Black men guilty till proven innocent

South Africa is a strange country in many ways. The demise of apartheid left us in a tailspin. As a result, we’re trying to fit in after rejoining the international community. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.

Whenever criminals get arrested, people assume that perpetrators are young South African black men.

We don’t even get alarmed when eventually reports confirm that the culprits were black. It only becomes a topical issue if perpetrators are either white or foreign nationals.

I have read many reports where white or foreign criminals are responsible for heinous crimes and when that gets highlighted, some people start asking “was the race or nationality of criminal necessary?”

There are certain crimes in South Africa that have distinctly foreign flavour. Drug trade, human trafficking and poaching are some of them. Carjackings and cash-in-transit heists have some foreign elements as well.

Reports emerged recently that some of the players in recent cash-in-transit heists are foreign nationals from neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, the Hawks are looking for a Chinese national wanted for poaching.

All kind of crimes are unacceptable and warrant investigation. But when a perpetrator jumps borders to commit crimes in another country they must not expect that it won’t stand out.

The same thing, when a white person commits crime, it draws interest.

For me, we need to highlight the identity of criminals to emphasise the porousness of our borders and to also show that crime has no colour.

Citizens have an obligation to help in crime fighting by tipping off the police. Richardson Mzaidume

Pimville