IN two weeks, two people in my community have been murdered.

Two weeks ago Andrew Reynolds, the boat builder from Port Alfred, was shot.

And on Monday Juan Jansen, a Spar employee, was shot down in cold blood in front of his pregnant wife in the main street of Kenton-on-Sea.

What is happening to us?

We should all be in trauma counselling!

There have been no arrests of the murderers of Reynolds and Jansen. And if the concept of the “first 48 hours” really does apply, hopes are fading fast.

What makes things really frightening is the increase in the number of murders of business owners. Two months ago I wrote an article in Sunday Times suggesting the last thing I would do for my daughter would be to set her up in a small business because she would get murdered for the cash. And in less than two weeks it has happened twice!

Not that the cops haven’t been busy. They hide behind trees and take pictures of motorists not slowing down quickly enough. Or ticket us for stopping on a faded red line when we were only trying to do the right thing by giving our domestic worker a lift home.

Recently two cops had to help me for 15 minutes at PE airport. That was to file a sworn affidavit so I could pay a R100 fine for losing my parking ticket. I ask the question: Are today’s cops fighting crime or just turning a quick buck for the local authorities by trapping god-fearing citizens?

And what are our politicians doing about it? The national budgets for keeping us safe at night totalled R24-billion in 1999/2000. They are close to R84-billion today. Inflation adjusted, that’s a doubling of financial resources extracted from the taxpayer over 10 years. And all we have to show for it is Jackie Selebi and a threatened strike by the defence force.

It’s a disgrace!

Yet the politicians tell us that murder rates are down. But how much of a difference is a decline of 1%? It just means that the total number dropped from 19202 in 2007/2008 to 18487 in 2008/9.

By next week most of us will be back to normal. Except for the next of kin, the memories fade quickly, probably just replaced by other disasters.

This is something out a spaghetti western, not the book we wanted to call the new South Africa.

Let’s face it; this government cannot help us on crime. With half of South Africa living on peanuts, resources that still exist are going towards the poorer communities.

There, even greater problems most certainly exist. So if we don’t do something about crime ourselves, nothing is going to improve.

Some say we should walk around like Dirty Harry or Charles Bronson, packing a 45 magnum. But you will have to jump through circus rings before you get a firearm licence these days. Anyway, who wants to walk around like John Wayne?

Others believe we can bring back the death penalty. And still others say we should barricade off our communities. Not that any of this will make a difference. It would make us look like the old South Africa all over again.

Perhaps all we can do is live to the words of President Lyndon Johnson on day JFK was assassinated, “I will do my best. That’s all I can do.” But that is of little comfort to the victims.

I don’t know what we can do. But for as long as we continue to allow apathy and procrastination to rule, I fear these appalling events will continue.

Yes, our communities have to get together and do something. And fast!

Lester is a professor at Rhodes University, Grahamstown