in some of the cases.
In this unending cycle of adversity, are the affected citizens accepting this as their dominion or is this temporary?
Are they so burdened by an aching sense of inadequacy and perennial shame, that they have given up all hope and accepted this as their fate?
Will gun-toting and knife-wielding mafia control our villages and ‘‘jondols’’like the favelas of Rio de Janerio? We need a kind of social self-renewal for this murderous entropy.
While complete victory overnight is not possible, it has to be a war of attrition.
KEVIN GOVENDER | Umhlatuzana
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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