Let those without sin, cast the first stone

I have been accused here on Thought Leader of being racist and not liking white people. Funny, seeing that two of my best friends (I don’t have many) are white and I have a very good relationship with several white members of parliament and other politicians (even in opposition parties).

I know I am opening myself to a barrage of criticism, but I feel I have to say this. Crime in South Africa does have a racial face and it is definitely not white — not if you believe the nonsense spewed forth in the recent school violence incident in Krugersdorp; especially seen against the backdrop of similar incidents in recent history.

Eighteen-year-old Morne Harmse went to school on August 18 2008 with some swords and masks in his backpack. According to unconfirmed reports, he also had a fake hand grenade; and the police’s bomb squad also searched the school for possible explosives after Harmse’s arrest. Harmse slashed the neck of 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius, killing him. Another boy was also hit over the head, bringing him to within inches of death. Two non-lecturing staff members at the school, Samson Mamela and Joseph Kodeseng, were stabbed and had to be taken to hospital. After this, Harmse put the sword in the ground and allowed educators to take him to the staff room, where he was later arrested.

The same day, both SABC and E-TV news reported on the incident, with more following in the print media the next day. According to all sources, this is treated as an isolated incident and was inspired by Harmse being influenced by Satanism. Well, a known Satanist refuted these claims, stating that no way does this movement allow for something like that, as it is “stupid” and “self-accusatory”, two ‘sins’ not permitted by Satanism.

Well, I totally disagree with the notion of this being isolated. To me, it is exactly the same as the 1999 Vryburg High School incident where Andrew Babeile stabbed Christoff Erasmus; the 2002 Zwaanswyk High School (Tokai) event where Francois van den Bergh (15) was stabbed in the arm and neck by a fellow learner, who reportedly said afterwards “This is what I do to Boers who hurt me” (Marenet Jordaan, Die Burger 29 March 2002); and other incidents.

In the Vryburg case, opportunistic groups like the FF+ were very, very quick to point out that Babeile is black and Erasmus white; and that this is typical of crime in South Africa (white people as victims of crimes perpetrated by blacks). Now, the party and its hangers-on (AfriForum, Solidarity, etc) are quick to blame Satanism! In fact, so far, I heard blame being placed before Satanism, society, the education system, internet, even Minister Naledi Pandor!

It is very, very strange (and worrying) to me that no one asked about the responsibility of the parents. The way I read it, they are squeaky clean, despite not being able to notice that their son has a problem. What were the masks doing at home? Why was he allowed to have swords at home, even though he never took martial arts or sword classes? Why did they allow unrestricted access to the internet at home?

According to reports this morning, Harmse was the spitting image of “a good learner and a decent citizen”. Yeah right, all of us decent citizens like to kill people just for the fun of it! And than we blame the ghost of some great-great-great grandfather, dead these last 250 years. Don’t forget that to qualify as a good learner, you needed to have violently killed at least one person before matriculating.

Fact is, this incident is nothing more or less than a senseless killing. It is criminal and Harmse should be punished according to the law. Should the court find him to have been insane, temporarily or otherwise, that’s it. And should the court find him to have acted deliberately, that’s also it.

But we should not treat this incident as being something special — for it is not.