During the festive season crime in South Africa increases, as if during the year it is not bad enough. One of the most popular crimes amongst the criminals is car hi-jacking and house theft. Unfortunately, many citizens are murdered or maimed for life during these robberies. Rape of woman and young girls is another concern as well as abuse in the family. Sometimes it is hard to understand what makes people resort to such levels. Yet if you look at the situation in South Africa, it does make some level of sense.

In 1994 when the ANC won the election with Nelson Mandela as the president, a new era began. Suddenly a surge in unemployment of both blacks and whites hit the country. Desperation and hunger became the order of the day for so many and the only way to survive was to steal. Slowly things got better but it is still not enough to make a definite change. Then a new problem hit South Africa, a storm of Nigerian and Zambian refuges entering the country illegally.

Both the business sector and private citizens employ these refuges instead of legal South Africans because they are cheap labor. With the result, South Africa has thousands of illegal immigrants and thousands of unemployed South Africans. The illegal immigrants that hide in the squatter camps and do not have work have become South Africa’s new crime source. Nigerians are famous for smuggling and selling drugs and they buy and sell stolen goods.

It is a sad fact that South Africans have learned to live with the crime and they are not shocked, by the news of a murder, robbery, rape etc. When driving around they automatically keep a watch for anything out of the ordinary and they make sure that they can speed away if needed. People surround their houses with electric fencing or razor wire and alarms. The security firms are booming. Nothing seems to help, no matter how many precautions are used.

At least the statistics show that slowly the crime rate is going down. What concerns me now is the political status of South Africa. How will the new elections affect the crime situation? As it looks now, Jacob Zuma is about to become the new President of South Africa.

A man charged with embezzlement, not to speak of the rape charge, which he escaped, even though the evidence was condemning. If such a man becomes the president of South Africa, I believe it will give the wrong message to the criminals. If the president can do it, so can we. The other problem South Africa has is that so many in the police force are corrupt. Many accept bribes instead of doing an arrest and in some cases are involved with selling drugs and other illegal items. One of the most obvious and regular bribes occurs in traffic offenses.

When talking about crime I cannot leave out the crime of abuse within the family. So many times this abuse ends in a family murder and until this happens, it remains a secret. A new law passed protects abused children and woman but another snag reared its ugly face. Woman use this law for revenge or spite against their spouse or boyfriend and many men go to jail on false accusations.

With all this information and my thoughts about crime I really have to add that there are some areas in South Africa that have little or no crime. Most of the crime is committed in the big cities where life is fast and money talks. It is sad that such a beautiful country remains tarnished by hunger, drug abuse, desperation, hate and revenge.

As I said, the statistics are looking favorable and presently there is hope for this beautiful country.