I was on the verandah of my home two weeks ago watching life go by when, on seeing several businesspeople drive by, my mind raced to the George Bacchus/phantom squad affair. Among the thoughts that came through was that of some businesspeople joining in the chorus of ridicule of and calls for the lynching of Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj.
I know nothing is always what it seems. I mean, I used to hear that women had "society." That is, that they held one head especially when it came to a conflict involving someone of the opposite gender. But after seeing women tear each other apart verbally, physically and emotionally, I have had to backtrack on my thinking.
It's the same situation regarding businesspeople. I have learnt that some of the businessmen who grieved at the slaughtering of their colleagues or rivals by the so-called freedom fighters (the demise of whom some people are so grieving that they are calling perceived phantom squad operatives - not the so-called freedom fighters who raped, robbed, beat, kidnapped and executed people and carjacked and burnt people's property with impunity - murderers), and who rejoiced when the freedom fighters turned on themselves and when the police or an unknown force put those criminals away, are the VERY SAME businessmen who today are calling Minister Gajraj names and crying out for an investigation into the phantom squad.
It makes you start thinking that, perhaps, the people who are now crying foul are themselves part of a rival gang or squad or force who want their rivals to go down so that they can reign supreme on the "turf". Why else would some businesspeople who came through the freedom-fighter crime wave alive and kicking now join the freedom fighter bandwagon seeking the exposure of one so-called phantom squad?
Not surprisingly, the politicians who for the most part remained silent when civilians were being robbed and shot; the politicians who tried to make fools of us when they said that there were no criminals in Buxton; the politicians who "adopted" the street protesters, including the "criminal elements" that were "infiltrating" the crowd of "peaceful" protesters, even as those protesters were looting the stalls of poor vendors and unleashing a spate of violence on innocent people; the politicians who demonized the police when, on those rare occasions, the police were taking out the so-called freedom fighters - these politicians are now suddenly so vocal and so self-righteous that they are preaching to us about law and order and obedience to law and are picketing and marching and writing their heads off!
There are two passages in the Christian New Testament that I have at home (yes, last year a Christian crusading group presented me with a copy of the New Testament) that I think aptly describe them:
* "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt though see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7: 5)
* "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 12: 34)
Dennis Singh