Smoking Cannabis SAFER than listening to loud music

A 71-year-old grandmother of two, Fikiswa Goniwe, was shot in the hand by police who raided her Khayelitsha home, complaining that the music for her 11 year old grandson's birthday celebrations was too loud. (from IOL)

Police maintain they fired only rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the crowd at the party, but the grandmother said she was told by doctors that a bullet hit her hand between her middle and index fingers. (I believe the doctors and granny... not the lying cops....)

Another man at the party, Musa Zide, 27, was shot in the ankle during what Goniwe described as "random shooting".

"What was to be a celebration turned out to be a rain of bullets,"

When police arrived at the house sending everyone home Goniwe said when she tried to explain that the people were waiting for a ride home to the police, they became angry and shot at her. The police then started shooting randomly at others in the house, wounding Zide in the ankle.

"I was crying. I asked them why they had done this because it wasn't necessary. They told me I must go and die in hell," Goniwe recounted.

"I was trying to make my grandson happy and the police ruined everything. I'm now left with a painful and swollen hand that could possibly never work properly again," she said.

Goniwe said she was disappointed about the way the police had behaved and that they had broken her trust in them. "How am I going to trust the police now because they should protect, not harm, us," she said.

While this kind of shooting might alarm you, the actions of the police is understandable when you consider the orders they got from Susan Shabangu, the country's security minister who told officers not to worry about regulations, negotiations or warning shots. (Daily Mail)

Instead, police should use the guns given to them and go for the kill.

South Africa has become the murder capital of the world with more than 22,000 deaths a year.

Aiming her words at police chiefs, she said of criminals: "You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community. You must not worry about the regulations - that is my responsibility. Your responsibility is to serve and protect." (So many "criminals" so little time... Judge Dredd must be smiling.. Judge, Jury, Executioner, Policeman)

"I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot." (Eish - if only granny knew)

"Criminals are hell-bent on undermining the law and they must now be dealt with. End of story. There are to be no negotiations with criminals." (Well...? OK then....)

Bet you never thought that turning your radio up could get you killed... gran was lucky apparently.

The only thing which HASN'T killed anyone to date would be cannabis....