Journos commended for exposing K9 unit

Editor – I was emotionally distressed and extremely angry after reading the highly informative article in Express (June 10) by intrepid journalists Fanie Mthupha and Ntombikayise Sibeko in collaboration with sister publication Boksburg Advertiser.
The article exposed the barbaric and inhumane animal mistreatment at Ekurhuleni EMPD K9 Dog Unit.
Our canine pets, friends and oftentimes protectors give us unqualified devotion and love.
Many of the dogs at the unit have possibly risked their lives in duty to our community.
Shamefully, our Homo sapiens species often shows scant gratitude in return. And yet no one seems to care an iota about their sad plight – not the unit commander, neither their handlers, the SAPS prosecution division or the abject politicians.
Humanist icon Mahatma Gandhi said a nation should be judged on the way it treats its vulnerable citizens and its animals.
They say the rot starts from the head downwards, and the example set by parliamentary speaker Tandi Modise, who appeared in court after hundreds of livestock on her farm died terrible deaths from starvation, speaks volumes of our South African humanity.
It is not enough for Boksburg SPCA manager Vicky Finnemore to fruitlessly leave warning letters at the K9 unit.
Strong action must be speedily enacted to prevent further ill-treatment of those suffering animals.
Some time ago, after continuous failures of prosecution from SAPS and the NPA against animal cruelty, the Concourt ruled that as the SPCA is a Statutory Chapter 8 Government Body, they have the right to themselves prosecute parties for excessive animal neglect or cruelty. And that is what the SPCA did when prosecuting Modise with the assistance of AfriForum’s legal practitioners.
I humbly suggest Finnemore contact her umbrella body, the NSPCA, in this regard for advice going forward to effect prosecution of all offending parties and the rescue of the suffering dogs.
We all owe Kempton Express, Boksburg Advertiser and its reporters a debt of gratitude for its community service in exposing this shocking aberration. Shame on all the guilty parties.
Brian Venter
Kempton Park