Attacks on prominent people show low efficacy of police work in the war against crime

On Friday, a group of young men walked into a surgery in Diepkloof, Soweto. A few minutes later, Dr George Koboka was shot dead in broad daylight.

CCTV footage shows there were a number of patients in the surgery waiting their turn to be attended to by the doctor. A few days before that, world-renowned Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu was attacked in her home in Mpumalanga. Sadly, these two attacks received media attention only because of who the victims are.

In “normal” South Africa, similar incidents hardly ever make the news. Koboka is not the first Soweto doctor to lose his life in such a cruel manner. Almost 20 years ago, Dr Kgomotso Masebelanga was shot dead while visiting a graveyard in Soweto.

The public’s reaction was much the same then as it is now: initial horror and shock, acceptance of the horribly violent conditions people live under and muted relief that “at least” some suspects have been apprehended. And then life goes back to normal.

The attacks on prominent people must not be given special treatment by either the media or law enforcement in order to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended. But they must receive the special attention they receive so that they serve to awaken the nation again to what a terrible state it is in. South Africa has become progressively violent over the years.

There was a time when doctors and prominent artists at the level of Mahlangu would be shielded from the violence that ordinary South Africans experience on a daily basis. But that time is long gone. Everyone lives with the constant fear that what happened to their neighbour will soon happen to them.

People go to bed every night with the real fear that criminals will attack them during the night and that they, too, might become part of the over 20 000 people killed daily. The country is past the stage where only a few people personally know someone who has been killed violently – now everyone knows omeone.

WATCH: NHCPA condemns murder of Soweto doctor as footage of shooting emerges

There are so many reasons why violence has reached these levels. South Africa’s violent history, for one. And poverty, inequality, easy access to guns, and moral decay. These might all be true but reducing violent behaviour – gun violence in particular – is not an insurmountable problem.

There are low-hanging fruits that do not even require deep sociological studies in human behaviour or theses to be published about how psychologically damaged the nation is. Immediate steps can be taken to reduce the levels of violent attacks, while the deeper questions of inequality are being addressed.

The brazenness of the attacks indicates a number of things: criminals have very little fear that they will be apprehended, they do not fear what will happen if they do get caught and they walk calmly back into their own communities knowing and feeling safe that no one will turn them in.

It will take years to capacitate the South African Police Service to a level where they will arrest most of the criminals, but sentences for illegal firearms can be upped immediately. Sources of illegal guns can be targeted immediately.

Community awareness through structures like Community Police Forums can be heightened to remind people that they are their biggest protectors.

Attacks on prominent people must serve as a reminder that there is a low-intensity war being waged on innocent people every day.