Black Monday south africa black flag

Organizations across South Africa have called on citizens to wear black next week Monday to commemorate the lives of those killed in farm attacks and murders… but what happens on Tuesday?

 

The recent crime statistics make for grim reading with regards to public safety in South Africa. The increase in murder over the past four years is clear evidence of this.

This week, farm murders in South Africa have taken the spotlight. Lobby group AfriForum says at least 341 farm attacks have been reported in 2017. In October, there’ve been four attacks on Western Cape farms.

Earlier this week, 47-year-old farmer Joubert Conradie was shot and killed on a farm in Klapmuts near Stellenbosch.

AfriForum says out of the 341 farm attacks reported since 1 January, 70 were fatal.

The lobby group, along with Agri Western Cape, has heeded a call to wear black on Monday in memory of those killed during attacks on farms and many South Africans are taking up the challenge.

South Africans have been voicing their online opinions throughout the week about how they will all wear black on Monday in remembrance of murders in our country… how they will be wearing black on Monday to raise awareness.

“The problem we face is that Tuesday will come and everyone who stood up in unity will put on another t-shirt and nothing would have really changed.”

“The farm murders in South Africa are tragic and they have had the spotlight this week but the reality is that all murders in South Africa are tragic. Murder is tragic.”

The country’s murder rate has increased by 1.8% since last year, South African Police Service crime statistics have revealed. According to the figures, 19,016 murders took place in our country over the past year alone.

Wearing black to raise awareness together is great but we also need to be doing more! We need to creating change.

We’re not exactly sure how to stop murders in South Africa right now, but a recent study showed that the foundations for violence and criminality are laid one to two decades before society feels the effects.

“Children who become violent are mostly victims themselves — of trauma, racism, bullying, corporal punishment and brutalising institutions. Their families are often dysfunctional or broken and they continually encounter adults who reinforce their distrust of authority figures, and lead them further into crime.”

We’ve listed a few ideas below from various platforms with links to organizations so that when you change your t-shirt on Tuesday, you also action change for South Africa.

Contact government: Write, phone, tweet and even go and see the officials who are in charge of South Africa’s safety and security. Let them know what your concerns are and hold them accountable to keeping everyone in our country safe.

Work with your local public agencies and other organizations: Get to know your ward councillors and police officials. Set up a Neighborhood Watch or a community patrol, or even a local whatsapp group, working with police. Make sure your streets and homes are well lit. Report any crime or suspicious activity immediately to the police.

Focus on helping all children: Children are the future of our country. We need to collectively be keeping them safe and making sure they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to move our country forward. More than 4,5 million kids in South Africa do not eat everyday. Assisting with donations to various organizations who work in these fields help to make a difference but volunteering your time and skills is just as important. Click here to read more about Child Safe.

Take bullying seriously: Bullying used to be perceived as a natural part of growing up, a way to toughen kids up to face the harsh realities of adulthood. But being bullied leads to truancy and dropping out of school, which are associated with delinquency and a host of bad outcomes. Whole-school curriculums to combat bullying work and are creating a generation of better-adjusted kids (and are a vast improvement over zero-tolerancepolicies).

Treat violence as a public health concern: We need to use campaigns and technology to reach every child and family in our country. We need to develop those tools to make sure that everybody feels important and cared for through parenting interventions, family interventions, wellbeing campaigns, and early childhood education. This is the job of our government but our job is to put pressure on the officials to make sure this is being done.

Move away from the focus on poverty: Criminalising certain areas or groups makes it harder for people to actually coexist, and the emphasis on poverty is a misleading one. Latin America proves as long as history of studies that show poverty and violence do not have a direct correlation. Countries are overcoming extreme poverty and becoming more violent, so it is now part of our job to look beyond those solutions and what other factors may be driving those rates. Natasha Leite

Target inequality: We need to address economic inequality which I believe is central to reducing crime and violence in the long run. We need universal provision of high quality childcare that is affordable for all, and to narrow the difference between the top-to-bottom earnings and rebuild the link between economic prosperity and wages. Vanessa Padayachee

Be proactive: You have to systematically invest in protective factors. Supporting proactive community associations and schools to activate their involvement has also demonstrated positive results in places such as Cape Town, Chicago and New York. In addition, promoting links between neighbouring communities that adjoin each other is also important. John de Boer, senior policy adviser, United Nations University, Centre for Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan


Sources: Guardian | EWN | Business Live 
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About the Author

Brent Lindeque is the founder and editor in charge at Good Things Guy.

Recognised as one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South African’s as well as a Primedia LeadSA Hero, Brent is a change maker, thought leader, radio host, foodie, vlogger, writer and all round good guy.

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