A few days ago, while scrolling through Facebook, I came across a post by sis Lindelwa, a woman who has been a pillar of strength for me following the death of my mother.

When my mother lost her battle to cancer in 2017, Lindelwa was one of the people who assisted with resources to help me bury her. I was a student at Rhodes University at the time.

I had never organised a funeral –and the first time I had to, it was my mother’s. The horror of that period in my life was made easier by people like Lindelwa. She has, for years, been checking up on my younger brother and I, always ensuring that we are okay.

And so, when I saw her post announcing the death of her husband, Dr Michael Isabelle, I was at a loss for words. But nothing could have prepared me for what I would later discover – that he had died in a hail of bullets at his surgery in Soweto, a victim of the debilitating crime making life unbearable for South Africans.

Just over a week ago, Dr Isabelle left his home to go to his surgery in the Soweto township of Dobsonville. He had been running the practice for 25 years and was loved deeply by the community.

Having moved to Dobsonville from Meadowlands in my teens, I know many people who have received treatment from Dr Isabelle. They have nothing but good things to say about a doctor who was both professional and extremely compassionate.

But two Saturdays ago, three individuals entered Dr Isabelle’s surgery claiming that one of them was in need of medical assistance. They entered the doctor’s room where they shot him before making off with two cellphones. He died from his injuries shortly thereafter.

The fact that a man who had given so much to the people of Dobsonville died for two cellphones is unthinkable. I have no doubt that had they held up the surgery and demanded the phones, Dr Isabelle would’ve given those phones to them.

He had left his home that morning to save lives in a township that is in desperate need of healthcare workers. He had left his loving wife, Lindelwa, and their two beautiful children.

Such a man would have given robbers his cellphones and more. He would not have chosen to die for two cellphones. But when they shot him, they took away his ability to make this choice.

I can rationalise death –even violent death. But I cannot rationalise the senselessness of Dr Isabelle’s cruel and callous murder. He did nothing to deserve such a gruesome end to his life.

He did nothing but love and care for the community of Dobsonville and dedicate his life to serving. I have sent incoherent messages to Lindelwa because I don’t know how to comfort a woman who has lost a man she has loved for 33 years – a man she met when she was just a teenager and with whom she had an entire life ahead.

Crime in this country has reached epidemic levels. We are losing so much in so many ways.

The death of Dr Isabelle is a loss that reflects a society that has lost its very soul. It is made more unthinkable by the fact that it happened within a Dobsonville community that he had given 25 years of his life.

Doctors give so much to working-class communities, only to be killed like animals. Just over a year ago, Dr George Koboka was also killed in cold blood in his Diepkloof surgery by a group of criminals.

Surgeries have become targets for criminals. There is urgent need for intervention by law enforcement, to protect the lives of the men and women who save ours. The police must spare no cost in their investigation into Dr Isabelle’s murder. His killers must be brought to justice. May Dr Isabelle never be forgotten. And may justice be done.