Crime not defined by race

CRIME dominated the headlines last week with several incidents of killings and robberies around the country. It is unacceptable that so many South Africans lose their lives and/or property on a daily basis. According to the latest crime statistics, 19 000 people were murdered between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. That’s more than 52 people every day.

In terms of car-jackings, almost 17 000 cases were reported during the same period. It works out to almost 46 cars each and every day.

Given that there has been no dramatic reduction in our crime rate, we can reasonably expect that these figures hold true today.

However, we must guard against turning crime into an issue of race. Last week, several posts emerged on social media claiming coloured and Indian South Africans were being targeted by criminals. However, there is no evidence to support this allegation.

Similarly, there is no evidence to support claims from groups like AfriForum that there is an orchestrated plan to kill all white farmers in South Africa.

The reality is that, according to the crime stats, black South Africans are more likely to be murdered than any other race group.

The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal police stations that recorded the highest numbers of murders during the last reporting period were not in coloured and Indian areas but in the black African.

In terms of hijackings, at the last count Gauteng and the Western Cape were the hijacking hot spots. Only one station in KZN, Pinetown, was listed in the top 10 car-jacking hot spots.

This is not to say that any life is cheap; every life lost is unacceptable, but we must guard against fuelling racial tension.

In the fight against crime, it is the good guys against the bad guys. The good guys come from all race groups. All language groups. And all religions. The same is true of the bad guys.

So, let us not make this a race issue. We are dealing with a crime problem and the good guys, all of them, need to come together to defeat this scourge.