In 2013 stories emerged of gangs stealing plasma TV screens to use to make street drugs. It’s a myth, but it tells us something about South Africa’s social anxieties.
The first group of 200 Nigerians repatriated from South Africa in 2019 arrives in Lagos.
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
As the July 2021 unrest and looting graphically showed, crime and lawlessness can debilitate and destroy government efforts to facilitate and support economic growth.
Poor leadership in crime intelligence and a struggling detective service are affecting the ability of South Africa - where a murder happens every 28 minutes - to bring down crime.
South Africa needs to urgently work out why its high rate of fatal violence is not slowing.
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South Africa has stubbornly high rates of violent crime. More concerning, though, is that the latest crime stats suggest the recent increase in murders is not slowing - it may even continue.
Crime is not at all evenly distributed in any country or city, so smaller scale data is essential.
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South Africa releases crime statistics once a year. Politicians interpret them according to their particular agendas. Here’s a guide to what to look for and how to make sense of the trends.
Anti-rape protesters at President Jacob Zuma’s election results speech.
Beeld/Deon Raath
The ghost of ‘Khwezi’ – the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape in 2006 – continues to haunt him, just as the spectre of rape continues to haunt South Africa.
Placards voicing the concerns of rape victims outside the High Court in Johannesburg.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Rape complainants who are perceived to have precipitated their own victimisation, whether through their conduct or their relationship to the perpetrator, are at a particular disadvantage.
Guns were part of Pistorius’ life at home and in public.
EPA/Phill Magakoe/Pool
South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found not guilty of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The presiding judge, Thokozile Masipa, found him guilty, though, of culpable…
Oscar Pistorius has been cleared of premeditated murder charges, but found guilty of culpable homicide – a crime for which he could face a possible 15 years behind bars. He has also been found guilty of…
Oscar Pistorius arrives at court.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
After six months of courtroom drama relayed around the world, Judge Thokozile Masipa has reached her verdict on Oscar Pistorius: not guilty of the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, but guilty of her “culpable…
Pistorius trial has kept violence against women on the frontpage.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
Who is responsible for violence towards women? This question runs like a thread through some of the public discourses swirling around the trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius. In some ways he represents an…
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius is changing South Africa’s media ecology. It is the country’s first criminal trial to be covered fully on social media and live television, and both journalists and…