Answer to a question about crime in South Africa - my advice, new underwear

My aim is not to be flippant. South Africa has an abysmally high crime rate, which causes a kind of suffering that reverberates though out our country, causing waves of pain like circles in a pond. I consider myself lucky. I have not been hijacked, raped or murdered (obviously). My family and I live in a fairly small town, the crime situation is a lot worse in the cities. I have decided to share some of my own experiences and feelings about this subject, from the perspective of someone who has not been directly seriously affected. Psychologically? Who knows? I don't feel too bad, most of the time.

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The most serious effect that crime has had on my life is the emigration of my sister and her family to New Zealand. When she left, I felt the grief of loss, and had to deal with all its attendant stages. The ANC government, growing increasingly corrupt, was also a concern to her and her husband, as it remains to many South Africans to this day. Emigration is very common among white South Africans. We have a shop that deals in second hand goods, and we regularly buy up the goods people can't take with them. I guess at least a third of my high school friends have emigrated to other countries, notably New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. This has also resulted in a brain drain in our country.

My personal experiences of crime, have (to me) been fairly insignificant. Our home has not been broken into, though this is not the norm. We don't have any high value items though. Most South Africans have experienced a break-in, or theft from their yard or garage, or car. (Oh, we did once have a car radio stolen from our car, in our yard.) My sister experienced theft through windows she had left open, and my parents have had intruders in their home while they slept. As the owner of a second hand shop I receive lists of stolen goods from victims weekly. Though the goods do not often reach us, as we are strictly regulated by the police.

As a shop owner, the situation is more precarious. We did have a break-in through our roof a couple of months ago. Those thieves were targeting cash and they only stole a small safe that contained our petty cash. It cost us more in roof repairs!) We were one of about eight shops that were targeted that same evening. We had been fairly busy the day before, and this must have raised someone's attention. I do make a point of letting it be known that I deposit cash at the ATM before I go home. This might make me a bit of a target on my way to the ATM (which fortunately is at a busy shopping centre), but it lessens the temptation of the thieves to follow you in the hopes of obtaining cash stored at home. This situation can be volatile and people are tortured in the most horrific ways so they can reveal where their money is kept. People are very often watched when withdrawing cash in banks, and followed, then either robbed on their way home, or at home. If you live in South Africa you have to be vigilant at all times.

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As a shop owner, we face a whole new series of challenges. We can be subjected to an armed robbery at any time. After 23 years I can easily spot the suspicious individuals who are casing the place. It happens regularly. We decided long ago not to sell any gold jewelry, cellphones or laptops which are the favourites of thieves. We are also fortunate that we have a social atmosphere in our shop, and many people will stop by to chat, sometimes visiting for hours. There is no expectation that they have to purchase anything. The quieter your shop is, the bigger the target.

There is a LOT of petty theft from shops. I have lost count of the amount of staff whose cellphones have been stolen. The minute they put it down to help a customer, it's gone. Often it's a setup to achieve this very aim. Shoplifting is so common as to be the norm. Most business owners don't prosecute (court time is a killer) but make the thief pay 2 or 3 times the price of the article stolen, if they are caught.

Much more disturbing are business armed robberies. I have a friend who works in a jewelry shop and they have been robbed at gunpoint three times over the last 10 years. Typically all the staff are told to strip and are herded into a back room while the robbery is taking place. It was also not so long ago that 4 businesses in the same area as mine experienced armed robberies on the same day. About 15 years ago my daughter's creche teacher's husband worked as a manager of a large chain brand retail store. Armed robbers held them up and told them to strip. He was wearing an underpants with holes. Just don't do this in South Africa!

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Unfortunately in South Africa, we are defined by our violent crimes; hijacking, rape and murder. I have not experienced anything traumatic myself, but have been traumatised by events that have happened around me:

• My dad's best friend's son disappeared and his car was found burnt out on the side of the highway. After much searching, two months later he was found buried in a shallow grave under concrete in the township (large areas populated by black people, characterised by lack of amenities).

• My husband once attended an auction, where the house, and all the household goods of a couple were being sold after they had both been shot. They had conducted a business from home and had kept cash in their safe. The man who worked in their garden had told the wrong people....

• We had an horrific murder in a suburb of our town, a suburb I had lived in as a child. I had regularly walked past the house where the murder occurred. Everybody in the house was slaughtered, including a baby, whose throat was slit. The women (mother and daughter) were raped and tortured before they were killed. There were links to a local high school student and his older friends.

• When my daughter was young, I used to take her to work, and then go for a walk in town during the course of the day. One day on returning to my shop, I saw a neighbouring building rooftop swarming with armed men. I had to walk around on the other side of town for ages before I could return to the shop. 

• An old (around 80 years) man was murdered in his home, meters away from my sons school. Old people are especially targets of crime, and are often murdered, as well as raped.

• Regular customers of mine are leaving the country as they were recently attacked on their farm. The one brother was shot in the face, and the other brother in the leg. These are people I see weekly. A whole article can be dedicated to farm murders, of which a lot are racially motivated. This is not a subject that I will explore though. http://northernnatalcourier.co.za/52125/52125/?platform=hootsuite

If I read through what I've just written, it sounds pretty bad. It is. But you can live in South Africa by taking common sense precautions, and being aware of your surroundings. Every country has their challenges, and we have to learn to cope with ours.

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Further reading, though bear in mind a large proportion of crimes go unreported.

http://www.crimestatssa.com/

http://www.news24.com/Tags/Topics/crime_stats

http://businesstech.co.za/news/government/99648/2015-crime-stats-for-south-africa-everything-you-need-to-know/

                                                                          

                                             (original photo: some of the damage done to our shop roof)

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