While the world worries about civil war in Iraq, an invisible war of attrition is taking place in South Africa.
Robberies, especially those involving businesses situated in big shopping malls, have increased 32%. This means in the year 2005-2006 there have been at least 1000 more robberies than in the previous year. Cash in transit heists have increased even more: 74.1%. Bank robberies have also increased 1.7%.
Meanwhile, the headline in today’s local newspaper reads: ‘SA becoming safer and safer’. The Minister of Safety and Security, Mr. Charles Nqakula, has described the future security situation in South Africa as ‘rosy’. He has also referred to current trends in crime as having reached a ‘turning point’.
Meanwhile, 18 545 South Africans were murdered in the period from April 2005 to March 2006. This is an almost unnoticeable shift from the previous figure for the previous year: 18 793. Hijackings have also increased by 3.1%.
Recently TV news and newspapers have focused on a particularly heinous crime: two youths murdered a 4 year old girl by stuffing her underwear deep into her throat cavity. They also raped her babysitter. A third man stood guard outside while these crimes were being committed. Today the judge, Gerhardus Hattingh sentenced the youths to numerous years in prison, but expressed regret that he was not able to mete out a death sentence which he said he felt was more appropriate. He referred to elite sectors of the community as being ‘permissively tolerant’ of deplorable crime levels. He said the lack of a more stringent penalty amounted to the sanctioning of many of the atrocious acts committed daily.
The Free State is the province where I live. It has one of the smallest populations of all the provinces, at just 2.7 million. Although the region is generally considered to be safe, at least comparably safer than most other regions, at least 1000 people per year are murdered here. To put this figure in perspective, consider that the Netherlands, with 12 million people, loses less than 200* people a year to homicide.
What is my personal experience? A week ago my girlfriend’s car window was smashed open and her car radio was damaged in the process of attempting to remove it. The car was parked in an enclosed area, surrounded by high metal fencing with sharp projections on the end. The car was also parked about 7 meters away from the nearest bedroom.
What about accommodation? I am moving to another part of the city, and finally decided on a small studio. When I showed my girlfriend where I’d be moving to she immediately recognized the place. She said a friend of hers had stayed there and had lost her microwave, in fact everything, in a burglary.
In the last few years I’ve had my car stolen, so has my father, so has my girlfriend. My father and sister, while on holiday on the Wild Coast, were pistol whipped and robbed. The story appeared in a local newspaper.
Many South Africans shrug when these statistics or anecdotes are recounted, possibly because they feel nothing much can be done. The people in charge are even worse. When calls are made to address crime, people like Nqakula insist that things ‘aren’t that bad’.
On the positive side, the president and high ranking business leaders have begun to pour millions into an initiative called Business Against Crime. I’d like to see more squad cars patrolling the neighborhood. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a policecar cruising around at night, making sure everything is in order. There are plenty of security companies, but all they can do is react when the alarms go off. By then, it’s usually too late.
So it’s likely that for as long as extreme inequalities persist in South Africa (where the very rich try to fence themselves off from the very poor) there will be a continuation of this invisible conflict, this war of attrition of the wealthy.
*198 to be exact
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