There are expressions of shock as it has emerged that 16-year-old Vivian Singh Balrup was quite likely beaten to death because he picked watermelon someone else had planted. His friend with whom he shared the fruit, 15-year-old Susan Hernandez was also beaten and was treated at the hospital and sent away. But young Vivian either bore the brunt of a merciless beating – he might have been chivalrously trying to shield the young lady – or he might have been dealt what is termed “an unlucky blow” and thus lost his life.
Is this not a clear sign that lawlessness has taken over? Are the symptoms still not evident? Do we really need any specialist to make the diagnosis that the highly contagious disease anarchy has set in and the stink of its rot is almost too much to bear?
Too often, over the years, there has been a tendency to turn a blind eye to unlawful excesses, or to try and justify the resort to violence.
If someone is caught stealing and is beaten, beaten to death or shot and killed, there is selective condemnation from some sections of society depending on the person’s character, or what it is perceived to be. Because violence – as a means of settling disputes – has become so entrenched in society, there are at present only a few voices decrying vigilantism and jungle justice.
Because of the ineffectiveness of local policing, persons have usurped the role of law enforcement. And worse, those who chose to dispense their own methods of justice seem to have taken examples only from police excesses. So that very rarely is a citizen’s arrest made where a suspect is not badly battered before being handed over to the police in whose custody the same treatment may or may not continue.
Despite a continued uphill struggle, the gains made in curbing domestic violence are still too few. The reason is partly because too few of us are genuinely interested in seeing them made; lip service does not count. Ignoring our relatives or neighbours getting physical because we don’t want to get involved or think it’s none of our business is just as bad as condoning such actions. When the police don’t act on reports of domestic violence, it’s because they have similar mindsets as we all know where that leaves us.
We ignore children’s rights to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse all around us because many of us also abuse our children and then there is the mistaken belief that parents own their children and can do with them as they please.
It is a combination of all of these factors that saw the perpetrator/farmer who is yet to be identified and charged, take the law into his own hands. With a bamboo rod, he became judge, jury and executioner. Vivian Singh Balrup, like many others before him, did not have a chance against the self-righteous wrath visited on him that day.
What must be sadly acknowledged is that there will continue to be incidents such as this one. The people being killed and battered vigilante style have been growing in number. The people charged in connection with crimes like this are few. And there is no attempt to treat the root cause.