South Africans too scared to set foot outside their doors

While there have been slight reductions in the levels of crime, a huge majority of South Africans – regardless of their sex – feel unsafe walking in their neighbourhoods, day or night.

Criminologist Dr Guy Lamb said he was concerned South Africans said they no longer felt safe compared to previous years – and almost half of the households lost trust in the SA Police Service (Saps). “So there are people who have indicated they’ve been victims of certain categories of crime, but then there’s a portion of those people who will go and report to the police,” he said.

“What we’ve seen is reductions in that last portion, which is very important because it’s clearly an indication they don’t see value in doing it, or they feel the police aren’t going to do anything about it – so why waste their time? It’s usually an indication of a reduced level of trust in the police.”

Lamb said while he could not conclude SA was becoming an unsafe country, it was certainly becoming unsafe for most people.

Statistician-general Risenga Maluleke released the report from the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS), which indicated the number of individuals who feel unsafe walking alone in their neighbourhoods day and night decreased from 84.8% in 2020-21 to 81.3% in 2021-22 and from 39.6% in 2020- 21 to 36%, respectively.

2.2 million households experienced housebreaking

The report covered the experience of different crimes by households and individuals, the incidences and the reporting of crime, which include housebreaking, home robbery, murder, sexual offences, theft of personal property, assault and vehicle hijacking.

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Maluleke said more individuals (47.7%) were doing something to protect themselves, with 36.6% having altered their walking patterns, while 51% said they would call the police for help and 49% said they would rather confront the criminal, call a security company, a neighbour or a friend.

“About 2.2 million households experienced housebreaking or burglary during the past five years. The experience of housebreaking has increased by 14% from the previous year,” he said. “About 394 000 households experienced home robbery during the past five years. The experience of home robbery increased by 26% from the previous year.”

Maluleke said while this report complemented the SA Police Service (Saps) crime stats, it was not based on crimes reported at police stations only. It was based on visiting households across SA and asking residents about their experiences with specific types of crime and general safety, he said.

“About 163 000 households experienced car thefts, while 40 000 experienced murder during the past five years, which indicated a decrease of 23% and 7%, respectively,” Maluleke said.

“About 213 000 households experienced assaults during the past five years and the experience of assault has increased by 70% from the previous year, while sexual offences have increased by 28%.”

He said the highest proportion of households which experienced housebreaking were in KwaZulu-Natal with 7.9%, while Limpopo experienced the lowest with 3.8%.

The Saps also presented the latest crime statistics on 19 August, covering the first quarter of the 2022-23 financial year, April to June 2022, which indicated murder, attempted murder, carjacking, robbery at residential premises and commercial crime were at their worst levels.

“The first three months of this year were violent, brutal and unsafe for many South Africans,” Police Minister Bheki Cele said at the time.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za