Has life become worthless?

The Monitor Editor | Tuesday May 28, 2024 06:00

As many wondered what wrong the young boy could have done to end up killed, it emerged that his own cousin was a suspect in the murder after he claimed P50,000 from Botswana Life. Thato Tsametse, who was last week sentenced to death for the murder of his cousin, had reportedly taken out two Mmoloki Funeral Covers valued at P25,000 each.

Over the years, the media has been covering the murder case, and some revelation has come up that certain individuals seem to see killing a human being as some kind of sport or economic solution! Where did we go wrong? Are we that devious a nation that someone can kill another for a cigarette or plot to cash out on insurance money?

Elsewhere in our publication, there is an article about a man who killed his friend because he refused to give him a cigarette and yet another article where a man was beaten to a pulp because he refused to share his beer.

The sad reality is that young minds tend to look at their elders as role models and unfortunately, we seem to be experiencing the worst kind of moral decay in our societies, hence why it is not uncommon for the police to come across reports of students carrying knives and other weapons to school.

Rehabilitating the younger ones is going to prove very difficult when adults seem to think killing another person is fashionable or the way out of a pickle. Sadly, the harsh sentences don’t seem to do much in deterring the ever-growing murder cases.

Why on earth would a 29-year-old, whom a child looked up to as his uncle, view the child as the way to a quick buck? Have some people become so heartless that their love for money drives them to commit such heinous crimes? In this context, it ought to be understood that it is not the money that is evil, but rather that it is the 'love' of money that is evil, as it leads to outcomes such as the tragic death of a boy. As a close relative, that young man would have trusted his grown-up cousin with his life and not questioned anything he said, not knowing that the older cousin was patiently calculating, waiting for two policies to mature so that he would kill him and cash out!

No wonder many people don’t want funeral covers taken by family members, as it is now proven that being insured by a relative can become a dangerous thing. Our lives are no longer safe, and people are always looking over their shoulders; that is not a healthy way to live. Yes, there are many dangers in this world. Still, home is where we often feel safest or hope to be, and when some relatives end up villainous, it goes to show that the life of a human being has since become cheap. The young man was murdered for a measly P50,000. There is a need for different stakeholders to come together and stop this cancer before it spirals out of control. Perhaps insurance companies should also review their guidelines to ensure that all those insured are aware one of their own has taken a policy on them.