Statement on Oscar Pistorius case
Sunday, 14 September 2014
The SACP has noted the attention paid nationally and internationally to the Oscar Pistorius case. It would not be correct for us to discuss the details of the case, or the merits and demerits of the verdict.
Nevertheless the SACP wishes to make the following observations.
There is a dangerous love of firearms in South Africa, more particularly, though by no means exclusively, in the white community. This is linked to our country's violent and apartheid past, and its class structure. It is very clear that the individual ownership of firearms, ostensibly for the protection of families against thugs and intruders, rarely leads to the shooting of an intruder but frequently leads to a shooting within the family.
This may happen in the heat of an argument between partners, through a child obtaining access to a firearm, showing it to his friends or even taking it to school, and the weapon being discharged through various other forms of misunderstanding or accident.