Cele must curb gun violence in our villages

This week, three gunmen robbed an elderly couple of more than 50 sheep in a village in Bityi, near Mthatha. Guns were fired, leaving the couple terrified.

Recently a few kilometres from the couple’s home, guns were used to kill three people. The suspects in this triple murder have been arrested but the motive remains unclear.

It is difficult to ignore the central role that firearms played in both incidents.

The Eastern Cape is known for its scenic beauty and peaceful, laid-back rural areas, some parts almost free of crime.

In stark contrast, other areas of the province are notorious for their high levels of violent crime.

The Dispatch previously reported on how guns were used to terrorise Eastern Cape villages. Most fatal shootings were associated with stock theft.

Many of these victims are elderly folk, who become livestock farmers to put food on the table for their families. 

They have nowhere to run to as police struggle to curb these deadly crimes.

Earlier this month, the SAPS management in the province deployed a contingent of police to Bityi in an attempt to stamp out the violent crimes for which the area has become notorious.

The deployment of additional resources has yet to yield results — the attack on the elderly couple and the triple killing both happened in Bityi.

How many more lives must be lost to guns in our rural villages?

How many elderly people must lose their prized livestock and property because of bandits who rob them at gunpoint?

Villagers previously told the Dispatch how they had no choice but to take up arms to defend themselves and their property.

This would put them at odds with the Firearms Control Amendment Bill, which seeks to remove self-defence as a reason to own a gun — a government move described by civil rights groups as reckless.

Villages in the Eastern Cape have become deadly battlegrounds over stock theft, where vulnerable and defenceless residents are gunned down by merciless thieves.

On Thursday, a village summit organised by the department of safety sought to raise awareness of gender-based violence and stock theft in Bityi.

Village committees were launched to beef up interventions already in place.

The safety of these elderly villagers rests in the hands of outspoken police minister Bheki Cele, who has to deal with the plague of gun violence in our villages.