Last week someone forwarded me a video of a man, his hands manacled to a car, being whipped, kicked and beaten mercilessly by three fellows with sjamboks. They were unrelenting, raining a volley of blows on their screaming victim for the entire three or so minutes of the video. The man was accused of trying to extort money from Eastern Cape taxi drivers. I didn’t watch all of it. I deleted it and moved to the next message.

Why don’t we talk about crime any more, at least at the level where it is an agenda item in the national dialogue? In traditional media it is something hardly ever mentioned except when the circumstances are truly extraordinary. Being hijacked, murdered or maimed is no longer extraordinary. You must be kidnapped, raped, maimed, robbed and murdered to warrant a murmur from the authorities...

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