Uyinene Mrwetyana, a 20 year old woman, has been raped and murdered at a local Post Office. My local Post Office. This is my Open Letter to the Post Office man.
Dear Post Office Man,
You have opened up a can of I don’t know what, you’ve ripped off a plaster that was covering a wound, a big one, you’ve opened a letter you should not have, you’ve unleashed the beast. And she’s not in a good mood. You have single handedly brought a country to a standstill. And all for what? A moment of pleasure, a satisfied desire, an opportunity to exert power, express yourself, flex your muscles and play god. A good feeling, hey. What a lad. It will fade.
I heard you had a grin on your face at the court. Repugnant. It will fade. Soon, I hope.
Sadly, you not only got what you wanted. You got your cake, you ate it, you dragged it into your car, went to go hide it somewhere, like a prized possession, and now you are all over the news. You are (in)famous for all the wrong reasons. In a twisted, frustrating, sense you are getting way more mileage out of this than you should. Oh, don’t be mistaken, you are hated, I suspect not even the closest member of your family has any love or respect for you, but, nonetheless, you are garnering fame for all the wrong reasons and this is very unfortunate.
The scales of justice are not going to turn in your favour. Ever. See what I did there? You used a scale. It’s a metaphor signaling the trouble you are in and the mess you have created both inside and outside of the Post Office. The consequences of your actions are reverberating far and wide, penetrating into every corner of our society (I’m sure you’re starting to pick up on how I’m using language by now). I have a suspicion that much good is going to come from it. “What good can from Nazareth?” was once asked of a man. Well, what good can come from a depraved man who committed a despicable act in a local Post Office? Time will tell. Deliverance is coming Mr. Post Office man.
What I’m really frustrated by is how difficult you are going to make life for many people in light of what you’ve done. Every time I offer to help a female, every time I make a kind gesture, offer a compliment perhaps, every time I am speaking to a female, I have to be mindful of the fact that she might be suspicious of me. As a father, raising boys, I am going to have to teach them that females are going to be skeptical of everything they say and do, irrespective of how well I raise them. Currently, women are thinking that “all men are monsters”. You’ve turned half the world against the other! It frustrates me that our supper-time conversation last night was about how thankful we are that we don’t have girls. I mean what a ridiculous conversation to be having. In fact, you’ve hijacked most of our conversations for the past few nights and that’s really not cool.
We also spoke about the type of man it must take to do the things you’ve done. You alone are probably not to blame for what you’ve become. Your upbringing would have contributed to this, the community you were raised in; possibly even your family (sadly, though I suspect they would have a similar sentiment to most parents: “We didn’t raise him to be a murderer or rapist!” But somewhere something went wrong). The people you surrounded yourself with would have played a role. They would have shaped the way you think and behave. They would have moulded, molded, your mind (your mind is no doubt moldy, so both words apply). “Bad company corrupts good character.” (that’s from 1 Corinthians 15:33, I’d familiarize myself with the Good Book if I was you).
You see, we realize that villages can raise both men and monsters, at least the possibility or opportunity is always there, but somewhere along the line a decision is made. And you made a decision that one afternoon when you said to a young girl she should come back to the Post Office a little bit later. I used that Post Office, my dad would occasionally mail something to me, my granny sends things for my boys to that Post Office. I’ve probably seen or met you… I’m not sure how I feel about that to be honest. Courier companies are going to be benefitting from you. I hope they send you, nothing. Though, perhaps this letter will make its way to you.
Our society is in a bit of a state right now because of you. People are fighting hard to figure out how best to address the issue. Some are calling for heads to roll, literally, by encouraging us to rethink the death penalty. But that’s not the answer. Some are suggesting other things should be cut off. A better solution, in my opinion, because then at least you have to live with the consequences a bit longer. But you see human intervention won’t change you, nor will it change the moral fiber of our society. We need divine intervention, not only for you, but even for ourselves. When the moral fibers are unravelling all around us we need some golden thread to sew it back together and that golden thread is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have no time to offer you some secular, ethical, psycho-social, half-baked wordly solution. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ that. You definitely do not have time for that. So I’m going for the jugular (you might know where that is).
Many passages from the Bible are coming to mind the more I think about this. Romans 3:9-20 comes to mind. It drives home the point that there is no one who is righteous, not even one. No one, by nature, seeks God. It’s a great verse because it warns me not to be too quick to condemn you to death when I myself, barring the grace of God, are no different to you. Just saying that feels like a blow to the head. But it’s true. I’m no more righteous than you are. We’re both created in God’s image, we have both tarnished God’s image to some degree and, but for His grace, who knows what I may have been, or am, capable of…
This brings me to Ephesians 2:1-10. This passage tells us that, you and I, are deserving of God’s wrath. Because of the appalling, sinful, God-dishonouring lives we live we deserve nothing but His wrath, his unquenchable anger against sin. God could in a heartbeat wipe out all of us. And many would say God should wipe you out right now without a second thought. And yet He hasn’t. Instead He did the unthinkable. Because of His great love and incomparable mercy, He sent a man, His Son, thetrue man, to come and make us, you, me, every man and woman, alive, truly alive. Do you even realize what this means Mr. Post Office man? It actually means that you have a chance, you actually have a small glimmer hope! And this brings me to the final thing I want to share with you… Psalm 51:1-4:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
Mr. Post Office man, you raped and murdered a young woman, a daughter made in the image of the God. You ruined her future, her family, her friends. You have enraged a community, a society, a country. But above all of this, you have sinned against a mighty God. A God whose judgement is scarier than any of the above. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt. 10:28). Be afraid, be very afraid.
Or… repent. Confess your sins, come to the cross, bow the knee in submission to Jesus and find life. You cannot, no matter how hard you try, change yourself, and the time you are going to spend locked up is not going to aid your cause much either. But change can come for you, if you repent. You will still suffer numerous consequences for what you have done (and let’s be honest, you really should). Your body may be locked up for the rest of your life, but you will have the hope of life after death. If you repent. Repent and be a part of the change. Psalm 51 again: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.” Speak words of truth and encouragement and change into your community. Work with others who, like you, have committed atrocious things and commit yourself to helping them. Do nothing, at your own peril. Be stubborn, at your own peril. Keep playing god, at your own peril. Or repent.
It’s been but a year since we were staring the drought in the face. The Lord heard our prayers during a time of natural disaster and he responded in mercy by sending the rain. Rain which healed our land, thankfully. The drought changed our behavior and our views on how we care about and look after that which we deem precious. In a bizarre way, your action has been the culmination of a series of moral disasters and now we stare a moral drought in the face. Our only hope at this time is once again to turn to the Lord in prayer, that He will once again hear our prayers and that He will once again respond in mercy and bring about great change. For the sake of Uyinene Mrwetyana, and for the sake of us all, Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika.