CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING SCENARIO.

You are on the balcony of a multi-story building, which is ablaze. The flames are approaching and all escape routes are cut off.

Your mind is gripped by the fear of death – your survival instincts consume your every thought. The glimmer of hope offered by your only option, no matter how illogical and despite the possible consequences far outweighs the spectre of certain death. Even though it goes against everything you have been taught and believe, you fling yourself off the balcony.

You crash onto a parked car killing the occupant but despite severe injuries – you survive.

Should you now be charged with?

a. Jumping from the building

b. Damage to property

c. Manslaughter.

d. Etc.

And, should many people in the building do the same with similar results – would you have a crime wave? Despite the ludicrousness of this notion, it is a principle which is applied with gay abandon by the sanctimonious, self-righteous, short sighted and politically blinkered authorities, public and press.

Any action taken in a life threatening, survival situation is deemed to be legitimate and classed as self defense, if such action is essential to your survival.

Surely it would be unreasonable for the laws of the state and society to be binding on any citizen who is in a situation where compliance with those laws would mean certain death through starvation, exposure, disease or any other means.

The only law applicable in this case would be the law of survival, an all-powerful instinct embedded in the subconscious throughout evolution, which will drive us to do whatever is required to survive, regardless of the consequences.

Criminality is by definition a choice of action, when the option to choose is denied – surely these actions are no longer criminal but essential (to survival).

Millions of people have been denied the opportunity of surviving within the economic and social structure through unemployment etc. and the failure of the state or society to provide a catch net for them when faced with the choice of starvation or “criminality”.

By breaching this social contract, does the state and society not relinquish the right to judge and exact revenge on those unfortunate enough to be driven to desperate measures as their only means of survival?

The sheer number of incidents of “survival” (crime) created by the state and society has resulted in the resources allocated to safety and security being stretched to the point of impotence.

It has also overwhelmed the judicial system and resulted in delays that have seen people detained for years only to be found innocent when they eventually get their day in court. Innocent but destroyed, they are now thrown out on the street.

As for the bail system – it seems to be more a reflection of affluence than innocence.

The resulting inefficiency and ineptness has denied justice to many – but far worse, it has resulted in insufficient application in the tracking down and conviction of the real criminals. The ones who, despite having a choice and who live in relative luxury, still break the law. The perpetrators of violence, corrupt politicians, officials, syndicates, etc are probably the most despicable.

They prey on the desperate and use them to carry out their dirty work – Political murders, heist’s etc.

We have created a society where for many imprisonment results in an improvement in their living conditions. (Food, shelter etc).

Should a starving/freezing person knock on the prison gates and request a meal or a blanket, he will be turned away. However should he, in desperation, walk across the road and steal these (or hubcaps, car radio etc to exchange), we will immediately scramble the flying squad, dog squad and others, to apprehend him. Once apprehended he will be detained, fed, sheltered, and given medical care. He will have a public defender appointed. The arresting/investigating officers will fill out case dockets and take statements. The forensics will possibly take fingerprints. The public prosecutor will evaluate, call witnesses and prosecute the case, the magistrate, court officials and all the above will spend thousands of man hours on bail hearings, trials postponements etc. costing the state (the taxpayers) thousands. Should the police vehicle in pursuit of a suspect be involved in an accident etc. we would be talking about hundreds of thousands of Rand’s. How many could we feed?

Is this what we expect our Police Men and Women to risk life and limb for?

After all this the suspect could be found innocent, (because he is or perhaps through bungling by the inefficient and inept judicial system) or he would serve his sentence. Either way he would then once again be thrown out on the street – now deprived of the meals and shelter which the state was providing – only to once again face death from starvation, exposure, etc.

This is the system which we have allowed our politicians to create and which we happily support.

Many claim that stiffer penalties for offenders will solve the problem. It may will work to discourage those who are able to choose whether to survive within the law or not. But it would be ignorant to think it will work to discourage crimes of survival – since the penalty for not surviving – is already Death.

It would probably only increase the fear of being apprehended and thereby result in the perpetrator resorting to more desperate measures to avoid discovery – possibly even more violent crime.

They (the unemployed) are also trapped in this system because it is no longer possible to move out and support oneself in the hills (so to speak), as our ancestors did. All the land is suddenly owned by the state or individuals, the question of how the state can own land when it’s citizens are landless, begs to be asked, especially when, most of this land seems to have been acquired through thuggery, theft or the stroke of a pen. So, to escape the desperation of unemployment, be self-sufficient and survive without treading of the rights of others, they first have to get a job- (in the system which denies you the opportunity) to earn the currency required to purchase the land on which they wish to be self-sufficient.

And to earn the amount of money required to obtain the title to their land will require a lifetime of employment or more, as we all know. – Then there are the rates and taxes!

Already, with the current rate of convictions, prisons are overcrowded, the judicial system overwhelmed and billions of Rand’s destined for more prisons, police etc.

Even if 100% of the crimes could be solved we could not afford it, and it will definitely cost more than removing the cause of the majority of the crime.

Everyone seems willing to pay more towards fighting crime but no one is willing to contribute to removing the major causes of crime.

I don’t claim to have the answers, but perhaps if we were to put a stop to the waste of government, the extravagant lifestyles of the incompetent politicians/officials and make them accept the accountability that comes with their office, we could start to apply some of the countries resources to solving the problems and not just mindlessly throwing them (the resources) at the symptoms.

We need to bring the government to the realization that they are elected by the public to work for the public. Not elected so the public can work and suffer to support their incompetence and extravagant lifestyles.

Instead of complaining about the beggars, the squatters, the crime etc., etc… Let us start complaining about the government who spare no expense or effort to ensure that they are elected into power and then spend the term of their office just being officials, redistributing the countries wealth amongst themselves and uttering strings of mindless cliché’s.

The time has come for the public to, not only know what an officials title is, but to know what they are doing – if anything.

The problems facing us are not likely to be solved unless someone is actively working on their resolution.

I feel that our country cannot survive unless politics is removed from our democracy and replaced with competence. After all – would you choose the person to perform your heart transplant on the basis of their political convictions (bought or otherwise) or would you look for the most qualified surgeon?

We apply a more stringent selection criteria in the recruitment of our most junior employees than to those entrusted with the running of our country. The quality of government is a reflection of the collective intelligence and diligence of the electorate – is this the best we can do?

The electorate has allowed their logic to be blinded by political emotion to the extent that they are happy to be governed by buffoons.

When employing someone to do a job, the criteria used are- intelligence, skills, education, achievements and character, etc. Why not apply the same criteria when electing officials? Who cares what they believe. Are they not being elected to do a job?

Most politicians scramble to be elected into office for purely mercenary reasons, not because they feel the need to improve our society or are capable of making a contribution. Nor do they have a history indicating a social conscience. Their allegiance is to their respective parties (an allegiance which is easily bought) and not to the citizens.

Let’s expect results, and remove from office those that do not perform, as actively as we elected them.

We need have a reality attack – identify the real problems and then elect those with the interest, dedication and competence to solve them.

We must also guard against a paranoia that will allow our constitution to be diluted under the guise of fighting crime. We are already applauding the seizure of the property of innocent citizens-innocent until proven guilty! – Is this the first step on the road to detention without trial etc.?

If the government was true to the constitution, and the citizens had the rights which it guarantees, there would be less (survival) crime. We could then better cope with the real criminals.

The government needs to perform in accordance with the constitution not rewrite it to match their incompetence.

Remember the size of our law enforcement budget is inversely proportional to the justness of our society.

Most are only one paycheck away from living on the street and facing the same survival crisis as the rest of the unemployed – without a catch net.

Let’s stop complaining, stop using the same cliché’s as our politicians and do something about it.

This applies especially to the unemployed – remember you have assisted in creating this situation by electing incompetents.

The one thing you do have left is your vote – Use It! By JVB.