Van der Merwe’s courage in exposing crime and illegal mining made him a target. His funeral showed the cost of truth-telling.
They’re tough. They’re the go-to guys when you need protecting.
But when uniformed security officers spontaneously broke into song at the funeral of one of their own yesterday, it was their emotional salute to a hero.
That’s what Marius van der Merwe was – a hero. He was gunned down by hitmen 10 days ago, not long after he gave evidence at the Madlanga commission probing the seedy underbelly of law enforcement.
But his willingness to put his life on the line to tell the truth at the commission was only part of what he saw as his duty to his community – in the East Rand and South Africa as a whole.
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He tried to clean up illegal settlements, as well as the violent criminal cesspit of zama zama illegal mining that is spreading like a cancer across our country.
Doing all of those things put a target on his back… but the ex-cop was determined to carry on, even though he was well aware of the risks from a previous failed assassination attempt.
The real tragedy of Van der Merwe is that, while the country desperately needs more honourable, honest people like him, nobody will want to end up like he did.
#hero #afford
