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- Are they too young to 'love'? |
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Friday, 27 August 2010 13:41 |
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Nthabiseng More
Some people really will never learn. Regardless of the number of times that people are shocked with deadly stories of lovers' triangles that have gone bad, many others get themselves involved in these deadly affairs.
This week, this newspaper carries a story of a love triangle that went bad and left one person very close to loosing a limb. Fortunately for this particular man, his hand, which was completely chopped off, was reattached.
But many other people are not this lucky and could find themselves in much more trouble. What makes this particular story all the more interesting is that the parties involved here are fairly young to have even been part of such a violent act.
These young men, hardly out of their teens now, find themselves facing what could possibly be the most difficult time of their lives and all they can do now is hope for the best while in fact the entire debacle did not have to take place had one of them decided to withdraw from the situation in time.
One can only hope that this will be a lesson to these two young men to remember that there is more to life than hooking up with a pretty young girl. For the ladies...
This week Sedibeng is hosting the mother of all parties at the Riverside Hotel when they host their Annual Women's Month event for local and other women.
This will probably be one of the last of many similar events that have taken place in this region over the past month. However, women should remember that this is not where their individual journeys of womanhood end, but rather where they begin.
All women who will be attending this event or those who have already attended should make sure that they reap rewards at these events. Until the next Women's Month event, let local women be 'imbokodo' personified! |
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- Let us give them another chance |
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Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:24 |
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Nthabiseng More
Every week, this newspaper carries a story about some or other person who has been sent away to jail for a certain crime and in most cases this is the last that we ever hear of them, when in fact, they should be given as much attention and patience as any other petty thief who did not get caught for his crime.
Many offenders deserve to be in jail and a lot of them might even deserve to be thrown into a lions' den for some of the horrendous crimes that they committed, but the mere fact is that, whether we like it or not, these people are part of our society, which means that we should be playing a more active role in their rehabilitation and in helping them to become better people should they be released from prison.
This might sound like a far-fetched suggestion, seeing as some prisoners were incarcerated for crimes such as mass murder, rape and other forms of brutality, but is it not better to give them a chance at rehabilitation than to do nothing?
Yes, without denying it, many will not bother to change and some might even bluntly refuse it but many others will change for the better.
This is probably one of the reasons why our local correctional services members do their outmost best to emphasise rehabilitation and not animalisation. By not being able of willing to accept former offenders into society, we are actually building a dividing line between them and the general public and labelling them as criminals for life, hence leaving them with little options than to go back to their old ways.
It is one of the worst things to hear of a criminal who was re-arrested shortly after serving a long span in jail, as this simply means that either the state, the community or he, himself has failed dismally in rehabilitating old habits. Without a doubt this is a story that will continue to happen, but in every case the state and the community should not have failed in the process of re-incorporating an ex-offender into society. It should rather be the offender's own lack of willpower that drives him back to the holding cells.
This is a special request to society to at least still view the boy-next-door as just that even if he has come home from jail. But of course this not to say that you must stop being careful.
To all the inmates at Groenpunt who participate in the production of the internal newsletter, well done on bringing out an impressive product and we hope that your efforts are truly sincere and that you will truly be rehabilitated when/if you are released. |
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- This man should NOT get away... |
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Friday, 13 August 2010 13:25 |
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Nthabiseng More
The brutal rape of a five-year-old child in Sharpeville shows just what kind of sick criminals are making prey out of innocent children in our communities (see page 3).
When such a young child is brutally raped and her innocence taken away, this incident will remain a scar in her life and from that day onwards she will never view the world in the way that it should be viewed.
From such a tender age, this little girl will either live her life in fear or utter recklessness, all because some psycho decided that a little girl's innocence was worth stealing.
Now it's time for the community to stand hand-in-hand with the community to find this culprit, seeing as, should he not get apprehended more, more children's lives will be ruined by his barbaric acts.
So often rapists get away with their crimes but in many, many cases the victims remain scared and trapped for life. The least that could happen to these vultures is that they must get caught and rot in jail.
It is very easy to preach forgiveness and without a doubt this is the only way to truly rid people of scars of the past, but in some cases criminals prey on innocents with the knowledge that they can merely ask for forgiveness afterwards. Or better yet, be acquitted of their crime for a lack of evidence or other reasons.
This is exactly the reason why in this case the community needs to stand together and make sure that this scavenger faces the full wrath of the law.
It is also important to remember that, as sickening as this might be, the community should not be tempted to take the law into their own hands because in so doing, they too become criminals.
Also, they should make sure that whoever gets arrested for this crime is the right person, otherwise what would have been a good deed could turn into disaster.
This is also a special call to local police officers to prove what policing really means by making sure that whoever raped this little girl gets apprehended and knows just what consequences there are for this type of crime.
Whoever you are, you should be ashamed of yourself for forcefully turning an innocent little girl into a woman! |
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Sunday, 08 August 2010 19:24 |
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Nthabiseng More
Drunken madness seems to be one of those things that will always be part of our communities no matter how hard we try to inform, educate and discourage such acts from taking place. In many cases, though, the alcohol is just a catalyst to something that was bound to happen because most of the time people stay in unhealthy relationships even when they know that the union might not end in a desirable way for either of them. Although many times this happens in case of lovers, every other relationship can suffer the same fate as has been proven before.
Reckless drinking has led to friends killing each other over a beer, money or even a mere puff of a cigarette.
It is a clear sign that when dealing with other human beings it is important to always be sober and make sure that if you don't like the other person anymore, move on. It definitely beats spending decades in a jail cell for a murder out of anger (and drunkenness).
This woman who out of a minute's act of anger has committed such a hideous crime now faces the possibility of finding herself spending a long time in jail. All of this could have been avoided by remaining calm or better yet, having left the relationship long ago when it first started to go sour.
There is a grave danger in trying to stay in something that might leave one dead or even spending a miserable lifetime in custody. These types of situations are exactly what all women and men should guard against.
So here's to yet another not so nice start to Women's Month. Sing it like you mean it, Ladies
Speaking of which, this year, like any other year, sees women all over the country getting geared to celebrate what according to many will be the mother of all Women's Day celebrations with the Sedibeng Council at the Riverside Hotel on August 9.
This event has been happening for quite a number of years and it seems to be getting better with maturity. This year one can only hope that the event will leave many women changed and challenged to be better people for themselves and their families.
It is unbelievable how often people say that they are celebrating and commemorating events that have occurred in history, but they in fact do not gain much from these parties.
This means that whatever you are celebrating has not reached its purpose and that the entire exercise is in vain, because just like those thousands of women marched to the union buildings over 50 years ago with the purpose of abolishing pass laws, our celebrations must also have a purpose. |
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