DEATH PENALTY: A Must for Effective Governance

Whilst on a recent successful overland mission trip to Zambia, which included the running of a Christian Teachers Training Seminar, I was struck by three things since I was last in Zambia in 1994. The first is that the major artery roads have been fixed and are now pothole free. The second is that largely due to the economic and political mess in Zimbabwe, tourism and business has moved to the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls, thus uplifting the historic town of Livingstone. And the third was the amount of electric fencing. Many agricultural farms, businesses and private residences are surrounded by electric fences. It appears that South African security firms have found a ripened market on the African continent. However, despite this evidence of crime, one cannot help but feel safer in Zambia than here in South Africa.

I questioned the administrator of Lusaka-based World Baptist Evangelistic Association, William Kasapo, “Yes, there is petty crime, but very little violent crime”. By contrast, South Africa is known as the “crime capital of the world”, not because of theft, robbery and petty crime (which is on a par with many countries), but because of the devastatingly high violent crime rate, which includes murder, attempted murder, rape and armed robbery. William explains, “We have the death penalty in this country. If you confront a thief who has broken into your house, he would rather run away than physically harm you, because he knows that if he does anything to you, he will get the death penalty”.

The death penalty works. It is a proven deterrent and Zambia being a self-declared Christian nation, it is not surprising that they have the death penalty, because it is Biblical. I firmly believe that from an administrative, management and governance perspective, it is not possible to effectively carry out the God ordained civil mandate of justice and upholding law and order without the sanction of just capital punishment.

As we come to the Christmas season, statistically crime (and violent crime) peaks. One critical causative factor is the increased abuse of alcohol. On behalf of Christian Action Network, may you have a safe Christmas season, and may the Lord bring it about that South Africa reinstates the death penalty so that the righteous may live freely and the evil doer live in fear of justice.

Rob Mc Cafferty is the Communications Director of Christian Action Network.