Editor's Column - Clint Roper

On Saturday, South Africa and the footballing world paid our last respects to Senzo Meyiwa. On Sunday, Senzo was in goal as Gift Leremi, Scara Ngobese, Lesley Manyathela, Shakes Kungwane and company put Senzo through his paces under the watchful eye of Tommy Madigage, as he prepared for his first game between the sticks for Mzansi's Heaven XI.    It still seems so unreal – the Bafana and Orlando Pirates keeper with the biggest smile in Mzansi, who clearly delighted in life, to have his life snuffed out so early. In the wake of his tragic death, there have been mixed reactions from various sectors of the public as to why this particular death has received so much coverage… why special treatment has been given to Senzo and not to the other thousands of South African citizens who die each year from gun violence in this country. Questions have abounded as to why so much money has been spent on publicising this particular murder.    For me it's quite simple. When a national asset dies, a hero to millions, there is the opportunity to draw attention to problems that are glossed over and lost in statistical reports. It doesn't hit home to many South Africans that SA's murder rate is at around 47 murders a day, about five times higher than the global average. It doesn't hit home that on average there are 53 households in South Africa attacked each day, invasions which often lead to deaths.    These kinds of facts and figures are stored away in mountains of numbers and glossed over by government officials who are trying to win office, which is why when someone like Senzo is cut down in cold blood, when a soccer star becomes the victim, it allows society to hold this death up to the country and to those in charge and ask questions. It allows us to put a barricade in front of the gravy train and demand change.    Senzo's death has to mean something, not because the other, lesser known victims who have perished and become part of these cold, faceless statistics mean less than Senzo. On the contrary, Senzo has the opportunity to be the voice for all those that in death didn't have one – those that South Africa forgot about before they were even put in the ground. Senzo's voice should boom from the grave to our government and to our law enforcement as loudly as a world-class keeper berating his defence for the lack of protection they are providing him. And his voice should continue to echo and boom until things are set right.    It's funny how many of the people asking these questions are the very people who did not blink an eye at the astronomical figures that Oscar Pistorius was able to pay for the very best defence team in the country – a defence team that saw him handed just five years in jail for his transgression. I have to ask myself what kind of message this sends to people with guns in this country. What kind of message did it send to the guy who pulled the trigger that killed Senzo? Only five years? I can deal with that... Bang!    Deaths in South African soccer have thrown up a vast array of ills that need to be righted in South Africa. They have thrown the spotlight on AIDS education, road deaths, drunken driving, alcohol abuse, the standard of education... the list goes on, and yet very little has seemingly changed.    To all those out there hoping to hear the end of the Senzo story – the end of the hunt for the perpetrators who committed this crime; the end of talks to clamp down on gun law in this country – perhaps you just don't care enough about South Africa. Maybe you don't want to be part of the solution to a bigger problem that doesn't exist in your little circles of trust far removed from the realities of this country.    And so to Senzo I say, "Scream, my brother!" Scream from the grave so that your voice carries far and wide, for it seems that many have already forgotten the message that our most famous South African of all gave to us. It was the late Madiba who said, "Sport has the power to change the world, to inspire, to unite people in a way that little else can."       A sporting hero is gone, and we – well most of us – are united in our grief and our pain. We can only hope that our unity inspires the leaders of this country to change.   Shapa   Clint