EDITORIAL | Guns, knives used too often to resolve conflict in KZN

As the body count rises, the reasons suspects are killed remain suspiciously the same: the suspects, wanted for murder and other serious offences, resisted arrest by shooting at police and luckily police were able to fight back and kill all suspects without incurring any injuries!

There may be variations here and there, but the reasons why KwaZulu-Natal police kill suspects remain largely the same.

It was a similar script on Friday when three suspects wanted for a string of murders were shot and killed in the KwaDlangezwa area in Empangeni on the north coast. On Tuesday, three suspects died in a shoot-out with police in Inanda.

“Police officers have a mandate to arrest and bring perpetrators to justice. However, if police find themselves under gunfire, the only option they have to come out alive is through the return of fire,” said KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

As many were trying to get their heads around the killings, it appeared schools were also becoming war zones.

TimesLIVE reported earlier that KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Sipho Hlomuka was expected to convene a school safety meeting after a shooting, a stabbing and a robbery at three schools in the province.

Dudu Khumalo, 46, a grade R teacher at Phikiswayo Primary in Ntuzuma, north of Durban, died after being shot five times as classes were about to start on Monday. School principal Mthokozisi Mchunu was at a loss for words, saying no-one should be expected to live like this.

Meanwhile a 21-year-old matric pupil from Isihlahla Senkosi High School in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal, was fatally stabbed after he allegedly attacked other pupils on Monday.

The following day, criminals stormed Mukelani Primary School in KwaMashu and robbed teachers of their personal belongings. They also forced them to transfer money from their accounts under duress.

All these as the MEC for infrastructure Martin Meyer found a bullet casing on his car as a warning he should not disturb the ‘work’, as it were, of the construction mafia in the province.

From a distance, it seems every little dispute is resolved through the use of guns and knives, if it involves students.

We must decry the easy availability of guns in society. But worse, we must all be concerned about the ease with which these guns are being used either by police or society at large.

When police shoot and kill suspects, most media houses no longer pay attention. It has sadly become normal.

In the last three weeks, about 18 people were killed by police for resisting arrest.

It is clear that the work police does is dangerous and that some criminals will not think twice before killing them. It therefore follows police must defend themselves.

The frequency though must worry all of us. It creates an impression of a police force intent on proving to criminals it will eliminate them and justify it by glibly saying, without adducing any proof, that they were resisting arrest.

With all suspects dead, who is to contradict the police?

When all is said and done, we remain a country governed by statutes which must help protect the innocent teachers as it must shield suspects from police execution.

The country’s laws must apply to all. It is what constitutional democracy is about.