Richard Van Der Wel - My Father Murdered at home.

I have logged onto your website as I am a South African searching for direction particularly with regard to violent crime in this beautiful country of ours. On 2 January 2004 my Dad who lived together with my Mom in their home in Parkrand Boksburg, had returned home from doing some errands for my brother it was 10.00 a.m. when on pulling into his driveway and getting ready to open his gates he was accosted by 1 man, the other remained to man their get-away vehicle. I do not know what happened in their driveway as I was not there, but what I do know is that this man shot my Dad in the stomach region, the bullet went through his aorta and he died in hospital as a result.

I write this today as a sad person who has been robbed of a father who was an amazing man, my Mom has been robbed of her best friend and my children of their grandfather. He was an innocent man, a healthy 66 years old and probably would have still had many more years, going about his own business, on his own property. The difficulty I am facing amid all my pain and grief is that what is happening in our country cannot go on.

We as citizens of this country are now beginning to lose some touch with what it means to live according to acceptable morals and values, as we are all becoming for too complacent as we either experience the horrifying and violent crimes being conducted by the perpetrators, or we skim over the tiny little articles that appear in national newspapers - if anything is written at all, and we just seem to take what is happening as a normal event in the days of our lives in South Africa.

This is unacceptable, it is time for us to speak out and become angry about a policing and justice system that is not fulfilling its duty as the provider of safety and security to us as citizens of this country. I am angry, I feel a little helpless as I am not sure about the actions or avenues to take, but I am no longer going to be complacent, I just need guidance as to what it is I can do. I refuse to allow my Dad's death to just become another criminal statistic or for the investigation of his murder to go unheeded by the police and the detectives just because they are "too busy" or do not have any leads to follow up on,.

The police force and justice system in this country as in any other country in the world has a duty to protect and provide safety and security for the people of the country - no matter the political circumstance or the poor and difficult conditions in which they work. The government also has the duty of ensuring that these systems are more than adequately provided for in terms of salaries and infrastructure. As SA faces a national election in April, these are things people need to think about before casting thier vote, are they satisfied with what the present government as done and provided for? If not think carefully and with a lot of conviction about your vote.