Is SA the crime centre of the world???

[Stravinsky]

I see on another forum that the posters on there are always saying that the crime rate in SA is very high, and you have to take huge security precautions to live a safe life there. I notice most of them no longer live there

Is this true, or is it just bitter ex pats who failed in their life in SA and want to diss the country?

[Sunnywa]

No it defintely is the crime captial of the world. An average of 23 000.00 people die of violent crime every year. I think those states speak for themself

[STEFF]

Dear moderator,
It is not " bitter" ex pats on the forums, but rather concerned for other people wanting to move to S.A with their families! by no ways at all did i as you put it " failed in their life in S.A" both my husband and myself had very good careers with very good salaries but left because of the Crime! Statistics:- Highest murder rate ( x5 higher than Brazil)
Rape capital of the world
Highest Aids/HIV in the world
Living in gated communities with armed guards, electric fences and armed guards, most european kids are home schooled unless their parents can afford Private Schooling. Women are at great risk going out on their own. So if that small taste of the real S.A isnt enough why not check out a few of the websites
s.athetruth
crimexposure
there are many more. The only thing I am "bitter" about is the fact that out beautiful country is turning into a sewer!

[synthia]

Steff, that wasn't directed at you personally. As Stravinsky said, this is a common thread on a lot of forums, not just this one.

It's hard to evaluate comments about South Africa. People who live in a situation adapt, and may not recognize how good or bad some aspect of their home country is until they move somewhere else. I recently visited a friend that thought it was peculiar that I always lock my car!

[jmspringbok]

We have been told it depends on where you live too. If you live in Johannesburg you are probably going to have more of a chance of being a victim of crime than if you are in the Cape Town area. I have been told by quite a few South Africans that they would never leave SA even if given the opportunity.

[Americanmade]

Actually it is not your country BUT the Blacks country and if you look at what they went through, there is plenty of reasons that they are behaving this way.
Funny, what is happening now is no more discusting and dispicable than what happened to them for hundreds of years by the hands of the Dutch. I wonder how much you said and did to help the Blacks when the Dutch were treating them as slaves for so long in their own country!

[Americanmade]

And people in the West always lock their cars. It can be stolen by anyone White Black or Hispanic. So theft isnt something unique to the true South Africans.

[synthia]

americanmade - As a fellow American, I don´t think we have much room to talk. I´m old enough to remember segregation and lynchings.

South Africa belongs to all of its citizens, white, black, and asian. To say that it belongs only to it´s black citizens is as racist as saying it only belongs to white people.

Your remarks are inappropriate. This forum is here to help people, not attack them.

[webslave1]

Originally Posted by Americanmade

Actually it is not your country BUT the Blacks country and if you look at what they went through, there is plenty of reasons that they are behaving this way.
Funny, what is happening now is no more discusting and dispicable than what happened to them for hundreds of years by the hands of the Dutch. I wonder how much you said and did to help the Blacks when the Dutch were treating them as slaves for so long in their own country!

All I can see from this posting is vitriol and untruths, this is the kind of rubbish I would have expected from the old apartheid govt circa 1980.

This sounds like a racist in old clothes. And from the name tag of American extraction.

A lot of slaves were and are still today sold by the people they know best their own relatives.

Black people in South Africa are by no means anyone's Slaves and to suggest otherwise is to do them a disservice of the worst kind!

That you blame others for what are obviously your own shortcomings gives the other racists the ammunition to justify the bullying they inflict upon us all.

That BEE has worked is in no doubt with 2.5 million middle income families having sprung up in ten years - in no small part to the past National Party Govt policy of paying the managers (white if you really must be so , so, hatefull) at the time more to get other white skilled workers to leave. SAA had a policy of paying middle management in 1993/4 to pay out middle managers to leave as thier bosses were paid a huge bonus for doing this. The same happened at the ESKOM power regulators. As a result there was not enough experience managers to oversee the shortfall thats were to happen in 5 or ten years - which is now. To blame the colonialists and such is so last century. This is the 21st century the past is over and the future is not served well by stoking old tired hateful arguments. Rather be helpful and donate your time to helping people in your own country out of poverty of which there are 40 million! Almost the whole population of South Africa and here you stand pointing a finger at us. As for the crime stats, there is more

Make no mistake I was no fan of the era nor of the Apartheid monsters, but it is a part of our past and now the whites are the minority, just like black in America are and should be afforded the same rights and obligations of being a citizen of the country of their birth. If they pay thier way and support the economy of the area they live in, be it in the USA or anywhere else such as South Africa or even the UK. The Aussies have it right appoint private practitioners to provide a route for skilled labour to find an easy way into the country and ensure the labour in the country is Looked after by means of protected apprenticeships etc. This way the standard of work rises over a decade and the workforce feels needed. Look after the labour force and the future is easier for all. A proud labour force will always being the economy of any area back from the brink.


Crime figures in england and wales (excludes the province of scotland and northern ireland)

total number of crimes recorded by police fell 5% in the quarter to 1,381,400, from the BBC 2005

Not 21000 or so reported for south Africa as a whole - nearly 1.5 MILLION!! Reality check guys...... gun crime alone in London for 2007 was over 10 000, not including knife crime which at over 15000 incidents and over 25 youngster's under the age of consent having been killed already......

[Blunomore]

As an aside to Americanmade: When is the USA making APPROPRIATE amends to the Native Americans?? That is a rhetorical question, by the way ....

Back on topic:
Yes, the crime is very bad. As a South African, it is not pleasant for me to admit that fact. I have been a victim of crime many times. Luckily, none of those cases involved any physical harm. When you talk to people - especially here in Jo'burg - everyone has been a victim or have a close friend/relative who has fallen victim. Just this week, my travel agent's partner was shot dead in her driveway.

Every day brings a new horror story in the newspapers. It seems to have no end and the perpetrators are getting bolder by the day. No-one escapes this and no ethnic group escapes the curse.

It is very hard to explain to someone who does not know the feeling. For example, my boyfriend travels a lot and every single time he leaves the house, I feel uneasy until I hear from him to know that he is safely at his destination.

According to those in the know, the residents of Jo'burg live in a permanent low level of trauma and paranoia. That cannot be healthy at all.

I do not want to go into the reasons for the crime, I am simply responding to the original poster who wanted to know if it is really that bad. Yes, it is, and it pains me to say so.