THE crime wave that has hit Lusaka lately is a matter of grave concern and requires quick answers.
Increased crime has shown to have a histrionic effect on social fabric, or the interpersonal relations between members of a community, because crime generates fear.
The more that people are aware of crime, the more they tend to fear becoming targets of crime.
It is true that while the instantaneous effects of crime can be severe, most people seem not to suffer any enduring damage.
Occasionally, people do develop long-term problems, such as depression or anxiety-related illnesses while others develop severe, long-lasting reaction after a crime, known as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Causes of crime are multifaceted and these include poverty, parental neglect, low self-esteem, alcohol and drug abuse.
Some individuals are at greater risk of becoming lawbreakers because of the status quos into which they are born.
In all cases, the physiological and psychological changes caused by intoxicants negatively impact their self-control and decision-making which consequently can lead directly to an individual committing a criminal act.
Suddenly the media in Zambia is inundated with felonious reports especially of defilement, murder, adultery, aggravated robbery, arson, burglary and the list is endless.
What with our police service appearing to be almost two metres behind the brigands, to win the battle against criminality not only in Lusaka but the entire Zambia, will be anybody’s conjecture.
This brings us to the latest crime story of another killer being captured after stabbing a man to death at a market in broad daylight in Lusaka.
It started with a drinking spree which ended in tragedy for Lusaka’s Kabanana family when its two family members were attacked and stabbed to death as people at a nearby market simply watched.
The killer, who was part of a gang of six, was however apprehended by traders from the nearby market who had seen him stab the victim.
This is barely after another suspected killer was apprehended by members of the public after he had murdered his wife and gone into hiding.
As Joseph Mwila, 32, lay on the ground bleeding, traders at Kabanana market gave chase and managed to apprehend one of the attackers while his five accomplices escaped.
He was stabbed at the back of his neck and immediately fell down much to the shock of on lookers.
Mwila was attacked while in the company of three other family members, but two managed to run away as he was being stabbed, just outside the market.
Mwila’s mother, Ms Victoria Kasakamuna, suspects her son was killed by criminals who had robbed him a few days earlier as he left Buseko Market where he was a timber trader.
She is convinced the attack was not random but premeditated.
She wants justice for her son and is determined that the person arrested is not released after hearing that his relatives had been making overtures to have him freed.
His mother explained that on the material day in the afternoon, her son in the company of three relatives left home for the market.
She said few hours later she received a message that someone had been attacked at the market and when she rushed to the scene, discovered that it was her son.
Ms Kasakamuna said her son was a businessman who used to deal in timber at Buseko market and that prior to his death he was robbed of more than K3, 500 while returning home.
She believes the people that robbed him were the same ones who murdered him.
Ms Kasakamuna says that the suspect is being held at the township’s Chipwalo Police Post holding cells where relatives of the suspect have reportedly been requesting police to release him on police bond.
Government therefore, through the police, should make serious and earnest attempts to reduce and deter crime and criminals.
If this is not done soon, it has the greater potential of scaring away investors which Zambia badly wants to help pay off its huge foreign debt.
