Desperate times call for desperate measures.
And these are definitely desperate times in a country bleeding with anarchy, lawlessness, violence and corruption. \
While there is no justification for crime, as long as the government fails in its duties to provide a stable economy where the poor and the middle class can at least make some sort of living, then crime will remain rampant.
For many, crime is a means to an end of keeping head above water as the cost of living keeps threatening to drown the courageous and the resilient.
On a cold Thursday morning last week, residents around Westwood and Bardene woke up to loud explosions and rapid automatic gunfire. It was another cash-in-transit heist along Atlas Road.
In May this year during broad daylight two security vans were also bombed along the same stretch of road, causing panic among motorists and bystanders.
This is the jungle of South Africa – a place of predators lurking in the shadows.
Despite the efforts of law enforcement to deal with the ongoing heists throughout the country, leaving a bloody trail of destruction and carnage, the reality remains that in South Africa crime is a ticket to a better life.
The rise in the cost of petrol is exacerbating the desperate times that lead to desperate measures.
People for a long time are no longer accepting the excuses the price of fuel is subjected to in international markets.
Recently OUTA revealed that if you fill up with a 60-litre tank at R961, then you are paying R316 in levy charges. You are talking about more than R100-billion raised per annum.
The question that remains the elephant in the room is what happens to all this money? The fact that we have to pay about a third back to the government on the cost of fuel is utter madness and daylight robbery, just as terrible as the cash-in-transit heists.
Imagine what you can do with an extra R200 or R300 if the government has not pushed up the levies all the time? All of this comes in the wake of a hike in VAT and crazy taxes.
So, considering the plight of the people living under the African sun, is it any surprise that SA is one of the top 10 countries worldwide where people feel unsafe? Of course you did! One fears it will only get worse.
Gallup, an American research company, released its latest Global Law and Order Index and South Africa has given yet more ammo for investors to flee to the hills.
More than 148 000 people in 142 countries around the world were interviewed for the index which takes into account people’s feelings towards crime incidences, including theft, assault, and mugging in the past year.
A high score in the index represents a high proportion of people who feel secure and safe in their own countries. The average index score for the world was 81 out of 100 in 2017. South Africa and Mexico had the sixth lowest scores with 58.
Among the 10 countries in which residents are least likely to say they feel safe walking alone at night, five are in Latin America and another four are in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa (31 per cent) and Botswana (34 per cent).
With unemployment sky high and with no silver lining in sight, crime will not end soon. Farm murders remain rife, the blame game is fuelled by racism and intolerance continues to spark hatred.
No matter how you spin it, as the government continues to fail to govern properly, this country will remain a dangerous jungle.
At the end of November this year, the legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses will be screaming their lungs out at the FNB Stadium.
One of their popular songs is Welcome to the Jungle where they sing “Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games … it gets worse here every day … you learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play”.
So I suggest we make this South Africa’s national anthem because it surely sums up our state of living since we can all relate that things are getting worse and worse in our jungle of concrete and blood.
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