The headline was shocking - "Barbaric".

The headline was shocking - "Barbaric".

This followed the killing of school girl Thato Radebe, 14, on Saturday.

Sowetan, as the long-standing "people's paper", should lead the campaign to call for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

The cold-blooded killing of a person in South Africa is becoming easy. Legal recourse is not a frightening deterrent to the perpetrators of these murders. Prison is seen as just a short break away from the community and the punishment does not fit the crime.

In the old days, when someone said "I will kill you" it simply meant that that person was angry or upset with you.

Now, in most cases it means just that - you will be killed and the person will get a light sentence.

Please Sowetan, lead the "bring back the death penalty" campaign.

Let the people speak. Then present the results to our government.

I am one of many seriously concerned South Africans and I know there are more people like me out there.

Anonymous, Gauteng