Help catch these rogues

UNTIL you, the South African citizen, ensures that the police nail the hoodlums in our midst, do not expect them to operate without fear or favour.

You should also not hope our men in blue will rush to your aid when you phone in distress from a dark alley.

Do not, please don't, think you will be safe from hijackers, murderers and conmen who live next door to you.

These scum thrive because you tolerate them and socialise with them.

Thus you must accept that the rampant crime means the chickens have come home to roost. You have allowed scoundrels to take over our streets with impunity.

You shudder to lift a finger even when the screams of your neighbour pierce the night and straight to your heart.

In days gone by people in the neighbourhood would have said shame on you for failing to raise a finger to help someone in agony.

These are bad signs. And they are sure to become worse if our police continue to be looked on as targets of the lawbreakers.

Police commissioner Bheki Cele was spot-on this week when he lamented the slaying of two officers in what appears to have been an obvious ambush.

"I have attended funerals of my police officers every weekend over the past four weeks and I cannot help it but state that community outcry on the killing of our officers is seriously lacking," Cele said.

We agree and call for far more than an outcry.

Do your civic duty and help catch the rogues, or nobody will be there when they come for you.