I watched the documentary South Africa, Murder Most Foul, by John Blair and presented by Sir Antony Sher, on television this week. A bit late I know but still. It is a shocking tale even for South Africans who are inured to crime. I found myself going through the knee jerk reaction almost automatically “Aw come on” I vented at the television, “it is not that bad” But the truth is, it is. The longer the documentary went on the more I related and the statistics are shocking. It is no wonder the powers that be would like our statistics to be lost in bureaucracy. Over nineteen thousand murders per annum.
That excludes violent crimes like rape, assaults, hi-jackings and non violent crimes but violating crimes such as housebreaking, robbery and drugs.
Can you live with that number?
John Blaire in an interview with Carte Blanche stated that he had received widespread criticism for portraying this violent aspect of South Africa. I can relate to his critics. This is not how I want to see my country portrayed to the rest of the world. In the tourism industry this hard look at post apartheid South Africa post does not bode well for our future overseas visitor numbers. It does not bode well for me, my family and my friends.
The truth though is, he is right.
We hear our ministers say crime levels are unacceptable, we hear our Safety and security minister claiming that we are whinging but if we don’t like it we can leave. Neither stance is solving the problem. I am one of those whinging; I am one of those claiming that the crime rate is unacceptable. In reality we are all in denial. We have become inured. A four year old raped and murdered no longer shocks and enrages us, instead we seem to hang on in quiet desperation. A murmur and on with our lives we go.
We need to get angry, we need to be enraged. We need to hold our government officials responsible.
No!
That’s not right either. I need to be enraged, I need to get angry, I need to hold my local ministers responsible.

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