An open question for all South Africans?

Question

Over the last few weeks I have seen genuine holiday makers ask questions on Yahoo Answers and the feedback they get is don't worry cause you'll get murdered / raped / robbed or may be all 3. Please can I ask you guys in your oipinion how can the situation change? Who can make improvements? Would it be enough if the people wanted to change it? This is genuine personal interest. Please don't slam me for asking :)

Answer 1

Crime in SA is a serious problem, but the "don't worry cause you'll get murdered / raped / robbed" normally comes from angry ex-South Africans who do they best to ruin the country economically so that they can justify their choice to leave the country. They obviously miss the great weather, friendly people, the culture and the prolific scenery. (Ok, now I'll be slammed for that lol)

OK, I live in SA where millions foreigners visit each year and even make it their home. Why will they do that if they will get murdered etc. Come one, when will people stop posting this rubbish. Yes, crime is a serious problem, but my word, I'm dumbstruck by these South Africans on this board who lie to potential tourists. And yes, 1 million SA's have left, but maybe we must ask ourself why millions of Dutch and millions in the UK flee their countries and lives in countries such as AUS and South Africa. In SA, if you can afford to live in a middle class area, you can basically isolate yourself from crime and live a happy life. And yes, you're not totally isolated, but give me a Western country with a crime rate of 0? And yes, I don't compare SA to other countries no! I just say that you are nowhere totally safe. In SA you are more unsafe, but that doesn't mean Washington DC (with a murder rate higher than many SA cities) or other cities are safe havens.

Answer 2

Thabo needs to lend us his body gaurds for a few days and everyone in government has got to take of their rose tinted lenses to realise that the world isnt as peachy as it seems.


Ooops, Iv got to say more coz in the last month a neigbor has been killed and 3 people I know have been burgled and 1 person held up! Forget the indirect stories that iv heard in the past week.

We live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world but yes there is no denying the truth. Crime SUCKS here big time. I love my country, im proud of our progress but the truth is Crime is escalating at an alarming rate. We rant and rave, but no one seems to be listening. Recently 3 of our big time politicians houses were broken!! It is not enough that people want to change it. Go ahead, read the story about Paul Haris and hes campaign that never got of the ground. I love tourists and more than anything would love to see SA become a leading tourist destination. But crime is going to spoil it all.

The problem here is everything becomes an issue of race. The wounds of apartheid didnt yet fully heal, so whenever we speak of crime some people at the TOP get jittery and instead of acknowledging their faults point fingers back at the general public accusing us of being RACIST and MOANERS. And we are told not to discourage tourists from visiting our Crime INFESTED country. ARGH!! this is so not the case. Coz crime here is commited by every type of person.

Maybe we should fight back physically. If we see someone else in danger, like a smash and grab incident, we should stop our cars and run after the guy. But what difference will it make if he is released after a few days?

Truthfully I think we need to alter some of our laws. Big time.
Crime is a result of poverty but at such a high rate? Why murder then? I can maybe understand stealing a teeny weeny bit. I still miss my old cell phone!!(that shock got stolen)
And India has a relatively larger and poorer population and their crime rate is much lower! And dont tell me to go live in India then, coz its just an example telling u t reason why we should stop blaming poverty and start realizing that our laws need to change!

Answer 3

Hi Traveler,

Well I stay in South Africa. Yes, the crime is sooooooo bad here, but I still have to come up for my country.

Most holiday designations here are in safe environments, if you as a tourist go to a dingy place, off course you'll get robbed even murdered BUT not ALL South Africans are bad. Unfortunately we don't have a very high job rate and therefore some people, mostly blacks are extremely poor, but you do get your white person who also suffers the consequences.

And I met lots of tourists in my working environment who absolutely loves this country. It doesn’t matter where you go to, Italy, Spain, USA, anywhere, you could get killed by a criminal. Yes, I am one who say that if you come to this country, always be aware of what is going on around you, do not walk alone at night, do not be too friendly with people (especially blacks) in bushy deserted areas, (do not even walk there)!!! Know your place where you should go to, if you go into a black area, beware and take someone who knows the area with you!!! Then you will be fine. Best is to get yourself a tour guide.

South Africa is a great country with absolutely picturesque scenes. Rich full of different cultures, history, safari’s, white beaches, amazing food, fresh water, a tanning sunshine, hot summers, and not too cool winters.

South Africa is definitely a country with lots to see and explore, we might not be the richest country in economics and finance, but we surely will offer you a richness of experience!!!

If you want some more info on South Africa, feel free to email me!

Poepies!!!

****edit****

Traveler, it is monkeys like Wazzzup, you need to be on the lookout for, see he is a racist and will kill you with a smile. Racism towards white people are much worse than in the apartheid years. There are lots of black young people (comrades) like Wazzzzup that hates the white people, but sometimes forget that the white people built this country into what it is. They broke and destroyed it in less than 20 years, hence the financial and crime problems!

Answer 4

The situation will change when the people (all races)decide that enough is enough! Improvements could include better community policing, and tougher laws on criminals. I also feel that poverty is a major source of criminals as many do not have any other option to have an income. I feel if the employment rates were higher that there would definitely be less crime.
The good news though is that SA is NOT all gloom and doom. Yes we have a lot of crime , but so do many other countries.
Not everyone is a victim of crime and quite often it can be avoided by taking logicall steps . Such as not wearing expensive Jewelry in the streets and not leaving valuables in plain site in vehicles to avoid hijackings , to name a few.
Please understand that there are many "bitter" SAfricans living abroad(and i think in some cases for many years)who are unaccepting of change and choose to run our beautiful country's reputation to the ground.
They are the minority in my opinion and if you watch our forum more closely you will see that although many of us have different opinions we are still Proud to be South Africans.!

Answer 5

I would never compare the crime rate in South Africa to any other place in the world. Simply because the crime in other countries is that countries problem to solve. I have myself been attacked 2x my husband 3x and my son 2x thank god until now my daughter has never been attacked. My mother of 69 was attacked robbed of R1000.00 now for a pensioner that is at lot of money. Her response was maybe they needed it more than she did. I think when the government wakes up and hears the cry of the nation or when the President himself becomes a target of crime will the laws controlling crime and criminals will change. We can do as many marches as we want to highlight crime nothing is going to work unless each and every one stops the cycle of violence. When children grow up on the streets they know what they learn and that is crime fills their stomachs every night. So take care of the children is the place that i have started to hopefully do my bit to help. We cant wait for the far distant day for our government to open its eyes we as people of the country can help the situation by giving to the children hope for the future.

Answer 6

Yes, violent crime has errupted to a point where we can "boast" to have the highest per capita numbers in the world, due to an uninvolved government who just sit back and watch crime do their racial polarisation work for them (which makes them politically strong in SA).
Currently SA does not have a leader or leadership and has too many fools driven by racial hatred who don't acknowledge Afrikaners as an indigenous African culture and fellow South Africans (such as the Whatzzup idiot above).
What can we do? We can keep on being good citizens by standing up for whats right and condemning what's wrong through our words and actions. The first step in solving a problem, is to acknowledge its existence in no uncertain terms and to be honest about it - not only among ourselves, but also in our dialogue with potential visitors and investors. Most importantly, we can democratically choose a government that cares in the 2009 national elections.
Unfortunately, if there's one thing mankind has learnt from history, it's that mankind (and especially Africa) has not learnt from history...

Answer 7

Malan, please open your eyes, or perhaps nobody you knew were in the 18000 people killed last year, that excludes policemen. That was the number released by government. Wake up.
People have every right to warn others who come here of a VERY likely outcome to their visit. I see that warning as a good thing, and if tourism takes a huge dive, maybe that's the push the greedy giovernment needs to actually for once do something and not sit back with nothing but talks of eating beet and garlic. Ridiculous.

Answer 8

Now the excuse is the bitter South Africans who have left but the statistics dont lie even if they are massaged downwards. Equally in South Africa there are the denialist who will turn a blind eye to anything in their pursuit of making money at the expense of Tourists e.g 3 Hollanders attacked on Table Mountain this week. Many of these people have no experience of a normal Society and are so immune to acts of horrific violence they accept it as a norm everywhere. They will every trick in the book e.g. comparing murder rates to Washington but none of them stand the test of proper investigation.
There is only one way to get South Africa back into civilisation and that is to get rid of the ANC and adopt a Western Democratic Government who subscribe to values such as human rights, democracy etc. The problem is of course the history of Africa in that nothing changes through democratic means so therefore why would South Africa be any different? Currently South Africa is being plundered by a Communist regime who have only their personal interests in mind. They are not about to give up their position of priviledge and will hang on to it come hell or high water.The only way I see change is for a US/UK inspired change of Government but it isnt going to happen because SA is no threat to them.

OK so some South Africans dont like the answer but read this from your Sunday Times of 25/03
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=419674

Answer 9

Nope it's unlikely for a change in this country, to tell u the truth i wish i was never born in this country. The government can do nothing to help ..coz all they do is talk, talk but no action. Things just seem to get worse in this place. We cant even walk on the beaches at nite here coz who knows what may happen. I wish things were different here but unfortunately it's not.

Answer 10

Get rid of the ANC and the black corrupt government. I'm not racist, i'm just stating two true facts, 1)black 2)corrupt government.
The crime has never been so high, and jobs are getting harder to get for south africans who have the qualifications, were jobs that require qualifications get given to illiterate people who haven't even finished school or can't speak english or afrikaans, just zulu or xhosa, and nepatism is also part of the corruption, and government contracts that are only given to friends or family of parliment officials.