EDITORIAL: More action needed to combat our horrific level of crime

The latest crime statistics for the third quarter of 2022/2023 once again paint a horrific picture of the level of violence in our society, but we don’t get any sense that the government has a concrete plan to deal with the crisis.

Crime penetrates every sphere of the economy, whether it be transport, Eskom, mining or construction, where extortion, theft and violence run rampant. Experts have warned that the country is fast tilting towards a mafia state. Business has sounded the alarm about the negative effect this is having on commercial and investor confidence.

Poverty and unemployment obviously feed into the trend, but increasingly it is organised criminals who are extending their nefarious grip on economic activities.

President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged in his state of the nation address that violent crime is taking a heavy toll on all South Africans and that communities all over the country live in fear for the safety of their families. He said the situation could not continue, and he is right. But it has been deteriorating for years, and more should have been done to tackle it. 

The president did not spend much time outlining plans to address the scourge except to say that more police were being put on the streets and specialised teams were being set up to deal with crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and illegal mining. The National Prosecuting Authority, he said, was being strengthened to bring alleged criminals to court. 

One would have expected police minister Bheki Cele to elaborate further on what was being done about the crisis in his speech during the state of the nation debate. Instead, he flippantly opted to focus on the love life of opposition leader John Steenhuisen. It was an appalling performance.

He was more serious in his introduction of the crime statistics on Friday, saying “the calls by South Africans on the police to decisively deal with crime are loud and clear”. He said the police would continue to intensify intelligence-led operations to take down individuals and organised criminals.

Such pronouncements sound good, but we need to see the results in a decline in crime.

We need to see more results.