Crime in SA and the blame game

Crime in SA and the blame game

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This is an extract from an article that I wrote more than 4 years ago. It is still relevant today.

The First National campaign targeted at the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, is inherently flawed and fails to acknowledge the fundamental causes of crime in the country.

Mr. Thabo Mbeki, My President

A trend seems to be developing that suggests that attacking the President could be the easiest way of boosting one’s low self-esteem and improving one’s chance of being noticed and gaining popularity with those that have always been suspicious of majority rule. I think that the time has arrived for those that have overwhelmingly elected this president and the ruling party to speak out. The letter to The Star by B. Garner from Bramley, wherein he/she asks “And where is our president?” and goes on to pose a question “who knows?” is short-sighted and lacks the understanding of the role of a president and his ministers in this country. He/she also fails to inform us on what he/she is going to do, as a member of society or the communities that he/she is a neighbour of, to contribute towards making this country a safer place. It is also unfortunate that he/she selects to use a very tragic incident; that of baby Khensani Mitileni, to try and make sense of his/her point. A G. Reilly from Waterkloof in Pretoria, in his/her letter to the Star also proposes that the president spend less time in the United Nations and refrain from “attempting to help sort out the problems of other African states”. These are views that find resonance with people that have since the birth of apartheid found it more practical to barricade themselves behind high walls and state of the art security systems. These individualistic communities never bothered to investigate what caused the smoke that was rising in their black neighbourhoods. This type of sentiments are easily expressed by people that have never bothered to attend rallies, imbizos and mass meetings called upon by the President and Ministers, where communities have the opportunity to engage and interact with government. When national events such as Freedom Day and Youth Day are held to bring together South Africans to observe the importance of such events and to raise issues of concern about the state of the land, people like Garner and Reilly play golf, do their shopping and find reason to retreat to Plettenberg Bay and other holiday homes. On their return to “normal life” they then have the audacity to impress on us that we have an “absent” President. Ministers and other government officials have on an ongoing basis arranged meetings in community halls and stadiums to give feedback on government’s programmes and to listen to the concerns about various matters affecting the citizens and providing the opportunity for ordinary people to suggest to government ways of tackling the challenges at hand. The role played by our President in other parts of our continent and the world needs to supported and in-fact cherished. We have become a foreign investment destination and an economy that has done better that ever before, partly because of the work of the President in creating global awareness and the interest for South Africa. It is better for us to have a peaceful and stable continent than one that is likely to result in our boarders being unable to cope with the refugees fleeing the conflicts and genocides in their countries. South Africa will not survive as an island.

The government ministers are capable and committed to the task of creating a country that is prosperous and peaceful, and free of crime. But these ideals will be achieved when all South Africans work together in a spirit of ubuntu, and ensure that the children that are born from the squalor and poor communities of Alexandra Township, Soweto, Gugulethu, Mdantsane, Lenyenye, Garankuwa and other similar urban settlements can have an equal chance, like those privileged over the dark years, to go to school, obtain tertiary education and stand a chance to better their own lives. It is interesting to note that Garner lives in Bramley next to Alexandra Township, one of the poorest, dirtiest, crime-ridden townships in South Africa. I can also assume that his/her household has had a domestic worker or gardener coming from Alexandra Township. Has he/she ever bothered to walk across the road to see the conditions under which his/her workers live in? I have often taken my white colleagues into Alexandra, pub-hopping or visiting a local braaing place. Many of my white friends have often mumbled that if they found themselves in similar conditions, they would have likely turned to some form of crime. Thanks to the heavens that not all people of Alexandra Township are criminals, amidst the appalling conditions that they find themselves in.

          

It is also opportunistic to suggest that the crime ravaging our beautiful land is an outcome of a majority black government. This is far from the facts. Those that have lived in the townships of South Africa will tell that crime has always been a way of life in our townships. We simply lived in the draconian apartheid world that cared less about the lives and well-being of black Africans. Police and army resources were concentrated in the black communities and managed to confine crime in the townships. Even with huge security resources thrown into policing communities such as Alexandra Township, it was not uncommon for children living in such communities to wake up in the morning and find a corpse lying on the road. It would take the “sophisticated” apartheid police the whole day to arrive and remove the dead body, by then children have been playing in the streets and walking past the motionless body wrapped in newspapers or blanket. The brewing of crime in communities was started as soon as one race implemented a strategy that was geared to subjugating another race and removing all chances of the black African people being able to improve their lives in this country.

There is an opportunity for society in general, both black and white, to begin to say “what is my responsibility in ensuring that I become part of what make this country a better place.” The reality is that the first people to have seen the criminals preparing to commit the kind of crime that took the life of baby Khensani, would have been members of a community, neighbours, families, spouses, friends and parents. What did these people do to alert the police and other community structures? Of course; nothing. There is a need for an integrated approach to combating crime in South Africa. The following can be looked into:

1. The re-establishment of community defence units or more resourced community policing forums. This should also boost the police reserve structures within communities.
2. A people centred policing strategy that is supported by an environment at police stations that is conducive to welcoming ordinary people as part of the crime prevention/fighting plan.
3. A plan that is geared at keeping school-going children in class until they have completed a basic college qualification.
4. An efficient and well organised poverty alleviation plan that is controlled by community based and non-governmental organisations.
5. Business and academic institutions must design, fund and operate programmes that are geared at assisting disadvantaged communities to be able to fend for themselves.

The bickering, whining and moaning is not going to stop the smoke blowing into a fire. The high walls cannot go any higher. We need to stop crime at its source. The President should continue with the sterling job performed in Africa and the world stage. Keep up the great, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, My President.