Growing up in the small town of Dutywa, I remember many times, very often on a weekend, when the hum of the small town would be broken by loud hailing voices and screams of women.
“Iwuuuu, baaamba iseeeela! (Catch that thief!”)
These were spine-chilling calls by bloodthirsty men and women whose cries often meant that blood was about to flow in the streets.
Often the drama and violence that followed those calls was because a pick-pocket or tsotsi had robbed someone in town.
The call was known and everyone, or at least most people, would drop everything and give chase, often picking up a rock or some other devastating weapon nearby to use to “deal” with the thief.
Back then, the disdain for thieves was tangible. It was as if people heaped all responsibility for their troubles onto the thieves – they were the reason for all of their suffering.
The power to deal with that thief or thieves lay in the mobilisation of large numbers of ordinary citizens to overwhelm and subdue the thief or thieves.
It was unthinkable that one would chase a tsotsi alone, because tsotsi’s were often armed with a pocket knife that could be deadly.
For this reason these flash mobs also armed themselves, and acted with extreme violence. They had seen too many victims stabbed to death.
Often, after these chases, the cops would arrive – but it would be too late for the tsotsi. Mob justice, ugly, violent, and unthinking would have already taken another life.
It was well-known on the streets that one should never allow a tsotsi on the run to be cornered in a way that they could allow them to form a credible defence, even if just one tsotsi was involved.
Cornered thieves were very dangerous. Three tsotsis with flashing pocket knives facing imminent death could stab their way out of a crowd of ordinary men and women who happened to be in town to trade or buy provisions for their families.
Even as young boys we too knew this street “wisdom”.
So when we chased along with the crowd, we knew we should not to be at the forefront, and we knew to look out if the tsotsi had been cornered.
As terrible as this account of mob justice is, and as far removed as it is from where we want to be as a country, it reminds me of exactly where we are as a nation.
The idea from the streets – that to deal with thieves, you must overwhelm them while you have the chance, otherwise they might mount a coordinated defence – seems lost on the current regime.
Die-hard tsotsis are often better equipped to survive violence than normal peace-loving citizens, particularly when our police are too flatfooted to support citizens!
The fact that the ANC is taking so long to deal with its members who are implicated in wrongdoing on a scale equivalent to the crimes of apartheid, shows that either they do not understand the psychology of thieves or that they are in cahoots with the thieves.
Going to policy conferences and elective conferences with people who are implicated in selling out the country to the Gupta family demonstrates something beyond a lack of wisdom. It is unthinkable!
Yet here we are, waiting for our fate to be decided by people who are no less than cornered thieves.
An internal diagnostic report tabled by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the ANC policy conference on Friday, said much about the decay within the ANC.
Speaking about the use of a red herring – the “white monopoly capital” terminology, Mantashe had this to say: “The other disadvantage of this narrative is that it uses the lowest common denominator and compares revolutionaries to the apartheid state. If we are comparable, then we must accept that corruption is therefore systemic in our movement, as was the case with the apartheid state.”
Unfortunately, corruption is systemic, comparable to the apartheid state! And it has not been for lack of an outcry from the people that things have come to this! Yet, the ANC seems to be waiting for the December elective conference in order to deliver its reportedly sought after “self correction”.
Clearly, the ANC still does not appreciate that the Zupta network is always far ahead – in both desperation and depravity.
In step with those who engineer toxic terminology, Gupta minion, Andile Mngxitama and his grouping Black First Land First are on a racist campaign to intimidate journalists, was evident at the home of veteran journalist Peter Bruce.
This is a direct assault on our constitution. We dare not fold our hands whilst these tsotsis co-ordinate an illegitimate fight against our nation! We need the media, civil society, opposition parties, conscientious ANC members and every citizen, to keep up the pressure against this coordinated violation of the values and substance of our nation!
Leaving thieves to decide our fate
“Iwuuuu, baaamba iseeeela! (Catch that thief!”)
These were spine-chilling calls by bloodthirsty men and women whose cries often meant that blood was about to flow in the streets.
Often the drama and violence that followed those calls was because a pick-pocket or tsotsi had robbed someone in town.
The call was known and everyone, or at least most people, would drop everything and give chase, often picking up a rock or some other devastating weapon nearby to use to “deal” with the thief.
Back then, the disdain for thieves was tangible. It was as if people heaped all responsibility for their troubles onto the thieves – they were the reason for all of their suffering.
The power to deal with that thief or thieves lay in the mobilisation of large numbers of ordinary citizens to overwhelm and subdue the thief or thieves.
It was unthinkable that one would chase a tsotsi alone, because tsotsi’s were often armed with a pocket knife that could be deadly.
For this reason these flash mobs also armed themselves, and acted with extreme violence. They had seen too many victims stabbed to death.
Often, after these chases, the cops would arrive – but it would be too late for the tsotsi. Mob justice, ugly, violent, and unthinking would have already taken another life.
It was well-known on the streets that one should never allow a tsotsi on the run to be cornered in a way that they could allow them to form a credible defence, even if just one tsotsi was involved.
Cornered thieves were very dangerous. Three tsotsis with flashing pocket knives facing imminent death could stab their way out of a crowd of ordinary men and women who happened to be in town to trade or buy provisions for their families.
Even as young boys we too knew this street “wisdom”.
So when we chased along with the crowd, we knew we should not to be at the forefront, and we knew to look out if the tsotsi had been cornered.
As terrible as this account of mob justice is, and as far removed as it is from where we want to be as a country, it reminds me of exactly where we are as a nation.
The idea from the streets – that to deal with thieves, you must overwhelm them while you have the chance, otherwise they might mount a coordinated defence – seems lost on the current regime.
Die-hard tsotsis are often better equipped to survive violence than normal peace-loving citizens, particularly when our police are too flatfooted to support citizens!
The fact that the ANC is taking so long to deal with its members who are implicated in wrongdoing on a scale equivalent to the crimes of apartheid, shows that either they do not understand the psychology of thieves or that they are in cahoots with the thieves.
Going to policy conferences and elective conferences with people who are implicated in selling out the country to the Gupta family demonstrates something beyond a lack of wisdom. It is unthinkable!
Yet here we are, waiting for our fate to be decided by people who are no less than cornered thieves.
An internal diagnostic report tabled by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe at the ANC policy conference on Friday, said much about the decay within the ANC.
Speaking about the use of a red herring – the “white monopoly capital” terminology, Mantashe had this to say: “The other disadvantage of this narrative is that it uses the lowest common denominator and compares revolutionaries to the apartheid state. If we are comparable, then we must accept that corruption is therefore systemic in our movement, as was the case with the apartheid state.”
Unfortunately, corruption is systemic, comparable to the apartheid state! And it has not been for lack of an outcry from the people that things have come to this! Yet, the ANC seems to be waiting for the December elective conference in order to deliver its reportedly sought after “self correction”.
Clearly, the ANC still does not appreciate that the Zupta network is always far ahead – in both desperation and depravity.
In step with those who engineer toxic terminology, Gupta minion, Andile Mngxitama and his grouping Black First Land First are on a racist campaign to intimidate journalists, was evident at the home of veteran journalist Peter Bruce.
This is a direct assault on our constitution. We dare not fold our hands whilst these tsotsis co-ordinate an illegitimate fight against our nation! We need the media, civil society, opposition parties, conscientious ANC members and every citizen, to keep up the pressure against this coordinated violation of the values and substance of our nation!
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