Madam Deputy Speaker, the shoot-to-kill sentiment expressed by several ANC leaders was ill-advised. Mahatma Gandhi made the following very insightful remark: "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
Yesterday again, another police officer was killed while on duty. Advocacy of violence serves to beget violence.
We are not saying that what happened yesterday was linked to the statements about shooting to kill, but we are saying that it just frees the criminal to commit greater acts of criminality.
As Cope, we are outraged that the protectors of our citizens continue to find themselves so unprotected and so vulnerable. Our hearts go out to the next of kin of the slain officer of the Gauteng Traffic Police's antihijack unit. He was so cruelly taken away from his family by the two merciless men who killed him on the R558 in Klip River. They must be hunted down and brought to justice.
As the deaths of police officers continue to mount week after week, each death serves as a bitter indictment against the ANC-led government. The government is unable to provide democratic, activist and strategic leadership. Clearly, this government is unable to cope; it is not coping very well at all. We in Cope who can cope call on all communities to become regular activists on their own accord in order to curb the rampant crime and violence in our country. [Time expired.]