EDITORIAL: Hard to feel that crime is down
South Africans have become inured to the high level of crime
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula is right about one thing: South Africans are not feeling any decrease in crime, despite the latest annual crime statistics suggesting a general 1.8% year-on-year decline. Perhaps one of the reasons South Africans are not feeling the decline is because the crime that has seized public attention over the past two years, corruption, has seen practically zero police activity. A year-and-a-half after the public protector issued her "state capture" report, implicating a range of people in crimes that approach treason, nothing has happened. That lack of action sets the scene for the larger crime picture. South Africans have known for years that crime is out of control. The police are trying to stop a flood with a beach bucket. A small decline in the total number is really meaningless because the overall rate is so high. That’s probably the second reason why a small decline is difficult to feel. A good example is the murder rate, which is a useful benchmark be...
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