I live in South Africa. Lived here all my life. I love my country.
I've been reading this thread, and i think i'll add my thoughts here as well.
South Africa is a beautiful country. Google and you will find the most stunning pictures of wildlife, sunsets, places like "God's Window"...it's truely something to experience. I really would recommend SA as a holiday destination. You will not regret it. But with that i got to add the following. Rather wait a couple of years. Let us first sort out the crime here.
I see a bunch of South Africans climbing down a fellow-South African's throat for speaking the truth about crime and what goes on in this country. Maybe these ppl have been spending too much time infront of their pc's. They really should go out more.
Serious crime, ie Farm Murders do not get reported on. The Government decided it's in the nation's best interest to censor all reporting i.t.o Farm Murders. My mom got a call from her brother around 8am in the morning, and said to her "Do you realise that 5 farmers have been murdered last night". That afternoon he died. She has lost 3 brothers (in 4 months). They stayed on farms and plots. We do not know about these killings because it doesn't get reported on. Period. I have come across two sites who have done so. [url=http://www.crimexposouthafrica.org/?q=/taxonomy/term/8/]CrimeXpo Farm Murders[/url] & [url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htm]And More..[/url]. What gets to me is the torture beforehand. Most of these criminals don't even take anything from the house.
[url=http://www.africancrisis.org/Photos45.asp]Another Site[/url] - This site explains it best. Note tho, there are some really bad pictures toward the bottom of the page, be warned.
Every country has crime. What sets South Africa apart from the rest of the world is the manner in which it is done. Our biggest problem? Zero value for life. Criminals will not hesitate to kill you for your car, cellphone or a mere R100.
There are many people who believes everything is just dandy in this country. Why would they believe otherwise? Newspapers just don't bother to report everything. After all the bad publicity South African got, the ANC Government are now trying to censor the news papers too. See this [url=http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/topstories.aspx?ID=BD4A248504]BusinessDay Article[/url].
Poverty gets blamed for the high crime rate. I seriously doubt that is the case. There are many other countries that has it worse off than SA. And they don't even feature in the top 10 Crime List.
And then you get this kind of mentality here. [url=http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1501852,00.html]BusinessDay Article[/url]
Another good read...[url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=9&art_id=24161&sid=9121667&con_type=3&d_str=20060803]The Standard[/url]
Here are some stats to think about...
*2.5mil arrests made for the year 2004-2005. Of that 60% went to court, but only 18% convicted (Antony Altbeker from Institute for Security Studies SA)
*between 1 400 and 1 700 children were reported missing in South Africa each year and only 11% were found (Democratic Alliance's Mike Waters in Parlement)
*Pretoria - Forty percent of all rape cases reported in the past financial year were child rapes.
Police statistics show that more than 22 000 children were raped in the 2004-'05 financial year, more than 1 000 murdered and more than 30 000 assaulted. (Christel Raubenheimer, Beeld NewsPaper - 17/05/2006)
*[url=http://www.crimexposouthafrica.org/?q=node/247]South African Police (SAP) Stats[/url]. Make no mistake...many of us do not even bother reporting crimes unless we need a case number for insurance purposes for break-in's, smash and grabs etc.
*SAP reported 52,733 rapes in 2004.
National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation (NICRO) said the situation is more serious. They estimated that only one in twenty rapes are reported to the police. On the basis of this estimate, it is calculated that one rape occurs every 83 seconds.
There are many people that have left this country already. And many more will leave. Last year November, 15 000 South Africans immigrated to Sydney, Australia alone. We are experiencing a Brain Drain, as they call it. Many want to leave but do not have the qualifications needed to immigrate. I am fortunate. I got excepted and are in the process of getting all the paperwork in order. You might call me a coward for leaving this beautiful country, then so be it. But untill you have experienced the absolute terror that i have, and look into your 4yr old eyes...and not being able to protect your child at that moment... I will NOT be putting my child throuth that again. Having a family changes your perspective in life.
As i said before, SA is a great country. But i do not think it wise to visit us now. Not until crime's brought under control.
Last edited by BoB (2006-08-11 07:36:01)