Looting in SA – A different perspective?

In all the excitement, everyone ran to get their hands on some electronic equipment and left this tomato box unattended so dont mind if I do….

So the footage is all over the whatsapp groups, classic guy with a stolen tv making good his getaway. The reactions and comments are all pretty much the same, so I guess that shows some semblance of unity in the condemnation of criminal activity. Unfortunately thats where the buck stops.

We are not in a war. If you think the guy with the tv is the enemy you are wasting your time. If you think you going to take up arms and beat the enemy with the stolen tv you are gravely mistaken. If you think your rhetoric about standing your ground is going to do anything but separate you from your family and friends for a very long and expensive time, you are living in a dream world. The enemy is not the guy with the tv, the enemy is the puppet master making him dance. If you join the show and find yourself dancing to an unfamiliar tune, then stop and look up, the one pulling your strings is actually the very same person/group/party that you despise most.

The guy with the tv has lost his moral compass because he has been fed a meal of lies and empty promises that leave him starving. His family, friends and community have lost the ability to set him on the right path because many of them have also fallen foul of the system. This is not about justifying or condoning his actions but rather identifying the actual perpetrators of crimes that are far more severe and extend beyond the senseless barbarity we are witnessing.

The real enemy is strong, powerful and connected. The real enemy cannot be defeated with combat on the streets. The real enemy can only be beaten through a process of understanding, education, enlightenment, unity and purpose. These in turn are only possible if we stop sharing the muck on social media, stop entertaining the urban warfare bullshit bravado, stop spewing hatred, stop profiling and start fixing where and when we can. We live in such a diverse country that even the booze filled war hero, who high fives himself after every when-we story, would struggle to identify the ‘enemy’ out on the streets. The fact that he, along with his ever so brave mates, will use their whatsapp group videos and forwarded messages from a ‘reliable source’ as a reference on the battle field is as ludicrous as it is simply dumb. Does anyone actually want to stand toe to toe on a civil unrest battlefield with a guy that just looted a blood bank, and call it a war!? Seriously!?

For as long as we focus on the guy with the tv, the real criminals will happily eat their fill, sip their xo brandy, and smoke their cheroots.

To those who have lost businesses, property and worse, the guy with the tv represents all the evils in our country today, and I understand that. My fear is that the frontline foot soldiers will be cannon fodder to the responders (if they pitch up) while the true evil in our country represent their agendas from behind bulletproof glass and in the safety of high-wall mansions. While this may satiate the bloodthirsty appetite of the moerse heroes, it will merely serve to plunge our democracy deeper into a hole that has already accounted for multiple generations.

Protect yourself, protect your loved ones, protect the innocent stranger in the street, just don’t let whatsapp videos and group chat hysteria become your manifesto, and lead you, or those you care about, into making reckless choices, and writing out cheques you and your family cannot cash. If you continually feed your mind with hatred and anger, your heart will follow suit and before you know it, you will know no other way. It will be all consuming and will suffocate all the joy from your existence.

Dig deep, now more than ever, find the love, find the positivity, be a part of the good that will overcome evil. Be a part of the South Africans who are staying put and who are determined to let future generations live a meaningful and harmonious life on this soil. If you read this post then you have the capacity to effect change through positive attitude and attrition, I hope you choose to.

Whoops the tomato box is creaking under the weight so thats all for now….