Crime clearly out of control
I really think the days of talking are over and it is time for government to wake up and smell the Rooibos tea.
No matter how you look at it, crime in South Africa is out of control.
On Tuesday, 11 September, the annual crime statistics were released by the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele and it couldn’t have been easy for him. The statistics cover the period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.
Words such as ‘shocking’ even came from government and nothing about the numbers is positive. In actual fact, Cele himself said South Africa “is close to a war zone” and admitted, “Police had dropped the ball for things to get to that level”. He added “never again” should such a high crime rate be recorded and noted the fear and stress that South Africans live under.
To put things into perspective, our mother newspaper, The Citizen reported that there was a 6,9 per cent increase in murder – an estimated 20 336 people were killed during the period, which means that 57 South Africans were murdered every day. During the period more than 40 000 cases of rape were reported.
It came as no surprise that cash-in-transit heists also increased. Bank robberies and truck hijackings are also on the rise.
Stats don’t lie and to be honest it paints a grim picture of the state of our country.
The question is, Mr President, what is going to be done to change it? I really think the days of talking are over and it is time for government to wake up and smell the Rooibos tea.
As a South African taxpayer I suggest that government takes a long, hard look at the justice system and impose much harsher penalties, especially on murderers and rapists. Please, do whatever is necessary to bring down the current high crime rate.
In its response to the statistics, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said, “The murder rate is reason enough to get South Africans talking about the reinstatement of capital punishment”.
Tell us what you think about the latest crime statistics by sending an email to randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za.
