The conflicts and massacres in Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda
reached boiling point round about the same time that South Africa was in the home-straight in the country’s race towards its first democratic elections on 1994. Of the three conflicts, Rwanda was by far the worst, based purely on the sheer number of deaths, estimated to be over 800 thousand after the dust had settled, although some argue that the true statistics will never be known. The UN later declared the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda as genocide and crimes against humanity. What is striking about the three conflicts, is that the initial acts of violence were perpetrated by forces internal to those countries, forces which pit one ethnic group against the other. In each of these three cases, the conflict symbolized a country at war with itself. Many countries around the world invest al lot of resources in the establishment and maintenance of armed forces, primarily to protect against an external threat. South Africa is no exception, with more government expenditure allocated towards the Army, Nany and Air Force, combined, than to the SA Police Services (SAPS).
reached boiling point round about the same time that South Africa was in the home-straight in the country’s race towards its first democratic elections on 1994. Of the three conflicts, Rwanda was by far the worst, based purely on the sheer number of deaths, estimated to be over 800 thousand after the dust had settled, although some argue that the true statistics will never be known. The UN later declared the conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda as genocide and crimes against humanity. What is striking about the three conflicts, is that the initial acts of violence were perpetrated by forces internal to those countries, forces which pit one ethnic group against the other. In each of these three cases, the conflict symbolized a country at war with itself. Many countries around the world invest al lot of resources in the establishment and maintenance of armed forces, primarily to protect against an external threat. South Africa is no exception, with more government expenditure allocated towards the Army, Nany and Air Force, combined, than to the SA Police Services (SAPS).In my opinion, South Africa is now facing what I deem an internal threat to our national security, and this threat is simply CRIME. In the examples of Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda
, the United Nations and the world in general failed to intervene until extensive damage had been inflicted and thousands of lives were lost. It is my fear that unless our government acts swiftly, as the crime rate continues to escalate in South Africa, government may soon find itself fighting an internal all-out war against the criminals. Many would argue that it is the task of the SA Police Services (SAPS) to deal with this internal threat called crime, this argument remains valid for as long as crime is contained to the minimum and law-and-order in maintained. I my view, it is only a matter of time until crime gets so far out of hand as to cause a real threat to our national security. Enter the armed forces. I think time has come for the armed forces to be beefed up and used side-by-side with the SAPS to help reduce the levels of crime in our society. Somehow I have a feeling that the presence of heavily armed men and women in brown uniform would serve as a better deterrence to criminals than the men and women in blue. Indeed, the last thing we want is a police state, with autocratic rule but time has come for drastic action against crime and criminals. Without sounding too alarmist, death statistics as a result of crime are piling up and we can not wait until we have a situation similar to Somalia, Bosnia or Rwanda before appropriate action is taken by our government, our democracy is far too valuable to take that risk.
, the United Nations and the world in general failed to intervene until extensive damage had been inflicted and thousands of lives were lost. It is my fear that unless our government acts swiftly, as the crime rate continues to escalate in South Africa, government may soon find itself fighting an internal all-out war against the criminals. Many would argue that it is the task of the SA Police Services (SAPS) to deal with this internal threat called crime, this argument remains valid for as long as crime is contained to the minimum and law-and-order in maintained. I my view, it is only a matter of time until crime gets so far out of hand as to cause a real threat to our national security. Enter the armed forces. I think time has come for the armed forces to be beefed up and used side-by-side with the SAPS to help reduce the levels of crime in our society. Somehow I have a feeling that the presence of heavily armed men and women in brown uniform would serve as a better deterrence to criminals than the men and women in blue. Indeed, the last thing we want is a police state, with autocratic rule but time has come for drastic action against crime and criminals. Without sounding too alarmist, death statistics as a result of crime are piling up and we can not wait until we have a situation similar to Somalia, Bosnia or Rwanda before appropriate action is taken by our government, our democracy is far too valuable to take that risk.
No comments:
Post a Comment