At the height of the EFF’s national death frenzy last Monday, the media started reporting on the bombing of Soweto parliamentary leader Nhlanhla “Lux”‘ Mohlauli’s house.
Mohlauli had been in the spotlight for weeks before he was shut down with threats that he would arrest EFF leader Julius Malema that day, if Malema’s followers engaged in illegal activities.
So the bombing of his house – allegedly due to the opposition EFF – should be big news, right?
Also, news of the bombing came from a tweet by Mohlauli. And the most respected media houses ran with a story without evidence, supported by the Minister of Police Bheki Cele who arrived at the scene of the “bombing” which, according to the tweet “killed the entire Lux family.”
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There is no real engagement with news sources for details, everyone wants to be wrong about being the first to break the story or being the first on the scene. And there is no real crime there, except for those who are willing to go along with the story that misleads the general public.
Less than a week later, the country convicted the killer, who it said Facebook rapist, Thabo Bester, faked his own death at the Mangaung Correctional Center to escape.
His escape and subsequent revelations about the lavish lifestyle he led on the outside, coupled with accusations that he ran an outside company while still in prison, left everyone asking: where is the government in all of this? Department of Corrections? Are they corrupt if convicted murderers can buy their way through the entire system to freedom?
Also read: Government insists ‘Facebook rape’ Thabo Bester did not die in prison fire
Now it turns out that Bester not only staged this elaborate escape that involved setting fires in cells and burning corpses, but also signed a lease with an outside estate agent.
The confidence displayed by the media houses when raising the story of the Lux bombed house is the same confidence shown by estate agents, who must do their due diligence on potential tenants. A prisoner cut a deal with him and he handed over the keys to his very expensive house to him and his friends.
A question we keep getting asked from correctional services departments and governments – how does this happen on your watch? – should also be asked of the institution that allowed Bester to do what no normal free citizen could do without being investigated as if he had committed murder. And here are the real killers that go uninvestigated when it comes to closing property deals.
Also read: Thabo Bester: Police Commissioner to investigate media leaks
South Africans are quick to throw their hands in the air at the slightest sign of government incompetence – which they should – but are not critical enough of their own contribution to the decay of the general public that allows people like Bester to know they can do this kind of thing. bold and elaborate plan they do because even the community is in cahoots with the government – without knowing it.
Just as the opposition political parties will be careful to make real changes in the country’s political landscape, the entire South African community will accept the responsibility to build that society.
Citizens cannot outsource their own role to ensure that it is not easy for people like Bester to live independently. All it takes is calling the authorities from a suspicious real estate agent to expose Bester or have him run for the hills.
Also read: National Death: Nhlanhla Lux’s house ‘petrol bombed’