by Caiphas Chimhete ,“This is the first in a four-part series on crime in .J I South Africa.”
Crime and violence – legacies of apartheid – are on the increase in South Africa regardless of concerted efforts by the Government of National Unity (GNU) to lessen their effects and in the long-term, to end them.
The country’s opening up of its borders to the international community, apartheid-induced poverty and political differences between parties are the major causes of violence and crime in South Africa. The country’s well developed infrastructure is another luring factor for criminals and drug peddlers.
When President Nelson Mandela, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi met recently, they made assurances for peace, but ironically, their meeting seems to have fuelled violence. The continued violence and increasing crime rate seems to mean that the GNU is failing to deal with the problem.
While violence in Kwazulu/Natal is mainly politically-motivated, it is not the same with the rest of the country. The clashes between African National Congress (ANC) and IFP supporters in KwazululNatal has grown to a “state of war”, resulting in more politically motivated deaths on a daily basis.
While the ANC strongly believes that IFP has established hit squads to neutralise its rule in the province, the IFP accuses the ANC of undermining its authority in its provincial stronghold, Kwazulu/ Natal.
The main reason why KwazululNatal is becoming ungovernable “is that the ANC and Inkatha are yet to accept each other’s authority in the province”, says The Economist, a London-based magazine.
However, there is growing suspicion that the “Third Force” is still operating in KwazululNatal province since the brutal murder of women and children in Port Shepstone area in mid-December last year. Police Superintendent Bala Naidoo says the methods used by the perpetrators of the massacre were similar to those of the pre-election covert operations.
Port Shepstone Chairman Ravi Pillay supports the suspicion saying,” We have every reason to suspect that third force operations are still taking place here, There are elements in the police and others outside the state structures which are bent to derail the peace process”. Some police officers have been arrested for alleged involvement in the massacre of people in KwazululNatal early this year.
Meanwhile, the continued call for constitutional mediation by Buthelezi dims the hope for peace and stability. Buthelezi says the constitution-making process should be stopped until the promise of international mediation is honoured.
“We can only hope to bring about peace and stability in the country if we are able to build trust between us … to renege on solemn agreements is the wrong way of going about the business of building trust,” says Buthelezi.
However, Mandela says the issue of the constitution is a South African affair and should be dealt with by South Africans alone. International mediation was agreed to should other methods fail, but not before they have been tried.
In other parts of the country, violence and crime are mostly fuelled by unemployment, homelessness and landlessness, which the GNU inherited from the previous regime,
“Violence and crime are a result of socio-economic problems and to stamp out these we need to improve the condition of the people first which the government is doing now through the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP),” says South African High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Kingsley Mamabolo.
The apartheid regime structured the old South Africa into a society which offered crime as the solution to poverty for the majority of black people. Before the April 1994 all-race elections, crime and violence were mainly confined to black townships, but now the great wall which used to protect whites has fallen making it possible for violence to spread.
“The previous government concentrated not on suppressing crime but suppressing the liberation struggle, and tended to ignore crime — we inherited the situation,” says President Nelson Mandela.
Crime has turned South Africa into one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with Russia coming second. Police Chief George Fivaz says the country is in danger of becoming “a gangster state”.
Statistics show that last year, murders continued at the 1994 rate of 50 people a day. Between January and July last year 10 000 people were murdered and 47 000 armed robberies (an average of 6700 per month) occurred within the same period in the country. There was a slight increase in rape cases with 18 500 reported in the first seven months of 1995, an average of 88 per day, as compared to an average of 85 cases per day in 1994.
Incidents of car-jackings have also escalated in South Africa. Cars are no longer stolen at night or while parked in the streets, but are hi-jacked at traffic lights. About 56 000 cars were stolen between January and July last year.
While some of the cars were sold within the country, others were smuggled into Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola and then Zaire. The cars were also stolen again from Zaire by the same gang and sold in South Africa resulting in one car being sold more than once by the same gangster, says a Zimbabwean police spokesperson.
Criminal gangs are expanding their drugs, smuggling and money-laundering networks. For decades, the most common drug consumed in South Africa was mbanje (cannabis) but now cocaine, mandrax and heroin are pouring in mainly from Asia and Colombia.
International gangsters have also taken advantage of the open society now prevalent as a result of the lifting of sanctions against the country. Statistics indicate that there are at least 481 organised crime syndicates, the majority of them specializing in drug trafficking, car theft and white-collar crime.
Many people are in possession of unlicensed guns, remnants from the apartheid era and civil conflicts elsewhere in the region. Reports say that the police and Military Intelligence (MI) are also to blame for crime for their indiscriminate distribution of weapons as are the liberation movements.
The opening of South Africa’s borders to the outside world has also encouraged arms trafficking from neighbouring countries where guns are easy to secure, especially Mozambique. Guns are being bought at giveaway prices while others are exchanged for food along the border with Mozambique and many people predict a fresh flow of arms from Angola soon.
Southern Africa Report, a South African weekly magazine, says government is failing to effectively deal with crime because it has to contend with corruption and inefficiency in the police service, third force elements, former guerrillas turned bandits, deficient judiciary processes and the frequent granting of bail to hard-core criminals.
However, other analysts say the reasons for the failure by the central government to curb crime and violence in the country could be two-fold. Either government control over the security forces is not as strong as is perceived, or the offensive units trained by the former South African Defence Force (SADF) since 1986 continue to operate with support from the institutions of safety and security established to serve apartheid.
Violent crime threatens the GNU’s hard-earned achievements. Reports say investors are wary to invest in the country until violence has gone down. – Economists say with investors are holding back money and thus jeopardizing economic growth which is less than 5 percent per year. There are doubts as to whether South Africa will be able to provide the essential social services to its majority poor.
A local magazine, says, “Unemployment is the underlying cause of the increasing statistics of violent crime which regularly scar the lives of all South Africans and scare away investors, tourists and others. As unemployment grows, so does social instability and conflict”.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Japan, executive vice-president, Thabo Mbeki says misconceptions about South Africa’s stability have blocked investment in the country. Mbeki says business leaders have been cautious about the post-apartheid government in South Africa, and its ability to ensure a stable economic climate in which investment would flourish.
In an attempt to lure investors to the country, Mandela visited Japan late last year where he told a meeting of potential investors that violence and crime “were legacies of apartheid and would be sorted out soon”. South Africa continues to enjoy economic growth – 3.5 percent per year – surpassing that of Its neighbours, who are also recovering from the effects of economic and military destabilization by the former apartheid regime.
Statistics indicate that during the first half of last year, at least 6 000 people emigrated, about twice the number of five years before. However, Marnabolo says “those who are leaving do not want to accept the transition to majority rule and a black president. It has happened in several African countries in the region”.
Some, says Mamabolo, left the country in anticipation of finding greener pastures, however, after finding that “nowhere is greener than South Africa”, are coming back.
In a bid to stamp out crime, government has increased police and military patrols in the most volatile areas. It has also encouraged community policing whereby inhabitants would form neighbourhood watch committees to end violence and criminal activities.
In his New Year message, Mandela appealed to teachers, doctors, business people and lawyers, regardless of colour, “to join ranks with the government of national unity, and work for a better future for all our people”. The first step in doing this is to stamp out the pervasive crime. (SARDC)
