Against the contrast of booming upbeat music, carefree laughter, and the flow of drinks and dance intertwined, two murders occurred that struck South Africans to ask: How did this happen and who is protecting the youth?
The first tragedy was that of 18-year-old Olivia Sieff in Cape Town. Sieff was hit by a car outside Tin Roof, one of Claremont’s most popular nightclubs on January 29. It was reportedly a hit and run case whereby the suspect has already appeared in Court.
Also read: 18-year-old woman loses her life after being hit by a car outside Tin Roof
The second murder was that of 17-year-old Hlompho Mbetse, a King Edward VII School student, who was stabbed to death outside Madison Avenue Rivonia in Johannesburg on Saturday, 5 February. It’s been reported that he entered the club with a fake ID.
According to the Night Club and Sowetan Live, an 18-year-old suspect by the name of Dante Kade Liang had been arrested and appeared in Court today, 7 February.
According to these sources, a fight had occurred in the parking lot. Security intervened and ‘normalised the situation’. The suspect, however, reportedly confronted and stabbed the teen around 70 meters from the car park entrance. He hadn’t been at the venue earlier, according to Madison’s.
The question now arises: what is actually being done to protect the youth, often newly introduced to the nightlife scene? Or rather, what should be done?
Conversations surrounding the deaths have begun to erupt.
On Twitter particularly, people have taken to share their thoughts on the respective matters.
While some have argued that underage entrants need to be more carefully scrutinised, others have highlighted that this doesn’t change what happened nor does it protect an of age patron from experiencing the same. Pressure has been put on management, with some parents coming to the table with understandable emotion directed at those whose job it is to keep things in order and protect their patrons.
More security outside venues has been emphasised. Bouncers not taking a proactive interest in happenings because they are not inside the venue has also been pressed.
Crisis management strategies to get patrons to medical facilities if necessary is another point to firmly consider.
Another suggestion people directed at Madison’s was that the nightclub should have been closed when the murder occurred. It wasn’t closed, due to Madison’s concerns that ‘the exit of people’ would worsen the situation. However, the ‘night must go on’ approach that a lot of clubs take despite violence and assault situations also creates more havoc for security staff who cannot then allocate all their attention to one situation, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt.
As much as nightclubs are presented as places of life, enjoyment and of coming togetherness, they are also safety loopholes.
In a country like South Africa where crime rates are high ( we have the third-highest crime rate in the world according to World Population Review) and police are not always reliable — we have to place our concerns with the owners of private venues and their personal security teams. The era of are you home safe? has gone on for far too long.
So, South Africa turns to its nightclub owners and rephrases the question from what should be done, to what will be done?
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Picture: Instagram / Cape {town} Etc