Oh no you DIDN'T! ...and then I did.

DURING the holiday, I took a trip to the V&A Waterfront to do a bit of after-Christmas returns (insert frustration with Unnamed Computer/Electronics store here). After having successfully educated the manager (free of charge!) about the wonders of proper customer care, I hopped into a taxi for what I hoped would be an uneventful ride on a rather hot day. AND THEN. While stopped at a robot, the taxi driver and the gatjie happened to see a robbery taking place on the sidewalk. Armed with small steel pipes, and in true oh-no-you-didn’t fashion, they proceeded to “educate” the culprits the best way they knew how.


In an instant, the other passengers and I had forgotten about the heat, whatever we were hurrying back to, or our frustration with having to wait, and we cheered on our two transportation engineers as they delivered a swift and calculated justice. After a few minutes, their actions did attract the police; the two culprits were arrested right away, and soon we were back on our merry way.


I'm not at all saying I recommend taking such actions every time you see someone you consider to be "unsavoury". But, despite various arguments concerning the merits or pitfalls of vigilante justice (Batman forever!), I have to say that the actions of these two ordinary men that day filled me with such pride. Hardly a day goes by without a complaint from someone, somewhere, about the problem of crime in this country. But often, that’s all you ever hear: complaints.


Which is why it is great to witness our countrymen fighting back. All I could think that day in the taxi was, “That’s RIGHT! NOT in my house!”

Bottom line? DO SOMETHING.

I was fortunate enough to take part in a protest in December at the Swiss consulate, in which an open letter was delivered to the Swiss ambassador. The letter condemned a recent referendum in which the Swiss public voted to enact a ban on the construction of minarets on Islamic mosques, a decision which is in direct contradiction with Switzerland’s own constitution and every single human rights declaration and agreement to which the government has previously adhered. In that instance, it would have been very easy to watch the story on CNN and go about my business –especially since Switzerland isn’t exactly around the corner.

Nor is Uganda, for that matter. Throughout this week’s Varsity, you’ll see other examples “doing something”. Inequality is indivisible, and we must do whatever we can to keep injustices from happening, whether or not they affect us directly.

And trust..."doing something" isn’t nearly as difficult as it seems.