Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:16 pm Post subject: Cry the Beloved Country
Quote:
'Crime is oppressing us'
10/03/2007 17:37 - (SA)
Johannesburg - An anti-crime petition with an estimated 200 000 signatures and a memorandum demanding a crime-free and corruption-free South Africa were handed to officials by marchers in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
"This is not the end-all and the be-all. We will use all every avenue, including the Constitutional Court, to ensure that peoples' rights are no longer violated," said Shane Pillay, national co-ordinator of the South Africans Against Crime campaign.
A petition and memorandum were handed to a mayoral official at Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo's office in Braamfontein by protesters who had marched from Library Gardens.
"We are law-abiding citizens and feel that the president should be law-abiding and ensure that our grannies, children and everyone is safe," said Steph Hartung of Victims in the Republic of South Africa (Virsa), one of the march co-ordinators.
People are suffering
"The President has the money and the will to change the situation. People are suffering - how can people live like this?"
The petition called for government to change "its relaxed attitude towards crime", said Pillay.
The 12 point memorandum included calls for the instilling and rekindling a sense of patriotism; looking at training facilities for police; more visible policing; and getting rid of corrupt policing.
Hartung said the march was prompted by the fact that he had been a victim of crime himself and that crime was becoming a problem.
Marches against crime were also held in Cape Town and Durban with the aim to collect three million signatures for a petition to hand to government.
In Cape Town, a petition and memorandum was handed to an official of the department of safety and security at parliament.
In Durban, a petition and memorandum was given to a police official after there was nobody to receive the documents at the Department of Safety and Security.
"I will support any crime march organised by anybody to fight crime as I am tired of crime," said African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) president Kenneth Meshoe who joined protesters in Johannesburg.
"Crime is oppressing us as we can't go where we want to go with our families."
Most protesters in Johannesburg wore pink ribbons around their arms in solidarity with victims of crime.
Standing together
Banners included words such as "Mbeki wake up" and "Beware criminals, South Africa is gatvol" and T-shirts were worn with "ABC, I'm Affected By Crime" and "Crime Free South Africa".
One elderly man held a placard that said "Aged 78 years, held at gunpoint".
While walking to the mayors office from the central business district, protesters sang songs such as "Phansi nge crime" which means "Down with crime".
Hartung said the march was a success but it would have been great if there were more "township" guys at the protest.
At the Johannesburg march, Miss Africa 2006 Gillian Elson said: "I believe it is the responsibility of every South African to stand together and fight against crime in South Africa and to stand together to support initiative against crime."
Virsa was established in November last year, but was formally launched in January.
It is part of the campaign South Africans Unite Against Crime which describes itself as "pro-government, anti-crime".
While I support this campaign, I find it weird that they describe themselves as "pro-government".... Our dearly beloved president recently stated that it is merely a "perception" that crime is a problem in South Africa... But I guess the organisers like to kiss ass... _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Hundreds protest over Sheldean
09/03/2007 11:50 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Hundreds of people across South Africa have protested against child murders in the country, dressed in a pink top and jeans, to remember Sheldean Human.
The seven-year-old was taken from her Pretoria home last month and her body was found in a culvert in the capital on Monday. She was dressed in a pink top and jeans when she went missing.
Several hundred protesters gathered outside Pretoria magistrate's court on Friday, where the case of Andrew Jordaan, 25, the man accused of murdering Sheldean, was postponed until March 16.
The court was packed to capacity before Jordaan appeared, with journalists and the public jostling for space. All the seating was occupied and numerous people stood. Many more who could not fit into the court room remained outside the building.
The protestors dispersed peacefully after the postponement.
'Sick society'
About a hundred people, including politicians, also gathered outside parliament's main gates in Cape Town for a peaceful protest against the high rate of child murders in South Africa.
"There is something fundamentally sick in South African society. We have a sick society," Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille told Sapa at the scene.
As she spoke, members of the public laid bunches of flowers around a poster-size photograph of Sheldean that had been leaned up against the plinth of a statue at parliament's Roeland Street entrance.
De Lille expressed sympathy for all families who had lost children to crime.
"There is no justification for the murder, rape and maiming of the most vulnerable in our society," she said.
Call to reinstate death penalty
African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart said government was failing in its role to protect citizens.
He further called for reinstatement of the death penalty, saying there was "clearly insufficient deterrent in the justice system".
The Democratic Alliance's Mike Waters said on average three children were murdered each day in South Africa.
He said he hoped the protest would galvanise citizens and the media to highlight child murders.
"It should spur government, the public sector and society to start doing something about child abuse and murders."
There were a range of initiatives, including the sending of missing children's photos via cellphones by the major network operators, that could be implemented, but these needed to be driven by government, Waters said.
Bloemfontein
The pink-tops-and-jeans protest was also evident in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Most parents and children arriving at the Universitas primary school were wearing pink tops and jeans, while boys wore white shirts, a pink ribbon and jeans.
The protest against children becoming victims of crime was arranged by a group called the Pink Ladies.
Gargerienne Green, a mother of three, also wearing a pink top and jeans, said most of her colleagues at the University of the Free State were wearing the same cloths when she arrived at work on Friday.
"Most in our division are wearing pink tops and jeans today, even my husband put on a pink shirt today.
"We support the protest against violence toward children, and also against women."
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
11yr-old missing in Cape Town
10/03/2007 20:17 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Police were on Saturday searching for an 11-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Mitchell?s Plain in the Western Cape.
Superintendent Billy Jones said the girl, Anestacia Wiese, was last seen by her mother at 11:00 on Friday when she went to the shop about a block away from her home in Woodridge, Michell's Plain.
Wiese never arrived at the shop.
Police investigations uncovered that the girl had walked in the direction of a nearby high school with an adult male.
Wiese was wearing a blue jeans and pink T-shirt when she disappeared.
Jones said she had a brown complexion, was of a medium build, around 1.4m tall with black hair and brown eyes.
The man she was reportedly with, was tall, well-built and bald, he said.
The search for the girl was continuing and police were going door-to-door in the area in an attempt to gather information on her whereabouts.
Anyone with information that could assist police were urged to contact Inspector Charles Julies at 073 804 2000 or Crime Stop on 086 001 10111.
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Big search for missing 2yr-old
02/03/2007 18:11 - (SA)
Rustenburg - Police and community members in Moruleng village near Mogwase in North West have launched a massive search for a two-year-old boy who has been missing for three days.
On Friday, police searched pit toilets in Moruleng but could not find Reboni Gaswell Mabine Ntwagae.
Constable Bontle Diphoko said Reboni was last seen playing with friends in the Matlotleng section of Moruleng on Tuesday.
He was wearing khaki shorts and a light blue T-shirt.
Diphoko said anyone with information on Rebone's whereabouts could contact Inspector Mothusi Kgalegi on 078 243 273.
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
UNHAPPY: Zhaney Saaiman joins a protest at a Pretoria court where the man accused of murdering Sheldean Human appeared. (Waldo Swiegers, Beeld)
(The words on the poster say: Am I next, Pr. (president) Mbeki?) _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
In South Africa, Mbeki Faces Public Outrage Over Crime
Robert Carmichael | 19 Feb 2007
World Politics Watch Exclusive
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- South Africa has an enviable reputation as a tourism destination. Beautiful scenery and beaches combine with spectacular game reserves, high-quality hotels and a cheap currency to ensure a steadily increasing stream of visitors.
But its reputation isn't all good. Ask people outside the country what they know of South Africa and the word "crime" is seldom far away. And if the perception internationally is of a country where crime is out of control, the local feeling is equally bleak.
South African citizens are angry at what they see as soaring levels of crime -- much of it violent -- and the inability of the criminal justice system to protect victims.
Many are also angry that government ministers, cosseted by bodyguards and living in well-secured homes, appear to have been ignoring the problem. The perception that senior politicians in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) are out of touch was not helped last year when the minister for security said that people who "whinge" about crime should simply leave the country.
And President Thabo Mbeki showed his ability to misread the public mood when, in a television interview last month, he said it is merely a perception that crime is out of control.
"Nobody can prove that the majority of the country's 40 million to 50 million citizens think that crime is spinning out of control," he said.
And the government's commitment to fighting crime is not helped by the close personal links that the national police chief, Jackie Selebi, has with an alleged South African crime boss who is currently on trial for murder and drug running.
Mbeki's comments on television were followed by a number of high-profile crimes, which prompted an outburst at the government's stance from none other than the head of the country's National Prosecuting Authority. Crime is "happening to all of us now -- no one is safe any more," he said.
In the wake of truly appalling crimes that retain the capacity to shock even here, letters to newspapers have called for the reintroduction of the death penalty. (The judge in one recent case told two men who were convicted of murdering a four-year-old girl and raping her nanny that he would have imposed the death penalty if only the constitution allowed it.)
As events moved to a head this month, a leading local bank decided at the 11th hour to pull a campaign designed to pressure Mbeki into putting crime at the top of his agenda in his annual address to Parliament on Feb. 9. (The government's denial that it had pressured the bank to drop its campaign is not widely believed.)
As the first days of February ticked by and the day of his annual address to the nation drew closer, the pressure on Mbeki to address the issue intensified from the public, business, politicians and civil society. The country wondered what the president would do.
How Bad is It?
There is no question that, by international standards, crime levels are high in South Africa -- one United Nations survey suggests the country has the third highest crime rate in the world. So how bad is the situation, and is it actually getting worse?
Official statistics for the year ended March 2006 showed an average reported daily crime rate of around 50 murders, 150 rapes, and 35 car hijackings. Note the word "reported' -- in a country where the police are not known for their integrity or efficiency, the actual number is almost certainly higher.
The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), an independent research body, reported that the ten years to 2006 saw a decline in eight out of 12 crime categories. Victim surveys by other research bodies, which ignore official figures and instead ask a sample of the population for their experiences, suggest that this trend is accurate.
Among the categories that have declined are murder, attempted murder and car theft -- all of which fell by between one-third and two-fifths in that period. (These figures are measured as the number of crimes per 100,000 of the population.)
Not unreasonably, the government has therefore insisted that crime figures have fallen. However, despite the fall in some categories, the crime numbers are still very high. Figures to the year ended March 2006 reveal that around 18,500 people were murdered, almost 55,000 were raped, and nearly 120,000 violent robberies were reported.
The reason the government's optimism does not jibe with the reality experienced by many South Africans is that, again according to the SAIRR, incidents of attacks on the person -- rape, indecent assault, aggravated robbery and drug-related crimes -- have risen. In the case of rape, that rise is around 2 percent; at the other end of the spectrum, cases of indecent assault have more than doubled. At the same time the level of violence involved in the commission of crimes has risen even as the number of some crimes has dropped.
These are key reasons why South Africans feel more vulnerable and fearful than before.
All of which goes some way to explaining why the government has misread the public mood, by claiming that things are getting better (which in some cases they are) when the perception of ordinary citizens is the opposite.
Mbeki Addresses Criticism
Amid all of this, Mbeki arrived at parliament in Cape Town on Feb. 9 to give his speech. It was no unqualified success, but it did go some way towards appeasing his critics. He insisted that the government's policies designed to combat crime are effective. It is the execution of those policies by the police and the courts that needs improving, he said.
He admitted that the target of cutting serious crimes such as murder, robbery and assault by up to 15 percent a year has not been hit, and said the government and the nation "must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime".
Among the new measures the president outlined was increasing the country's police force from around 150,000 to 180,000 by 2010 (when South Africa is set to hold the soccer World Cup). Other measures included stepping up intelligence operations against organized crime, and improving the functioning of the police and the courts.
Mbeki's words on crime received little applause from opposition parties, some of whose leaders felt his speech was woolly and short on detail. Other opposition leaders decried the fact that he had roundly ignored the scourge of corruption, which is another key problem here. Many of the same sentiments were heard in the press, although one prominent commentator said Mbeki's acknowledgement of the seriousness of the issue marked a step forward.
"Say what you like," he told a Cape Town newspaper, referring to Mbeki's foot-in-mouth comment in January, "we've come a long way from the famous interview of a few weeks ago when rampant crime was just a perception in the president's view."
It may strike some as bizarre that the leader of a nation gets applauded for acknowledging a problem that seems so obvious to so many. But it does mark a start, and people here are hoping that they will at last see a concerted effort by the government to tackle a problem that they believe is as important as anything else the country faces.
But fixing the problem will require more than putting another 30,000 police on the beat or finessing the courts. Thirty percent of South Africa's population is aged 15 to 29, and the country as a whole suffers from high unemployment, lagging economic opportunity for the majority, and glaring disparities in wealth and income.
Couple that with seemingly pervasive corruption in local and national government, and it is little wonder that so many are turning to the gun to make a living. In the long term, the only way to beat crime is more jobs and a better education for all. With around two years to go before the end of his presidency, the clock is ticking for Mbeki to make a difference.
Robert Carmichael is a South African journalist who most recently worked in Cambodia as managing editor of the Phnom Penh Post
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Well, I have heard from different sources that SA is dangerous now and people are extremely angry and fed up with it. Hundreds of people whose relatives were brutally assasinated have left the country. I heard that it's sometimes impossible to punish the culprits because their names are not registered in official records so it's like they don't exist!
How do you personally perceive the situation in terms of your own security? Have you ever been in danger?
I heard that it's sometimes impossible to punish the culprits because their names are not registered in official records so it's like they don't exist!
OK, that part's not true. Our judicial system works well, and anyone caught willl go to jail (and believe me, you don't want to be in a South African jail...)
I've only been a victim of crime a few times, I've been lucky...
* My car was stolen about six years ago
* I was mugged once.
* I've been the victim of fraud twice.
* One break-in in my house...
Well below the average here, so I really consider myself lucky....
Fact is, thousands (not hundreds) have left the country because of crime. I now live in a security estate (guards walking around all the time), so I feel fairly safe when I'm at home. But I don't feel safe when I go out. I avoid much of the city where I live, because it's not safe to go there (including the city centre [downtown, as it's called in the US]). _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
OK, that part's not true. Our judicial system works well, and anyone caught willl go to jail (and believe me, you don't want to be in a South African jail...)
As far as I remember this was in the interview a SA woman gave to the newspaper. She now lives in the Netherlands.
Quote:
I've only been a victim of crime a few times, I've been lucky...
* My car was stolen about six years ago
* I was mugged once.
* I've been the victim of fraud twice.
* One break-in in my house...
Well below the average here, so I really consider myself lucky....
OK, here is my record taken form my whole-life (33 years) experience.
Letters in brackets mean: communist period (C) and after-communist period (A):
> theft (but then recovery) of my car (C) + one unseccesful attempt (A)
> two breaks-in in my flat (C&A)
> triple robbery in the street (A) with mininal losses
Fortunately, I have never been threatened with a knife or a gun.
In the town where I currently live (a bit more than 60 000) I feel very secure - I often walk late in the night and nothing bad happened.
On the other hand, in the city where I was born and spent most of my life I feel rather insecure and try to avoid certain parts. To make it clear - assasinations are very rare there (in fact, there were two or three in the past decade) so basically I'm only afraid of being robbed or punched in the face but my life is actually not threatened.
The bigger city is the worse situation in terms of safety. Especially car thefts is like a plague. But even in Warsaw or Cracow, although I'm constantly on my guard, it's only "increased attention" rather than fear.
Quote:
Fact is, thousands (not hundreds) have left the country because of crime. I now live in a security estate (guards walking around all the time), so I feel fairly safe when I'm at home. But I don't feel safe when I go out. I avoid much of the city where I live, because it's not safe to go there (including the city centre [downtown, as it's called in the US]).
I think this is alarming and ...depressing. Although as I judge from your face and sense of humour you don't seem to be a person extremely overpowered by this![/quote]
One thing I've noticed is that I'm often much less sensible with regards to crime when I'm in another country on holiday. For example, I've walked through a quiet park in Brussels at midnight without really caring, but I'd never do anything like that in Birmingham.
We're often advised not to go upstairs on double-decker buses if we're alone, especially at night. I've ignored that advice many times and have never actually had a problem, although I should admit that I do find it kind of scary (and almost always end up spelling of cannabis).
Actually, what's scary about Birmingham at night, especially on a Friday or Saturday, is that there are always lots of drunk people roaming around (both men and women) — people who would not ordinarily be 'criminals', but one can never know what they might end up doing.
Actually, what's scary about Birmingham at night, especially on a Friday or Saturday, is that there are always lots of drunk people roaming around (both men and women) — people who would not ordinarily be 'criminals', but one can never know what they might end up doing.
"Ordinary" people can be unpredictable. That's why I'm always wary of strangers I approach when I go out as you can never know what they might be capable of.
I've never been a victim of crime myself before and I hope I never will be. I've only witnessed violent attacks a few times though.
I read in the newspaper last month about how a vicious gang 7 to 10 strong launched appalling and brutal physical attacks involving guns and knives on innocent passengers on the underground trains and buses here in London a few years back. Apparently, they've committed between 200 and 500 attacks on people and got away with it. They've only just been caught after a man actually died when he was chased up the street after leaving a station.
Fact is, thousands (not hundreds) have left the country because of crime. I now live in a security estate (guards walking around all the time), so I feel fairly safe when I'm at home. But I don't feel safe when I go out. I avoid much of the city where I live, because it's not safe to go there (including the city centre [downtown, as it's called in the US]).
André, do many middle-class people live in "security estates"? Or is it more of an upper-class phenomenon? One of the bosses at my work is currently living in such an estate in Johannesburg, SA. Reactions I've heard at work about that boss's current home have been "God, that's insane!" and such comments. As a Swede it's hard to imagine people living like that, or that they should have to live like that.
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject:
Daniel wrote:
I read in the newspaper last month about how a vicious gang 7 to 10 strong launched appalling and brutal physical attacks involving guns and knives on innocent passengers on the underground trains and buses here in London a few years back. Apparently, they've committed between 200 and 500 attacks on people and got away with it. They've only just been caught after a man actually died when he was chased up the street after leaving a station.
This is such a different London than the one I visited in 1970! I recall my mother expressing concern about my going out for the evening on my own, and the owner of the pension assuring her that it was perfectly safe to be out all night. I didn't stay out all night, but it did feel absolutely safe.
Despite my mother's and my grandparents' fears for me because of my habit of being out alone late at night in San Francisco and New York, the only time I was ever attacked was in SF in broad daylight, when I was with my grandmother, and that was a case of road rage.
Last edited by Deborah on Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
Fact is, thousands (not hundreds) have left the country because of crime. I now live in a security estate (guards walking around all the time), so I feel fairly safe when I'm at home. But I don't feel safe when I go out. I avoid much of the city where I live, because it's not safe to go there (including the city centre [downtown, as it's called in the US]).
André, do many middle-class people live in "security estates"? Or is it more of an upper-class phenomenon? One of the bosses at my work is currently living in such an estate in Johannesburg, SA. Reactions I've heard at work about that boss's current home have been "God, that's insane!" and such comments. As a Swede it's hard to imagine people living like that, or that they should have to live like that.
It's becoming more popular, and yes, they do tend to be expensive, so it's mainly upper class. (Mine has parts which are less expensive, plus I live in a less expensive city! ) It's not only about security, they became popular before the crime situation started to get out of hand. They usually have "themes" eg. gholf estates, built around a gholf course, or as in the case of the one where I live, wildlife estates. The security offered is a major reason for its popularity, of course.
Quote:
I think this is alarming and ...depressing. Although as I judge from your face and sense of humour you don't seem to be a person extremely overpowered by this!
I love this country, and believe in its future. We still have a lot going for us, and hopefully the government will soon wake up and start doing something about the crime, instead of pretending it's not really a problem.
A few stats...
Assaults
Rank Countries Amount (top to bottom)
#1 South Africa: 12.0752 per 1,000 people
#2 Montserrat: 10.2773 per 1,000 people
#3 Mauritius: 8.76036 per 1,000 people
#4 Seychelles: 8.62196 per 1,000 people
#5 Zimbabwe: 7.6525 per 1,000 people
#6 United States: 7.56923 per 1,000 people
#7 New Zealand: 7.47881 per 1,000 people
#8 United Kingdom: 7.45959 per 1,000 people
#9 Canada: 7.11834 per 1,000 people
#10 Australia: 7.02459 per 1,000 people
Murders with firearms
#1 South Africa: 0.719782 per 1,000 people
#2 Colombia: 0.509801 per 1,000 people
#3 Thailand: 0.312093 per 1,000 people
#4 Zimbabwe: 0.0491736 per 1,000 people
#5 Mexico: 0.0337938 per 1,000 people
#6 Belarus: 0.0321359 per 1,000 people
#7 Costa Rica: 0.0313745 per 1,000 people
#8 United States: 0.0279271 per 1,000 people
#9 Uruguay: 0.0245902 per 1,000 people
#10 Lithuania: 0.0230748 per 1,000 people
Rapes
#1 South Africa: 1.19538 per 1,000 people
#2 Seychelles: 0.788294 per 1,000 people
#3 Australia: 0.777999 per 1,000 people
#4 Montserrat: 0.749384 per 1,000 people
#5 Canada: 0.733089 per 1,000 people
#6 Jamaica: 0.476608 per 1,000 people
#7 Zimbabwe: 0.457775 per 1,000 people
#8 Dominica: 0.34768 per 1,000 people
#9 United States: 0.301318 per 1,000 people
#10 Iceland: 0.246009 per 1,000 people _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
SA cop jobs 'worst in world'
14/03/2007 20:12 - (SA)
Cape Town - South Africa has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a police officer, said the Inkatha Freedom Party on Wednesday.
Party spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu said the emotional damage the job caused was shown in the increased number of police-officer suicides in the second half of last year.
According to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula - in a written reply to a parliamentary question by Ndlovu - 506 police officers committed suicide between 2000 and 2005.
Suicides accounted for the deaths of 23 officers in the first six months of 2006, but this figure doubled to 46 in the last six months of the year.
"Serious questions must be asked on why this figure increased so sharply," Ndlovu said.
"To make matters worse, police psychologists are leaving the organisation in dangerously high numbers, although the minister revealed in his written reply that only 19 left in 2006, which is questionable."
SAPS in a dismal state
The IFP was shocked that of the 46 police officers killed in the line of duty between July 1 and December 31 2006, 47.87% were murdered and 45.62% killed in vehicle accidents.
"It is clear that the South African Police Service finds itself in a dismal state of affairs and without clear commitment from the government to improve the conditions in which police officers go about doing their duties every day; things can only get worse," said Ndlovu.
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
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But I guess the organisers like to kiss ass...
) It's not only about security, they became popular before the crime situation started to get out of hand. They usually have "themes" eg. gholf estates, built around a gholf course, or as in the case of the one where I live, wildlife estates. The security offered is a major reason for its popularity, of course.
