A VIEW OF THE WEEK: We only see the cops at month end

This is not a column about Black Friday, but rather the gutsy adventures of a rickety and unroadworthy little bakkie racing down the M1 in Johannesburg.

It was a hot summer evening, and most of the streetlights were off, so you heard it before you saw it coming. It sounded like a bathtub being dragged at high speeds, or the whine of dial-up internet just before it connects.

When it finally came into view, it had a load that seemed to match the fabled Tower of Babel, reaching to the heavens and almost as wide as it was high.

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As it dashed down one of the country’s busiest highways, it was illuminated by the blue lights of two nearby metro police cars. Their lights flooded the streets they usually sit on in the last week of the month.

They have an almost permanent residency from the 20th of every month on that stretch of road, knowing payday means drunk driving and “cold drink”.

As I shared a journey with the pickup, I was amazed that it passed not only one but four encounters with metro police.

Was it incompetence or a free pass? Perhaps police were looking at Black Friday specials on their phones.

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It had become a show-and-tell of incompetence, demonstrated by broken streetlights and policing.

But it’s not all bad. Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela this week revealed a drop in burglaries, and vehicle thefts. They also reportedly nabbed more people for illegal possession of a gun, dealing in drugs, driving under the influence, and sexual offences.

Police in other parts of the country have also been hard at work, arresting a 37-year-old man who allegedly murdered his 77-year-old mother after an argument over loud music in Limpopo.

Still, a recent survey revealed that more than three-quarters of South Africans feel unsafe in their communities. Load shedding and the spiralling cost of living have left many areas more violent.

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Police can celebrate that some crimes are down, and they are able to nab some of the bad guys, but as the festive season draws near, they will need to double their efforts to make South Africa safer.

That would be the best deal South Africans will get this Black Friday and beyond.