what are the reasons for the increase of teenage violence in south africa?

Answer 1

There is no single satisfactory answer to this question, but rather a number of explanations which help to explain the high levels of crime plaguing the country.

Here are a few "explanations" for the increase:
1. The violent past (history) of SA.
2. Transition from Apartheid to freedom.
3. A violent culture.
4. Proliferation of firearms.
5. Organised crime syndicates.
6. Youthful population.
7. Rapid urbanisation.
8. A weak criminal justice system.

Answer 2

It is the weak justice system that we have. If South Africa could get their justice system up and be strong there wouldn't be so much crime here in South Africa whether it is an increase in teenagers or adults. Teenagers can see that if they become violent, nothing happens to them. They are not punished by their own parents as well as our government! The laws are being abused here in South Africa but the government is doing nothing much about it. We need stronger laws and punishment and this will decrease teenage violence as well as any other crime & violence in South Africa.

Answer 3

Let me firstly agree with Schmurkl.., it is not a problem unique to South Africa, as early as 1996 the press and researchers in the USA have been commenting on what is called the "teenage timebomb" referring to increasing teenage violence in that country. Subsequently the same trends have been reported in the UK and Australia. And indeed it might be a case of not adhering to the African proverb: "if your buttocks burn, you know you have done wrong" (and please note I am not advocating child abuse, but theorising that since corporal punishment and general discipline are not practiced anymore, things have gotten out of hand and children are ruling adults these days in most westernized countries in the world).

Then I have to ask you where you would get the facts for such a statement in your query - who said that there was "in increase" in teenage violence in SA? In which study was this found?
I have several years of experience of working in this field internationally and in SA specifically and am in the final stages of my PhD and have not come across a study that has actually found this.

However, crime in general is a problem within South Africa (acknowledged by all, including President Mbeki who has as recently as Friday, August 25 spoken about this problem publically), and there are several reasons for this as listed by Porgie. Some of Comrade Tony (and as this person keeps changing his name frequently who knows what it will be by the time I finish this sentence) comments are correct, others are skewed by his own absolute hatred for SA which has been clear from his repeated spam-like responses to any questions pertaining to SA and posting this very one-sided and myopic website as responses to questions whether it is relevant or not.
His comments are also taken out of context, forgetting that the politicians he names here as criminals are not violent criminals (which this question pertains to) and that politicians from the previous era who are violent criminals are walking free, some of these are Adrian Vlok and PW Botha, etc. Naturally there are many, many people who frown upon carrying a politian to his jail cell, but then even this gesture must be seen in context: these politicians see each other as family members who were completely 100% reliant on each other during the liberation struggle (which only ended 14 years ago), bonds like these will not easily be broken and this is a gesture of support for the member of the group/family. And indeed Yengeni is a criminal, but he is NOT a violent criminal and he is actually going to jail for several years, which flies against the implication that crime is not punished in SA (even politicians must serve their time).

The country is still in transition from a previously very violent political era and is gripped in similar crime issues as other countries that are going through the same changes, such as the previous USSR, as an example Moscow is a very unsafe city but because they do not keep statistics, they cannot be compared....
Fourteen years is not a signifant amount of time to work through this type of transition, no-where else in the world has there been any record of this. Thus the transition from Apartheid era (which was extremely violent) to a true peaceful democracy will take a lot longer than 14 years.

The government is not ignoring the problem. There has been campaigns to get the illegal guns off the street and it was amazing to see how many people gave them up peacefully. But of course, like it is in most countries in the world, including the US, not everyone wants to hand over their guns...
There is acknowledgement that the police force has many problems and is weak and this is being addressed. But there is no overnight solution, if there is, perhaps we can hear what it is??

But to return to your question, firstly there is no proof that teenage violence is increasing in SA; and the reasons for violence in SA are listed by Porgie. One reason that was not listed by Porgie is substance abuse, in particular alcohol abuse, which is widespread in the country.

Answer 4

It's not only in South Africa, it's all over the states. Al has to do, that you can't spank your kids anymore. A good old fashiniond butt beating hasn't hurt any body.

Answer 5

I am not so sure your question is correct in the sense that you suggest that there has been a recent increase in teenage committed crime. No crime statistics have of late been released by the SA government in an attempt to deceive and play down crime in SA.The truth is that in the past 5 years alone more than 100,000 South Africans have been murdered, more than 55,000 rapes were reported to the Police last year and the list of violent crimes go's on and on. Since the conviction rate of criminals stands at less than 5% I am not sure where you get the idea that teenagers are committing more crime. There is no quick answer to the question why SA is such a violent Country and the old reasons of blaming apartheid just dont wash anymore. A more valid reason may be lack of interest from a Government who by the actions of some of their members simply do not understand when a crime has been committed and support criminals through their actions. i.e. Tony Yengeni in the last few days who was supported by the Office of the Presidency, ANC leaders and Cabinet Ministers in an open demonstration outside the prison gates. A previous example would be Allan Boesak the convicted child fraudster and so called Minister of Religion. South Africa has a major crime problem, more so than any other Country in the World, and a complete lack of will from Leadership to do anything about it other than talk.If there is an increase in teenage violence then the simple answer would be that they have learned well from their Leaders. The SA media are no longer a reliable source of information on crime as they have conspired to tone down the situation and embark upon what they refer to as "sunshine journalism" i.e. keep the populace ignorant. This has seen the establishment of " Cyber reporting" on websites such as www.crimexposouthafrica.org where angry residents are reportng crime which otherwise would have gone unreported. Visit the site for yourself and see if it can provide some answers to your question.
In response to "confused" response. This is typical finger pointing at everyone else and being totally unable to accept or do anything about the continued genocide in South Africa. In fact despite all the claims of intellectuality I seriously suspect this person suffers from Stockhlom syndrome. Apartheid left SA 12 years ago and there has been a continuous increase in crime and particularly violent crime ever since. In 1996 in a meeting with Durban business men the then President Nelson Mandela was asked what the Government was doing about crime. His response was " So far we have arrested 700 Police for serious Offences." The thinking today has not changed and a few days ago the current President Thabo Mbeki made the astounding statement that 80% of criminals were known to their victims and rapes etc were committed in houses. The myopic response you read from confused in response to these type of banal statements, which are quite common,reflects the validity of her response.Perhaps she should read Rudolph Giulanni"s book on how he cleared up the crime in New York which may give her some insight as to how petty crime escalates into violent crime.That violent crime in South Africa is of epidemic proportions is a fact-not an argument.The fact that there is less than a 5% conviction rate is a fact-not an argument. Confused may have nowhere to run and desperately wish to live in a relatively crime free South Africa but it offends all human dignity when people such as her invite innocent Tourists to SA on the premise that it is quite safe to do so when it patently is not and they stand an excellent chance of being another victim of the violent crime. When SA cleans up it's act then it can proudly invite tourists but until then it is a most unsafe destination for any visitor as evidenced in the warnings issued to prospective visitors by the Tourist Authorities of USA,Australia, Canada and the British Foreign Office. SA has run out of excuses about apartheid and all the other well worn cliches they continuously cite and if they are serious about eradicating crime then the time has long since passed to stop making excuses and finger pointing like little children.I have no hatred for SA merely a respect for my fellow human beings and a sense of duty to fellow supporters of the World Cup to advise them not to go to SA until it is safe to do so.