Public anger, grandstanding, and hollow assurances from the authorities have apparently become the only response to South Africa’s culture of violence, as the senseless mass killings continue unabated, experts say. Theodore Petrus, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Free State, spoke about the attack on a men’s dormitory in KwaMashu, Kwa-Zulu-Natal that left four people dead and five others injured on Wednesday. There are still no answers to who and what killed 21 teenagers at the Enyobeni Tavern in East London’s Scenery Park in June last year. Last July, 16 people were shot dead in Mdlalose…
Public anger, grandstanding, and hollow assurances from the authorities have apparently become the only response to South Africa’s culture of violence, as the senseless mass killings continue unabated, experts say.
Theodore Petrus, a professor of anthropology at the University of the Free State, spoke about the attack on a men’s dormitory in KwaMashu, Kwa-Zulu-Natal that left four people dead and five others injured on Wednesday.
There are still no answers as to who and what killed 21 teenagers at the Enyobeni Tavern in East London’s Scenery Park in June last year.
Last July, 16 people were shot dead at Mdlalose’s Tavern in Nomzamo Park in Soweto, followed by four people who were shot dead in a tavern shooting in Florida, Johannesburg.
Last week, gunmen opened fire on a group of revelers in the Eastern Cape, killing eight people and injuring three others.
“Every year, we have one or two violent crimes committed on a national media platform, followed by predictable national public protests,” Petrus said.
“And once all this sensationalism dies down, everything will go back to normal until the next major event happens that causes outrage, the pattern just repeats itself.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele has promised to arrest the gunmen who opened fire at a birthday party in KwaZakhele, Gqeberha.
Earlier, Cele, his deputy Cassel Mathale and provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had been at the scene of the killing of warrant officer Roger Mavundla, his wife and two children in Port Edward, KZN.
Petrus said that, despite all the political leaders and top police officials, none of them translated practical, useful or sustainable interventions, mostly due to lack of will and structural problems in the police.
“This is not a new phenomenon. This has been going on for years and unfortunately it tends to take on such sensational dimensions to enter the national agenda to the point of anger.
“So the public will release their opinion … but there is nothing practical to solve the problem,” he said.
Petrus said violent crime in SA required a holistic approach, given its roots in social, political and global issues.
Perhaps the most obvious is the question of whether SA has a subculture of violence, a way of thinking and a type of value system that informs certain ways of behaving.
It has to do with the way people deal with life pressures, the way people deal with disagreements or conflicts, and the indications they suggest in various contexts and scenarios that often lead to violence.
“This is why I ask if we have a subculture of violence … It is obvious that without a police service that can do its job, is stable enough to be able to carry out its mandate, it will not be effective in dealing with crime in general, let alone violent crime,” he added.
Military strategist Major Lunga Dweba said pointing to one cause for the widespread mass shootings would be baseless speculation, and therefore irresponsible.
These incidents indicate the presence of national instability that calls for urgent action.
“From the first incident, it happened [got] worse, it makes the public worried that not only incidents like this will happen again, but also the reactive approach of the security forces has given some groups more confidence to take advantage of the lack of state capacity to prevent violence,” said Dweba.
He said there is an understanding that those entrusted with national security are doing everything to bring the situation under control.
The police will rarely solve the challenge of widespread violence if they do not act to prevent “violent acts, rather than reacting to what has already happened”.