By Pauline Banda
KITWE and Copperbelt residents are under siege from a crime gang with a menacing name—the jerabo unit. I thought sharing space with a criminal gang in itself is a bad thing. I never imagined the gang would be so daring as to storm a kitchen party and make off with money and gifts.
But lo, they did just that last Sunday as a young bride was basking in the glory of hosting family and friends at a bridal shower at Kitwe Basic school. I think that is just so unacceptable and we can’t have gangs acting with such impunity.
It shows that the gangs feel accepted by their communities, otherwise they would not be so blatant about their deeds.
I am told the name jerabos is a corruption of the English term jails boys, convicts who have left jail and mobilised idle youths to rise against their communities. This is a serious problem which we cannot afford to take lightly.
The reason the jerabos have gained this level of notoriety is because we seem to have a tendency as a society in general to glorify wrong-doers. If you go round Kitwe and the Copperbelt, the jerabos are the new kids on the block. In some circles, they are heroes or some kind of cult figures.
You cannot put criminals on a pedestal and treat them like demi-gods. That is totally wrong. It is such attitudes which elevate gangs to high places where they do not deserve to be. We are making the work of the police extremely difficult by glorifying criminals.
[pullquote]I am told the name jerabos is a corruption of the English term jails boys, convicts who have left jail and mobilised idle youths to rise against their communities.[/pullquote]
Ten years ago, we had no clue about the jerabo unit but now, they are literally ruling Kitwe and some Copperbelt towns, which situation should never have been allowed in the first place. The tragedy is that we knowingly or unknowingly mould these gangs and make them almost acceptable.
It is evident that over the years, we have been developing a culture of embracing thugs and looking down on orderliness and the rule of law. Otherwise where do thugs get the impunity to storm a kitchen party and literally turn an orderly gathering upside down?
Tragically, many of us do not realise that criminal gangs are our own creation. We hear of gangs being formed and we applaud them all the way. We laugh about their deeds and before we know it, we have created a monster.
I know that the jerabo unit is probably no match for the Copperbelt police crack squad headed by Dr Martin Malama but the truth is the police could have had more restful nights if communities did not get entertained by thugs making the lives of some people difficult.
[pullquote]It is evident that over the years, we have been developing a culture of embracing thugs and looking down on orderliness and the rule of law. Otherwise where do thugs get the impunity to storm a kitchen party and literally turn an orderly gathering upside down?[/pullquote]
I know that sometimes recreation can be in short supply but cheering thugs is the last thing we should ever do because we all end up being terrorised by the same monsters we unwittingly create.
I don’t care whether one of the jerabos was jilted by the young lady whose bridal shower the gang stormed. That is no justification for thuggery. What has the dumping of one man got to do with all the women who lost their handbags containing valuables?
This is not to say the thugs should have specifically targeted the girl or her family. I mean she had a choice. No one should be bamboozled into marrying anyone. There is absolutely no justification for anyone to harbour criminal thoughts for being ditched.
It might be painful to be dumped because we know men and their ego problems but what does it benefit a man to mobilise a gang to attack innocent women just because a woman has made a democratic choice to marry someone else? Who knows, maybe the story of a jilted lover could have just been cooked up to justify a criminal act.
There is no end in sight to the ‘ingenuity’ of thugs. They can do anything to justify their thuggery but they can’t fool all the people all the time. They know and everyone knows that there is absolutely no justification for criminality.
[pullquote]It might be painful to be dumped because we know men and their ego problems but what does it benefit a man to mobilise a gang to attack innocent women just because a woman has made a democratic choice to marry someone else?[/pullquote]
Nobody can stand in court and plead justification for robbing someone. A wrong is a wrong, there is no way of justifying it. What we are reaping now from the jerabos are the seeds we have been sowing over time.
We have created fertile ground for gangsters and it would appear that if we don’t move swiftly to change our attitudes, the worst is yet to come. How do you explain the conduct of a group of thugs invading a bridal shower? This is unprecedented and it should not be tolerated.
I know that attitude change does not happen overnight. It takes some time but we would do well to start now. We should stop giving tacit approval to vices, until they develop into something unmanageable.
It does not help us to start trying to do something about criminality when it is already out of hand. I am glad that the Copperbelt police chief is in no mood to brook any nonsense. DrMalama has sent out a clear message that he intends to cage the jerabos and send them where they belong—to prison.
We need sanity in our communities. We are already plagued with social problems and we cannot afford to invite more ills. We should loathe crime from the very beginning. Crime gangs are formed within our own communities and we know exactly who is involved but we usually just turn a blind eye to them until they attack us or our own children.
[pullquote]What example are the jerabos setting for young people who are easily influenced by what they see in their neighbourhoods? With the high rate of unemployment, it is easy for youths to look up to criminal gangs.[/pullquote]
We don’t all have to be Dr Malama to reject crime. I believe every citizen has a responsibility to protect themselves and those around them from vices. Dr Malama is merely showing the way by refusing to treat gangs with kid gloves. That is as it should be.
If we keep nodding the conduct of thugs, we will have more gangs and life will be unbearable. It is best to nip the problem in the bud right now. This thing of cheering law breakers should come to an end.
I think the directive from the Minister of Home Affairs for the jerabos to be brought to book immediately is helpful. It shows some political will to contain crime and I just hope and pray that the mob which traumatised peaceful women at a kitchen party in Kitwe is brought to justice.
What example are the jerabos setting for young people who are easily influenced by what they see in their neighbourhoods? With the high rate of unemployment, it is easy for youths to look up to criminal gangs.
This is why this problem should be curbed right now. We are sitting on a time bomb which we can only ignore at our own peril.
