The United Nations says the following three elements define terrorism: “(i) the perpetration of a criminal act (such as murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, arson, and so on), or threatening such an act; (ii) the intent to spread fear among the population (which would generally entail the creation of public danger) or indirectly coerce a national or international authority to take some action, or to refrain from taking it; (iii) when the act involves a transnational element.”
In South Africa we have normalised, and are currently living with, at least the first two of these elements.
On his 702 talk radio show on Monday, 31 October, Aubrey Masango piqued my interest when he asked that people interrogate the meaning of terrorism, following the US Embassy warning that there might be a terror attack in Sandton last Saturday.
He asked why it was that the definition seemed only to refer to incidents where affluent people were in danger of being violated, and yet poor people in South Africa seem to be under siege daily.
Read in Daily Maverick: “More progressive men need to speak out against the violent policing of women”
Sandton, as we all know, is still intact and did not in fact have a terror attack. However, what did happen on Saturday was that in Ennerdale four armed men shot 11 people in cold blood, resulting in the death of seven. The motivation? Robbing them of the chicken feet that they were selling.
Visit Daily Maverick's home page for more news, analysis and investigations
The murderers initially drove up to the vendors and attempted to rob them. When the vendors resisted and defended themselves with stones, the perpetrators drove off, but they came back on foot and shot the vendors.
Meant to terrorise
This incident is concerning for a number of reasons. One, that poor street vendors are now the targets of crime, and two, that the criminals are brazen enough to come back on foot and shoot them in broad daylight, displaying a fearlessness of repercussions.
This, to me, says that it was never about the chicken feet – it was an act meant to terrorise and strike fear. This year has also been characterised by rampant violence against immigrants accused of allegedly stealing people’s jobs and being responsible for crimes such as human trafficking and drug peddling.
Read in Daily Maverick: “While people go hungry, others make unseemly profits – there is an obligation to share”
The violence has included beatings, stoning and even the setting alight of Zimbabwean immigrant Elvis Nyathi in Diepsloot.
June was marred by the as yet unaccounted-for deaths of 21 young people at Enyobeni Tavern in East London. In July, 15 people were shot in a Soweto tavern and on the same night 12 people were shot in a Pietermaritzburg tavern. As quickly as these shocking events happened they just as quickly disappeared from our society’s agenda.
The list goes on, but what is worth noting is that these criminal acts have managed to thrive because of poor law enforcement that does not focus on the societal environmental factors that lead to violence.
All these incidents happened in low-income areas. What is to be said about the psychological health of a country when poor people brutalise one another when they are already so downtrodden?
How many of the resources that were dedicated to securing the wealth of Sandton last weekend could be marshalled and directed towards combating the terror attacks that people face daily? DM168
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.
