Thabo you disgust me!

South Africa is without doubt the most dangerous and violent country I have ever visited. Yet last night this happened:

Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki says crime is not getting out of hand.

And most South Africans would agree with him, said Mbeki in an interview flighted by SABC television on Monday.

He admitted that crime - and the damage it was causing to South Africa’s image internationally - was something of a concern. Mbeki added, however, that it was wrong to suggest crime in the country was uncontrollable. “There is crime, but this does not mean it is out of control,” he said.

He blamed certain South Africans for not being “careful” on how they communicated the issue of crime. The president said it was the way they communicated that created the perception crime was out of control in the country.

Although Someamongus believes Mbeki is on another planet I don’t think our deranged president is totally wrong. He is certainly right about most people agreeing with him.

On the whole I don’t believe people living in SA think crime is getting out of hand. The number of middle class, supposedly educated people I met who told me “I choose
to live in Joburg and therefore I choose to accept the crime, actually its not that bad, one just needs to be aware, it doesn’t affect my life” I often hear this ridiculous comment repeated within a few feet of barbed wire, security guards, electrified fences etc. The problem is middle class SA has become immune to crime and I don’t believe they know anymore what it is ACTUALLY like to live in a country without such ludicrously high levels of crime. Unfortunately, for working class South Africa crime has been so ridiculously high now for so many years that it really is just normal.

Mr Mbeki, you disgust me, and you betray an entire nation, to call crime “something of a concern” and then to claim that the high crime rate is only a perception borne out of the exaggerated blatherings of a few South Africans is morally contemptible and certainly the most insane thing I have ever heard a supposedly respectable country’s head of state say.

I appreciate it is hard for the average South African to actually do anything about crime except build bigger fences and fortify their cars even further, and I certainly understand that for many South Africans the daily struggle to survive far outweighs the importance of rallying the government to fight crime. For influential (read middle class) South Africans leading what is increasingly becoming an expatriate kind of lifestyle in their home country I can fully empathise with your situation. South Africa is one huge beautiful playground, life is cushy, life is fun, and that dreadful stuff you read about in the newspapers whilst sipping cocktails on Camps Bay beach will one day sort itself out, politicians can’t get more corrupt, judges can’t continue driving drunk, and the ruthless murdering is just a passing fad! It is very easy to ignore the problems because life must go on, but ask yourself where we will all end up in 20 years time, I sure as hell don’t want to be in the UK!