It is time for us to take back our country

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UCT's Max Price argues we can no longer sit back while criminals takeover.

On Monday, February 22 2010, about 2 500 students, academics and staff at UCT gathered on the steps of Jameson Hall to mourn yet another senseless, brutal murder of one of our own. Dominic Giddy (22) was stabbed to death early on February 13, literally meters from his home. We took our grief and anger to the streets of Rondebosch, Mowbray and Observatory in a march. We signalled that we have had enough - of crime, of living in fear and of feeling helpless.

Crime and murder is so common that one is tempted to say, what's the point of another protest? We cannot possibly protest at every one of the 18,000 murders that happen each year, so why this one? What will we achieve - everyone knows crime is a problem? Have previous protests made any difference? My answer is, yes, we must gather, we must protest. There are at least four reasons to do so.

Firstly, we gathered to mourn collectively. We did so because this murder, like the others, touched us all. We felt sad and angered that we were robbed of this young man. By all accounts a peace prophet, a proud South African and a decent young man. We are robbed of seeing him graduate, watching him plough his knowledge back into society, making a difference. Crime isolates us from each other, from our communities. Mourning collectively brings us together. It is healing. It helps us deal with our sadness and despair. And it helps us overcome our feelings of helplessness -we are taking action.

Secondly, we gathered to give recognition to our fear and anger. Our emotions are intensified by the horrible knowledge that Dominic is not the exception. Some 50 families like Dominic's, woke up today with the intolerable trauma of having lost a loved one due to violence or senseless crime. As a community UCT has been here before. When first-year medical student Benny Pakiso Maqobane was shot dead walking home last year, we marched. When science education professor Kevin Rochford was shot in his home driveway we registered our protest. When commercial law professor Mike Larkin was stabbed to death for his bag full of examination scripts, we did the same - we marched. We walk the same roads, visit the same stores, alight the same taxis, park in the same driveways - and we are scared to the point where we are no longer free, we no longer trust strangers, we are suspicious of anyone who approaches us at an intersection, and we hate what we have become. We say: Enough!

Thirdly, we gathered to signal that we demand an increase in authentic political will. We feel unprotected by the state, cheated and frustrated. Only if all political parties extend beyond their partisan interests, aiming at one goal only...to eradicate crime...only then will we see change. We know it can be done. We witness political will at play as the country prepares for 2010. Politicians align, purses open, extensive constructions are completed. A blanket of security greets visitors to the beautiful stadiums and we feel safe there. Impressive! Now we ask that the same political will is unleashed onto the crime problem. We will support our leaders if they do so, but if they are flippant with our lives, as they have been, we must object - we will show the middle finger at their convoys and we will vote them out. We say: enough!

Political will is needed to create better services. We want systems that actually stop criminals, catch criminals and lock them away. The criminals that murdered Dominic, Benny, Mike and Kevin - people whom this community loved and admired - are still walking free. Justice has not been done and has not been seen to be done. At UCT we work closely with the SAPS in Rondebosch, Mowbray and Woodstock. We have been very successful in combating crime on campus, yet our students and staff fall victim in the surrounding areas. We see excellent work done by some committed officers, but we also witness an under-resourced workforce. We call for an upgrade of these stations, of the workforce itself and of their salaries. So to the police we say: we will support you, but you have to show that you are professional, competent and worthy of our respect. In recent events a jogger was arrested for showing a sign of frustration at a convoy of vehicles: that is not the action we require from the police force. We want the police to use their powers as a police force that will use resources and time to prevent crimes, and not to bully citizens that display their frustration.

In the fourth place we gathered to show our commitment to being part of the solution. Just because it is hard to fight crime does not mean it is okay to give up. Apartheid was hard to bring to an end. The liberation movements did not give up when problems seemed insurmountable. Our Jameson steps at UCT are famous. Academics, students, alumni clashed with police on these steps. Members of our community were arrested, imprisoned in their struggle against apartheid. They were frightened, they wondered what yet another protest march would achieve. But they mobilised and in each individual's action the difference was made. In the rise of those individual and collective voices apartheid was beaten. This is active citizenship. We must return to this revolution...actively demonstrating, marching, demanding until it is done. Apartheid was defeated when a section of civil society decided it was over and had to be eradicated. We need to decide as a community that crime can be defeated. We must protest at each murder, we must mobilise and we must hold politicians to account, but we must also contribute to preventing crime and holding our friends and family accountable.

We must demand upright citizenship - in our leaders, in public servants and in every person that lives in our country. If we know a public servant is taking a bribe or a neighbour is selling stolen goods ... then we are complicit in destroying the very fabric of our society. There was a time when people were silent on apartheid, when one more march seemed too much effort. We must ensure that the evil in our society are not given free reign because the many good people remain quiet. That is also why it is so important to reject corruption, abuse of power, and public officials' lies and unaccountability. It is why we must all defend a free, vigorous, investigative press.

If we do not rise and prevail...if we accept defeat...our children will inherit anarchy and we will be reduced to citizens fearfully awaiting our turn to sit by their graves. We must all say: Enough! Enough! Enough! We demand better for this generation and the next. For ALL of our children.

*Dr Max Price is vice-chancellor of UCT

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