MY SECURITY UPGRADES

MY   SECURITY  UPGRADES

Narendra  Modi  took  the initiative  to  clean up India, which has been  warmly
received  by the people,including  the elite  and the man in the street. It's a good
thing to emulate the example of a country's  leader or leaders. In South Africa, the
emphasis  is on security  upgrades, because it's the most  worrying  factor in this
country. Littering  tarnishes the face of cities and towns, but that problem gets a backseat  because the  first priority  goes to protect  oneself  from thieves and robbers,
who operate 24/7/365  with  impunity.

President  Jacob Zuma  set a  good example  by  carrying  out  security upgrades
at  his private residence  at Nkandla, at a cost of  R 256 million, allegedly at  the
taxpayers' expense. Whatever  be the source of the money, security  upgrades are
indispensable, as experienced by the P.M and MPs in the  Canadian  Parliament
recently. The PM narrowly  escaped  the would -be assassin's  bullets, thanks to the
heroic  intervention of the 58-year old Sergeant -at-arms, who used his weapon most
efficiently. This incident  emphasizes  the need for  security upgrades.

Nadine  Gordmer's  short  story ' Once Upon a Time'  depicts a white family, during
the apartheid era, who live in fear of intruders and thieves, and leaves no stone unturned in their efforts to beef up security by  raising the height of the compound wall, by installing alarm systems, and finally by erecting a vicious barbed wire structure  called ' Dragon's Teeth.' Their only child gets entangled in it ,and dies.
The  insecurity was  blamed on apartheid, which  marginalised  the black majority, and
pushed  some of them into crime.

Alan Paton's  famous  novel, ' Cry, the Beloved Country' deals with the issue of crime.
It was  published in 1948. Paton  entitled his novel 'Cry, the Beloved Country ' because
of the agony  caused by  the unnecessary loss of life due to crime. 20  years into
democracy, the title haunts us  due to the crime wave sweeping  the country. Today,
the  compound walls are higher, the alarm systems are much more sophisticated, the
dogs are more vicious, but these are no match for criminals who operate in large groups and are one step ahead of  the police and  private security  companies. No one, nowhere is safe. Last week , a prominent ANC MP, Mr Mathembu, was shot and
wounded near an ATM. Robberies at shopping  malls are the order  rather than the
exception. The most worrying thing is that robbers and thieves from foreign  countries are flocking to South Africa to share the loot.

A new definition is to be found  for  some Third  World  democracies, for eg, '  A  farcical
situation in which law-abiding citizens live under house arrest in the night while
thieves and robbers  roam the streets freely, unchallenged.''

The VIPs  are well-protected by hordes of  elite troops  surrounding them . But the
'man in the street' or ' aam  admi' or the  VUP ( Very Unimportant  Person )  has to
fend for himself, against all odds, including  the  threat from thieves. Even the streets
are unsafe for him. Yet he is the one who has to foot the bills of the VIPs  and the
bills of the criminals who are treated like VIPs  in the  Guest Houses, formerly
known as  prisons.


Anyway, my  security  upgrade estimate

 

 for 2014/ 2015 are as follow:

1   Raising   the height of the  compound wall by one metre      R  25000-00
 2   2  Additional   dogs                                                                R  2000-00
3    Dog food                                                                                 R  5000-00
4   Electric   fence                                                                         R  10000-00
5   Barbed  wire                                                                             R  7000-00
6   Extra  light  fittings                                                                  R  8000-00
7   New  alarm  system                                                                  R 12000-00
8   CCTV                                                                                       R  15000-00
9   Gun                                                                                           R    5000-00
10 Shooting  lessons                                                                      R    6000-00
11  karate  lessons                                                                          R    8000-00
12  Other                                                                                        R  10000-00

Total          R  113000-00

This  is  the fate  of   VUPs !