CAIPHUS KGOSANA | SA is far from Haiti’s nightmare, but look at the hit on AKA for signs

“We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. It’s as if we are living minute to minute. We go out (and) we don’t know if we’ll be coming back,” Jude Jonathas, a senior programme manager at the Mercy Corps humanitarian group, told Al Jazeera in January from Haitian capital Port au Prince.

The city and the entire Caribbean island nation are under siege from gangs claiming large swathes of the territory as their own and unleashing a murderous campaign on citizens. 

Brazen gangs are literally controlling half of Port au Prince. Al Jazeera reports that after months of violence, one of the most powerful gangs — the G9 alliance, led by former police officer Jimmy “BBQ” Cherizier — imposed a fuel blockade on the main petrol terminal in the capital city last September, leading to massive fuel shortages. It was later reclaimed by government forces.

So deep is the security crisis that prime minister Ariel Henry has appealed for an international armed force to be deployed to Haiti to restore order and secure a humanitarian corridor for his countrymen trapped in these ganglands.

Haiti is officially a failed state. It has been rocked by political and security instability for almost two decades. So inept is the government, the entire country could fall into the bloody hands of “BBQ” and his crazy troop of marauding gangs. 

Logically I’m expected to make a comparison with South Africa, but we are still far off that desperate status quo. We have a fairly strong army that alongside other security forces can fend off any attempts by gangs to take control of sections of the country. In the Cape Flats, for example, gangs control some areas but not entire neighbourhoods.

While it was easy to launch an insurgency on a weak and fragmented administration in Port au Prince, in SA armed killers are waging a low intensity battle against defenceless citizens; and our government is failing horribly at protecting us.

That gunmen can plan and execute the brazen murder of one of the biggest hip-hop artists on a busy street in a part of Durban buzzing with nightlife, is not just shocking but utterly heartbreaking. When paid assassins know they can literally get away with murder, they grow bolder and push further boundaries. Kiernan Forbes, or AKA to his millions of fans, did not deserve to die in this fashion at such a young age; may his soul rest in peace. Victims of senseless mass shootings in Gugulethu, Nyanga, Soweto, Kwazakhele and beyond did not deserve these awful deaths. May their souls also rest in peace.

You will not do anything; you will not grow an economy, attract investment or run an effective government until your citizens feel safe in their homes, on the streets, at school, in their workplaces and other spaces.

They are not just victims of their assassins but of a state security apparatus that has chosen to tacitly withdraw from its constitutionally enshrined mission to “maintain public order, to protect and secure the inhabitants of the republic and their property”.

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, interviewed by eNCA talk-show host JJ Tabane on Monday night, understood precisely what the ramifications of rampant crime are for the country. You will not do anything; you will not grow an economy, attract investment or run an effective government until your citizens feel safe in their homes, on the streets, at school, in their workplaces and other spaces.

When President Cyril Ramaphosa finally presented his state of the nation address last Thursday, he was supposed to have dedicated as many words to the fight against crime as he did to multiple efforts at ending load-shedding. Those are the two biggest existential crises of our time. We can end load-shedding in a year, but if 72 people are being murdered a day (according to latest statistics), you can forget about investment and economic growth.

An actual war needs to be declared against crime. This overused phrase has become a common political platitude, but it must become a living reality. Set up a combined security force composed of the army, national police and the various metro police units, as well as private security empowered to detain and arrest suspects. Send them out on 24-hour patrols in all corners of the country for five years. Deploy hi-tech security systems to support this force — drones, closed-circuit cameras with facial recognition functions and advanced communication systems. Make budgets available for armoured vehicles, high-speed chase cars, helicopters, motorcycles and similar mobile support. Recruit up to 100,000 unemployed young men and women; train and deploy this massive peace force to cities, towns, suburbs, townships, informal settlements and farms.

Set up security checkpoints with search and seizure powers along main and secondary roads, to especially flush out those in possession of illegal firearms and other contraband. Anyone carrying a licensed firearm must have a valid reason for travelling armed and must be easily traceable in case their weapon is used to commit crimes.

The target should not just be would-be murderers but anyone with criminal intent. The petty criminals robbing people of their cellphones and wallets, armed gangs that hijack economic projects, zama zamas, taxi hit squads, as well as sophisticated white-collar criminals.

Place security personnel in trains and buses; at stations and taxi ranks to protect commuters and operators. Guard our schools, clinics, hospitals, rail and communication infrastructure and insulate them from saboteurs.

Recruit qualified science graduates and send them to work at forensic labs to eradicate backlogs. Hire criminologists to help detectives speedily investigate and solve crimes, especially murder and rape.

Obviously, there would have to be checks and balances to prevent human rights abuses and detect/punish corrupt police, army and security personnel.

But this is what a war on crime should look like. This is how you stop contract killers from wiping out innocent lives. 

Left unchecked, these heartless murderers inch us one step closer to Haiti with every bullet they discharge.