The causes of crime – said to be unrelenting in the country and particularly in Alex township – have been placed at government’s door.
This was said by Makhosi Nyathi, a member of the Alex Traditional Healers Association in response to claims that some crimes were not reported to the police. He said this was due to the public’s disillusionment with the police’s alleged inaction and the courts’ lenient sentences for those found guilty.
Nyathi said the public wants to see the government doing more to curb crime, particularly through employment generation. “Most crime is committed by the youth who are hungry, uneducated and from poor families. They wouldn’t be criminals if they had jobs.
“The money spent by wranglers in Parliament should be diverted to positive use on job creation,” Nyathi said in reference to squabbles he said were a trend in the legislature and from reports of endemic corruption, which he said syphoned away public resources.
Also, he urged the government to improve border control to stop illegal from migrants entering the country, claiming they competed for jobs which could absorb the youth. And also to ensure that border patrol officials were not corrupt, and that a new culture of accountability was developed at all levels of the civil service.
He alleged that when some of the undocumented migrants failed to get jobs, they resorted to crime, knowing they wouldn’t be traced and arrested. “The local criminals also team up with and use them as a shield from detection.”
He further attributed the recent vigilante incidents and protests against brothels which prostitute local women in Gauteng, and associated criminal activities to government’s failed job creation. “The protests and all vice in these places will continue as long as the youth have no sources of income.
“Girls will continue to risk their lives and safety from infectious diseases through prostitution and from sleeping with clients they do not know, in a profession that doesn’t pay tax needed for job creation.”
He alleged that the brothels were drug dens which turned the prostitutes into addicts and mules and sold drugs to the frustrated youth, turning them into junkies after their failed attempts to get jobs. Nyathi was worried that the increasing number of educated children failing to secure employment will also drift into drug use.
Details: Makhosi Nyathi 076 778 6444.
Read:
Woman dies, traditional healer on the run
Conflict between traditional healers and teachers averted in Alex
If you think this is fair criticism of the government, tell us why by joining our WhatsApp group on 079 439 5345.
