#Letter: Township violence out of control

Etete Township resident EH Maphumulo writes:

In the early hours of Monday morning on November 1, due to a senseless act of violence, I lost somebody who was like a brother to me.

He was a good friend to many, a dedicated young father and a beautiful soul, taken in the prime of his life.

I have since heard that his death was not the only one at Nkobongo township during the voting weekend.

His death and that of many others, mostly young men, in the townships of Etete, Shayamoya, Nkobongo and Shaka’s Head have been taking place for some time and likely to continue unless something is done.

The communities and community leaders need to ask themselves if this is how they want their lives to be, living in constant fear and attending funerals of young people every weekend.

I therefore challenge the newly elected political leadership and all community-based leadership structures to work towards ensuring that this senseless violence in our communities is dealt with.

Without a stable environment, whatever developmental promises made won’t not be realised.

They must see to it that policing resources in our cluster are equitably shared based on need, and it must not be that the only time we see a police vehicle is after someone has died.

I also call upon the Saps leadership to do their job in dealing with the issues such as drug abuse that often leads to violence. They must be proactive in their approach.

If not, it will lead to a situation where communities take the law into their hands, which is not ideal.

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