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South Africa: Rampant Crime Rattles Even the Mighty
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Sibongakonke Shoba
Johannesburg
DEPUTY Defence Minister Mluleki George has admitted that crime is a problem in SA and that citizens, including himself, do not feel safe.
Speaking to reporters after hosting an anti-crime workshop in Pretoria, George said the government was not denying the crime problem and that was why it had formed partnerships with different sectors of society and embarked on the national anti-crime campaign.
Although protected by several bodyguards, George said: "No one can say with confidence that 'I am safe' , because nobody is safe."
Speaking in his capacity as co-chair of the anti-crime working group, George said most citizens affected by crime were bitter, some wanted to "give up" and others wanted to leave the country.
However, there were those who wanted to be the part of the fight against crime. "We can convince others that we believe something can be done (to fight crime)," George said.
Crime had been developing over the years and there had been several attempts to fight it. "I don't agree that these campaigns have not yielded any results. They might not have yielded results that everyone would be happy with," he said.
"Crime affects individuals. If I have been a victim of crime, statistics do not mean anything to me. We must not allow criminals to take over our country."
Victims of crime should join community policing forums and fight crime because "criminals are not going to just walk away".
George appealed to the middle class, as they complained most about crime, to join policing forums. The public should stop buying stolen goods as this promoted crime. "If there is demand , there is going to be a supply," he said.
Members of policing forums should be screened to make sure they did not have any links to crime or criminals. The private security industry -- which he said was a problem -- should also vet their officers before employing them.
"That is why when we recruit people, we make sure that they are clean. Not in the sense of hygiene, but in a sense that you don't recruit elements of crime in the system."
He said representatives from all sectors of society, including business, academics, researchers, gender-based organisations and religious and traditional leaders, had all made contributions on how to reduce crime during discussion at the workshop.
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"We believe that each and every citizen has a role to play in combating crime in our country. We believe that through our joint activities we will be able to create a safer and more secure country," George said.
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