It is time to clean up your house, Mr President
Being retired gives Anne more time to spend in her garden, but she did not think that she would be part of a crime in progress
ANNE RUSSELL writes:
Firstly, thank you to the police and armed response who acted quickly regarding this incident.
To you two young African kids, who were opportunistic thieves! You took advantage of a woman being in the house on her own.
You ransacked the property to see what you could steal.
When the armed response saw there was something wrong at the property, you both took off into the flat on the property. There you met with the domestic worker who screamed when she saw you.
You then climbed up on the roof, ran down the back of the roof, jumped into my property where we were working in the garden.
You lifted a hammer and screwdriver and threatened us, only wanting to get away with our car. You were two scared young men. I felt so sorry for you.
What would your mothers say if they knew what you were up to? What would your family say if they knew what you were doing?
You were threatening people who have never harmed you. Stealing things that do not belong to you. How can you sleep at night? Do your friends think you are big guys because of what you do?
Because of this experience, it is costing us a lot of money to change the locks and keys, to put up more secure walls and fences, to install a stronger alarm system, something we have never had to do in 40 years of living in Gauteng.
Because of you, we will be more wary of our “African” brothers and sisters. Because of you, we will not be so willing to help those standing at the traffic lights asking for money. Because of you, South Africa will crumble faster.
Do you really think you are big guys because you try to control those you attack, the people who would rather help than hurt you under normal circumstances?
To President Zuma, is it not time you got your house in order? The kids in high school are downright rude and arrogant to the teachers. Did you know that? Their attitude is, I don’t need to learn anything, I will get a job when I leave school. Teachers are too frightened to say anything because they may lose their jobs.
It is time, Mr Zuma, that you instil in these young children the necessity for education. Instil in them, that in order to progress in South Africa, you first have to be educated. Tell them that you yourself were very lucky not having a full education, to become president of a country as big as ours. It does not happen to everyone. There are still many people who are no better off than they were in 1994.
It is time, Mr Zuma, that children are brought up with correct morals, and not brought up thinking they can take what they want even if it belongs to someone else.
It is time, Mr President, that you wake up and do your job; that is, to guide the people who voted you in, to do the right thing; even though people in Government do the wrong thing and for their own benefit. It is time that you rectify this now.
It is time, President Jacob Zuma, to take a stand against all crime, all corruption, all breaking of rules of the road. Start with the small things and then you can fix the bigger things.
