Parliament’s Select Committee on Education, Science and the Creative Industries has called for tougher action against violent criminals following the murder of champion boxer Zolani Tete in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, over the weekend.
Committee chairperson Makhi Feni said the killing highlighted the growing threat posed by violent crime and illegal firearms, arguing that arrests alone were no longer sufficient to curb murders in South Africa.
Tete was killed at his Mdantsane home, with four suspects already in custody in connection with the murder.
Feni called on law enforcement agencies to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice while extending condolences to Tete’s family, friends and the boxing fraternity.
“The ease with which these thugs are able to just disappear among communities, and when arrested get bail, is becoming a pandemic,” Feni said.
He said law enforcement and government agencies needed to take decisive action against violent crime, warning that continued killings were threatening the safety and stability of the country.
“Zolani Tete’s murder has made it clear now that arresting these thugs and serving is no longer enough,” he said.
Feni questioned the deterrent effect of the criminal justice system when people accused of contact crimes are released on bail or parole and allegedly go on to commit similar offences.
“When people get arrested for contact crimes to only be released on parole or bail to come and perpetuate exactly the things they were arrested for, it is clear arrest is not deterrent enough,” he said.
He called for serious punishment for perpetrators of violent crimes, saying the continued loss of life required urgent intervention from government and police.
“These kinds of crimes must carry serious punishment. This kind of killing is just continuing unabated,” Feni said.
While welcoming the arrest of the four suspects, Feni said securing arrests could not be viewed as an adequate response when lives had already been lost.
“The committee welcomes the arrest but that is woefully inadequate when a person has died,” he said.
Feni also expressed concern over the proliferation of illegal firearms, saying lawlessness and access to such weapons posed a threat to South Africans and the country’s stability.
The committee extended its condolences to the Tete family, with Feni concluding: “To the family we say akuhlanga lungehlanga, thuthuzelekani ngoko.”
