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SA's scourge of violence

A BLOCK away on the south side of Carlton Centre, the well-known 50-storey building in the Johannesburg central business district, is a section of Marshall Street bordered on the west by Kruis Street and on the east by Small Street.

There are thriving businesses on this patch of the street, including a pub, a hair and beauty salon and a restaurant.

Outside the pub - called the White House – I meet a man who only introduces himself as Dan and claims to have been a patron of this pub for many years.

Dan knows the city very well. He was raised in Tladi, Soweto and has worked there for many years. He knows which parts of the city are best avoided in the dark.

No wonder he is always at the White House whenever he has the time - that part of the city is, for some reason, much safer in the dark.

Asked whether he believes crime to be going up or down in the city and also South Africa as a whole, his answer is immediate: “Other sections of the city are dangerous. And nationwide, crime is on the rise.”

Dan is far from alone in feeling this way. A high-ranking police official, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, says crime in the industrial city of Vereeniging has gone up. He recounts up his own experiences.

The one case uppermost in his mind is when police were called to a crime scene a couple of years back, only to be ambushed by criminals carrying AK-47s. Police lost their lives in this incident.

All over South Africa, the story is almost invariably the same. Crime is going up across the country, people say, and it's most certainly on the rise in many well-populated areas.

Latest official statistics prove this, showing an increase in crime.

About a month ago, crime statistics showed there were 800 more murders in the past financial year, highlighting that South Africa is less safe than it was two years ago.

In the past two weeks alone, newspapers have had high-profile crime cases on their front pages. It is a sign of the mood in the country, whether we like or not.

High-profile cases hit the courts

Last week, it was the high-profile conclusion of the murder trial of Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by pumping four bullets into her body.

This week Ntokozo Hadebe, the man who raped and killed three little girls in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, was sentenced to nine life sentences plus 15 years' imprisonment.

Additionally, Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was killed at the weekend after two gunmen entered a house in the Ekurhuleni township of Vosloorus.

Currently, the Western Cape High Court is hearing the high-profile Shrien Dewani murder case. The British businessman is on trial for the murder of his wife Anni Dewani while they were on their honeymoon in the Western Cape in 2010.

The victims of crime are gradually becoming influential members of government. Last week, South Africa woke up to news that member of parliament and high-ranking ANC member Jackson Mthembu was recovering from a gunshot wound after he was shot by criminals at an ATM.

These are only the incidents the media has focused on. I am sure many other shocking cases are happening throughout the country but not reported on.

I am one of the people who believes that if violent crime can hit closer to home, including government and ANC leaders, drastic steps could be taken to address this scourge.

This is because in the past, ANC cabinet ministers have always been defensive when told about the surge of violent crime in the country.

This must be done away with. We must treat all forms of violence for what it is: a societal scourge that must be constantly called out and constantly condemned.

This will also enable business on Marshall Street and in other parts of the country to flourish for a long time.

 - Fin24

*Mzwandile Jacks is an independent journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.


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