THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the South African Medical Association has called for the return of the death penalty after one of the country's senior dermatologists was gunned down by carjackers in the capital Pretoria.
Dr Norman Mabasa told mourners at Dr John Moche's funeral that the country was "under siege".
"The number of people who die at the hands of criminals is higher than in countries embroiled in civil wars or natural disasters," he said.
"Crime has become so bad that soon we are going to have to put burglar bars around our beds."
Dr John Moche, a father to two young children and head of Steve Biko Academic Hospital's dermatology department in Pretoria, was one of just 166 qualified dermatologists in the country because of a skills shortage in specialist medicine.
He was dropping off a nurse at her home last Friday when he was shot through the heart by carjackers who sped off in his Range Rover. The car was later found abandoned in Atteridgeville, a township ten miles to the west. No arrests have been made yet. » | Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg | Friday, February 03, 2012
