S Africa Poll Cites Crime Concerns
President Thabo Mbeki Addresses Nation's Fears
A recent poll taken in South Africa makes for an interesting read and gives an insight into what the population is dealing with on a day to day basis.
In the run up to Thabo Mbeki Presidential speech in February this year, the media and the public were hotly debating the problem of crime in the country.
South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation and has the world looking on as it works to become a successful democracy. Although it is singled out from the rest of the African continent as how countries in Africa could work it still faces the same challenges as its neighbours including the fight against HIV/AIDS, taking a stance in response to the current situation in Zimbabwe, finding and fighting corruption within the government and fighting crime.
Mbeki has an uneviable task of still being seen as Nelson Mandela’s successor, even as his own tenure as president comes to a end. He is continuing Mandela’s work of steering the country’s population away from the dark days of apartheid. But the population doesn’t make any excuses for their leader and he and his government are often criticised for their stance and response to the reality of living in contemporary South Africa.
Mbeki’s State of the Nation speech is a crucial event for South Africans to get a sense of what their leader thinks about their country. In the days preceding it both Mbeki’s supporters and opponents were debating what it would mean if Mbeki talked or didnt talk about crime.
Crime - its prevalence, ferocity, how it reaches into the lives of rich, poor, black and white is discussed in homes all over the country and on the radio, TV and in print. Everyone knows someone who has been a victim and people protect themselves in their homes and in their cars with high walls, security fences, guards and dogs, alarms, tracking systems.
It is clear the rates of murder, rape, burglary, carjackings, heists are affecting not only the well-being of South Africans themselves but also how foreigners view the country. Tourists, investors and international business are nervous.
Just days before, the national newspaper The Sunday Times published some of findings from an independent poll of 3500 South Africans taken in 2006 and in 2007. How respondents felt about crime was highlighted but the findings give a fascinating portrait of contemporary South Africa.
The poll found that 48% of the respondents are employed with 3% holding a degree. On the flip side 12.5% have no education at all. Nearly 3 million people live in huts and shacks whilst 9 million live in houses. Still 6% of the population still has no access to clean water whilst 55% have an indoor water supply, and nearly 60% have a flush toilet and over 80% have electricity.
96% of the poll respondents were proud to be South African and happy and since the last poll feelings of emptiness, depression and anxiety have fallen. But the numbers jump when asked about feeling unsafe – 75% - with 81% of respondents thinking crime figures are going up.
In the end Mbeki mentioned the word "crime" more than 10 times in his State of the Nation address, saying; "Certainly, we cannot erase that which is ugly and repulsive, and claim the happiness that comes with freedom, if communities live in fear, closeted behind walls and barbed wire, ever anxious in their houses, on the streets and on our roads, unable freely to enjoy our public spaces. Obviously, we must continue and further intensify the struggle against crime."
South Africa provokes strong reactions abroad – many see it as a beacon of hope in a continent that cynics despair of; others choose to see it as the birthplace of mankind and a place of beauty and potential. It seems as though South Africans themselves live these contradictions every day.
